Grandpa Steve's party

My pictures always come up in reverse for some reason.  Anyway on the 27th we had dads Christmas party.  We had it at Todd and Denise's church.  We did our usual pizza, salad, dessert,and the gift game which is the highlight of the night.

 All the kids opening their presents from grandpa Steve

 Enjoying the gift exchange game.  All the adults bring a 20 dollar gift and then do the exchange game.  It is always funny every year.

 When I arrived this is what I saw.  Evidently it took the whole family to hold the stage up.  It was quite funny

 Matt looks a little tired

 Sha'Nell and Melissa posing for the camera

 Todd, Denise and Ryan

 Dad, Leann and Sorel

 Melanee and Sha'Nell discussing something serious:)

 This is why we have it in a church.  The kids love basketball

 Helping grandpa open his gifts

Christmas Day

Christmas day at our house is pretty laid back.  All the kids arrived by 8:00 to open presents.  Rachel and Kendall had to be back over to his house because his brother Colby was calling from his mission.  Matt and Kandice stayed for breakfast.  We did the huge breakfast thing which is my favorite.  They then went out to Kandice's house and it was just the three of us.  Dave and Kaden decided to go flying so I was home by myself for like 3 hours.  I read my new kindle and just relaxed.  Rachel and Kendall showed back up around 4 with Kaden and Dave following closely behind and we had our prime rib dinner.  Kandice and Matt stopped back by later that night. 

 Kaden finally stood up from his reclined position he was in most of the morning

 This was the position Kaden was in while opening his presents

 Kendall enjoying his cocoa

 Kandice loving her new shirt

We missed Brenan immensely on Christmas.  When they are in the MTC they don't even get to call so we just plain missed him.  We had a good day other than that.

Christmas Eve

We had our Christmas Eve party at Sha'Nell's this year.  It was fun.  It was so nice not to have the mess at the house.  I totally enjoyed it.  Here is Oakley in the pajamas we gave her.

 Blake getting the prime rib ready.

 Kaden can't wait for santa this year

 Kendall using his camera smile.  He looks like he is trying to go to the bathroom to me.

 Mandy's looking nervous

 Trajen smiling for the camera

Kelten not letting me get a picture of him

 Brevin cheesing it for the camera

 All the kids waiting patiently to open their presents

 1...2....3....open

 Melanee trying to get everyone's attention.

 Todd playing with his doll

Reese and her rosy cheeks

Concert at the Conference Center

Wow what a busy month.  Going to Nauvoo early in the month then getting Brenan finished and ready to go.  Having his farewell on the twelfth and taking him to the MTC on the fifteenth has stressed me out just a little bit not to say I still am not ready for Christmas.  We got tickets to the concert at the Conference center.  We headed down on the seventeenth.  Matt and Kandice drove down on their own because they have to be back early on Saturday.  Rachel, Kendall, Dave and I left a little later in the day.  We met at the hotel where we stayed.  Our tickets were for Friday night.  This is us on temple square before the concert.  I  have never seen the Christmas lights on temple square.  It was beautiful.  We had a wonderful time together.  The concert was amazing.  David Archuleta was the main performer with the tabernacle choir and it was so exciting to see President Uchdorf and President Monson at the concert.  Of course they were a long ways away but it was really neat to see everyone stand and immediately go quiet when President Monson and his wife came in.  The conference center was beautiful and  it was just so much fun being with our family.  Kaden didn't go.  He didn't think that was fun at all.  He went snow machining instead.  After the concert we went to P F Chang's for dinner one of my favorite places then back to the hotel.  We went to breakfast Saturday morning and then Matt and Kandice headed home.  Kendall and Rachel's friends Renee and Josh Foster were riding home with us.  We did a little shopping and then started home.  It snowed so hard on us on the way home that we had to go very slow.  It was a very fun trip. It would have been better if Brenan and Kaden would have been with us but other than that it was good.

 This is me trying to get a picture of President Monson but my camera kept focusing on the people that were closer to me.  We were just two sections over and about 12 rows behind.