Christmas 2008

This year for Christmas, we headed over to Bend to spend it with my mom and sister. We had the best time while we were there. There was a ton of snow and it was absolutely beautiful! We got almost 8 inches just on Christmas Eve day! We spent some great time with family and also got to relax and hang out. The drive home was a bit tricky. The snow was turning to rain so we had lots of slush and then we had to make a detour through Klamath Falls due to some downed trees around Prospect. So, it took us a couple of extra hours, but we made it home. Now comes the hard part of trying to organize and put everything away! Guess I'd better get busy!

Snow

There was a ton of snow when we got to my mom and sister's house. So, we got the kids all dressed up in their snowsuits and let them go out back and play. They had so much fun! Rayna immediately started making snow angels and so Brady wanted to try it too. He thought it was fun until he couldn't get back up. They played and played until their little hands were frozen.

Sledding

Bryan worked to make a great little sledding run in the front yard. It was perfect for the kids and we had fun on it too! Brady fell off the first time he went down and wasn't very happy, but he did go again and liked it. Rayna kept going down over and over and over! We had a blast!

More Snow

And more snow pictures. Rayna couldn't get enough of playing in and eating the snow. We had to force her to come in so she could get warm. Here is a picture of our van on Christmas morning(yes, it's a new van....Merry Christmas to us...not what we were planning on getting, but the old one was dying). We had snow the whole time we were in Bend. It was wonderful! The day we left, it started to rain and now my mom said it's pretty much all gone. I'm so glad we were there when we were!

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve, we all get dressed up and went to an early candlelight service at church. It was very nice and Rayna enjoyed singing and getting to listen to a kids version of the Christmas story. It was a blizzard outside so everytime we looked out it looked like we were in a snowglobe. It was beautiful. After church, we headed over to Aunt Terry's for our annual Christmas Eve Mexican potluck. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and eating lots of yummy food! I got some pictures of the kids in front of the tree before we left. Rayna is in a silly phase where she likes to pose, and Brady still likes making his cheesy face. They looked very cute though. And we got a pretty good picture of all four of us.

Santa Came!

Santa came to visit our Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Terry's house. Rayna was so excited and was not shy at all! In fact, she was the first one to go up to him and sat on his lap talking to him for the longest time! She just kept talking and talking until we finally convinced her it was someone elses turn. It was so cute! Once again, Brady screamed. But he did go get a candy cane and his present from Santa. As soon as he grabbed them though, he turned and ran. Maybe next year he'll like Santa a little bit more.

New Christmas Pajamas

We have continued the tradition of the kids getting a new pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve. This year they had matching snowman, santa, and reindeer jammies. Rayna thought it was really cool that they were exactly the same, only different colors. Brady seemed pretty happy with them too!

Opening Stockings

The first thing the kids got to do when they got up was open their stockings. It was so cute watching them discover all the neat treasures that Santa brought for them. Brady's favorites were his Thomas bubble bath and new fire truck. Rayna was pretty excited about her new hair brush and Lip Smackers chapstick!

Christmas Morning

We actually got to sleep in until a little after 7:00 on Christmas morning. The kids were tired from staying out late at my aunts house. They were very excited when they got up and saw all the presents under the tree. We had a wonderful morning of reading the Christmas story, opening gifts, and eating yummy cinnnamon rolls. It was so much fun spending Christmas with Grammy and Auntie Cheri!

Rayna Opening Her Presents

Rayna was so excited everytime she opened a present! She was thrilled that Santa brought her Tinkerbell bubble bath and a doctors set! She was also very excited about the Rose Petal Cottage and Belle Barbie and horse that she got from mommy and daddy! She even got excited over all of Brady's presents! It was very fun watching her!

Brady Opening His Presents

Brady got the hang of opening up presents really fast this year! In fact, he kept trying to open everyone's presents! And he got really mad at us if we told him he had to wait his turn or that a present wasn't his. It was very cute how excited he got with all his toys. As soon as he opened his stick horse from Rayna, he got on it and started riding around.

Playing With New Toys

The kids have been having so much fun playing with all their new toys! And they've been really good about sharing them with each other!