Christmas

We hit up the mall quite a few times while we were home, but this time was specifically for Gavin to visit Santa. We didn't take him last year because he was only 3 months old. Gavin can be somewhat of a 'stage 5 clinger' so I thought for sure he would scream & cry on Santa's lap. Does that make me a bad mom to think that & actually want the classic picture of your child terrified?! :) Doug got the whole moment captured on my phone.

He only hesitated at first but once Santa showed him his cool boots with bells that jingle, Gavin was fine. I'm glad I was able to sneak away for the actual photos.

He is so cute with his blank expression. :)

We stayed with Doug's family a few days prior to Christmas. One day when Doug went snowmobiling I stayed behind & spent part of the day making candy & cookies with my mother in law JoDee. It was a lot of fun because I had never made caramels, peanut brittle or rosette cookies before. It was a great learning experience & we had fun testing them throughout the process. :)

I thought these Rosette Cookies were so cool! You use these all metal shapes, dip them in HOT oil, then dip them into the batter & then fry them in the oil again & voila! You have a cute shaped cookie. We sprinkled powdered sugar on ours. They were cute little snowflakes & quite yummy too!

Here is our Peanut Brittle. I didn't get a picture of our caramels. They sure were delicious!

{Christmas Eve}

We celebrate Christmas Eve each year with the Shaw Family. Aunts, Uncles, Grandpa, Cousins all come together to celebrate. Seems like it is getting smaller & smaller each year with cousins getting married, families getting bigger & doing their own traditions. It still is a great time non the less. We had a wonderful dinner & then it was times for the games! We played BINGO which I must admit, the best part is eating the board markers (m&m's) :)

It was a hit tradition when Doug was young to have all the cousins play Christmas songs on the chimes. Well, as adults, it's just as fun & we are just as bad! :)

After we had our Gift Exchange. It's always a riot to see who steals what & what the 'hot' items are each year. Doug ended up with a flash drive & I got a cute set of Christmas mugs.

I don't know if you remember me mentioning that Gavin has developed quite the skill of mooching. Well here he is in action workin it with Aunt Terri. He made a mess & she loved every minute of it. :)

{Christmas Morning}
It was so much fun waking up on Christmas morning! I think we as parents were more excited about it then Gavin actually was. He still doesn't really understand much about it. But he sure loved all his new toys!

Our little Christmas Elf! Uncle Danny said he looked like a little JailBird. :)

Opening presents...

Doug's parents gave him a really nice plaque/frame for his diploma from the University of Utah. It will look great in dental office one day!

Grandpa Steve & Uncle Dave

Gavin's first Ute hoodie!

Grandma JoDee showing off her gift from us. That's right...a toothbrush! I teased them saying they better get used to gifts like that now that Doug is almost a dentist! :)

It's just what Danny wanted too!

Gavin got his very own Monkey Backpack from Uncle Dave. I think it is the cutest thing ever! He wore it all around so we'll see if he will like it when we actually have hold of him on the other end. :)

{Christmas Day}
After breakfast we headed over to my parents home to spend the day with them.

Gavin having a great time playing with all the boxes & tissue paper.

Laura gave Doug a Football! It was just what he wanted.

Laura showing off her stocking loot!

Dad, Mom & Grandma Faye

It was so much fun watching our little boy open all of his gifts. He really was more in liking of the packaging versus the presents inside. However he did find one LOVE......CANDY CANES!!!

It was hysterical! He would flap his tongue like crazy after sucking on them. Silly kid!

Probably the cutest little candy stripe out there! :)

The next day my brother Jason & his family joined ours from Colorado to spend the holidays with us. It was so great to be able to spend time with them. Their kids are getting so big! I only wish I could see them more than twice a year. :( The only people we were missing were Hyrum, Anne & their girls Sophie & Norah. They were in Vegas with her family until the 28th.

We all love to sing Christmas carols! It starts out normal, but usually ends in our own silly renditions of the songs. :)

McKay showing off his new shirt from me & Doug. I thought it was hilarious when I saw it at Target. He seems to be amused as well. :)

Gavin & his new toy airplane from Grandma Madsen.
Very appropriate as this is the only way he has ever traveled to come see her. :)

Hailey & Gavin playing

Hailey is one little monkey! This girl jumps off of anything & everything. There is no fear! She had fun jumping into Uncle Doug's arms over & over!

My dad is so talented! He bought a new race car set for the grandkids, but wanted it to be off the ground. So he just whipped this table up down in his shop. Seriously, all out of his head. No instructions, no blueprint. Amazing to me! Anyhow, the kids all loved it & it was quite the hit.

It's a Christmas tradition to have homemade rice pudding. Everyone selects their dish & the lucky person to find a whole almond in theirs wins a prize. I picked mine while moaning that I never win. Well my luck changed this year because I was the lucky winner! Wahoo! I was seriously so happy. The prize was some Christmas cash too!
We had a great Christmas & we had a lot of family activities coming up in the week once we were all together again. Stay tuned!