Christmas 2010

Jared was busy this Christmas season carving beautiful ornaments, such as these, for his co-workers.

He felt he had to give them something nice considering that one of the neurosurgeons he works with was very generous and surprised him with a new band saw for Christmas.

Santa visited our ward Christmas party. I guess Nathan still prefers mommy's lap.

Hers are the girls telling Santa what they want. They didn't ask for too much. Abby just asked for a REAL magic wand that can actually do stuff like clean the house, make a cake or a dress, glass slippers, etc. (Mommy wants one too!) Maddy wanted a real violin.

Here they are as singing angels for the primary Nativity program.

We were very excited to be able to go to Boise for a few days to celebrate Christmas. We had a pot luck appetizer party on Christmas Eve. Here is the vegetable plate Jared put together complete with a cucumber he decided to carve into a Santa face.

Here is the spread--ham and pickle rolls, shrimp dip, stuffed mushrooms, lettuce wraps, pita chips with pesto, meatballs, etc. It was delicious and we had plenty of leftovers to snack on while we played board games.

We all gathered around for Christmas performances from family members. Jared did a beautiful job singing O Holy Night. Craig performed on his guitar. Courtney sang Up on the House Top. Here is our family singing Rudolph (I know my face looks funny in the picture--I'm laughing at Rudolph and calling him names).

Abby decided to play and sing her own unique version of Away In the Manger for everyone.

After the performances we all sang Christmas carols together and Jared shared the Christmas story from The Book of Mormon with us.

Here are the excited kids on Christmas morning. The girls didn't quite get what they asked Santa for, but they got enough other fun stuff from Grandparents that they were very happy. Jared spoiled me with the complete set of the Harry Potter books in hardback, and I gave him Rosetta Stone so he can learn French.

Nathan seemed more excited about the food than the presents. Here he is sneaking into some candy oranges and fudge. Unfortunately this little escapade left him feeling sick so he didn't sleep very well that night.

The girls absolutely loved playing with their cousins. Here they are playing princess dress up with their cousins Kaitlyn and Courtney.

Our nephew Carter has a birthday on the 26th, so luckily we got to have another party the next day. Here is Nathan trying to help Carter open some of his presents.

Santa knew we couldn't transport all our Christmas presents in our minivan, so he left the big ones at our house. Here is Nathan enjoying his new toy wagon. He loves to climb in it and then points to the handle for us to give him a ride.

Santa also left the girls' treasure shelves at our house (Jared helped Santa with them a little). Maddy loves having a place by her bed to put all her favorite books and toys.

Abby loves hers too.

Jared also built them this beautiful stand for their doll house.

We had a wonderful Christmas which we enjoyed spending with family. We loved all our gifts but especially rejoice in the most precious gift, our Savior Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate.