Christmas 2016

Wow, what a Christmas! We had it all--family visits, celebrations, tons of snow, and lots of fun memories were made. We started off with our traditional Christmas Eve party with our entire family. EVERYONE was here this year so that made it extra special. We've grown so large in numbers we ended up having the party at the church house--we wouldn't all fit in Mom and Dad's house--and next year there will be even more!  We had tons of yummy food, a short program in which Amelia played her violin:

Cooper told a few jokes, followed by the other cousins--of which Matthew thought his jkoke was hilarious. Then we ate some more!

We left just as the "Big Storm" was hitting Blackfoot. We arrived home just in time to get tucked into our home and the storm blew in. We ended up having a constant snow fall from Christmas Eve eve until December 26th! When the skied cleared, we had about 12 inches of snow. Let me tell you, it made getting to church on Sunday an adventure. Let's just say my children were super impressed at the drift busting their mother could do in their tiny car. :-)

Here's some pictures of Christmas morning:

Cooper finally got his membership to the online game he'd been waiting for: 

Amelia and Cooper had $10 to get each other gifts. Amelia is bracing herself for Cooper's known exuberant reactions:

See?

They loved all their gifts--from the complete haul from Santa; to the "I-Day" (tickets to I-Jump and lunch at IHOP) from Nana and Grandpa. 

The rest of our vacation was spent sleeping in, playing with new toys and games, relaxing, and gearing up for the looooong few months with no break in sight. :-) We have New Years Eve celebration tonight, so I'll post that later. Happy New Year!