Christmasing {Christmas Eve}

I know I'm sounding like a broken record when I write it on almost every post, but it's true and I'm just gonna write it again: It's so fun to be back in Utah, closer to the fam, and able to join in on the get-togethers and traditions that we missed while we were out of the state.  One such tradition: The Blanchard Christmas Eve Extravaganza!  It's quite the day of eating, visiting, playing, eating, exchanging and opening gifts, opening stockings, laughing, skyping, dressing up for a nativity, and . . . eating (because we're Blanchards).  The Blanchard Fam knows how to have a party, that's for sure!

The day started off with everyone meeting at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch.  All-you-can-eat salad and soup bar (and of course serve-yourself-soft-serve for dessert) - yummorama!

Cute cuzzies.

Sleepy Sam - good thing he's got a Grandma who
likes to snuggle!

When we finished our meal, we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma's house where the kids and grandma and aunties helped to decorate a darling gingerbread house.

Such a masterpiece and excellent group effort.

Post-gingerbreading, we just lounged about.  High on the list of priorities: snuggling and reading.

Then we got to spend a delightful hour visiting with Ryan in Belgium via Skype, followed by more visiting with each other in person, and more visiting via Skype with Elisabeth in Virginia (poor Katie was sick in bed, so we didn't get to see her).  All the visiting and Skyping was only topped off my even more Sam snuggling.  (Not pictured: Gregg "helping" his sisters and Bret assemble the ginormous and very intricate marble monstrosity that Grandma and Grandpa bought for the family.)

I LOVE this pic of all the boy cousins!

Finally, it was time to eat (again)!  We enjoyed the traditional spread of deli sandwiches, chicken nuggets, shrimp, egg rolls, chips and dip, clam chowder and oyster stew.  Hom nom nom.  After dinner we opened presents - the cousins exchanged fun things with each other and everyone opened our Open Christmas Eve gifts from Paul/Kim/Grandpa/Grandma.

The Wihongi boys picked out this adorable panda hat for Sam.

Books for all the kiddos from Gpa and Gma.

And jammies to go with those books.  Cozy critters!

We dug into Grandma's pashmina collection to make costumes for the kiddies to wear for a mini-nativity, narrated by Grandpa.  Melia suggested that Callie and Cohen be Mary and Joseph "since they're almost the same age".  (Her logic would have made more sense if she and Dray were Mary and Joseph since they are actually a lot closer in age, but I think she just really wanted to be the angel. ;)

After a fun movie put together by Scott highlighting all the great times we shared during 2015, we all came upstairs to discover stockings stuffed by Grandma.  Lots of fun goodies and treats were stuffed into those socks.

We finished the night off with a delicious crepe bar for dessert and then we packed up the car and headed home to put the (over) tired kids to bed.  Fun day with fun people celebrating the best thing that ever happened to the world.

Photos from Phones - November 2015 Round Up

November was a great month.  And now that it's December 23rd, I thought it was high time you heard/read/saw all about it.  ;)  I'll let the pictures say the thousands of words:

11.2.15
(just a little smiling sam)

11.2.15

11.5.15

11.5.15
(get that camera out of my face!)

11.5.15

11.5.15

11.5.15
(it was freezing in our house this morning - hence
the two snug little bugs on my bed)

11.5.15
(uncle nate came to visit for our cousin's wedding)

11.6.15
(fall walks with my two)

11.6.15
(a few leaves left on the tippy top branches)

11.6.15
(kind of a pretty veiw from the park - that's the
hearthside church in the bottom)

11.7.15
(cold morning temps means snowmaking!)

11.7.15
(so fun to see Gregg back at his old ways)

bonus video #1

makin' snow

11.7.15

11.7.15
(and Cal thought it was great fun to play in)

11.7.15
(snowboards make amazingly good sleds)

11.9.15
(can't get enough of this face!)

11.9.15
(Cal was on a kick of getting her pic taken by Sam
- and Minnie - on this pillow almost every night.
This one&nbspreally cracked me up.)

11.11.15
(another request for photo op on the blue pillow)

11.13.15
(early morning snowmaking again)

11.14.15
(the last hot dog roast of the season - it was nippy, but we stayed
toasty by the fire)

11.14.15
(Sam was sufficiently bundled in his bouncer)

11.14.15
(Cal loves these hot dog dinners in the back yard)

11.14.15
(the hot dog chef himself)

11.18.15
(still blows me away when he falls alseep by
himself in random positions and places. have
to document it since it never happened with Cal.)

11.18.15
(it's true, what his shirt says)

11.18.15

11.18.15

11.19.15
(would ya look at those lashes?!)

11.19.15
(rowing in the leaves with a big stick - ah, the
imagination of a two-year-old)

11.19.15
(a fun, yet chilly, afternoon outside with this little barbaloot)

11.19.15
(he loves being outside!)

11.19.15
(view from the very back of our back yard, looking
northeast-ish)

11.19.15
(our back yard in the fall - Cal is checking out the
remains of the apple tree)

11.19.15
(he fell asleep in the carrier - as per usual - and
this is how I left him for a few minutes so I could
get myself and Cal un-bundled first)

bonus video #2

kicking, kicking

11.21.15

11.23.15
(I sure do love these little cheesters)

11.23.15
(of course, it's impossible to get them both smiling at the same time)

11.23.15
(there's my smiley Sam!)

11.24.15
(lovely view from the cemetery)

11.24.15
(same view from the same cemetery)

11.24.15
(snoozy snoozerton)

11.25.15
(no leaves left on that thar tree on 5600 east)

11.25.15
(mommy selfies)

11.27.15
(some sledding fun with the dad)

11.27.15
(we found that the closed Old Snowbasin Road
was a great spot for sledding)

bonus video #3

walking in the snow

11.27.15

11.27.15
(a little sunlight left over Wheeler Canyon)

11.27.15
(I spy Cal and Dad walking back up the hill
after some "off roading" sledding)

11.30.15
(snoozy snoozerton . . . again)

11.30.15

11.30.15
(I love the sunsets during this time of year - yes, this is looking
east out my kitchen window, but the sunlight on the top of the
mountains and the pinkish hues in the sky are my fave)

11.30.15
(Cal loved our thankful turkey.  I loved hearing
what she was thankful for each day of November)

All the round ups here: 
2015: Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2014: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2013: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June