Christmas time has come and gone...

I boxed up Christmas today.  On one hand I was glad to put it away and put up the regular decorations, but I couldn't help feeling sad that Christmas is already over.  I would think to myself, "2 more weeks until Christmas, 1 more week until Christmas," and now it's been a week!  I think I was most excited for Christmas this year than past years.  I got all my Christmas shopping done early and had to wait for such a long time! (Or so it seemed)  But, it was an amazing Christmas and we had such a good time.

It was the boys first Christmas too!  I told myself that they wouldn't even know it was a special holiday so I really didn't need to get them anything but I just couldn't help myself.... I ended up just buying a lot of things they needed and wrapping them as gifts.  Christmas time with children is so much fun.  I can't wait until they're old enough to understand it better.

Can you believe these two pictures are the ONLY pictures I took all day??  I'm so mad at myself.

 

We started Christmas at the Messer's, our scheduled time was 6 AM.  Brian's little brother Trent gets super excited and can't hardly wait, so even 6 was pushing it.  I'm totally okay with it though... I was always the one who woke everyone up early because I couldn't sleep.  At about 5:30 I got a text from Trent that said, "Cockadoodledoo, be here at 5:50 okay?"  I love that kid.

 

At about 8 we headed back to my house and put the boys down for a nap.  So they didn't actually open presents with the Clawson side but that's okay.  I got some great gifts this year too!  I know Christmas isn't about the presents but I was so amazed at how much time and thought each person put into the gifts this year.  I love Christmas!

St George

At the beginning of November, we took our first family trip to St. George!  Brian was going to surprise me the night before because he had 3 days off of work but got too excited... plus his mom told him that he should probably tell his wife about a 3 day trip with twin boys.  (Smart woman)  Either way I was thrilled! We were a little worried about the drive down but the boys did pretty well!

We were able to stay at a friend's condo that we had stayed at before with friends so it was nice to stay at a place that we knew.  We slept in, went shopping, ate ice cream and barbequed, and went hiking.  It was beautiful weather!

 Grocery shopping

 Poor guy was so tired!  I love that cheesy smile

 Playing at the condo

 Attempting church there... we lasted about a half hour

 Hiking!

 Freaking out.

 Me and Crew

 I love this picture

 The horrible storm on the drive back!! It made our drive about an hour longer and was super scary.  I said a lot of prayers.

But don't worry... Finn got us back just fine ;)

 

The boys surprised us by sleeping through the night down in St. George and then about 4 days after that.  It was the best week of my life.... kidding, but seriously, it was awesome.  We're working on the sleeping routine thing again.  We'll get there right?!

 

Love my family, and I'm so glad we got to spend a few days together.