Christmas with the Romer's

This was our year to spend Christmas in California with my side of the family.  BJ, Chrystal, and the kids drove in from Arizona and Kevin, Kellie, and the kids came from Utah to spend time here.  They arrived on Saturday night.

 Abby spent the night on Sunday night.  The girls were so excited to see each other again!

 After lunch on Christmas Eve day we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some crafts and cookies.  Here are Danny and BJ decorating some yummy cookies.

 Maddie, Calissa and Abby showing off their creations.

 Christopher, Nathan and Sam doing crafts with Grandma. Doesn't Sam look excited?

 After cookies and crafts the kids (and men) headed outside for a game that Drew brought from school.  I can't remember what it was called, but it involved badminton rackets, a birdie, and running.   

(Drew, Lindsay, Parker and Conner)

 Kevin, Charlie and BJ

 Sam, Nathan and Chrystal

 They had a lot of fun.

 That night we had everyone over (24 plus Max) for dinner and a program.  We did our traditional appetizers and soup for dinner.

 We read the Christmas story and sang songs.

There were some solos and duets along the way too.  Here are Christopher and Sam singing.

 Calissa and Abby planned something too (and it even included dance moves)! 

 After the serious part of the program, my parents informed us that each family needed to perform a number. Here is BJ's family with their song.

 Drew's family singing "Up on the Housetop."

 Kevin's family

 Our family as we sang, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

 Then my parents decided to sing the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and invite someone to come up for each number.  

 It got quite comical, but we had a great time.  Everyone headed home about 8:00 so we could get the kids in bed so that Santa could come. 

 Conner was up first on Christmas morning and had to wait about an hour until we woke up Parker and Calissa.  Travis and I started our cooking for the day while we were waiting for them to wake up.

 Heading out to see what Santa brought. Calissa was pretty excited!

 Calissa with her new PINK camera!

Parker with an iPhone, iTouch ... sort of.  

 You can read the crooked note (if you can).  

(I wish they had a rotate button on this site!  Would make my life so much easier!)

 Conner with a Kindle Fire.

 After spending time with their Santa gifts and checking out their stockings, they started opening gifts.  This was our very first Christmas opening presents in our own house.  We opened them one by one and had a great time!  My favorite presents for them were their electric blankets!

 Calissa with her loot.

Conner

 Parker's new things

 About 9 or so, we headed over to my parents' house to open gifts from cousins and Grandma and Grandpa.  Uncle Drew greeted us at the door with his "Fear the Beard" beanie. 

 I loved getting to hold Baby Max.  He and I snuggled lots during the trip!

 Opening more presents!

 This pj shirt that Parker got says, "Do Not Disturb ... or ELSE!"

 Conner got a new BYU sweatshirt.  He was really excited!

 The granddaughters got matching pj's.

Abby, Calissa, Maddie, Kaylie and Lindsay posing.

 Grandma in the fear the beard hat.  I don't think she has it on just right!

 After our traditional yummy breakfast of eggs (any style), hashbrowns (40?), bacon, sausage and juice, we hung around and visited for a while, while the kids played with their new toys and their cousins.  Here are Kaylie and Charlie playing.

 Lindsay singing some karaoke on Abby's new karaoke machine.  The girls enjoyed that! 

 Later that day, we headed home to put things away, put on the new electric blankets and finish up our part of dinner.

Calissa also spent time putting together her new lego friends toy. 

We went back over to meet everyone for dinner that evening.  We love getting to have the whole family together since it doesn't happen that often. Merry Christmas!

Some beautiful skies ...

The week before Christmas we had some beautiful skies.  One morning I made the kids all come and look outside to see the beautiful sunrise we were having.

 The picture doesn't even do it justice.  Such a beautiful, small moment of time!

 We had also been having a bit of rain later that week.  I was doing something in my room and realized that the sun was shining and we also had some rain.  I ran outside yelling at everyone to follow since it was the perfect weather for a rainbow ...  Sure enough, there was a full rainbow in the sky.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the whole thing, but it's still beautiful!  I'm grateful for the beautiful things that our Heavenly Father sends us to remind us to slow down and take time to enjoy the small moments!

He passed!

Parker took his driving test on December 19th.  As I went to go pick him up in his car I realized it was really dirty (on the outside).  Yikes!  I probably should have washed it before, but oh well!  I got to the school and while I was waiting for him, I asked my friend who lives right there if I could borrow some Windex and some paper towels to at least clean the windows!  We got to the DMV and waited in line for quite a while (of course).  Then, they sent us outside to pull the car into the testing area.  And then we waited, and waited, and waited!  I was getting so nervous for him.

 Finally the test instructor came out and sent me inside while he started Parker's test and then off they drove.

 Once they got back from the driving test, they sat in the car for a while, while I was getting more and more nervous.  Finally they came over and chatted with me for a while (still not knowing if he passed or not).  Then, almost as an afterthought the instructor said, "he passed."  

Congratulations Parker!  He only missed 5 points and could have missed up to 15!  He's doing great.  Now, I just need to get over being paranoid every time he is out on his own!

Fun Party

Every year we get to go to a fun Christmas party where each couple brings a funny gift and a nice gift.  After appetizers and visiting, we all draw numbers and then the craziness begins.  Year after year we are impressed by the creative (and outrageous) gifts that are brought.  This year Travis unwrapped a Tupperware container with a block of ice inside.  On top was this message. 

 Someone else later opened up the same thing.  One holding a gift card to Flemings, the other a gift card to McDonalds.  Once the party was over and we were having dessert, Trav and the other couple went to the kitchen to unfreeze the ice.  They both thought they had McDonalds because there was a pretty red tint in the ice. 

 Inside both blocks of ice there was a McDonalds gift card holder, but ours contained the Flemings gift cards! No McDonalds for us!  What a fun idea! Guess we'll be heading out for a nice steak dinner after the holidays!