A whirlwind Christmas

The day after the reception, we transitioned into Christmas mode.

We decorated the tree after Church.

 On Christmas Eve we had the traditional Christmas Dinner 

(normally it's on Christmas, but since many of us had to work the day after Christmas and had to leave on Christmas, we had the dinner on Christmas Eve).

The dinner was delicious, of course, and we had a great time telling embarrassing stories about everyone.

Great times!

Then we had the family Christmas Eve FHE.

We all either read a story or shared a talent.

 Then the kids got their Christmas ornament from Grammy, and she surprised us all with one too!

 The boys cleaning up dinner! How sweet!

 This little guy is just adorable and was just being so cute! I had to capture his smiles!

 Christmas morning!

 The tree!

 We took turns opening gifts, we got some great stuff!

Here I am opening my gift from my sweet husband!

He gave me a silhouette! YAY! 

Awesome crafts coming your way! ;)

I was so excited about my gift to my sweet husband! 

He's wanted this for a really long time!

 It's a gun safe, but the real gift was at my parents' home.

 More gift opening

 Then we got to skype with the missionary!

It was really fun to get to see him and talk to him!

 Meeting his new nephew

It was also hard too, he got pretty teary in the end and most of us did as well.

But he's a great missionary and is doing so well!

It was a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

Long Time No See!

Oh faithful readers, how wonderful you are!

I'm sorry it's been SO long!

We've been super busy around here!

But I have pictures to show why we were so busy!

I'll do it in a couple posts so you aren't quite so overwhelmed.

We've been gearing up for a wedding, Christmas, and family time!

And what wonderful times they have been!

Since the wedding came first, I'll tell you about the wedding weekend first.

We started off by going to the bowl game! 

Our (at the time) soon-to-be-new-sister-in-law is in the band 

so we went to watch her... and the game, of course!

Getting ready to head to the game after checking into the hotel, we played with our nephew for a while

Then we all loaded the shuttle and headed to the game!

 At the game... we were the entire row, minus three seats.

 The band

 The groom made a sign for his bride... tender

It says, "Bowl ticket...$40, Gas...$100, BYU winning Marrying Brittany.. Priceless"

 Us and our cute little heaters.

It was super cold, but the kids helped keep us warm!

Fireworks at half time!

After the game, my sweet husband and I waited with the soon to be bride and groom so they didn't have to ride back on the train by themselves. As we were waiting for her to put her stuff away, I found my cousin, who is also in the band!

The next day was the wedding

(thank you DLP and facebook for this picture).

The sealing was BEAUTIFUL! 

The sealer's words applied to every single person in different ways, it was really neat!

After pictures at the temple we hung out for a bit and then went and ate at a yummy Mexican restaurant.

That night we drove back to my in-law's house. The next morning we set up for the reception.

I also ran a few errands with my sweet husband's aunt, she's a crack up! 

She helped me pick up my sweet husband's ginormous Christmas present (more on that to come).

The reception was also Beautiful! Our hard work really paid off, I think!

I'll walk you through the backyard and point out the things that we (my sweet husband and I) worked on.

Entrance

(My sweet husband helped me spin and wrap the metal around the jars to hang them)

 Close up of the gate

(My sister and I made the buntings)

Sign in table 

(I was in charge of decorating this, my sister cut out all the circles for that wreath, and triangles for the buntings!)

Gifts

 

Where the Bride and Groom stood, my mother-in-law did an awesome job finding and painting the doors!

 Cake table (I was also in charge of decorating this)

 (close up of the picture frame my sweet husband, dad, and I made)

 A cool picture of most of the backyard my sister-in-law took

 Food table, my sister-in-law did an awesome job decorating and arranging it!

 Lights (my sweet husband and terrified-of-heights-like-I-am-father-in-law put up)

 The bride and groom

 The  next couple of pictures are of the family hanging out after the reception was over

 The anniversary couple! Happy 6 years of marriage to them!