Christmas 2012!!!

Whew! I feel like I haven't written on the blog in a long time. But I guess I have a good excuse - being with family..and away from home with no personal computer. I'll try to put everything I can remember about the past week on this post, so it might be extremely long. Don't feel bad if you don't read it all. :P This is mostly for my records anyway.

We drove down to Colorado last Thursday, the 20th. We arrived around 8-9pm. Lydia did real well on the ride down. She slept and ate her snacks and played with her toys. Whenever we'd stop we'd get out and let her walk and stretch her legs. However, by the time we got to Jonathan's parents, she developed a nasty rat's nest in the back of her head! Funny, but really hard to get out! That night we stayed at Laura's house.

the back uh her head is ri-dic-uh-lous!

The next morning we got up early and everybody headed out to the huge mall to do some Christmas shopping. We must've spent at least 5-6 hours there (in which me and Jon didn't buy a single thing! haha). It's amazing to me how much time you can spend in a mall, without actually getting anything.

We took a picture of a huge shoe store for Mari. We thought it'd make her jealous. It did.

say Cheese Tiki!

While at the mall, in the food court, they had a big carousel going. Lydia loved the idea of riding on the horsies..until she was actually on it. She did not have that much fun sitting on it. By the end of shopping my feet and legs were really tired and I was exhausted. That night their Spanish branch at church was having their Christmas party. We had yummy pozole (seriously.. my favorite mexican dish ever. I always tell Jonathan I could just sit there and chug the pot of it... I can't really, but I will stuff myself silly. Mmm).

I honestly can't remember what we did Saturday. I think we were at the parent's home all day, waiting for Jonathan's parents and brothers to come home. They left at 4 and by 8 we were pretty hungry (they still hadn't returned by 10). They were going to bring us food, but we couldn't wait any longer so we decided to drive around and find a place to eat. Somehow, "conveniently" (or not)... my credit card ended up extending my credit limit.. just in time for Christmas. Those sly devils.. it could be a good and a bad thing. But, we figured we might as well go eat somewhere nice. So we ate at the Olive Garden (we hadn't been there in 2 years, since living in Texas.) so that was really nice.

At the Olive Garden. She was really cooperative :)

 Then, we went to Walmart and I picked out some slippers as a present for me ("from" Jonathan haha) and for some last minute things for Lydia before Sunday. Sunday we went to church at the spanish branch. Me and Lydia just hung out in the back since we didn't understand much anyway. Afterward we went home and ate lunch and then had a nice big nap.

attempting to take pictures haha

Sunday we just rested. Each night we spent at Laura's, which Lydia absolutely loved. She had so much fun playing with Anna's toys, her baby dolls, and just following her around in general. She'd say, "An-nuh.. An-nuh" over and over. I'm surprised Anna wasn't sick of her name after a week of her repeating it constantly haha.

on our way to see the puppies. She was more excited to think about puppies than actually pet them.

Monday, Christmas Eve, I wanted Jonathan to take us to the smaller mall that had the puppies so Lydia could see them. I honestly thought she would be thrilled. When we got there she liked looking through the windows, but when we went up to the puppy pens she refused to pet them after one licked her. I think I turned her into a big girly girl because she always said, "ew". She did not want to be licked..at all. I think she actually liked the lizards, frogs, birds, and rats better than the puppies. I seriously thought she'd cry when we'd leave the pet shop, but she couldn't care less.

 After that I told Jonathan to pick out something, anything, that he wanted (for it to be "from me") haha. I wanted him to get something he really wanted instead of like.. an electric toothbrush from me ;) He ended up getting a Tennessee Titans Tshirt. After that we went to Target and I got a few maternity shirts and a black stuffed puppy for Lydia.

saying cheese haha

the tree has neon lights (lime green, pink, orange and yellow?), so when it's on it looks mostly pink haha, but it's so pretty.

A gift Anna got. it's a Brave coloring book they took turns coloring.

oh, hi, mom!

Grandpa with Lydia

Anthony and Zach building a home depot gingerbread house.

pretty legit

Jonathan and Tito

Baby Samantha and Zach's Dad.

We spent Christmas Eve at Laura's and had a nice feast. They made ham, potatoes, and green bean casserole, and his mom had made pozole (mmmmmmmmmmm). It was nice. Unfortunately, Lydia was given a sippy cup with a small amount of dr. pepper in it, but that small amount did some big damage! It took her over an hour and a half to go to sleep that night. I was so exhausted and frustrated with her by then..and she banged me in the head while I was asleep. By then both us girls were crying. And then after I got her to sleep and put her in her bed, she woke up again during the night and ended up sleeping with us after all. That Christmas morning was tiring! haha

All the presents that were brought to Laura's house for Christmas morning.

