the wedding was great and Christmas was great too. i thought we would be going to southern utah and enjoying some warm weather. it was -20 degrees (wind chill) when we left omaha! 50 degree st. george weather sounded heavenly. well, it didn't work out that way. it snowed about 3 times while we were there!! one time the snow actually stuck and got about 2 inches deep. that's nothing in omaha, but it cancelled school in st. george!!
i had actually packed all of our snow clothes because we thought we might take the kids to brianhead to go tubing, so derek and the girls went out in the 2 inches of snow and made snowmen etc. the monday before christmas derek's parents threw a big Christmas party for the whole family. the kids all made crafts, we ate dinner, and then Santa came. he was amazing. my nephew, james, wanted a nerf machine gun. when he sat on santa's lap i thought, "oh great...santa's not going to have a clue what james is talking about." well, james proceeded to tell santa that he wanted a Nerf N-Strike Vulcan EBF-25 Blaster. without missing a beat santa said, "oh, you want the nerf machine gun." it was amazing!! i'm mean seriously...who knows that except for my obsessed nephew who researched it online because he wanted it so bad!! anyway, samantha was super excited about santa too...she finally got the whole santa brings presents bit this year. katelyn was starting to ask alot of questions this year, so i was affraid it might be her last year of believing in santa. but after santa visited our Christmas party she was sold.
she'll probably believe in santa until she's 15 now!!! after all the kids had a turn with santa katleyn went around and whispered in everyone's ear that she wanted all of us to sing "rudolph" to him. it was really cute and the kids were really into it. santa was really into it too! he belted it out with them! christmas morning was perfect. the girls slept in until 8am, kevin turned on the fireplace and music (just so kristina and i could be happy!) and this year we had the girls open their gifts at the same time. in previous years we had the girls take turns and it was always a ripoff for the girl who went 2nd because annie and katelyn usually get the same things. the girls kept reminding me that we get presents because the 3 wise men brought Jesus presents. i tend to get caught up in the craziness of santa and presents (not for me, but for my kids!!!) so i was happy my sweet little girls remembered the things we had taught them about Christmas. it is truly a celebration of the Savior's birth, and the blessing His life is to each of us.
samantha was so excited about santa, but when she had to sit on his lap she froze solid and wouldn't look at anyone!
annie asked santa for a cupcake maker...santa make annie raise her right hand and promise that if he brought her one she would make him cupcakes next year! 
the girls on christmas morning sporting their Christmas eve pjs.
this year i wanted to buy us all matching stockings. derek thought it was dumb because the stockings i wanted to get were from pottery barn ($$$). the stockings themselves were actually a really good price, but when you have to buy 6 the $ start so add up...well, derek ended up caving so i was really excited to buy them and use them this year.
every year derek and i promise not to buy each other anything...and every year we both break the promise. well, this year derek had me convinced that he really didn't get me anything. i had bought him 2 white dress shirts and a new tie (things he really needed since he has to dress up for work everyday). well, he was so convincing that he didn't get me anything, and that he was going to be ticked if i had gotten him something, that i told him what i got him. well, christmas morning comes around and the sneaky little devil had totally gotten me a gift. he bought me an ipod touch and an ihome. i love it...i've put almost 600 songs on it and 8 movies so far!! it's awesome. 
Christmas morning wore derek out!
here's what the kids got from santa...
katleyn got a few nintendo ds games
annie got a cupcake maker
samantha got a little einsteins rocket
alexis got a little blanket thingy
kristina, jeff, and elea came down from cedar city and stayed in st. george with us the whole time we were there. it was great because we got to spend alot of time with them.
another great thing was that derek's oldest sister, jen, and her family moved to st. george from vegas so we spent way more time with them then we have been able to during previous trips.
oh, and another good thing was derek's other sister, shanna, had a baby a week before we came out, so we got to see her sweet little ryker. 
all the kids except for the 4 babies, zach, elea, and alexis, and ryker.anyway, it was a great trip, but it's always nice to get home and get back into routine. (we're still trying to get back into the swing of things!!)
