The 11th day of Christmas break

Brody took us up to Restore while we were there.  I felt great after the cryotherapy, and the kids who came didn't want to be left out.  McKenzie and Kelton both hopped in for about a minute just so they could play like the big kids.  We had to rig up a step stool system so their heads were high enough, and they thought it was the coolest thing ever-quite literally.  

The boys hopped in the sauna to warm up after they were done.

The 10th day of Christmas break

While in Utah we were able to go to Graham's baby blessing.  It was very strange being back in a married student ward.  There were a lot of couples in love, and no children over one-year-old.  Jake did an amazing job with the blessing and we were really happy we were able to be there.  We were also really lucky to see my Grandma Johnson and Grandpa Jay.  It's getting harder and harder for my Grandma to come to things, so I was really happy she was there.  Her hugs are just as fabulous as always.

Handmade Christmas

We had our cousin gift exchange at my parents' house after our day of tubing.  It was a handmade year and the kids had some cute gifts made for them by their cousins.  I think my favorite part of the evening was butterfly Daxton chasing Catboy and Gecko around the house in wild circles.  We sure are lucky to have such great cousins.

Cherry Peak Tubing

We were able to enjoy some Johnson cousin time by tubing up at Cherry Peak ski resort.  It was the perfect sized hill for some of our smaller crowd, but there was enough thrill on the run to keep me going back for more.  

Every kid had their own tube, but we were able to hold onto leashes for the smallest ones.  

On each run Daxton alternated between smiling, saying he was done, wanted to go again, and grimacing in fear.  I was proud of the kid for sticking with it when he was so terrified!  

The girls ran off with Faye and took care of themselves for the entire trip; up and down, up and down, up and down.  

Kelton couldn't get enough either.  We stopped around lunchtime to grab some grub in the lodge.  

After warming up and hanging out we went back out for more.  Unfortunately it seems like most of the valley showed up too and the crowds were getting pretty big.  We didn't stay too much longer after that, but not for lack of having fun.  I think we could've easily gone all day.  What a blast.

Grandma and Grandpa came to play

My parents came out for Christmas and were able to spend a couple days hanging out with us.  One morning they brought home dry ice to experiment with.  The kids loved the huge bubbles that the dry ice made.  

When some of it went down the sink, it rattled and hummed and made some really cool sounds.  

We went out to eat at the Denver Biscuit Company.  Our food was all delicious, but I think everyone was the most impressed by the huge cinnamon roll that we shared as a table. 

While we were out we found MY restaurant!  I didn't even know it existed, but now I know where we need to go next on date night.  

We also found this service animal sign.  Dinosaurs...awesome!  

We had a game day marathon where we played Monopoly, Life, and all of those other games we never seem to have time for.  We also had a movie night and watched Wreck it Ralph.  My dad had been to see Ralph Breaks the Internet, but hadn't seen the first movie so we remedied that. 

 It was wonderful having them come out.  Cambrie and McKenzie were the lucky ones who were able to fly back to Logan with them when they left.  The rest of us made the long drive across Wyoming to follow them to Logan for more fun. 

Christmas morning

Christmas morning at your own house is really, really nice.  It's calm (for Christmas morning), and we can take the day however it comes.   Christmas Eve we read the Nativity Story and sang some Christmas songs.  I was most excited about the songs.  The kids were most excited about their new jammies.  And we were all very excited that Grandma and Grandpa could come to spend Christmas morning with us.  

The magic before the morning.

Cambrie and McKenzie were the first ones up.  Now knowing how long the boys would take to wake up, they decided to get started.  

Grandma and Grandpa hadn't brought their own stockings, so we got really creative and made some so that they'd have their stocking stuffed too.  

The girls couldn't wait to give their sister the gift they each made.  McKenize made Cambrie a snowglobe with pictures of Cambrie and Puzzle in it.  

Cambrie made McKenzie a clay hedgehog that holds colored pencils as it's spines.  

It didn't take the boys that much longer to wake up.  Kelton knew immediately what was going on, but Daxton had to warm up to the idea of being awake.  Once he did though, he was a gift unwrapping machine.  I think I only unwrapped about a third of my gifts, Daxton took care of the rest.

Kelton enjoying his stocking stuffers.  

Stretch Armstrong was a fun new surprise...even if the boys can't remember his name and call him Strongarm.

Kelton was really happy Santa gave him the Wii he had been asking for.

Here are some fun moments of the present unwrapping chaos that I love.

Jeremy's big present this year was pretty big.  It was a stand-up paddleboard.  It was so large that I had to hide it at the Sosa's house so Jeremy wouldn't find it accidentally.  Even though the lake is frozen over, Jeremy was still very tempted to take it out.

My present this year was big, and required a lot of present unwrapping.  Good think I had a helper.  However, each box I unwrapped didn't have the real present in it. I received some of the girls' old sunglasses, an old contact solution box, and various other completely empty boxes.  In the final box was a piece of paper that Jeremy had written my gift on.  It is an appointment for Lasik surgery!  I was shocked.  He completely surprised me.

After all of the presents were unwrapped we started to play.  Daxton immediately wanted a bath where he could play with his waterfall makers.  

Cambrie set up her dart board and played all morning.  Kelton set up his Wii and I didn't see him for nearly two days.  We took our Kuub game outside and enjoyed the sunshine.  Daxton was really funny playing Kuub.  He would pick up whatever stray stick he could find and used them to knock down everyone's pieces while growling.  I don't know why it was a good idea to give that kid wooden sticks to throw around!

Daxton's goodies.

Kelton's goodies.

McKenzie's goodies.

Cambrie's goodies.

Jeremy's goodies.

I love pictures like this, the chaos, the fun, the magic, the mess, and everything that is Christmas morning.