Christmas 2015

We planned a pretty chill Christmas. We wanted to stay at home this year so we could wake up and open presents at our house. Lance worked until noon on Christmas Eve, then he came home and took the kids sledding. We enjoyed steak and funeral potatoes for dinner. We read some Christmas stories, put our pjs on, and watched a Christmas movie. The kids went to sleep and Lance and I got things ready. Lance wanted me to open one of his gifts that night. It was a bundt pan. So we used that to make our butterscotch rolls to eat Christmas morning.

Due to many reasons, I planned on having a very small Christmas this year. The kids have so many toys, I really didn't want to get any more, plus there is really nothing that Lance or I needed. I bought the kids some things that they needed, like shoes that actually fit them, new pajamas, socks, underwear. Kids favorite presents, right? Then I got them a few board games, and that was about it.

One day, our Relief Society president asked if it was ok if the ward donated a couple of things for our kids. I was thinking that maybe they would drop off a toy for each kid, maybe a small treat. One night, she stopped by with a giant box that was filled with toys and clothes and so many things for the kids. I couldn't believe how many things were in that box. I tried to tell her we didn't need it all and to give it to someone else, but she insisted.

Lance and I spent Christmas Eve wrapping those gifts and by the time we were finished, our living room was exploding with presents. So much for a small Christmas. I'm still in awe when I look at these pictures and see how much stuff was under our tree.

Will woke up super excited because Santa had come. We let him lay in bed with us for a minute and told him he couldn't wake Blake up just yet. Finally, we told him he could go wake her up.

They were both very excited about everything. It was so fun to watch them, because they would get so excited. Will pulled an orange out of his sock, and he was so dang happy. And Blake was thrilled with some tiny toy cars that were in hers.

One of the things that they had asked for was a bell. Will wanted a little bell to ring to use in his grocery store. And Blake wanted one of those "call bells" that are always at fabric stores or other stores that you ring when you need help. They wouldn't put those bells down. In their eyes, it was pretty much the greatest gift ever.

They were even thrilled with the clothes and shoes and other non-fun things. Blake got a pair of sparkly shoes, and she immediately put them on and wouldn't stop talking about them.

I begged Lance not to get me any presents. The only thing I even said was a possibility was some new indoor soccer shoes. Other than that, I really didn't need or want anything. And I didn't want him to spend money on gifts just so I had something to open. Well, he didn't exactly listen to me. He bought me a nice pan and Adele's new cd. Plus he planned a trip to the spa day with a friend and organized a babysitter so that I could plan a vacation of my choice in a couple of months.

We ate our delicious butterscotch rolls, then relaxed while the kids went crazy with their new things. We weren't planning on heading up to Logan until the next day, but when we talked with Grandma and Grandpa Hinton, Will immediately asked when we could go up there. He and Blake begged us to go to Grandma's for the next few hours. After debating for quite some time, we finally made the decision to head up, even though by that time it was getting fairly late.

When we got up to Logan, everyone was so excited to give their presents so we got to open more presents. Amber and Julie made all of the kids these super cute things to go over a table. Blake's was this yellow house. It has a door that opens, that cute window that has curtains, and a mailbox that also opens. Will got a train station. There is an open/close sign by the front door. There was a map with all of the different stops on it. And there was a large train on the back. Inside, there were brochures and tickets for people to purchase at the ticket window. They were out all weekend and hardly ever left alone. The kids definitely loved them.

We were planning on leaving on Saturday after Amber and Chad arrived. On their way to Logan from California, they were in an accident and rolled their car 2.5 times right outside of Reno. That was Saturday morning. We spent most of Saturday waiting to hear updates and anxious to know what was going on. Rylee broke her foot in several places. Amber's cheek was pretty swollen. Chad had a small cut on his hand, and Gavin had a few small scrapes. Overall, mostly everyone was just shaken up and very sore. A lot of things happened that were super fortunate. They ended up staying the night in Reno and headed up to Logan on Sunday. We wanted to stay and see them and make sure they were really alright, so we ended up going to church on Sunday with the Hintons.

Amber's family didn't get there until after dinner and we only were able to see them for a little bit before we had to head home. When we got home, our heat was down to 51 degrees. I had it set for 70, so I knew that something was wrong. Our furnace kept kicking on and it sounded like it was working, but the temperature wouldn't rise. We bundled the kids up, put on some extra blankets, and made it through the night. The next morning, I called someone to come check it out. There was some build up on some heat sensor so it wasn't accurately reading it. The only way to prevent that was to have tune-ups annually. We hadn't been very good at keeping up to date with those, so I had him do one. He also informed me that whoever put our furnace in "cheated" us and put in the wrong size. He said that our furnace is for a house maybe half of our size and that no company should have ever put that in our house. He recommended that we get a new one. Not the best news to hear. It works, though perhaps not very well, so we are going to try to hold off replacing it for a while. About 5 hours after the guy had left, our temperature was only up to 54. It was a slow process, but eventually our house warmed back up. 

We had a really good Christmas and were completely spoiled by grandparents and our ward. I feel like so often in my life I have been on the receiving end of service and good deeds, and I really hope that one day I can pay it forward and help other people out.