Christmas and New Year's

I am finally getting around to our Christmas post. We spent all of Christmas break up in Northern Idaho with Kevin's family- it was great. Our original plan was to be there for a week. However, we extended the trip a bit. We left on the 20th and got home on the 1st. It was a long vacation, but we loved it, and hopefully we didn't out stay our welcome. We were having so much fun, and really had nothing to rush home for, so we spent all of Kevin's break there. We went sledding, rode snowmobiles, played some wii, and just enjoyed some needed time with family. It's so hard living so far from our families, when we go to visit, we never want to leave.

Christmas eve was fun. Kevin's family has a big family Christmas eve party at their house every year. They have soup and snacky foods, everybody visits, and then they have a pinata for the kids. It's hillariouse to see all the kids hitting the pinata, however, they hang it in the middle of the living room. So although the living room is fairly large, it can get pretty scary when you mix together toddlers and swinging bats. Tyler was the champion of the pinata this year, he was the one to break it open- go Ty! Then on Christmas eve night, we did a family gift exchange and watched the Polar Express. Kevin's dad drew my name this year- he got me some make-up brushes and a gift card. What a great shopper! The boys of course got their annual Christmas Eve pajamas, left under their pillows by the "elves". Tyler gets so exited every year, this year he ran around to check under everybody's pillows for pajamas. He was a bit confused when nobody else had them except for Mom and Dad and Jay. Grandma says next time we are there, she may have to get "elf" pajamas for everybody else- good thinking grandma. Christmas morning was fun. I think Kevin was more exited than the boys. I got up to use the restroom at about 6:30, and when I got back to the bedroom, Jay was "magically" awake. Hm, questionable if you ask me. Tyler got the bowling set he's been asking for for the last six months, Jay got a new rocking puppy, Kevin got a new fly-fishing rod, and I got a bosch. There were numerouse other presents, but those were the highlights for everybody. I also got some gift cards from Kevin for Christmas, so the morning after, Kevin's mom, sister and I went to Cour d'alene for some shopping. We found some great deals. I finally found some tall boots that I have been wanting, they were on a great sale. And then I found a dress to go with them. It was fun. It's always a bit better to go shopping with the girls than with your husband and two boys. Kevin isn't such a bad shopper-he just doesn't have as many helpful opinions. New Years eve day was spent riding snowmobiles around, and in the evening we ate and played wii. Everybody else played some cards too, but I'm not a huge card shark, so I stuck to the wii. I think Tyler kicked everybody's rumps at wii. He's pretty darn coordinated for a four year old (I'm not biased or anything). We'll, I think this post is long enough. Now I'll get around to the good part-pictures.

The gingerbread house. We used a kit- WAY easier than from scratch.

Jay and his rockin' puppy

Ty and his new sled from Grandma and Grandpa- So Fun!

Ty wearing Uncle Kurt's new hat

Kev's brother, Keith, got new ice hockey skates. So he spent the afternoon shoveling off the pond.

Tying out Kurt's new Wii- those things are a blast!

Jay and Aunt Kimmy

I think Jay was worn out by the end of our trip

After riding snowmobiles and playing in the snow