Thanksgiving and Christmas!

WARNING! WARNING! Another picture overload! :)

Our happenings during the holidays...

WOW!!!! The holidays seem such a blur!

We were so excited to host our very first Family Thanksgiving this past year! We had lots of fun visitors come... Scott's Brother Chad and family (Emily, Cooper, Hadley, Rigley, Claire, & Macy) and his sister April and family (Jay, Quinton, Calvin, & Jenna) came to visit and have Thanksgiving with us. OK, I have to admit we did not have Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving... Scott had to work Thanksgiving, so we did it a day early. But it was still wonderful! And no one seemed to mind :)

Here's a great pic of Chad and April... and do you see those cute little turkeys in the background? Emily (Chad's wife) made turkey bags for all the kids and when they did something of service they got a feather to put on their turkey throughout the week and on Thanksgiving they got a surprise at the end for all their hard work! :) So cute! Thanks Em! Paige even got one, she thought it was so cool... And she LOVES the coloring book she got, colors in it all the time!

Kids keepin' busy while they were waiting for dinner to be prepared...

By playing games and just having fun!

The table is set and ready to go... Now where's the turkey?

Scott got to carve the Thanksgiving turkey for the first time... He was a bit nervous, but he did an awesome job! And let me tell you that was one yummy bird. And if anyone is wanting to brine their turkey next year let me tell you I am brining my turkeys from here on out! Mmmmm :)

"Can you carve the turkey any faster... We are hungry!!!!"

Here's everybody eating dinner, it was so fun to have the house full and everyone enjoying each other! We sure missed those who couldn't make it! We love you guys! :)

Paige loved it and I think that is the last time she has had mashed potatoes, because she has since decided that she hates the texture! Little stinker! We had so much fun and it was a wonderful Thanksgiving, Thanks everybody for coming to visit us!!!!! We live far enough away from family that we don't get to see them very often, so it was awesome to see them and Paige loved spending time with her cousins and aunts and uncles!

Chad and Emily's family stayed with us for a little while after Thanksgiving while Chad was looking for a job. And what a wonderful few months they were!!!!!! Chad just graduated with his MASTERS in December (Way to go Chad!!!) and we told them we would LOVE it if they came to stay with us! We were hoping that they could get a job here in Boise so that they would be close, how cool would that have been?!?!?!?! But, much to our disappointment they received a job offer in Arizona and moved there at the beginning of February :( I still get pretty choked up when I think about them moving so far away... But we are excited for his new job, and Scott's mom lives in Arizona too so they are still close to family and we can visit both of them when we are down there! WE MISS YOU GUYS!!!!

Anyway, here are a few of our "adventures" we had while they were here...

Getting ready for Christmas!

Poor Paige was really sick during December. She had a fever on and off for about a week, a rash (from the fever), and a chalazion (a plugged duct in her eye lid), so she felt pretty crappy! We watched a lot of "Finding Nemo". And when I say a lot, I mean a lot! I think she watched it like 3 times one day, cause she didn't feel like doing anything and how can I say no to my poor little sick girl when all she wants is "Fishy, Fishy?"

This picture just makes me cringe when I remember how miserable she was. And to top it all off, I am pretty sure that Paige got almost all of Chad and Emily's kids sick too! It was a crazy couple of weeks! Sick people everywhere :) Thankfully, neither Emily nor I got it so we were able to take care of our kids!

Havin' fun decorating the tree!

Oh, how I love Christmas!

I hate taking down the tree when its all over, but the holidays are SO FUN!!!!!!

(oh, and see that dark green wall in our family room in the back? I have been wanting to paint it since we moved in a year ago and just never got around to it. It made the room feel so dark and small... well, it is now a very cheerful blue! And I LOVE it!!!!!! YAY!!! It makes me feel so happy! I will have to post some pictures soon)

I grew up in Idaho and as a kid we always had tons of snow in Southeast Idaho. Well, apparently Boise doesn't get much and when it does snow it melts within a matter of hours! Let me tell you this was a BIG disappointment for me when I found out. One of the things that I love about Idaho the most is the snow! I LOVE IT!!!!! Anyway, we only got about two really good snow falls and our first one was right around Thanksgiving it was beautiful! And so fun! The kids built a snow man... complete with scarf, hat, coal buttons and a carrot nose. They did an awesome job!!!! And it was so fun to have a snow man in our front yard.

Aren't they so cute!?!

The neighborhood kids and some of their friends were being pulled on a sled behind their dad's pickup and every time they would go by the kids would throw snow balls back and forth, they had a ball!

Making sugar cookies with mommy!

Paige loves to help do anything and everything! She just LOVES to help!

We took Paige to go see Santa, she wasn't too sure about him! SO FUNNY!!!

This picture is a keeper! ;)

So this was the second snow fall we had that was pretty good. Right around Christmas, Paige loved it! She thinks the snow is sooooo fun! She loves to just stand there while it is snowing and tries to catch the snow flakes while they are falling down!

Making a "LITTLE" snow man.

Have I told you just how much I love this girl!?!?!?!?!

She had so much fun! She is just awesome!!

Ok, so on to Christmas!

Scott and I were so excited for Christmas this year, because Paige is just old enough to kind of understand it and get excited about the presents and the lights and everything. So she really enjoyed it! We spent Christmas with my family this year and it was SO FUN to get together!!!!! Almost everybody was there this year. (We missed you Kyle and Michele!) We had a fun Christmas Eve party. Complete with a White Elephant exchange, great food, and games. We did a dance party on the Wii and Paige thought it was so fun!!!! She was dancing right along with everybody! She is so stinkin' cute!

We stayed at my brother Seth's for Christmas Day and opened presents there.

Here is Paige opening her stocking! Santa brought her "Beauty and the Beast" and it is now officially her favorite movie... she is always asking me if she can watch "The Beast, The Beast?" Oh, thank you DISNEY another wonderful film! I have needed a break from "Finding Nemo" great movie, but she wanted to watch it ALL the time!!!!!

She loved putting her hand in and pulling out the surprises inside.

She had the stocking all the way up to her armpit to get the stuff from the bottom!

Time to finally open the presents!

Mommy and Daddy even got stockings!

See that cute little stocking? Scott made that for me the first Christmas we were dating. Oh, the memories!

Grandma and Grandpa Scott got Paige a talking baby!

She loves it! She loves BABIES!!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Everybody taking their turns to open Christmas presents!

Another little baby that Mommy and Daddy got for her that goes in the tub! We originally had it wrapped for last year and she ended up with so many presents that we just kept it an extra year... smart thinkin' Mommy and Daddy! Cause she loves it! Probably way more than she would have last year. She loves helping "the baby" take a bath, she washes it off with the rag and washes her hair and everything!

Reading the book that Grandma and Grandpa MacDonald sent!

She LOVES books!

She would spend all day reading if we would let her. She is starting to really get into reading books to herself which is great. Its so cute to listen to her babble on about the pictures.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Christmas?!?

It was a great day, and not because of the presents...

But, there is nothing like having those you love around you!!!!

And breathing every moment in,

because if you blink you might just miss it!

FAMILY, I LOVE YOU!!!!!! XOXO