A Very Merry Christmas

We had a very merry Christmas this year. It was so much fun to have all of Justin's family together. We are all getting ready to spread out across the country and are definitely going to miss hanging out together all the time. Our festivities started Tuesday when Justin decided we needed to leave a day early to beat a wind storm that was coming through northern Utah, so we quickly packed up and were out the door by 3:30. Due to various things that I won't go into detail about, we didn't arrive in Boise until 1:00 a.m. It's always fun to start the holidays dead tired ; )
Wednesday we just hung around and then that evening we went and had dinner with my family and went to the basketball game to watch Lindy perform her solo. She did awesome! I dressed Matthew up in his blue and gold sweatsuit and he looked like he fit right in at the high school. After the game we opened presents with my family. Matthew got a sweet little Lightning McQueen car from Grandpa Koyle, and some awesome scrubs to match his daddy! Koyle got the cutest little hand puppets.

Thursday the rest of Justin's family arrived and the party began. I don't remember what we did on Thursday, but I'm sure it was wonderful. Justin and I did help Jay do the grocery shopping and check out our receipt:The bottom half of it is extra coupons and promotional things they put on the end of the receipt, so we didn't really buy that many groceries, but it was still pretty funny to watch that thing print out.
Friday was the Polar Express. Matthew had been looking forward to this for a very long time, and he LOVED it! The train even took us to the North Pole: I started feeling sick on the train ride, so Grandma got to enjoy the train with Matthew more than I did. That evening I really was sick so I stayed home from the big prime rib dinner with the Grants; I was bummed to miss out on that because it is always good food and good company. But after some rest I was feeling better the next morning.
Saturday was Christmas Eve and full of festivities. After naps, we had planned to do a live nativity with the family and record it for the kids to watch afterwards. We started dressing up the kids and they looked so cute that we started taking pictures...and that's as far as we ever made it in the nativity. But seriously, they looked so cute. Afterwards, Emily kept following me around when I was holding Koyle saying, "That baby is mine. He's my baby." So cute. Then after dinner we decorated gingerbread houses (no pictures because Koyle was having a rough evening and I was taking care of him). Then it was time to open pajamas. Tami had been dying of excitement all day and we all understood why as soon as we saw them. She had actually found a way to get her picture taken with Kellen Moore, and then she had made t-shirts for everyone! They are pretty awesome, and now we all have matching pajamas and BSU shorts to go with them! Then it was off to bed.
That night was pretty long because Matthew woke up at 3:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep until 5:15, and then it was up at 7 to do Christmas morning.It was a whirlwind of a morning with 16 people opening presents. Then we went to church. After dinner we drove around and looked at Christmas lights.
Monday was supposed to be snow day but there wasn't any snow anywhere. So we drove up to Sage Hen and found a little bit of snow. We built a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, pulled the kids around on a sled, and the boys did some ice fishing on the lake. They caught a few fish and it was really neat to walk out on the ice, although a little scary at first. Tuesday we just hung out at home. That night the extended Jones family got together at the church to play games and eat yummy treats.
Wednesday we loaded up and headed home. We stopped in Gooding to see Grandma Koyle on our way; she is starting to get old so it was good to visit with her again while she still remembers.
It was a wonderful week in Idaho, and it is good to be home and on a regular schedule again and getting some sleep.
Quote of the week: Matthew was really having a hard time and was whining and crying all the time. One night as Justin was putting Matthew to bed Justin asked, "Matthew, what's wrong? Why are you so sad?" Matthew replied, "I'm tired Dad."
Justin: "Why are you tired, buddy?"
Matthew: "Too many people, too many noises."
Justin: "Well, we're going to be here for a few more days, so you're going to have to find a way to be happy."
Matthew: "No Dad, happy is at home."
I love my little homebody.