Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas this year. I worked for 4 hrs on Christmas Eve so we didn't get away until about 7:45 at night on Christmas Eve. We took off and headed for Rexburg to spend it at my parents house. It was a fun drive Carter fell asleep about half way and Sean and I just talked about fun Christmas traditions and things that we used to do as kids. Carter kept his look out for Rudolph's nose while he was awake and gave us the updates periodically. He was pretty excited. We arrived around 11:45 pm and everyone was still awake. Even my Grandma and Grandpa Cheney stayed up to welcome us home! It was so great to arrive with open arms. As soon as Carter woke up and realized where we were there was no getting him back to sleep anytime soon. We let him play around for a while and vent all of his built up energy then off to bed! Man were we all tired!
The next morning we woke up at 7:30 d/t Kylie's request! If we had it my way we would have slept till Carter woke up! But I'm glad we didn't wait it was well worth getting up early! I didn't do real good with getting pictures this year so these are all the after effects of Carters Santa presents. All he talked about from October on was how he wanted Transformers for Christmas. It changed daily whether it was Optimis Prime or Bumblebee. He ended up getting both! Plus more from Grandma Nee'! I think they kept Sean and Scott more busy than anyone else. They ended up being pretty complex. Sean was totally fascinated with them and had to get a picture of them all set up!

This was another one of Carters gifts. He rode on one his summer and that was all he would talk about it forever! At first he didn't really know what to think but once he took it for a ride he was all about it! He is pretty fun when he rides it. It had two different gears so he can push down with his foot and when he wants to go a little faster he turns the handlebar! He gets down low and reeves it up! It is great. He got way to spoiled for Christmas is all I can say. It turned out to be so much fun.

My favorite part was being able to play with toys and lay around visiting with family. It was fun to have my grandma and grandpa there to celebrate the day with. We are so blessed to have such a great family that all live so close together. I miss being able to play games on Sunday evenings and just visiting. It was so much fun to re-live those times. Scotty got us a fun new game called Wise and Otherwise. That was a lot of fun to play with everyone. Sean got me Super Mario Brothers for the Wii and that ended up being a big hit. It is so much fun to play with four players cause you all play together and it is just a riot. Can't really explain just have to play to understand! Sean got a bunch of hiking gear so this summer we'll hopefully be able to get out and do some hiking! That is one hobby we would like to get into a little more than we do now. On Christmas morning after gifts were opened we were able to get on the web cam with Ryan and Stacies families. It was so much fun. It is amazing how we can all be in different areas but still see each other and communicate that way. It was a great way for everyone to interact and see what everyone got.

Of course we had to do a little bowling and movie watching! We went and saw Avatar on Christmas Day! It was an amazing movie! Totally recommend watching that one. Bowling was a hoot. We are a competitive family which made it that much more fun. We were each given quarters and then every time someone got a strike we had to give them a quarter. I'm not sure who ended up with all the winnings but I think Carter spent most of it playing video games.

Here are my two favorite boys! I love them very much!

After Carter would bowl he would put his hand up like this until the ball hit the pins! It was real cute! He loved bowling!

The worst part about the holidays is having to pack up and head home! I hate leaving. If we were able to see everyone a little more often it wouldn't be so hard but it was not easy to leave this time. I was very sad to pack it all up and head out. This is a picture of how packed our car was to try and get everything home. Sean made it all work out someone! We made it home safe and sound. Gotta love Christmas! The best time of the year!