Russ, Shalae, & Kids

Friday, January 3, 2014

Our 2013 Christmas

On Christmas Eve, Noah sprinkled some reindeer food outside of our front door so that Santa would be sure to land at our house!


The girls weren't with us when we woke up on Christmas morning so Noah and Abby were the first to find the gifts Santa left them. Abby got a wagon filled with blocks...

...and Noah got a stocking full of goodies AND...

...the Lego Ninjago sets he wanted!

Abby was very pleased with the little toys she got in her stocking!

Russ also had a good time finding a few surprises in his stocking.

Once the girls got to our house they were able to see what Santa brought for them also! Sophie got an Easy Bake Oven with some little food packages to use with it.

Kaitlyn got some new snow pants along with a ticket good for a day of skiing or snowboarding at Sunrise. (Tayler didn't come over.)

Here are the 4 kids exchanging gifts with each other and sitting in perfect order... Abby had Noah, Noah had Sophie, Sophie had Kaitlyn, and Kaitlyn had Abby.

Abby got a Cabbage Patch baby doll from mom & dad!

She couldn't wait for Russ to get it out of the package!

 Christmas chaos!!

After finishing up at home, we headed over to Grandma & Poppy's house. Uncle Brad stole Abby as soon as we got there and she cuddled up to him for a long time, and didn't want anyone else!

For the cousins' gift exchange, Ellie gave Abby a "Fur Real Friend" bunny which she {obviously} loved!

Grandma & Poppy gave Sophie a Doc McStuffins kit which she loves!

This year for Christmas, my parents gave us (and all of their kids+spouses) an envelope with cash inside. The idea was for us to pick out our own gifts, wrap them in wrapping paper provided to us, and not tell anyone which gifts were ours. We opened them up on Christmas Day and as we opened we had to guess who each gift belonged to. We bought new kitchen stuff like pots & pans, along with a GoPro (Russ's new toy). Here is a picture I snapped during the game - Russ was opening up a flat screen tv box, which belonged to the Gibbons.

It was fun for Abby to open up her "drive-drive" from Grandma & Poppy because a) she was SO excited about it, and b) Davis got the boy version...


These babies are going to have so much fun on their new toys!

 After spending the day with the Sherwood family, we headed out to Grandpa Price's house. Abby had something special going on with her uncles that day because she loved cuddling up with Uncle Mason that night. He was less than 2 weeks home from his mission.

 That night we came home and set Abby down in front of her new toys while the rest of us cleaned up and got ready for bed. She was 2 hours past her feeding time and didn't even care. She was so entertained by all her new toys. It was so cute!

We had a great Christmas!

Simon 2013

Our elf (Simon) showed up on December 1st and stuck around through Christmas Eve to keep an eye on us... we took a picture of his shenanigans each day except for 1 day when we forgot!

December 1st
Simon showed up inside of his stocking, which was hidden in the tree!

December 2nd
He was found getting into candy...

December 3rd
Simon had pulled the books off the shelf in Abby's room during the night.


December 4th
Simon was naughty and wrote on the mirror with toothpaste.

December 5th
He redeemed himself by cleaning up after himself 24 hours later!

December 6th
We found Simon in the process of writing a grocery list... with items including marshmallows, candy, and other things elves love.

December 7th
Noah and Abby had spent the night at Suzy's house and Simon was found watching over Abby along with Ellie's elf "Elsie".


December 8th
Simon busted open the new pack of peppermint hugs & kisses we got at the grocery store.


December 9th
It looked like Simon turned the snowflake decoration into a swing!

December 10th
Simon pretended to be the Rice Krispies elf "Crackle".

December 11th
Simon was found lifting his marshmallow weights.

December 12th
We woke up to find that Simon had drawn on Russ's face "elves rule". Naughty little elf! Luckily the marker he had used was washable.


December 13th
Simon brought some Christmas pajamas to the kids and left them underneath where their pictures hang in the hallway. He told them on the note, "Sweet Dreams tonight! Love, Simon p.s. nice pictures!"



December 14th
This is the day we forgot to take a picture, but Simon brought a DVD player and the movie "Elf" for the kids... probably since last Christmas that movie got stuck in our old DVD player and we hadn't had one for a year!

December 15th
Simon was found hanging upside down from Abby's swing.

December 16th
Simon was found in the closet under the stairs... but not until pretty late that night. We had a hard time figuring out where he was!

December 17th
Simon had another mischievous night, spilling the cereal and blaming it on Abby. We all knew better!

December 18th
Silly Simon! He wrapped the toilet in wrapping paper.

December 19th
Simon was found bathing in Christmas m&m's.

December 20th
Looks like Simon made himself the grand marshall in his own little parade.

December 21st
Simon had a full night of gathering all the animals he needed to be part of "What does the fox say". He, of course, was the main character.

December 22nd
I'm not sure how Simon got himself stuck inside a cup in the cupboard - maybe the other stuffed animals around the house were getting back at him?

December 23rd
Simon and a few friends were found having a sack race! I wonder if Simon was a good sport when he didn't win?!

December 24th
We found Simon with the scriptures open to the story of Christ's birth. We were happy to see him remembering the real reason for the season!

Simon was gone when we woke up on Christmas morning, but he did leave a note for the kids that told them how pleased he was in the things he saw and heard in our home during those 24 days that he spent with us. Our kids really did a great job this year by not arguing or fighting much, and being really helpful around the house.