Christmas Day Festivities

We all got a fun little surprise present Christmas morning when Carrie woke up and started to call out for "Daddy!" I was happy because I got to stay in bed and even though Justin got up to get her, he was happy because she wanted him and not me :)

Carrie's Santa present! A play kitchen!
Because Santa is so busy delivering presents all night, he often drops toys off unassembled and asks kids' moms and dads to be Santa's helpers and put things together. Holy Cow.... What an assembly project this kitchen was! It came in in about 200 pieces! But we're so pleased with the final product we got (after about 3 hours!)

It was the first thing Carrie saw when she came down and she immediately started gathering utensils etc. and bringing them into the big kitchen to set the table for us!

"Even though the kitchen is really cool, I want to check out Savannah's Santa present, a big girl bike!"

"I'm going to need a little help from dad to get on and stay on though!"

Carrie's favorite thing from her stocking? Lip gloss... What else? We've already had to hide it a few times because she'll spend ten minutes straight putting it on and end up with it all over her face and in her mouth!

What an exhausting morning! Carrie decided to chill and take a break in her new chair from Allie!

Thanks Beeson family!!

Poor little Rugby looks like a toy doll buried in all his Christmas presents!

Yummy train wreck casserole and monkey bread for breakfast!

What a great idea Santa had to get Carrie a play kitchen. :) She LOVES it!

Me with a pile of our family's Christmas spoils! (I didn't know Justin was taking this picture, or I might have looked up and smiled)

Christmas evening, we went to Michael and Alysha's hotel where they treated us to dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was delicious and we didn't have to cook it or clean it up! (Actually, I didn't have to clean ANY meals up this weekend, thanks to Justin's wonderful family who told me to sit and relax instead. Thanks guys!)

Then we went swimming at the hotel. We were going to get in the heated pool, but even though it was heated, it was barely what I'd call warm-ish... Not fun when it's 50 degrees outside with the wind blowing. Instead, we went to the hot tub. Normally, pregnant women aren't supposed to get in the hot tub, but this one wasn't really hot, it was just nice and warm, pretty much like a bathtub. We haven't been swimming in months and really enjoyed it!

Late Sunday morning Michael and Alysha's family headed home and the rest of us went to church. We only stayed for sacrament meeting because we've all been sick the last several days. (Yucky coughs and stuffy, runny noses)

Carrie curled up in the chair again after church.

And you can say "Bah Humbug", call me "Scrooge", or as Justin said, "The Grinch"... Christmas is allll put away. Yeah!

After we came home from church I got into a mood where I realized that cleaning up Christmas was going to be a big project and I'd better get started. Well, with help from Justin, his parents and his grandma, it only took about an hour! We got all the decorations put away, the under-the-stairs closet organized and the regular house decorations put back up (family pictures, books etc...) I'm so glad it's done and I won't have to worry about it when I'm in the hospital with Brigham.

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend with Justin's family! I'm sad two of his sisters weren't able to come, but we enjoyed hanging out, eating, and playing games with everyone who could come.

And super thanks to Justin's parents and Grandma who washed their own sheets and towels and cleaned the whole house before they left this morning! What a fantastic Christmas present for me!!!