Tuesday, January 05, 2010

The best Christmas!

Before I forget, go to The Burnt Daisy for some news.

I can finally sit down and catch up on our gigantic Christmas. We just got home on Saturday after a long much needed holiday and we have been busy trying to get unpacked and organzied and I don't think we even made a dent because we are exhausted! Dustin went back to work today so I think more will get done. I/we tend to slack off when he is off because cleaning sucks so we'd rather hang out! Over Christmas we did so much and had a blast! So be prepared for a long awesome Christmas post!
We left on Dec 18th and headed to Dustin's parents for a few days. We had our yearly fondue and of course the little presents from Grandma Yuill. We had lots of fun and played games. We didn't do a ton since our main day, Saturday, was spent in Lethbridge shopping. Most of you know how awesome the shopping us up here in Fort Mac so we had to wait until we were down there to do most of it. We got to open presents while we were there. Kyla got a purse filled with stuff, earrings and a matching necklace, lipgloss, pad and pens, and more that I can't remember but she walked around with that thing on her arm every single day and she even slept with it. Jayci and Presley got little babies with blankets and then they all got Usborn touch and feel books which are awesome books. I will definitely get more of those. Dustin got hip waders (sp?) and I got some organizing drawers for my business. It was a fun visit with them and we had lots of fun seeing them!
Gpa Francis and Jayci
Coloring on Kyla's new paper pad
fondu
their little babies and their blankets
this is how she carried her purse all the time
On the 23rd we headed out to my parents house and Kristy and Brandon came that day too. Christmas eve we did some baking with the girls and then we were asked if we wanted to go on a hayride behind a quad so we all got dressed ready to go and took some cute pics and after an hour of waiting they called and told us the quad broke. It was crappy but we did get some good pictures! Then of course we did the usual traditions, such as the nativity but with the grandkids this time. Kyla loved it but Jayci and Presley thought dancing on the table was a better idea. Then of course opening pj's and Grandpa reading 'The Night Before Christmas.'. Kyla's pj's were a little long and kept falling down but they were Hannah Montana and I knew she would love them.

Playin piano together


baking day!
Waiting for the hay ride that never came...

The grandkids in their pj's
the "kids" in their pjs!
The attempt at the Nativity

This was funner (that is a word.)

Jayci and Britt, love this picture
The Night Before Christmas
Christmas morning was crazy, just check out all the presents under the tree! Everyone definitely got spoiled. Kyla the most and I could tell because after every present she'd say, "I want another one." We did pretty good for her but with all the grandma's spoiling her as well I think she was a little outdone. She got 3 barbie's, two of them Hannah Montana and a Hannah Montanna locker full of stuff, her new bedding I picked out for her and I love it because it's something she can grow with and use forever since her bed is a single instead of a twin. Plus a crapload of other stuff I won't list. Dustin got his bindings and I got my new coat and vanity. I fell in love with my sister Stephanie's vanity when she got it for her birthday so my mom got Kristy and I one for Christmas because she has always wanted one too. We went tabogganing that day and Kyla missed most of it since she fell asleep in the van on the way and she was super cranky so we just left her. She finally woke up and we took her down a few times. By then it was getting pretty cold so we went home.
Not too many gifts eh.
Stockings!

Barbie from Santa, and her new bedding beside her. Cute eh?
babies again from Santa and strollers, we also got them little playpens for them. They love them.

opening gifts is a lot of work
stealing Gavin's chair in their touques and scarves from Grandma Purnell
Dustin and his bindings!
Vanity! Kristy is kind of in there too!
Gavin's sweet chair

All done, our stuff is mounded behind us

Tabogganing!


Gma taught them how to scoot down the hill

They went all the way down!


So Boxing day comes at the top of my list for one of the funnest days in the entire holiday! All of us kids got to go snowboarding while grandma and grandpa watched all the grandkids. It was Me, Dust, Krist, Brandon, Jeff, Britt, Steph and Tanner. We had a BLAST! I haven't been to the hill since we were engaged and I snowboarded that time and it was hard. I grew up skiing and it was so frustrating switching to snowboarding. So this time I just wanted to have fun so I decided to ski. I was the only one but i'm so glad I did. Although I hated poles so I looked like a nerd without them but since it's been since junior high I had to re-learn all over again and they just messed me up more. We had SO much fun and I am so glad we got to do something like that. Best day EVER!


Awesome People!!

We also went skating and it was Kyla's first time. She got skates for her birthday back in April from Grandpa Petersen so it was time to break them in. Dustin was also newer to skating so it was pretty funny watching him think he was awesome. Just kidding, he actually did really good. He is just naturally good at everything so we hate him for that. Jayci fell asleep in the stroller and I was done pretty early since the skates I used were super old and really tight and hurt like a mother!




My mom booked the church gym for one of the evenings so we went and played basketball and some other stuff and just let the kids run around, they loved it. They got tired pretty quick though but it was fun.


The guys playin some ball
The girlies, Steph ditched us for her boyfriend that night.
Also love this picture!

And this one

We were lucky enough to spend New Years with my family too and we had so much fun. I've never laughed so much. We stayed up until 2:30am playing games. It was so worth the exhaustion the next day!





