This vacation is long so I am breaking it down into two posts. Before we left to Idaho for Christmas we had a pre-Christmas with grandma and grandpa Bushling. The kids were excited to exchange gifts with them and open a present before Christmas.
All the kids loved the money and treats they received. They picked out gifts for the grandparents from the Secret Santa shop at school. Grandpa and Grandma loved their nice(cheep), useful (dust collector) gifts. The kids enjoyed watching their grandparents open their hand picked presents.
Jayda loved her block sorter present but I think she liked the box more.
She lives in Lehi and has four kids, Laken, Porter, Tatum and Tessa. Our kids get along so well and we were able to catch up and reminisce over our high school and college days.
We had to be creative so all the grandkids could be involved. We had our 2 sheep (Jayda and Aspyn) and one "Small One" donkey (Tanner). Remember we had to throw together costumes at the last minute. Every year I always think I should make real nice costumes for next time and then the next time comes way to fast.
We had our two angels (Ashlyn and Savannah).
Our Wise men (Zach, Trey and Payton).
Our Sheppard's (Tony and Dallin).
All the kids loved the money and treats they received. They picked out gifts for the grandparents from the Secret Santa shop at school. Grandpa and Grandma loved their nice(cheep), useful (dust collector) gifts. The kids enjoyed watching their grandparents open their hand picked presents. Jayda loved her block sorter present but I think she liked the box more.We left for Idaho Sunday after church. I just love going to church the Sunday before Christmas. I am going to publicly say it now that when I die I want Ken Hurley to sing at my funeral. I love it when he sings O Holy Night. He can even sing that song because when he sang it that Sunday the whole congregation fell silent-even my children. So I know if he sang it at my funeral people would come.
On our way to Idaho we stopped at BYU so Zach could attend an indoor baseball camp-my husband. You know you have to fit sporting events in where ever you go. I didn't mind because I was able to see my good friend from high school Sara Muir.
She lives in Lehi and has four kids, Laken, Porter, Tatum and Tessa. Our kids get along so well and we were able to catch up and reminisce over our high school and college days.We were very glad to get to Idaho because a huge storm was coming and we wanted to beat it. Which we did. The kids love visiting grandma and grandpa Ellis. There is tons of sledding to be done and endless hours of playing with cousins. My parents worked very hard to finally get a bathroom downstairs and we were so glad they did. It was like having our own mini hotel room in the basement. Thanks mom and dad we loved the bathroom.
I loved these pictures because both Tayah and Zach (maybe not so willingly) were doing things with their grandparents one on one. Tayah was so excited to have someone play the piano so she could sing(could she really be my child?) that she had grandma play tons of songs for her. Zach was lending a hand to grandpa by collecting wood for the fire place (he enjoyed it even if it wasn't his idea-mean mom)
Every year when I was growing up for Christmas Eve we would dress up and do the story of Jesus's birth. We have since past the tradition down to the grandkids. They seem to enjoy dressing up and listening to their Grandpa read the Jesus's story from the scriptures. This was our biggest participation yet. With the exception of a few cousins. Maybe next year Ethan :->.
We had to be creative so all the grandkids could be involved. We had our 2 sheep (Jayda and Aspyn) and one "Small One" donkey (Tanner). Remember we had to throw together costumes at the last minute. Every year I always think I should make real nice costumes for next time and then the next time comes way to fast.We had our two angels (Ashlyn and Savannah).Our Wise men (Zach, Trey and Payton).Our Sheppard's (Tony and Dallin). Our Stars of the play Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus( Tayah, Bryson, Gavin and Kyle, they took turns being the star)
We also celebrated my parents 40th anniversary. My sisters Georjene and Teasha did all the work and gathered my parents home videos on the old reels and converted them to tape and made a dvd. It was a long process and Teasha did a great job. Thanks T!!! My parents seemed to love it and it is something we will all cherish.
Christmas eve wouldn't be the same with out the sighting of Rudolph. Is it a coincidence that we always see him in Idaho when Uncle Jon is around? But right before the kids are off to bed we spot him in the horse field flying past the house. The kids see his shiny nose through the window. Someone always starts screaming that we need to go to bed now before he forgets us. I think in the past years it was Tayah who was the screamer and this year Ethan was very concerned about getting to bed fast. We love the Rudolph sighting and have very funny home videos of our own.
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