When we were shopping at the mall, I had asked little Anna what she wanted for Christmas. She told me, "a motorcycle" I then asked her... "uhh anything else?" And she said, "a helmet and gloves" hahaha. Well, she must've been good this year because Santa brought her a motorcycle and riding attire (the big bag on the left).

being silly

Her favorite face she made the whole time we were there..constantly..and especially when we'd take pictures. She hasn't done it once since we've been home. She knows how to work her magic at Grandma's apparently!! haha

opening presents

Grandma, Baby Samantha covered in presents, and uncle Tony

Grandpa and Tito checking out his new zip up tie for easy wearing!

Laura, Anna and half of Zach opening his Bronco attire for 12/31's game!

Haha we thought this was funny.. she hopped inside baby Sam's feeding chair. Must've thought it was the right size for her.. .either that or she was hungry for some Elmo! (you can tell by looking at her face this was when she had her cold.)

Christmas morning was full of tons of presents. Lydia got her stuffy puppy, lots of clothes, an Elmo stuffy, a singing Cookie Monster, a stuffed bear, and lots of stocking stuffers. Baby Elena got even MORE clothes, and a gift card to BabiesRus. Jonathan got some star wars gadgets/toys, the game CLUE (for the both of us), his shirt, a tie, Batman Begins and the Dark Knight on blue ray, plus a blue ray player from his mom, and socks. I got a shirt, my slippers, It's a Wonderful Life/White Christmas movie, a new Diaper bag (that I picked out... my old one's zipper broke), yummy lotion from Bath and Body works, and stocking stuffers. I feel like we got so much this year it really is hard for me to remember what all I got. I'm sure I left out a lot of gifts. Later, we went to Zach's parents house for Christmas lunch. It was very nice and yummy. After that we went to Jon's parents house and waited til 7ish. By then Lydia had developed a little cold and was feeling pretty sick. I was trying to decide if I should stay with her or go with the boys and see Les Miserables. I ended up going but I probably should've stayed home. I was so exhausted from the day and night before. I yawned through half the movie. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't sleepy, hadn't sat 3 rows from the screen, and maybe had subtitles (haha I'm old! but I like knowing what's being said and I couldn't understand what they were saying some of the time). But I really liked the idea and theme of the movie .. how people can change and become better and actually change others' lives while they're changing their own. I loved the ending. (And...I was kinda glad when Russel Crowe jumped off the bridge haha.. I can only take so much of his singing voice.)

Wednesday, the day after Christmas, the sister missionaries came over and taught Jonathan's grandpa a missionary lesson. He was really receptive and thankful they came over and even more thankful that they gave him a Book of Mormon. It was fun for me to try to understand the dialogue between him and the Sisters. Later that evening, my good friends from high school, Sam McLaren and Samantha Koeller wanted to meet up with me and my (little) family. But Jonathan invited Laura and her husband Zach, and Laura wanted Alex and Anthony to come along. We also had the 3 girls. So it was a big ol' party at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was yummy and it was so nice to catch up with them!! It's so cool to see people from high school in different parts of the states. We're all so grown up. :) After that me and Jonny went to Laura's and watched the Avengers in blue ray. It was my 4th time watching it this year so I ended up retiring early. Jonathan, however, can never get enough of it, apparently! One of his favorite movies!

Thursday was our last day there. We spent most the time at Jonathan's parents house. They ordered Chinese for dinner. Lydia played with Anna Isabella and with her Abuelito, "Tito". Lydia really loves Tito. She thought it was hilarious whenever he'd try to get her (even though he's very old and very frail). She didn't want him to actually hold her, but she thought it was so funny to just lay on the floor beyond arm's reach and just laugh and be silly. I'm really glad she loves him.. I am sure he is very lonely without his wife this time of year. Me and Jonathan went to the store later that night to get some diapers/milk/snacks for the trip for the next morning, and everyone else watched LOTR2 until it was time to go to bed. We had to be up early friday morning to leave.

They are Mexicans! Eating a tortilla haha.. I dressed Lydia in her Bronco Tebow jersey (because we felt bad for the bad rap he's getting haha) and then Anna said she wanted to wear her's to match. :)  I think they were watching LOTR here but I'm not sure haha) Best Buds!

That morning we said our goodbyes and hugged everyone. It was a tight squeeze to fit us and everything we were bringing home in Alex's little car. Little room for a 12+ hour drive. Needless to say, I'm done with road trips after this next one to Payson on Monday. Luckily we won't be gone for too long/far, so it won't be that bad, but it is pretty hard to travel when you're pregnant.

Our ride home saying cheese haha..

in front of our tree at home with probably only half of our gifts.. we were really blessed this year. :)

Anyway, if you've made it this far in this post, congratulations! It may not be the most interesting thing to read, but I'm glad I'll have it to look back on and remember the things we did Christmastime 2012.

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!!