Anatomy of a Christmas Day Photo

Christmas 2011

Our Christmas Eve began with the opening of the jammies from Nanna and Papa, which were so warm and cozy.

Then began Grandpa Martin's scavenger tradition, with the kids running all through the house collecting their goodies.

Then it was off to bed to dream of some sugarplums and maybe a Barbie or two...

But instead of sugarplums and Barbies they were greeted with a blue parakeet Lorelei later named Danny. It's little yellow friend would follow the next day which Meredith would name Tweety...

Stockings were stuffed with the always exciting M&M candy canes, oranges, and whoopie cushions. The later of which makes for hours of endless enjoyment and are ALWAYS the favorite of all involved. 



Happy Christmas, Sweet Little Three....

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 started with a surprise. We weren't sure if the weather would cooperate with us enough for us to travel to Utah and back home on Christmas weekend, so we made no definite plans with the family. But thankfully, it looked like Christmas was a perfect time to make our way down there and surprise everyone.

Our first stop was to Grandpa Dowland's house for Christmas Eve dinner. The girls snuck up and rang the doorbell and surprised Grandpa Bob enough to bring him to tears. It made the trip all worth it.

After dinner and a visit from Santa, we were off to surprise Nanna and Papa.

That night we stayed at Nanna and Papa's house and got up early in the morning to have breakfast at The Grand America in downtown Salt Lake.

The cousins had a blast playing with each other and being silly.

Then it was back to Nanna and Papa's house to open up the presents from Santa and from the family. It was a crazy, fun madhouse.

Christmas night we all spent the night at our friend's the Price's. The relaxing time we had there was heaven sent and it was wonderful being able to catch up with them.

The next day we went back to Nanna and Papa's house where Lorelei, Meredith, and Hailee spent almost 2 hours in their grandparents bathtub, being spoiled rotten with popsicle after popsicle.

That night the girls were ecstatic to spend some quality alone time with Grandpa and Grandma Dowland while their parents went out to dinner. They spent the time making gingerbread houses, eating pizza, and cuddling up while watching a movie.

It was a whirlwind of a trip and we were so glad that we were able to do it.

Ba Humbug

Aahh... mall Santa's....gotta love them.

But, obviously, telling by this picture, not everyone does.

Though this does not show it, Meredith was surprisingly ok to go sit on his lap, and actually lifted her arms up to him to have him pull her up on his lap. But to smile and take a picture at the same time, twas' not happening.

O' Christmas Tree

We had a great time yesterday celebrating the beginning of the holiday season.

We went the Festival of Trees in Boise and had fun looking at all the debcorations and sipping some hot chocolate.

Then we bought our own christmas tree and brought it home to decorate. It smells so wonderful!

California Here We Come!

Out of a 10 day vacation we drove 4 days. Eight hours the first day and 6 hours the second day. The girls did very well considering the circumstances and tried their very best to be patient.






Towards the end of the second day of the drive to California, Meredith decided to change her sweatshirt into a tube top.

Auntie Shannon's

Grandpa and Grandma Porter drove down from Merced to see us the day after we arrived in California...

Sisters... Shannon, Jennifer, Allison, Kayla, and Natalie...

Disneyland

Lorelei's first visit to Disneyland, as a gift from her Grandma Diana and Grandpa Martin for Christmas. It was a surprise all the way to the moment we stepped onto the tram. She had a little cold that day but it didn't stop her from having a great time! If only there were more hours in the day....






Just before getting completely soaked on Splash Mountain...



Her favorite ride, The Jungle Cruise...


Waiting for the parade to start...




All tuckered out...