Friday, December 28, 2012

The Holidays!!

 I cannot believe December flew by as fast as it did! It is just crazy how fast time flies!! This was Colt and I's second Holiday season married, and it was fantastic! It is interesting to see the different family dynamics, and holiday traditions. We spend thanksgiving down in St. George with his family, and it was so fun! I am so blessed to have such amazing in-laws!! Everyone was home, so we took advantage of all of us being there and did some family pictures. They turned out so good, :) I married into such a beautiful family that's for sure! It was so fun to hang out with everyone, and eat until we could eat no more. We also played our annual Cox BINGO game, which was hilarious who knew bingo could become such a competitive game! Haha it is such a fun tradition that hopefully we can carry on to our future family. Since Thanksgiving technically kicks off the Christmas season, we also made gingerbread houses, it was so fun! I have never made a gingerbread house, lame I know, but now I am going to try and do it every year- yet another great tradition for the holidays. Nothing gets you in the Thanksgiving/Christmas spirit than being with family. Thanks so much Brad and Jayne for having us down for Thanksgiving, it was so nice to see everyone!

The Good Looking Cox Bunch! (Sadie and Kellen are ADORABLE by the way!!)

Girls :) So pretty!! 

All the guys getting ready to head out for some rabbit hunting!!

Our Thanksgiving table, it was GORGEOUS!! :) 

Sadie decorating her house

The Finished Product! So CUTE!

We kicked off December with my other nephew, Kayson, preschool Christmas Program. It was the FUNNIEST thing in the world to watch. I can't even remember what songs they sang, all I know is it was hilarious to watch. 
Kayson is the 4th from the left

All the kids had to make their own "Gingerbread" Houses ( Just on paper ;) ) and they were displayed at the program. here is Kayson with his little house he worked on so hard!

Another highlight to our December was our trip down to Salt Lake. We had the pleasure of going to a Salt Lake Grizzlies Hockey game to watch a dear friend of Brad's (Colt's Dad) play. Brad is in the Picture below with one of the converts from his mission son ( Brad Mills). He is the captain of the Grizzlies, and a recent convert to the church. Such a cool story to hear, and so awesome to see how the gospel has a chain effect on people's lives. Thanks for letting us share this amazing evening with you Brad, and for letting us meet Brad Mills!! 
Brad and Brad Mills (I know it looks like Brad's eyes are closed but they really are open.. I should have gotten a better picture!!) 

I am a horrible picture taker, and totally forgot to take a picture of our first Christmas tree last year so I vowed I would get one this year, so we will just pretend that this is our first Christmas tree :) . I am soo lame,  and had too much going on this December to really spend time on my tree, so next year it will be better. Little by little, I figure I will collect a little more each year until it feels complete. Last year we had a nice full tree, but this year we went the Charlie Brown route, I kinda like it- for not having any decorations, it is still pretty cute :) 
Our 1st ;) tree
This was our Burley year for Christmas, everyone came home. It will prob. be the last time our entire family comes home for Christmas so we took advantage of our time together. Between all the baked goods, candy, pop, food, and laziness I came back to Logan feeling like a slug. It was all worth it though. We celebrated 2 birthdays while we were home, Jordan turned 19 on the 17th and Memer turned 14 on the 22nd. Happy Birthday little sisters, you are both growing up too fast!! Love you both!! We also got our family pictures done on Christmas Eve, and then went to a live nativity in a good friend's barn. After that Dad read us the Christmas story out of the scriptures. On Christmas morning the kids were the LAST ones to wake up, but no worries Kayson made up for lost time and tore into his pile of gifts like a tornado! The magic of Christmas is so overwhelming, and so fun for little kids. It was great to be home with the family, and just relax! I was sad for it to be the last year all of us could be home together for Christmas, everyone is growing up too fast!! Why does Christmas have to come and go so FAST?? It is depressing. I had totally forgotten to take pictures Christmas morning, and Jason and Em had already left before I could get any of them :( so here is all  I have.. I really need to do better at picture taking, ugh! 

Bry doing what he does best : Teasing Mom ( or normally Meme)

MMmm My Jubilies :) Ate WAY too many of these babies! 

Christmas Night, still in p.j.'s looking like bums!! Love my Memer Jeaner!!

 The "Cleaned Up" aftermath of presents.. 

Goose doing her favorite thing: PUZZLES

Dad Playing with little Miss Kyler Bug

Kayson was too busy playing SPY to take any pictures for me...

The Best Christmas Present of all, my father in law made this Clock, out of old barn wood from the family farm in Gridley California and gave it to us for Christmas. This baby will be one of our most prized family heirlooms. It has so much meaning, and significance to our family. Thanks Brad and Jayne it is beautiful, you are truly talented!! :)

We are back in Logan from our Holiday travels, and there is no better way to end a already amazing last couple months than to love on this little guy ALL DAY! We LOVE being able to watch him. He is one of the happiest babies I have ever known!! All you Have to do is talk to him and he breaks out the CUTEST smiles!! We love our baby Beckham!! :) Having nieces and nephews is possibly the best/funnest thing in the world! 

Beckham cracking up... :)

He sure loves his Colt (ignore Colt's hair... he had just woke up..BAHAHA)

Look at how precious he is!! Love this boy!! 

So in all our Holiday season was AWESOME! :) We are so blessed and grateful for all our family and friends!! Now all we have to do is wait for another year to fly by and it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas before we know it!! Happy Holidays everyone!!!