PART-AY!!


So remember the "non materialistic" Christmas list I made? Well off that list, this is what I got!

Yup we bought a NEW VAN! HALLELUAH! It's not this color though, it's more of like a chrome gold. I am getting used to the color since I wanted black but oh well. It's a 2008 Grand Caravan and I am so happy! Yay for us!!

This was Christmas Sunday and the best picture of us, you should see the one of just the girls. Wait, here i'll just show you...


We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Purnell's and I can't even remember which day it was, but it was fun seeing family.

Kyla playing with Grandpa

Cousins chillin
Kyla in her ballerina stuff from Santa. Yes I know it looks like fairy stuff but Santa had a really hard time finding ballerina stuff so this was the best he could find and she doesn't notice any different.

We also got the announcement that Jeff and Britt are PREGNANT!! She just found out the day she told us but we were all there so of course she had to tell us! She is due in September and we are so excited for them!We tried to get some family pictures done and it was so hard but they didn't turn out too bad. I also got one of us infront of the temple while we were there.



We also went to sugar bowl in Raymond and Cardston won. Steph is on the cheer team for Cardston so we were so excited for her when they won. I also don't think they should go back to that tournament. They told the cheerleaders they had to stand the entire game if they wanted to cheer since they didn't pay for a ticket (cuz they are part of the team). So they had to stand every single game. On top of that they had some Raymond girls who dressed up as cheerleaders and mocked them the entire time and they would blast the music everytime they would do a cheer. So rude. That doesn't include the mocking and rude comments they got inbetween games in the hallways etc. Plus Steph had the flu so I felt extra bad for her having to stand and then do a performance at half time. They did their half time performance after their first game and they were being treated so harshly that they didn't even want to do their performance the rest of the tournament and they didn't. I hate mean people.

Just look how cute she is!

We also all got that nasty flu that was past from one person to the other. It got us in twos and was pretty bad for about 12 hours then the next day was better. It was probably one of those 48 hour ones but we were all puking and so sick at some point. We still had fun and sat through basketball games and infected everyone there. We did pay $40 for tickets (which is also way to expensive for sugar bowl tickets I think) I was getting my money's worth!

So now we are home and dealing with two really bad teething toddlers. I'm talking they won't let you move an inch from them and I LITERALLY have both of them on top of me all the time! They cry constantly and won't eat anything. They started acting like this a week ago and we never knew why until Sunday I was playing with Jayci and noticed her two top molars are fully through, and Presley too! So now the bottoms ones are coming through and it is annoying! I am glad that this will be over though and there is an end in sight. I would kill myself if they stayed like this. My house looks discusting and I look discusting and Dustin just found out he is working a 24 (days in a row) 12 hour shifts since there was a fire at the plant. So he won't be home till almost 9pm every night for 24 days. Thank goodness we got the awesome break we did to prepare me for this. Meh who am I kidding, we've been back 3 days and i'm exhausted already!

12 comments:

Ryan RoxAnn Erica and Aubrey said...

Sounds like you had a blast! Great memories. we are just moving a few blocks away, not to far.

Anonymous said...

Aww yeah for the new fan! What a wonderful Christmas gift! I am so glad to hear you got such a nice and well deserved holiday! happy New Year Mindy!

Anonymous said...

VAN NOT FAN! hahahaha

Jordana said...

Wow, it sounds like you guys were super busy. That's so awesome about the new van! I'm glad you guys had a good trip!

Jenna Ririe said...

Great holiday! I wish I had a big family full of kids! :( And about sugar bowl and your sisters cheer team, its Raymond...enough said. its dissapointing behavor especially from the adults. Besides that, sounds like a super time was had by all!

Lynn said...

Oh my gosh! Does your family know how to celebrate, party, have fun...or what!!?? Love it!

HOpe the teething thing gets better soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

P.S. NICE van! You will love it. It makes life SO much easier with kids!!!

The Harker Family said...

What wonderful pics! Some of them were so hilarious!!! I love all of your faces in the pics. Looks like you had a blast this Christmas!

Amie said...

Love these pictures! Good luck for the next couple weeks. Hope you can get through.. just watch the bachelor!! That will give you a weekly break. I love your van too!!

the fellers said...

what a good post! YAY For a new van..I hope you LOVE it....those pics are so cute, and YAY for Cardston winning, how awesome! I am sorry that the Raymond retards were so mean!

Rhiannon Bosse said...

holy smokes lady!! you are busy busy busy!!! love it! :)

angie said...

i LOVE you dark hair. i think is looks so great on you. i'm glad you had a great christmas!

Carrie said...

I loved your huge Christmas post - it's always so fun to see tons of pictures! Looks like you guys had an awesome break! I know I had a MUCH needed break from work. I really didn't want to go back -but I guess I just have a few more months left, so I can hang in there.

Oh and I totally agree with your post about blog comments. If someone asks me a question or something I never know where to answer it. Do I put it after their comment at the end of my post (will they even know I commented back?) Or do I answer on a random post where they probably forgot they asked me something in the first place! So I guess I'll see how you do yours and maybe do the same ;)

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