Christmas Morning!

Merry Christmas! I love when Christmas falls on a Sunday, the program at church was so beautiful and it was our last Sunday at 12:30 church. Next week we switch to 9am, but it was fun to have Christmas morning, then all be able to get ready for church!

Santa definitely made it to our house this year! Leighton was so happy to see that he enjoyed his cookies and milk and the reindeer nibbled on all of their carrots! She loved all of her Santa gifts, but especially the guitar to play with Dad and the camera that Santa brought for her to take pictures with Mommy! She finally got to open the presents she's been eyeing under the tree from Idaho and bounced on a horse bouncing ball all around the house in her princess slippers (thanks Grandma and Grandpa)! We watched Christmas Story and Prep&Landing(one of our new favorites) and had tortilla soup(not too festive, but Jack's favorite!). It was such a fun Christmas to spend in our home here in Tennessee. We got to skype with Jack's family too, thank goodness for technology! Exhaustion caught up with us and Leighton got a little sick before bedtime, so that wasn't much fun... but luckily we had tons of fun new toys to keep our spirits bright! We all crashed after a fun day of playing, it was such a wonderful day!

Next year, Santa will be bringing some boy toys our way too! Merry Christmas 2011!

Merry Christmas!

We opted out of mailing Christmas cards this year with everything being a little busy at the end of the semester, but we do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas today! We love all our family and friends, near and far! 2011 has been such a wonderful year for us with Jack's new job and our growing family. We are truly so grateful for all 2011 has blessed us with!

So Merry Christmas from our family to yours...and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve 2011

To start off Christmas Eve morning, we decorated our Gingerbread house. Leighton had so much fun and snuck a little sugar for breakfast... okay... a lot of sugar! Nevertheless, we made a 'sturdy' little house of treats and enjoyed the morning playing at my Mom's and relaxing!

That afternoon, we had a little party with my Mom and everyone to open some gifts and eat some treats. My mom spoiled us this year like always, but at least she got to save on shipping costs. This is the first year we have all been together for Christmas and I know it was really special to her to get to see Leighton open gifts. We missed the Maxfield's a lot and my Mom really wanted Jack to enjoy Christmas here, we appreciate all the extra measures she took to make Christmas wonderful! We are so lucky to have two very wonderful families and feel blessed from both of them, no matter where we spend the holidays (we got lots of surprises from Idaho and Utah this year too!). I think one of the things we will enjoy after grad school is being able to travel! We have so many wonderful people, we want to be able to see them all! Here are some pictures from Mom's house Christmas Eve!

That night, we were able to go spend time with my Dad's family at Charley and Happy's beautiful home for the Chandler Christmas Party. We were a little worried that Leighton would be shy since she was usually heading to bed at this time of the night, but she blew us away! In fact, I don't think Jack and I saw much of her the whole night except to open all of her awesome gifts! We got so spoiled at the party and the food was even better than I remembered! My Dad has become quite the chef! Leighton played with her cousins and they were so sweet to include her in everything and fight over her attention a little! I love how much she loves to see them and play with them! As the night went on, Leighton would sneak off and play with the dancing Santa... she danced her bum off! It was hilarious... Charley said he is leaving her the Santa in his will! I got to enjoy some of Granny Pam's chex mix, it's her Christmas special and usually Addison is sneaky and says she'll bring me mine...then it doesn't make it on the plane ride out! I don't blame her, it's amazing! Everyone was so good to us and we had such a great time!

After the party, we drove the 4 hours back to Tennessee and made it into our beds before Santa visited. It was a pretty exhausting trip, but the drive back was fun with Leighton watching movies and snoozing, and Jack and I listening to Christmas tunes and enjoying spending a Christmas Eve together. We were so glad he had the holidays off, one of the many blessings this Christmas season!

Over the River and Through the Woods, to Grandmother's House We Go....

This year the Christmas party at my Grandparent's house was Dec.23rd. It was SO MUCH FUN! There was tons of food...and tons more food...and every food you can think of! My Grandmother makes a feast for our family every Sunday, but our Christmas dinner could feed the masses...and she always has shrimp for me because I'm the favorite! (JK if anyone in the family is reading this...but really...Haha!) After dinner, Ginger and I planned 'Minute to Win It' games for all the kids and I think it was successful in organizing the chaos! Some of my favorites were "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "The Nutstacker" -- and thanks to Rachel for the live action pics!

For my grandparents this year, the whole family put together a scrapbook where each family got a couple of pages together and Tiawanna, Mom, Ginger, and Addison compiled them into a scrapbook. It was so sweet to see them read it and see all of the happiness that has come from the family they created. My grandparents are such great role models and we love them so much. I hope they enjoyed getting to look through it after the party.

With four new great-grandbabies this year, we'll probably have to update it for 2012 :)

Little Miracles

This morning Leighton kept putting her hand on my stomach and saying "Hey Bro-gan!"(she calls her baby brother Bro-gan...one of our recent favorite things!) and every time she did it, he would start kicking. It was so cute, she got really excited and when I tried to explain that was baby brother kicking, she would just start trying to tickle me. She is so funny and I love that she's usually a morning person! It sure makes up for my recent lack of sleep when she's giggling and keeping my exhaustion entertained!!

I love this little girl, she's going to make an awesome big sister!

(Jack got a little upset when I straightened her hair a little big ago...I know it's a no-no...but I love having a little gal who likes to dress up and do hair/make-up, so every once in a while we break the rules :] )

December Daddy-Daughter Date

For Jack and Leighton's daddy/daughter date in December they went to see the new Muppet movie. Leighton called it "The Muffets" and had so much fun! They came home singing all the songs and re-watching them on YouTube. Jack is the best daddy ever, he loves having his 'dates' with Leighton. I'll try to better at documenting them in 2012, I know she'll love seeing these when she's older!

Ugly Sweater Party

My friend Lorianne hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party for the fun ladies in Relief Society and it was a blast! Here are a few pictures to commemorate the craziness :]

Me and Audrey before the party:

AnneMarie, me, and Lorianne with our Secret Santa gifts:

Some totally awesome ladies:

Classic goofy shot:

What a fun night!