Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We are heading to Utah to enjoy New Years with Jason's family. I was too busy to write a letter this year - so the blog address went on the card instead :)

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day at my parents house in Roseville. We had a great day relaxing with the family, opening presents and playing a LOT of Rock Band. I am not a video game fan, but I really got into it. I love the singing...by the end of the day I was singing all the songs at the Expert or Hard Level. Joe, Will and I made an especially good band and were scoring above 200,00. For our first day of Rock Band...not too shabby. Here are some of the kids favorite presents.

Dawson's automatic Nerf gun - too cool.

Dawson loved this spiderman chain wallet.

This was the one thing Dawson asked Santa for over and over again. Thank goodness Santa found it - a remote control flying bird. We took it to the park in the afternoon and yes - it does fly!

Taya LOVES her Baby Alive. What a cool baby doll.

Taya's favorite present was the cradle Grandpa Davis made her. Grandma made the blankets. How adorable. I am sure this will be an heirloom piece. What a labor of love.
My mom made each of my kids a beautiful blanket. What a treasure. They love them and have slept with them every night since.

Jason LOVED his iPod and fancy cable to hook it up to his car stereo controls.

My cute baby who slept through all the present action....
The Packers 2008

Lisa was the master Lego builder with Dawson's new Lego's.

Rockin' it out with Rock Band

Christmas Morning

Here are the kids checkin' out the loot in the stockings Christmas morning. Santa had no problem polishing off the rice crispy treats and milk. Holden slept through the whole thing - but he was lucky enough to get new binkies in his stocking.

We set up Dawson's car set for the holidays and he has been having a blast playing with it. Dawson got it 2 years ago for Christmas - but he is finally able to play with it without help.

Ice Skating

We had fun going ice skating while my family was in town. I love when family comes to town. We drop everything and spend all our time with them. We typically pack up for the day and head over to my parents house. We just like to hang out and we try to throw in some fun activities too. So, this year we went ice skating. Dawson especially loved it. My brother, Joe and his wife Lisa left to go back home today. We will miss them. Thank you for coming to visit us - we love you!

It was a lot of work to skate with Taya since she likes to slide along depending on Jason and I to keep her from falling. Fun for her - work for us! Thank goodness she only skated half of the time and hung out with grandma the other half.

Dawson had a blast. He can skate around by himself. He wanted to try to turn and spin - which meant he fell quite a bit (his pants were soaking wet at the end) - but he just jumped back up and kept going. He was a great sport.

Joe and Lisa (my brother and sister-in-law)Jesi and Will (my sister and brother-in-law)

Mr. Holdoni

I just found this picture my parents took of Holden in the outfit he wore to my sister, Jessica's, wedding in August. Adorable! I didn't get a good one of him at the wedding. So, I was so excited to find this one. He was only 3 weeks old. I can't believe how much bigger he is now.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve celebrations began with a girls spa day in the morning. My dad treated my mom, sister, sister-in-law (Lisa) and I to a fabulous spa day. We all got facials and massages. What a treat - thanks Dad! I think this will start a new tradition. In the meantime, the boys ran the errands and Jason started cooking a turkey dinner. Dawson got to make treats for Santa at Payton Fisher's house. He was excited for days about that!

We hosted Christmas eve dinner at our home this year and it was a great time. My parents and brother and sister-in-law (Joe and Lisa) came over for a tasty turkey dinner with homemade rolls, games and singing Christmas songs with my dad on guitar. I love this Christmas tradition. I even broke out my flute, which I have not played in a few years, to play some Christmas songs. Surprisingly, I still remembered how to play it fairly well.

We offered to let the kids each open a Christmas present on Christmas Eve. Taya jumped on the idea and immediately ripped open a present from Dawson. But, Dawson said no thanks - he wanted to wait and open all of his on Christmas day. Funny kid. We let the kids stay up late - but Taya couldn't cut it and crashed by the fireplace waiting for Santa :)

12 Days of Christmas

I had a very special Christmas this year - here is the story. Jason and I had a conversation recently about love languages. He really wanted to understand what my love language is so he could try to show me he loved me in the way that would mean the most to me. I said that I have two - Acts of Service and Romance. He decided to step it up in both areas and I can say that I have really seen a big difference. He has not only done his typical help around the house - but he has stepped it up to a whole new level and I have really appreciated it. Then, he came up with a very romantic plan. He did the 12 days of Christmas for me. How sweet! Some of my favorites were the bubble bath with flowers, candles and a card, the gift card for a digital scrapbook consultation (because I keep debating starting digital scrapbooking, but don't know where or how to begin) and the dual sided electric heated mattress pad (because I am always complaining about how cold it is when I get into bed). I was giddy for a couple days about the heating pad. The ultimate gift on the last day (Christmas Eve) was a gorgeous peridot and diamond ring (my birth stone). I have wanted a birth stone ring for so long and I am so excited to have this beautiful ring. I truly got spoiled this Christmas. Thank you Jason. I love you. You made me feel very special and loved this Christmas.

Here are some of my great gifts.

Hittin' the Slopes

We hit the slopes for the first time of the season on Tuesday and had an AMAZING day! The snow was awesome - tons of fresh powder. We had great weather - no snow and not too cold. It was one of the best, if not the best, snowboarding days I have had. I was worried about going snowboarding the first time after taking off last season since I was pregnant with Holden. The first time getting off the lift I felt a bit rusty - but it all came back quickly and I was cruising by my second run. Jason talked me into boarding in the powder and it was a blast. I love that feeling - like floating on a cloud. Dawson did his first all day lesson and loved it. He got really good at making stops and he skied in some powder as well (although his was not intentional). My mom, dad, brother, sister in-law, sister and brother-in-law all came for our great day at Northstar. Yeah for the snow!