Christmas Break
A great thing about Law School is that they give a 3 week break during the holidays. Sad that this will be the last year for that. We soaked up the time off by heading to snowy Utah to spend Christmas with Dan's family. It was definitely a winter wonderland, which I love. But mostly I love the fact I can spend over a week in the cold and then come right back to sunny, warm, SD. It was a wonderful Christmas, full of family, friends, movies, relaxing, playing in the snow and drinking LOTS of hot coco.
Temple Square Lights
Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a trip to temple square to see the lights. I can't believe how many lights they put up each year. It's really amazing, although a tad freezing.
Snow Play
I couldn't go to Utah with out playing in all that fluffy white stuff. Ella LOVED the snow. She never complained once about being cold. Maybe because I put so many layers on her that she resembled the puffy kid on the Christmas story...but hey she loved it.
Trolley Square Lights
There is no bigger fan of Christmas decor and lights than my lil bean. When ever she spots a tree or Christmas lights she gets super giddy. So fun.
Christmas Sunday
We were all color coordinated and it wasn't even planned. Right before I got Ella in her dress, Dan came out in a black suit with a silver tie. Sweet, I guess that means we need a family photo.
Christmas Eve
The whole family gathered Christmas Eve at Grandma Cindy's. We had a yummy dinner, read stories and played games late into the night. Ella and Alexander got new jammy's and couldn't stop talking about how excited they were for Santa to come. Christmas keeps getting more and more fun as Ella gets older.
It was fun to have carolers come to the door on Christmas eve. Ella kept saying "Mom they are singing my favorite jingle bells song!"
Christmas Morning
Maryliegh was nice enough to let us stay in her beautiful, cozy house, the entire week. On Christmas morning we let the kiddies open a few presents in their pj's before heading to grandma's house. Those munchkins were much too excited to wait till 11 when we were meeting up with the rest of the gang.
Christmas Day
Ella spent most of Christmas in her "Pretty Princess Snow White Shoes" And insisted that everyone call her "Princess Fiona" I have no idea how the two relate, but she can be whoever she wants to be on Christmas :)
At G-ma and G-pa Joneses, we had a delicious brunch, then opened all the gifts. Ella is a pro present opener and almost had more fun just opening the present then seeing what was inside. So I gave in and let her open a few of mine too. It made me laugh how with every present Ella opened, she would exclaim "Oh Wow! I really Love it!!" The rest of the day we just hung out with family and played with our toys.
During brunch, we discovered Ella has a new found love for bacon. Funny since this kid never eats meat. Yay, now there are a whopping 6 things Ella will eat.
Most of our evenings were spent in Maryliegh and Justin's newly finished basement, sipping hot coco and watching movies. I bet we watched about a dozen movies over this break. luved it.
Tea Room
We ended our week and a half vaca with a trip to our favorite tea room. It is the cutest place to get tea in SLC. I just love the holidays, you can be lazy with family and really just enjoy each others company.
Ella had been eyeing Maryliegh's perfectly made gingerbread house the whole time we stayed there. She promised Miss E that after Christmas she could eat anything she wanted off it. Can you see the look of excitement on her face. Ah, candy heaven.
Such a great Christmas vacation. Thanks to all our family and friends who made it so wonderful. We love you!
8 Friendly Thoughts:
I LOOOOOOOOOOVE all the pictures and collages! WOW what a fun trip you had! I've missed you though and am so happy to hear that you're back!!! :)
p.s. Bacon is one of the ONLY meats Azure will eat...and she'll eat the WHOLE pig when it comes to bacon! haha...
The pictures are SO cute! It was so fun to see you while you were here. I'm glad your trip was relaxing, but you still fit in some fun stuff. Miss you already!
ps- thanks for taking the time away from your vacation to do my hair. I love it!!! You are a sweetheart!
It was so great to see you and catch up on everything. Maybe next time we'll include the boys and Ella.
Glad you had a great trip & made it home safely! Happy New Year.
What a fun post, you are so good! Glad to see you had such a great Christmas... I'm only sad I missed you! Love ya!
Yay! I have been peeking at your blog and was sad each time there was no update. I KNEW you were out of town; so unlike you to go too long without posting! :) You look as beautiful as ever. I can't believe how big Ella is getting!!! So crazy. It's funny how we visit Yuma, Salt Lake & San Diego but never at the same time! One time, we'll meet up. Love ya heaps. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
K, seeing all of your pictures of beautiful white fluffy Utah made me miss it so much! I loved looking at all the pics and of course the creative ways you put them together. I wish I knew how to do that or had the talent to do it because I think your blog book of Ella looked a ton better than the one's I did. I did go through blurb it was a lot of work but I'm hoping to do a better job blogging this year and making it look nicer so the book isn't as difficult at the end, but it was sure fun to see Andelyn get so excited about it.
The pink retro kitchen by Kidcraft is what it's called I bought from Target online they had a secret sale a few weeks before Christmas and I got a smokin' deal on it. They have a lot of other kidcraft kitchens to with fridges that are so cute on Amazon and other places.
How nice to have your hubby for 3 whole weeks for the holidays. I'm glad you all got to see family and spend some fun times together. Looks like an amazing, fun, eventful Christmas! Kids make it so fun don't they. Oh and I loved seeing the lights at Trolley Square that is where Jonny and I first met and it's our 10 year anniversary next month, crazy huh!
Wow, that was a really long post, sorry, just to much to comment on :)
Happy New Year!
Looks like you had a great Christmas! Maisey will not take off her princess shoes either.
Looks like you guys had a great Christmas. I was just as happy to be back in sunny SD as you were. It took me a while to thaw out. I love all of the cute headbands! Your blog is to die for! So cute!!
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