Ski Day

We finally have enough snow in the mountains to take advantage of the skiing. Jared took Grey up for the first day of the season. Grey especially liked the flags for practicing his turns, getting a tiny bit of air on the bumps and the french fries dipped in ranch.

Quick Getaway

I surprised Jared with a night at the Hyatt Regency downtown. It was sort of a combined birthday and Christmas gift. Thanks to our incredible friends, we left the house at 3pm and didn't come home until lunchtime the next day. When we first got to the hotel, we crashed in the room not able to move for a few hours. Then we wandered Barnes & Noble to pick out a couple of books, went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and settled in for the evening. I fell asleep before 10pm and didn't wake up until after 8. Yes, I have been tired. When we woke up instead of rushing to care for kids, we read in bed for a couple hours, worked out and then grabbed lunch before heading home.  It was a perfect recharge. I think we need to do that more often.

The view from our room

White Christmas

We woke up to the perfect dusting of beautiful white snow outside. Grey had woken up throwing up again in the middle of the night so we didn't get out of bed until 7. I put the cinnamon rolls in the oven and we slowly worked through stockings and gifts. Grey would unwrap a gift slowly then walk over to throw the paper away then back to look at what he got. He is his mother's child.

I got a label maker from my sis. She knows me too well! I got right to work on labeling.

Dogs opening their gifts

And the kids

We missed my mom & stepdad so much this year but they were able to skype us from Santiago at least.

Later in the day we went over to my dad's for a delicious dinner and even more gifts. We were spoiled this year. Even Siena was feeling fancy.

 The kids piled on Uncle Bryan to watch The Polar Express

 Isabella got a Barbie Escalade from Santa this year. My kids were jealous. They sat in there for hours listening to the radio and driving it forward and backward in the living room.

Elise passed out with her new princess dolls. It had been a long, fun-filled week!

Until next year's festivities...

Christmas Eve

The annual Wandry Christmas Eve celebration was amazing as always. We didn't have Thanksgiving this year together so we took our family photo this day.

The whole group--we have changed a lot in the past few years

Ken, Jodie, Tyler, Josh, Derek & Megan

Cindy, Brooklynn, Beau & Bella

 Jason, Pam, Ryan, Addie & Colin

Jared, Christina, Greyden, Elise & Cole (they were tired of pictures)

Addie, Brooklynn, Megan & grumpy Elise in their matching dresses

The only picture I got from the nativity was Elise wrapped in swaddling clothes. She really wanted to be Baby Jesus, so Grandma Jo ran upstairs and cut up a sheet to swaddle her in.

 Opening Christmas Eve PJ's--thank you Aunt Pam!

 Elise & Addie dancing in their new PJ's

 Elise was pretty excited about the twin babies with bunk beds and rocking horses

Caroling

This was one of my favorite Christmas experiences ever. It was imperfect because I threw it together very last minute and I was exhausted because Grey had been throwing up the entire night before. But it is an experience I will always hold close to my heart. It was supposed to be our whole family but with Grey being sick, I just took Elise. I invited some ward & family members to join us and was touched by the amount of people who came. We went to a very humble nursing care facility in downtown Denver to sing Christmas carols and pass out candy canes and hugs. My eyes filled with tears on a few occasions. I loved having the chance to sing about Jesus Christ's birth to some people who tend to be forgotten and have little or no family and friends at all. A lot of them were not mentally lucid, but they did their best to sing along and one was even drumming to the beat. I was overcome with the recognition that these men and women are children of God and grateful to be able to share His love with them.

Ward Christmas Breakfast

Our ward does a delicious breakfast every year with a special visit from Santa. We have a tiny ward so we get spoiled.

This is most of our primary

I got to be Santa's Helper and I found out one second before so I was clueless

Cole was not having it

Elise was a less nervous because she wanted a goody bag

Grey was fine although he told me before that he doesn't like sitting on Santa's lap because he is a stranger. How can I argue with that?

Later that day we went to a friend's amazing cookie exchange party with a very authentic Santa. Mrs. Claus was there too.

Scripture Power!

Grey has been very excited lately to read to us out of the scriptures. He loves it! One night I told Grey and Elise to brush teeth and get in PJ's while I put Cole down. I came back to Elise's room and Grey was reading scriptures to her. Pretty much melted my heart. Don't mind his nakedness--he likes to sleep in underwear.