Christmas...Extended!

All of Tadd's family gathered December 26th to do the cousin drawing gifts, and some of the adult drawing gifts. With such a big family, we didn't manage to get together on Christmas day to open every gift! I snapped a few pictures of the kids opening their gifts, it was fun to watch them!

Papa helping Bree open her gift of baby headbands, and a bottle! Bree is the only one of Kris and Kecia's kids that has ever had to eat from a bottle! Kecia never had a problem nursing Kyra and Adrie, but had to stop with Bree when she miscarried just a month or so ago. :(

Ava got a doctor's kit!

Adrie received little princess figurines!

Andrew got a cool Tonka trunk that really dumps!

Ellie got some dolls to dress her American Girl Dolls, which she cleverly named Ashley and Chad (yes, both girls).

*Kecia was in the way when Kyra was opening her present, geez!*

Mazie received fairy princess Barbie's!

Madi got some pajama shorts and some adorable slippers!

All of Steve and Camme's kids went in on a gift for them, which is a very unique beautiful picture of the Provo temple. It was really exciting to see them open it, it's such an amazing picture, and now hangs nicely on their wall to constantly remind us of the covenants we've made to our spouses for those of us that are married, and a reminder to those that aren't, of where they want to be married. I'm so grateful I can spend eternity with my husband!

Peterson Christmas Morning

After Tadd and I opened gifts with his family, we headed to Elk Ridge to get our party on down there. There was much Christmas cheer at the Peterson home, and we had a great time opening gifts.

The girls received stunning shower caps in their stocking

Mally was oh-so-excited to receive a camera!

My mom and dad presented Tadd and me with Apple TV! If you're unaware of what that is, google it! It's so rad!

My dad has NEVER asked for anything, other than socks, and I'm sure that's only because he can't think of anything else. This year, however, he watched a commercial for a Norelco razor and said he wanted it! Mally, Haley and I were thrilled, and immediately went out looking for it! We were so excited to see him open it, and received a big grin...just what we wanted!

My favorite gift from my mom and dad was a photo book with pictures from our old house. As soon as I opened up the gift and saw a picture of our old mailbox with our address printed below, tears came to my eyes. I will really treasure this book for years and years. Thank you Mom.

What would Christmas day be like without a nap???

Cox Christmas Morning

It's been a tradition for years in Tadd's family for the married kids to sleep over at the Cox home, which everyond did up until a few years ago. Some of the adults have kids of their own now, and like to do their own Christmas at their houses. That's very fun for them, but sad for us! Luckily Chris and Tysen decided to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's this year, so we did have lots of fun with the twins and Ava in the morning!

Tadd and Ava before she went off to bed so Santa could come (a man she is quite terrified of).

Just arose from our Christmas slumber to open presents!

Ava was so wiped out that she slept on Tysen for a little bit before waking up and discovering it was Christmas!

Our stockings. We never got around to fishing our stockings out of all the boxes packed away in the storage room, so Camme (Tadd's mom) was gracious enough to let us use her two extras.

Crew saying hello

Ava's jammies were a little too big, so she was constantly stumbling over them. It was really funny. She'd also get her feet poked out of the snaps on the inside!

Lindey and Corbin came over after having Christmas with his family. It was really fun!

Ava on her little ladybug bike. Is it weird that I blog pictures of other people's kids? Yes, kinda...

We had so much fun at Tadd's parents. They are always so incredibly generous to us, and we really appreciate it!

Christmas Jammies!

Tadd's family does the matching Christmas pajamas on Christmas eve, and I was more than happy to join in on the tradition when I was welcomed into the family.

Christmas '05

Christmas '06

Christmas '07

And...I thought I would include this little gem as well. See below...

Christmas Eve Festivities!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and took some great pictures! Enjoy!

Look how cute they are with their striped shirts! And sisters, you are right...Tadd does look happiest holding babies. But if you ask him, he is NOT ready yet.

Tadd and I have been accused of loving the twins more than our other neices and nephew. Let me assure you all, this is not the case! We love them all equally! However, who wouldn't want to take picture after picture of these boys at this currect stage in life? Also, just the other day I wanted to take a picture with Ellie (4), and she refused! The boys really have no say in the matter, so away we click!
*

After spending some time at Tadd's parents we headed down to my parents in Elk Ridge. On the way there we pulled over to help push a car out of the snow, Tadd was blasted with snow from the rear tires, as this car was rear wheel drive only. We also assisted in towing a girl out of a snow bank on our way home from my parents. What good samaritans we are!

My side of the family draws names for our gift exchange, and then we open up those "sister gifts" Christmas Eve. Those gifts are now "sibling gifts" with the addition of the brothers-in-law.

