Christmas Morning 2011

Christmas morning at Mom and Dad's house wouldn't be complete without reading Luke 2 together once everyone is awake, and then lining up on the stairs, youngest to oldest before going to see what Santa brought.  Cooper was excited, as was Cassady.  Chelsey and Stettsen had been up all night with his family, and were barely coherent.  I was FINALLY able to dodge being included on the stairs, declaring myself no longer a child, since I have on of my own.

Santa brought Cooper lots of great loot since he was such a good boy this year.  He instantly got to playing with the duplo legos.

Stettsen tried to explain to Coop what a sit and spin is.  Once we put it together, he LOVED it!

Ah the chaos of wrapping paper, lots of people, and lots of presents...

Had to snap a portrait of me and Nate.

Nate was eager to model his gifts.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is all the great little stuff in my stocking!

Nate was excited about this one...what could it be?

"Poopourri" from Mom!  His wife was thankful for this little bathroom addition. ;)

Cassady was EXCITED about getting a new camera to explore her photography talents.

And she looked adorable in her new beret.

Cooper and Papa checked out some toys.

Chelsey and Stettsen were thankful for eachother...awwww....

Mom modeled her new clock.

I've never seen Dad so excited about home decor!  "Life is good," as Dad always says.

Pretty soon Jayson and Anna joined us.  Cooper was excited to show them all his new stuff.

Anna and Aspen modeled some of the scarves I made all the girls.

Tyler was SO EXCITED to show us his new remote control helicopter.

Alex got one too.  But I think Jayson (their Dad) was more excited to play with them than they were!

Alex was excited to give Grandpa a special gift he'd worked on.

It took Dad a minute to realize what it was, but then he really liked this thoughtful gift-- a model Mach One!  The exact car Dad had back in the 70s.  They also gave him a framed picture of him with his car, one of the only photos he has of this awesome car.

Pretty soon baby Jaisie and Camyll joined us.  Can you find the baby in all that wrapping?

Can't get over this cute picture of mommy and baby.  They have the same eyes.  Too cute!

Calvin didn't get to come over that day because he was too sick, but Cooper enjoyed being with baby Jaisie.

It was a WONDERFUL Christmas Day full of family and lots of memories.

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve day we went bowling as a family.  It was Cooper's first time, and he thought the shoes were pretty neat.  We had such a good time!  Dad showed us all that his bowling class in college still paid off, and took first place.  Can't remember if Mom or Jayson took second.  Nate came in third.

 Here's the little man watching his ball.  With a little help from this "high tech" bowling stand, and some awesomely high tech bumpers, Coop bowled something like a 45.  Go Coop!

 No visit to Jack & Jill's Bowling Alley would be complete without an order of those yummy greasy fries with a side of FRY SAUCE.  Another first for Cooper, he decided he liked fry sauce enough to just use his finger.  Who needs fries?

We were sure to include Bryt in our celebration of the day, being his birthday, even if just by phone.  Here's Jayson talking to Bryt on the phone whilst bowling.  I don't know why it struck me so funny.  And Jayson can be thankful that I used this shot and not any of the bending over bowling shots. ;o)

Christmas Eve wouldn't be complete without a new pair of pajamas!  Tyler, Cooper and Aspen were ready to celebrate in theirs.

 Then it was crash time; two tired boys ready to go to bed so Santa could visit.

Christmas 2011 - Utah Day 1 and 2

 For weeks before Christmas, I'd been telling Cooper we were going on an airplane to visit LOTS of family like Grammie, Papa, Chelsey, and Calvin.  He was SO excited to finally see Calvin, and hasn't stopped talking about "Cowben" ever since.  So excited we get to go to Utah again in a few weeks for Chelsey's wedding and to see Calvin again!  Except for a few days when Cal was too sick, these too were INSEPARABLE!!  (Calvin 2-3/4, Cooper 2 --7-1/2 months difference in age)

Our second night in Utah, we went to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City.  Cooper has been learning that temples are special places to be married so families can be together forever.  This is Cooper's first glimpse of the Salt Lake Temple, and we was ecstatic!

For Cooper, the night wasn't so much about seeing all the amazing Christmas lights, but about finding water fountains, and fighting with us over whether or not it was too cold to go swimming in them.  BOY WAS IT COLD, and CROWDED.  But we still managed to have a good time, despite the screaming toddler who was mad that we wouldn't let him play in the water.

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We somehow managed to get some group photos.  Here's all the girls:  Chrystal, Camyll, Cassady, Aspen, Anna, Mom, and Chelsey (Jaisie was in the stroller keeping warm)

There's that adorable baby girl and her Mommy!

 And here's all the guys:  Calvin, Poulson, Dad, Alex, Cooper, Stettsen, Jayson, Tyler and Nathan

No trip to Temple Square would be complete without going inside the old Tabernacle.  We all had to go see the place where Grandma Great (Grandma Christensen) used to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Alex and Cassady were good sports.

Everyone was just happy to get out of the cold and the crowds for a second.

Cooper and Calvin were too busy to stop for a photo op.

"What were they too busy doing?", you might ask.  Playing swords with their neon light strips inside the reverent Tabernacle.  Yeah...sigh.

Back outside to see some more lights.  Camyll and Cass really liked this huge old tree decked out in red lights.

Spiderman and his sidekick, I mean, Calvin and Cooper, were happy to get a ride on their dads' shoulders.

Up the temple steps to touch the doorknob of the temple.  Coop thought that was just AWESOME!

Cass was too cute in her red coat.

Finally a good picture of the Coopster

We were all being goofy--I think it was the cold making us all go insane!  Either that or we were all trying to convince ourselves that being in huge crowds to see some Christmas lights at the temple in the bitter cold was FUN. ;o)  Actually, I really enjoyed it.  Thank you to the whole family for indulging me.

 As we made our way over to the reflecting pool, we passed the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where Nathan and I had our wedding reception 6 days shy of 7 years earlier.  As we walked around Temple Square that night, it was very nostalgic for us because the lights and the crowds were much the same on our wedding night as we came out of that side of the building for our reception send-off on our wedding night.  It was fun to have our little family of three there with my immediate family to celebrate Christmas, but also for Nathan and I to remember our wedding as we approached our 7th anniversary.  

 And of course, on the way back to the car, as Cooper screamed and cried because we left the "big water" and wouldn't let him play in it, we stopped in front of the Conference Center to see one last water fountain.

 It was a great way to start a GREAT Christmas vacation!

(Now that I FINALLY have all the photos uploaded and edited, more of Christmas to come as I have "spare" time to catch up.)