Holy Cow! I may have just broken the record for most pictures in one post. Blogger is getting mad at me and everything, but I knew that if I tried breaking this into parts that it was just never gonna happen. Here goes ...
Christmas Eve was so fun and magical it even overcame a few minor flu bugs. We played games and ate awesome food and then crowned the festivities with our annual "friendly" gingerbread house decorating competition. This year we hit a new low and made the kids their own little houses so that they wouldn't interfere with ours. Sounds evil, yes, but look how much they are enjoying just slathering candy and frosting together in piles on top of their houses!
Plus, this year, the houses still resembled houses by the time we were done. Now, we know that we are not exactly pros at this, but you'd never know it by all the trash-talking
happening in the Johnson kitchen that night. We all had such giant egos over the whole thing that we decided we needed help choosing the very best final product. If there's anyone out there that just reads my blog and doesn't comment, this is the day to share some love! We'll just call these two "house 1" and "house 2".
And this is "house 3" and house 4". Come on people, I'm banking on a huge win so don't let me down!
As much fun as that all was, the annual opening of the Christmas
jammies was
definitely the icing on the cake -- which brings me to the picture of the year ...
I don't think
Brielle got happier about anything else all year! The rest of them look pretty pleased, as well, and I must say that it would be tough to find a more adorable bunch of kids than this!
Christmas morning started wonderfully, as the children actually let us sleep until nearly 8:00 am! Then the chaos ensued!
(My past self would never have imagined buying my future children motorcycle clothes and a
BSU sweatshirt!)
On Christmas day we headed to Jody's mom's house, which quickly filled up with most of his siblings and their cute kids. I loved stumbling upon
Brielle and her cousins having yet another impromptu beauty session!
We spent New Year's Eve at our friends house and ended up having so much fun with the
wii that we totally forgot our "we're leaving right after midnight and going to bed, kids" speech and stayed up until nearly 2:00 am. Well, except for
Brielle, who was out cold in the middle of the party way before midnight!
It was hilarious watching the whole crew play
rockband. Tray finally got nominated lead singer because he can still hit the high notes!
The dancing is what really kept us up late.
We even managed to get the dads in on the action!
Happy New Year!
The Jody and the kids finally made it up on the slopes -- thanks to some prompting from Treva! She drove out with her new fiance, Brett, and the whole crew (including a couple extra friends -- my husband is so brave!) went out to Soldier Mtn. 
Plus, this year, the houses still resembled houses by the time we were done. Now, we know that we are not exactly pros at this, but you'd never know it by all the trash-talking happening in the Johnson kitchen that night. We all had such giant egos over the whole thing that we decided we needed help choosing the very best final product. If there's anyone out there that just reads my blog and doesn't comment, this is the day to share some love! We'll just call these two "house 1" and "house 2".
And this is "house 3" and house 4". Come on people, I'm banking on a huge win so don't let me down!
As much fun as that all was, the annual opening of the Christmas jammies was definitely the icing on the cake -- which brings me to the picture of the year ...
I don't think Brielle got happier about anything else all year! The rest of them look pretty pleased, as well, and I must say that it would be tough to find a more adorable bunch of kids than this!
Christmas morning started wonderfully, as the children actually let us sleep until nearly 8:00 am! Then the chaos ensued!
(My past self would never have imagined buying my future children motorcycle clothes and a BSU sweatshirt!)
We spent New Year's Eve at our friends house and ended up having so much fun with the wii that we totally forgot our "we're leaving right after midnight and going to bed, kids" speech and stayed up until nearly 2:00 am. Well, except for Brielle, who was out cold in the middle of the party way before midnight!
It was hilarious watching the whole crew play rockband. Tray finally got nominated lead singer because he can still hit the high notes!
The dancing is what really kept us up late.
We even managed to get the dads in on the action!
Happy New Year!