Mallory received a gift card to Forever 21 and bracelets from Haley. She loved them!

Luckily Tadd's finger doesn't inhibit him from opening his gifts! Lauren drew his name this year.
Yipee! Just what he wanted!

A target for shooting practice!

Lauren opening each little item of her gift. I was sure to supply her with all sorts of little girly items.


Haley received a gift card to P.F Changs for her and Jon to enjoy, as well as a pampering gift set!

I got the CUTEST rain boots from Whitney! The perfect gift! I didn't even remotely suspect it, and I've never had rain boots! I just love them!


I feel like Tadd and I raked it in with our sibling gifts, but there is nothing like seeing the person you gave to open their gift.
I love that!

Anniversary Inn Weekend

Tadd and I agreed not to give gifts this year, after I had already purchased one or two gifts for him (go figure), so to assure that he didn't feel too bad about not buying me anything I booked us a two night stay at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake the weekend before Christmas. I couldn't keep it a secret for longer than a week, since Tadd started to complain that we don't get to spend much time together. After hearing that, I just blurted it out!

We left Provo around noon on Friday and hit IKEA on the way, since neither of us had ever been and we needed to pick up a gift card! It was really fun walking around; that place is huge! I've never really had the chance to decorate a home, so I haven't even figured out what my style is yet! Thank goodness for the showroom, I'll definitely be visiting there when we get an apartment of our own!

After IKEA we headed up to Tadd's physical therapy appointment up by the U. They spent an hour and a half on his pinky finger, imagine that! I mastered a few extra levels on my phone playing the game Brick Breaker, which is my new obsession. After his doc appointment we went to Chili's to fill me up, I was about to die! Chili's has kind of become "our" restaurant, as it was where we went on our first date, and also the place we've gone for anniversaries, birthdays and such.

I was bound and determined to find Nordstrom Rack in Sugarhouse, so we headed over there after eating. It was a total let down, since I had expected one million pairs of Sevens to sift through, but sadly there were practically none. I ended up leaving with a pair of $15 Vans, which made it somewhat worthwhile, while Tadd left empty handed.

By the time we'd finished at the rack, it was time to go check into our room! I had booked us two different rooms, Neptune's Cave for Friday night and Jungle Safari for Saturday night! I was so super excited to check in and see the rooms, but was disappointed with the first room. It was really small, and freezing cold!!! We had to turn the heater on full blast, and leave for a few hours to try and warm it up. We walked around Temple Square for a little bit, and took pictures by the only good trees. We didn't see a lot of lights this year, it was a little disappointing!

In front of the tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

The red tree on Temple Square

Can you even see me? I'm kinda hidden and little.

Can you tell by my face how cold it was? The weather sculpted me into an ugly face, and then froze it there!

The next day Tadd and I switched rooms to the Jungle Safari! I'm really glad I booked that one for the second night, since it was much nicer.

Yup, you guessed it! Tadd is taking a bath! We didn't use the shower because I was afraid of it! It came shooting out of the elephants trunk in four different places!

I woke up Sunday morning and was bored while I waited for Tadd to wake up so I took this picture of the view above our bed.

This is also a view from our bed. The TV was set really high up on the wall above a straw shack!

My favorite picture of the trip, Tadd wrestling the alligator!

After settling into our room we got ready for the day and headed to Gateway. I did a little shopping at Forever 21, which is HUGE, and then we ate at Z Tejas. If anyone would ever like a recommendation of what to eat there, go with the Jerk Chicken Salad. It was incredible!

Heading over to Gateway!

It has been determined that I eat roughly triple of what Tadd eats. I had a ton of cornbread as an appetizer, all of my salad, plus dessert, and he only had some cornbread, and about half of his burger. There is something seriously wrong with that.

That night we relaxed a little in our room and watched Ultimate Fighting and Bull Riding. My amazing husband resisted the urge to watch the BYU vs. UCLA game to spend some time with his wife. On top of that, he didn't have anyone to yell with. :)

After some R&R we visited the Clark Planitarium! It brought back memories of junior high when we used to visit it as the Hansen Planitarium!

Once again, driving over to Gateway on our date! I have an obsession with taking pictures of us driving with my camera phone. I think I have to confirm that my hair, make up and outfit are satisfactory.

Here is Tadd predicting the weather!

We learned lots and lots about our earth and planets! I was just fascinated!

We had such a good time, and would both agree it was the best Christmas we've had since we've been married. Of course, neither Tadd nor I obeyed the rule of no gifts, but we certainly toned it down a lot, and made our weekend stay our big gift!