Memorable Christmas Eve

We'd been planning to spend Christmas at home and get with Lacey's family on Christmas Day. I would host breakfast and she would host dinner. Well, several days before Christmas Eve, they began coming down with a stomach bug. We knew we wouldn't be getting together and it didn't sound that fun to spend the holidays all by ourselves (well, Justin is a home body and liked the idea). We decided to surprise Grandma and Grandpa in St. George and show up on Christmas Eve. When we arrived, we put Lucy into a large storage box and put a bow on the lid. We left her on the porch, knocked, and ran to hide behind bushes. Grandma Sherri opened the door and was very confused. She walked over to the box and said, "What is this?" She looked a little frightened because she could see Lucy moving a little (the lid wasn't on tight; kind of sideways). As she realized it was Lucy, she looked up and then we all jumped out from the bushes and yelled "Merry Christmas!" She was totally surprised to see us. I think she immediately started to worry if we would have enough food, but other than that she was happy! Grandpa came walking out and he was just as surprised.
Later, when Keeley's family arrived, we put Lucy AND Ezra in the box. Grandma Sherri led them into the kitchen and said she had an early present to show them. They were pretty excited and Keeley even started to cry. Wow, it was such a fun and memorable surprise! And yes, we had just enough food!

After a delicious dinner of chop suey and egg rolls. Grady brought his friend, Britt.

New pajamas!

Nolan actually asked to have this bow tied on his head. Isn't he pretty?

 Annual cousin pajama picture:

Some other December stuff

I'm just trying to get all the other photos from December onto the blog. Here are some cute pics from the beginning of the month at the library. Lucy was IN LOVE with the penguin. She is always so excited when she sees that it's still up when we visit.

 We made it to temple square. We talked Justin into coming because it was a really warm night (around 35 degrees... much better than below freezing) and it was a Wednesday so it wouldn't be as crowded as a weekend. We ate at City Creek and the boys loved their sushi, their choice.

 Lucy learned a new trick. She gets up on the arm of the couch (Did I ever post that we got new couches a few months back? I love them!) and says, "Tuh, duh!" Then she jumps down and laughs. Nolan was good to stand behind her and stop her from falling. What fun! She definitely has a little wild side. She's a thrill seeker!

 Time for gingerbread houses! Always a fun tradition. Lucy especially loved the treat tray.

 Here's our beautiful little tree. I love that it's small... so much faster to decorate!

Logan visit and Moulton Party

Grandma Moulton held her annual Moulton Christmas party on Dec. 20th at the clubhouse near her home in North Logan. It was a delicious catered meal and we were glad to visit with cousins that we haven't seen last year, for the most part. After the meal, Grandma called out all the young kids individually and split them into age groups. They were assigned an adult (Aunt Karen or Aunt Mardyne) that escorted them to either Mardyne's house or Grandma Moulton's house nearby. They played games and won prizes. Ezra's group was in the theatre at the clubhouse. While the kids were gone, the adults did a little line dancing. Nearly all of the men mysteriously disappeared at that point (and snuck into the theater to "check in" on the kids). The edible highlights of the evening were the delicious peach drink, everyone receiving a stack of Karen's dried candy apple slices, and a tasty O'Aggie Bar at the end of the night. Evva Jean is nice to host all of us... what a treat!

Lucy busted out a few moves, too.

Tom and Evva Jean Moulton's grandchildren:

Kathi's family: She was excited to get a photo because she'll "never have everyone together again!" She is always saying that. We can't help but laugh at the phrase. I'm not sure why, but we're missing Jon and Sarah in the photo; Amanda is on her mission in Romania.

That morning, we also had a Christmas breakfast at Grandma K.'s house with Grandma Petersen, Jodi, and her 3 boys: David, Jack, and Ryan. It was great to have all those little boys together. We don't see them much since it's a long train ride for them to come from Chico. Grandma K. taught the boys about chess. Nolan was so intrigued... hanging on her every word. I think he could really get into chess some day! The game was going well until Ezra completely swiped the board clean out of frustration. He was bored apparantly.
We gave Kathi her Christmas presents. She loved her bluetooth speaker and the calendar, but Justin was most excited to give her several family names to take to the temple. He had researched for hours in order to finally find some distant relatives that needed work done. Kathi was very pleased as that's exactly what she asked for!

This is Jack with his new tablet.

This is Ryan. What a charmer.

Lucy loved the animals in the nativity.

And she really loved Santa. I love it how she says "ho ho ho."

Family names for the temple. Justin is showing her how they're related.

 It was a fun visit to Cache Valley. While there we slept at Grandma Petersen's house in Hyrum. We also visited Jeff's house, aka museum. He's done a great job of renovating a really old church. The boys love (and yet fear) the Egyptian mummy he's got.