Christmas 2008

This year Christmas came and went so fast... I blinked and it was gone. This was the year were we had the two older kids for the second half of the day. Peyton woke up at 8:00 and all she wanted to do was to watch "toodles" (aka Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). It took a little coaxing but we got her to walk downstairs to see what "Santa" had brought her. She thought he was still here so she wasn't all that excited to go see him or what he had brought. I explained to her that he had come and gone and had left presents for everyone...She caught sight of the trampoline and was completely ecstatic...she squeeled and then started jumping imediatly. Then came the opening of a few presents mostly presents from mom and dad since the other two kids would want to see her open the presents from Santa. (In the picture above the presents on the couch are the presents from Santa... those on the floor are from mom and dad and others.) She wasn't all that excited to get the socks that she so despreatley needed... but it was just the thought of opening presents. She would have opened them all if we would have allowed her the opportunity. We actually ended up re-wrapping some that she had tried to open. We waited patiently (impatienly more like) for 11:45 to come so we could go get Chance and then pick up Kelcee. Once we got home the two older kids were so excited to have a "second" Christmas. They started with their stocking which gave away a lot of hits of what was to be expected... Kelcee received a couple of Nintendo DS games (of course that would mean that she would be getting a DS....) Chance got a cover for an iPod Nano (which would mean he would be opening an iPod...) (not too smart on Santa's side... maybe he should have thought about that a little more before stuffing the stockings. haha... We opened all the gifts and and Peyton kept walking around saying "where's my presents" we kept explaining that she had already opened all her presents. She just kept trying to open the remaining gifts under the tree which were for Cheyenne and some that were headed to Bear Lake the follwing day. Yes we did get Cheyenne for the evening. We were so excited to be able to share some of the holiday with her. After she got to the house she opened her gifts and then we headed to Justin's Brother Rob's house for dinner with all of Justin's family. During dinner the snow storm hit and we thought we better cut the evening short. So we headed home which took a little longer than normal because the roads were snow packed. When we got home we opened the gift from Santa that I was excited to get. Guitar Hero Aerosmith!!! (it came with 2 wired guitars) so the wireless guitars found their way to the garbage pretty quick. All the kids played with me till they got board with playing so I had no choice than to play by myself... for a little bit then we shut off all the games and everyone ended up in my bed watching a movie we recorded on TV. It was the perfect night to a perfect day. The next day came and went really fast as well. Kelcee and Cheyenne had to be back to Emilee's by 9:00 am so I took them home and then Chance, Peyton and I came home and cleaned up the house. When Justin got off work we loaded up the Pilot and headed to Bear Lake to spend the weekend with my family. The way up was HORRID!!! The roads were so bad, it was like the snow plowes hadn't even been out yet, I15 was completely snow packed... Logan canyon was actually better than the interstate was. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get to Bear Lake when it usually only takes 2 hours. Anyway we had a great time there, it was just nice to spend the weekend with the family. Saturday we had the traditional Keetch Christmas breakfast and then did the chores and then opened gifts. Again Peyton was a little sad when we ran out of gifts for her to open. The sad part of this was that Kelcee had to miss it cuz she had another family Christmas party to attend with her mom's family. We miss her when she isn't with us. The upside was we got to pick her up on Sunday for the whole week. One of the highlilghts of my night was giving my brother Dallas and his wife Jaci thier gift. I had one one of my close friends print me out a saying in vinyl letters that read "One way to have a little bit of Heaven in your home is to have a someone you love in Heaven" (compliments of the Burton family blog), and had it framed. I was so excited to give this to them as it would mean so much to them. The look on their faces was completely priceless. I felt so strongly about giving them this gift. Afater the gifts were all open Peyton decided she was going to play with Uncle Allen. She haad had him running and then he was her little horsy, when Logan (my Nephew) got in on the action. At one time Allen was "hiding" behind Justin so that he could get a little breather. Then he gave up and gave both of them a piggy back ride. The cutest thing abou that was that earlier both little kids had received a pair of "cowboy boot slippers" from thier Uncle Dallas and Aunt Jaci. So it looked like they were truly riding thier horsy. After all the playing was done we played some games as a family and I finally got Peyton to settle down and as soon as she did that she was OUT!!! It had to be the easiest time I have ever had putting her to bed. She was so worn out that it didn't take much. I love spending time with my family we always have sucha a great time. The only ones that were missing from our little family outting were Curtis his wife Nikki and their 3 girls and Kelcee and Cheyenne. Everyone else was accounted for. That is what you call a house full if you will, it always has been with 6 kids and thier spouses and all the grandkids. Mom and Dad love having everyone there but I am sure they are glad when everyone leaves. hah.... It is surly going to be a Christmas I will always remember. It was an amazing Holiday season!!! We really had a great time.