Garett decided to wake up early on Christmas (like at 5:00!). So after I fed him he went back to sleep, but Ben and I were wide awake and excited. We decided it was still to early to wake up Grace so Ben bundled up and went out to shovel the snow(again). It was biting cold outside so we made some Hot Chocolate and watched the MoTab Christmas Concert while Ben warmed up.
Around 6:30 we decided we had waited long enough and drug Grace out of bed. Once she realized it was Christmas morning she was so excited to see if Santa had come! Here we are waiting anxiously at the top of the stairs.
When we came down the stairs the first thing Grace saw was her Princess Barbie! (which was supposed to be in this picture, but I must have picked the wrong one) She gasped and ran to it and said "Daddy this is AMAZING!" She was so excited to get her Cinderella dolly and horse. Then she ran over to the plate and saw that Santa had eaten her cookie and milk and was even more excited. It was so fun to watch her. As we opened her doll we had her look through her stocking. She was so meticulous at pulling out everything individually. She even pulled out each candy one at a time, "and another, and another" Then she would count them, "1,3,6,7,8..." She used to count to 10, but somewhere along the way she lost 2,4&5. Needless to say she was so excited that Santa had come and couldn't wait to open more presents.
Here is Ben opening his new Wallet. This was my great surprise of the year for him. I found this taxi wallet online that was the same as the one he got on his mission and has loved for years. He was excited.
Here I am opening my sack of flour. Literally. Ben was super sneaky this year. Usually he can't keep a secret to save his life, but he really got me this year. I didn't even notice the two huge boxes hiding behind the Christmas Tree. This pink one was the first I opened. It had a sack of flour, a box of cereal, toilet paper rolls and a
Wii in it! I was really getting mad when I was unwrapping all that food, and then I finally opened the
Wii and was excited. Well, I had to warm up to the excitement. You see, he went WAY over budget and that's what kept going through my mind as I stared at the
Wii box. I've always wanted one, but didn't think we'd get it because we were cutting back so much on Christmas this year. So he got me good this year. I was totally shocked and surprise. Oh yeah, the other box was Rock Band 2!!!!! We have had a lot of fun creating a band and touring the world.
We opened all of
Garett's presents while he was sleeping. He wouldn't have cared anyway. So here he is with all of his gifts. I'm pumped about the
Bumbo!
After we opened our gifts we went over to my mom's for more gift opening and a yummy breakfast! We then headed up to Ben's parents and on the way called into a conference call with all of my siblings and my brother Todd who is on his mission! It was so fun to hear him and talk with everyone all together! (A funny note about the car ride up. Grace was playing with her Cinderella and I hear her saying. "bump and bump" I looked back and she had taken the dress off and was examining her doll. "Look, bump and bump Mom!" It was hilarious, but then I had to explain what they were.) We exchanged gifts at Ben's parent's house and then shortly after headed home afraid that we were going to get stuck in the storm. We didn't it hardly snowed on us the rest of the day. So we headed back to my mom's for some food and fun.
Here are Ben and Kurt playing Guitar Hero.
Before we headed home for the night we had to get a cute picture of
Garett in his Christmas
outfit. What a sweet baby!
Here is Grace showing off her Tutu I made for her and her new ballerina slippers.
The spoiling continued at my Dad's house on Sunday where Grace got a rocking horse and we got money to buy a freezer! I'm so excited about that. (I totally forgot to pull out my camera there) We had such an amazing Christmas where we got to spend so much time with family and sit back and chat and enjoy the season. I'm grateful for our time together and sad that's it's over.
While Grandma Harper was down we decided to take pictures of the kids with the quilts she made for them so here they are.
We went to a park by AF Highs School. It had a perfect hill, long enough to have fun, but not too hard to climb back up. Grace was totally excited to go down. She and Ben were one of the first from our group.
Grace, Sydney and Spencer
Grace again. She would go with anyone that would take her, and then got the courage to do it on her own. She even tried going down without the sled, but then got stuck in the middle of the Hill until Ben went down and rescued her.
We only had 2 casualties of the day. Abbie went over the jump pictured above accidentally, but landed on her tummy laughing. She thought it was great. Kurt got hit in the back by some crazy sledders and was pretty sore for several days.
Around 6:30 we decided we had waited long enough and drug Grace out of bed. Once she realized it was Christmas morning she was so excited to see if Santa had come! Here we are waiting anxiously at the top of the stairs.
When we came down the stairs the first thing Grace saw was her Princess Barbie! (which was supposed to be in this picture, but I must have picked the wrong one) She gasped and ran to it and said "Daddy this is AMAZING!" She was so excited to get her Cinderella dolly and horse. Then she ran over to the plate and saw that Santa had eaten her cookie and milk and was even more excited. It was so fun to watch her. As we opened her doll we had her look through her stocking. She was so meticulous at pulling out everything individually. She even pulled out each candy one at a time, "and another, and another" Then she would count them, "1,3,6,7,8..." She used to count to 10, but somewhere along the way she lost 2,4&5. Needless to say she was so excited that Santa had come and couldn't wait to open more presents.
Here is Ben opening his new Wallet. This was my great surprise of the year for him. I found this taxi wallet online that was the same as the one he got on his mission and has loved for years. He was excited.
Here I am opening my sack of flour. Literally. Ben was super sneaky this year. Usually he can't keep a secret to save his life, but he really got me this year. I didn't even notice the two huge boxes hiding behind the Christmas Tree. This pink one was the first I opened. It had a sack of flour, a box of cereal, toilet paper rolls and a Wii in it! I was really getting mad when I was unwrapping all that food, and then I finally opened the Wii and was excited. Well, I had to warm up to the excitement. You see, he went WAY over budget and that's what kept going through my mind as I stared at the Wii box. I've always wanted one, but didn't think we'd get it because we were cutting back so much on Christmas this year. So he got me good this year. I was totally shocked and surprise. Oh yeah, the other box was Rock Band 2!!!!! We have had a lot of fun creating a band and touring the world.
We opened all of Garett's presents while he was sleeping. He wouldn't have cared anyway. So here he is with all of his gifts. I'm pumped about the Bumbo!
After we opened our gifts we went over to my mom's for more gift opening and a yummy breakfast! We then headed up to Ben's parents and on the way called into a conference call with all of my siblings and my brother Todd who is on his mission! It was so fun to hear him and talk with everyone all together! (A funny note about the car ride up. Grace was playing with her Cinderella and I hear her saying. "bump and bump" I looked back and she had taken the dress off and was examining her doll. "Look, bump and bump Mom!" It was hilarious, but then I had to explain what they were.) We exchanged gifts at Ben's parent's house and then shortly after headed home afraid that we were going to get stuck in the storm. We didn't it hardly snowed on us the rest of the day. So we headed back to my mom's for some food and fun.
Before we headed home for the night we had to get a cute picture of Garett in his Christmas outfit. What a sweet baby!
Here is Grace showing off her Tutu I made for her and her new ballerina slippers.
The spoiling continued at my Dad's house on Sunday where Grace got a rocking horse and we got money to buy a freezer! I'm so excited about that. (I totally forgot to pull out my camera there) We had such an amazing Christmas where we got to spend so much time with family and sit back and chat and enjoy the season. I'm grateful for our time together and sad that's it's over. 
