Our Christmas Holidays...

This was our first year not traveling for the holidays. We have missed our family of course, but it has been really nice not to have to pack everything up and live out of a suitcase - the nicest part has been that we didn't have to go out and buy winter gear! We started the holiday out with a new camera. This picture of Marshall would never have been so crisp and timed so right with our old camera!

Some really nice people in our ward came upon some snow in Northern AZ on Friday night and decided to pull over and load up their truck with it. They came by Christmas Eve and built us a snowman. The boys were in heaven! They had their first snowball fight and taste of white snow. Eli checked on the snowman about 10 times, just making sure he was still there. (If you haven't read "Snowmen at Night," you really should) I loved that all day long people were driving by very
slowly and taking pictures or doing double takes! We made a lot of new friends in our neighborhood.

Getting ready to open our Christmas Eve pjs. Poor Marshall was blocked in the photo, but doesn't the fire and stockings make it feel like maybe we were in Vermont or somewhere very cold?!

I love these ties!!! My boys wore them every Sunday since Thanksgiving, and I waited until Christmas morning to finally take a picture - not my brightest idea, all they wanted was candy and more presents, not some lame picture! But they sure were cute all matching. By the way, the key to cute Christmas ties is to either make them yourself or buy them at Children's Place in October when you first see them, because they go quick!

Cute Marshall playing in his Christmas present.

The boys received a lot of Legos (and Duplos) for Christmas.

More Legos!

My 12-layer jell-o. Probably the most culinary thing I've done in a long time! Go Me!