Finally!

Ok...so I know I lied on my last post but better late than never, right? It's been a whirlwind from Thankgiving through New Year's to say the least. Settle down and get comfortable because this is going to be a long post!

Thanksgiving - We had a very small and quiet Thanksgiving at our house this year. My mom came down so it was just her and our little family. Dinner was delicious (thanks mom!) and over the course of the week, I ate the entire apple pie pretty much by myself and it was delicious. We also got our tree, inside Christmas decorations and outside lights up and I have to admit, our house was very cozy and ready for Christmas. After Thanksgiving, it was back to work for a few weeks.

December - One of the highlights for me was to go to warm and sunny Orlando for training. My training was held at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center and it was beautiful...I've made it a goal that we are going to take our kids there someday and it's not too far from Disneyland. Besides the long daytime trainings, I had a great time just going back to my room and relaxing and sleeping through the night without the baby monitor next to my bed. Although I did miss my kids, it was nice to have some time to read and just relax. Both Ray and I thought that December would be a relatively "quiet" month at work (as it usually is) it was unusually and ridiculously BUSY clear through December 31st. With Ray's company trying to transition itself to Adobe and don't even ask me why I was so busy at work...it was hectic right up until our holiday vacations started on December 23rd. All I can say is thank goodness for online shopping and free shipping!

But, we were both able to take a lot of time off, basically from Christmas Eve through January 4th (minus about 4 hours I had to go into the office to meet a 12/31 filing deadline). Ray's company completely shuts down between Christmas and New Year's and I had vacation time that I had to use by 12/31 or I would have ended up losing it. So, we were forced into an 11-day vacation...and it was great! We didn't do much except spend a lot of time together and Ray and I took the kids to daycare for 1 day and did our annual "Kami & Ray" day together.

We went to the ward Christmas party and both Kaden and Jackson were so excited for Santa, Jackson said he was going to kiss Santa. But, when Santa finally came, Jackson wouldn't go anywhere near him so Kaden was the only one that sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wanted. Judging by the second picture, I think even Kaden was a little freaked out by Santa or maybe Santa had really bad breath!

Being able to be home with the boys on Christmas Eve and just spend a lazy day together was great. My mom and dad came down to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with us so we had a nice dinner together, watched a movie about Jesus' birth, and then let the boys open one Christmas present. They were so excited for Christmas and I think Ray and I were just as excited, maybe more. We got them off to bed as early as we could but made sure to leave the cookies and milk for Santa. Once the boys were in bed, Santa was busy doing his thing and kept thinking that he heard the boys sneaking out of their rooms, but they were fast asleep. Christmas morning, Evan woke up at his usual 6 a.m. but Kaden and Jackson were still asleep but around 7, they came out. Kaden came out first and then went into Jackson's room saying, "Jackson, wake up, it's Christmas morning!" Then they hurried downstairs and I can't even describe their excitement. After taking it all in, Kaden went over and said, "Mom, Santa ate the cookies, they're gone!" To say the least, we had a great day and the kids were excited all day and we stayed in our PJs all day and played and ate and relaxed...it was WONDERFUL. Our family present from Santa was a Wii with Lego Star Wars for Kaden, Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Guitar Hero World Tour with 2 guitars, the drums, and the microphone.

I don't have any pictures of Christmas to share, it was all that I could do to get it on the camcorder. Some of the other highlights of our Christmas / New Year's holiday were:

1. The day Ray and I spent together, going to the new Oquirrh Hills Temple and then doing popcorn and a movie at the house WITHOUT kids!

2. Playing Wii until we were exhausted and rocking out with my sister's family on New Year's night.

3. Eating delicious food at P.F. Chang's on New Year's day.

4. Going to dinner and the 3-D version of Avatar with friends and NO kids (are you sensing and theme here?)

5. Spending each day with my family and not having to worry about work, school, homework, getting ready for Christmas, having breakfast together, playing Wii together, and staying in our pajamas all day at least 3 times during the break.

6. Taking Kaden to pick out toys for the Christmas room at the stake house and helping him to start to understand that Christmas is about giving, not just about getting.

Although I don't have any great holiday pictures, I do have some that I wanted to share since I haven't posted for so long. I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday and someday, I vow to send a Christmas card but it's extremely difficult to get 3 boys together, looking good, and smiling at the same time but we loved receiving everyone else's cards and we are so thankful for our friends and family and all that they do for our family.

Our sweet Kaden (1/5/10)

Our sassy Jackson ("Jacksie" - 1/5/10)

Sweet baby Evan ("Evee" - 1/5/10)

Mom and Evan (1/5/10)

Our Sweet Boys (see any resemblance? - 1/5/10)

Jackson thought he was pretty neat sitting in Evan's bouncy toy (12/23/09)

Evan during his favorite time of the day - tub time! (11/26/09)