Hello Peeps!

*I did not realize when I wanted to post pictures from Shutterfly to my blog that they would show up as they did. I wanted to write about the different pictures, but I guess I will tell you about them here in this post. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! My Mom, Dad, Todd, and Matthew ALL spent Christmas Eve night with us. (Todd and Matthew are Jason's brother and nephew) It was a ton of fun!!!! We had several wonderful Christmas'. We started off Christmas Eve morning at Jason's grandparents,The Carlile's, for brunch. Then, we headed to Jason's mom and Ross' for lunch and presents. The kids got big presents that they had really wanted from Granny and Papa Ross. Jake was thrilled with his DSi. Jaelynn was super excited about her HUGE Barbie house. Jolie got a really cute princess carriage CD player with a microphone. She LOVES music and dancing!!! Then, the whole crew headed to our church for a terrific Christmas Eve service. Jason did not play the guitar this year. It was nice to worship side by side. After the service all our family came to our house and enjoyed time laughing, eating, and hanging out. We decorated our Happy Birthday Jesus cake and made reindeer food. We settled down for bed by reading the Birth of Jesus. The kids fell asleep quickly. Christmas morning we had to wake Matthew and Jolie up to see all the presents. Ross and Sue came over to join all the fun and enjoy our yummy breakfast that my Mom made. We have a tradition of sausage balls, blueberry muffins, pig in the blankets, and we added cinnamon rolls this year.  We sang Happy Birthday to Our Savior and thought about all the blessings we are so thankful for in our lives. That afternoon we went to Mom and Dad's house to celebrate some more. Jake got the Criss Cross race track that he had been begging for months to buy. He was SO excited. Jaelynn decided to get money this year instead of presents. She ended up buying a digital camera which she had been wanting for YEARS!!! :) Jolie had not stopped talking about the dancing Mickey Mouse. When she opened it she did NOT have the reaction we had hoped for. She played with all the rest of her toys instead. Later on she decided she did like Mickey and danced like we had hoped she would. The day after Christmas we went to Ross' mom, Ma's house. We always enjoy seeing cousins that we only see one time a year there. We ended up with two extra kids on the way home. :) The girls had a great time together. We are truly blessed with family! I love Christmas! All the family closeness and activities. Yes, it can be stressful trying to make sure we see everyone, but this year we seemed to glide through the season with no upsets.

Then, comes my birthday. Let me just say it was FANTASTIC!!! I got up that morning went on a walk. Came back to a table of presents. Opened new workout clothes, a Willow Tree angel, and a gift certificate to Academy(which helped buy my new Asics tennis). Then, we went on about our day cleaning, playing,etc. That night Jason and my family went to eat at Mercado's. Yum Yum! Then, we all went back to my parents to eat my strawberry cake and open presents. If you looked at the pictures in the last post you will see (close to the end) a picture of me laughing really hard and then hugging Jason. I opened his present last and it was a CRUISE!!!!! Yes, a C-R-U-I-S-E!!! We have never been on a cruise before and I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED!!!!!! When I looked at the date to leave it said January 27th. I about flipped out. That was a month away from then. Now, it is THIS WEEK!!! We leave Thursday and I am beyond excited. This is the first time we have been away since Jaelynn was a baby and she is 9! I will post pictures when we return. Until then Bon Voyage.......