Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas

Isn't she gorgeous!?

We had such a fun Christmas! Santa came to our house this year for the first time (he usually delivers our family's gifts to one of the grandparents' houses) and it was great! For me, this was one of the best Christmases for gift-giving. I wrote previously about my KSL (local e-newspaper) shopping for family, which I loved doing because I was able to get really fun gifts that I'd never be able to afford otherwise and that were more fun than what I could have bought from the store with the same money. Everyone really liked their gifts and it was fun to see them so excited. For the kids, I also changed my normal way of doing things from strict budget and lots of driving from store to store and back again to get the best deals, to one trip to Toys R Us and throwing the budget out the window (which really just means being reasonable without stressing--we didn't go nuts or anything). It was really a fun way to shop for the kids! I liked not having to drive all over and compare prices and just get the things I really wanted them to have. It really made for a nice Christmas.

Anyway, the kids had a great time on Christmas. Ryker's favorite part was all the candy.We were stuck on stockings for a good 45 minutes while he ate candy and unwrapped ALL of it! But Raelin certainly had her fair share of candy gorging as well. So now we have a big bag of candy concoction. Raelin got a little toy handmixer and she used it to mix all Ryker's candy together for him. Then they proceeded to eat the candy by the spoonfuls. They had a great time playing with their toys in the morning and eating their candy. Skates from Santa
Then we went to Grammy and Granddad's house for more presents and food and whatnot. Those kids sure are spoiled! They got lots of great gifts from everyone and had a great and overwhelming day--just the way Christmas is supposed to be when you're 3 and 5.
Raelin got this cute Hawaiian grass skirt from Jesse's friend, Brooke and she showed her how to shake those hips! She also got LOTS of littlest pet shop guys, which she and I both love. It's just the sort of thing I would have liked as a kid--not too girly, small enough to fit in your pocket, and not associated with any TV shows or anything (I am the media Nazi, afterall).
Ryker got lots of tools and a ride-on-top fire engine and lots of cars and trucks.
This is a few days before Christmas, but he's just the cutest thing, so I had to post it. Look at that smile!

And finally, for mine and Brice's Christmas: I got Brice a really nice compound bow (KSL again!). After the steel bow competition he entered (see previous post), he's been really excited to get into archery. He really liked it as a kid and wanted to get better at it. We also got Gina, Toby, and my dad bows for Christmas, so we brought a couple of bales of hay up there and made a target to shoot at. They had lots of fun, but it sure was COLD (hence, no pictures of that--I was not going out in the wind and freezingness). And for me, Brice found a professional camera on KSL and I LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! I'm not a great photographer, but I love taking pictures and trying to figure out how to get that perfect shot. The camera that we had was starting to poop out and it wasn't taking pictures very well. It did horrible in low light situations and I hate the delay. My new camera is everything I could have hoped for. It takes great pictures everywhere (even at night and through glass), there's no delay, and it's been lots of fun--and just in time for the new baby, so we'll be getting lots of pictures of her when she arrives.

I hope you all had a great Christmas!

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