Christmas Break Part 2: Spokane

Ok, don't even start with how behind I am.  I know.  And as a result, I'll forget to add a number of posts that I meant to write at some point.  For instance, I don't remember Mckayla's 2 month or 4 month stats anymore.  I'll see if I can go back and find them though...  But, one thing is for sure.  The last big post that needs to begin my catching up just now is the rest of our Christmas, which officially all took place in January of this year.

On New Years Eve Steve, Ellie, Mckayla, and I all loaded up in the car and left Preston for Valleyford.  It's always a long drive to or from Preston, but we always have a great time.  We didn't do anything much for the New Year as we were all tired, but the next day happened to be New Years Day when everyone could get the day off to spend together, so that's when we did Christmas with my parents.

My sister Jennifer and her son Wyatt, my sister Julie, my Dad, Kerry, and our family all opened presents together and had a lot of fun.  As usual, the kids made out like bandits.  Our girls are sooooo spoiled!  But so loved, and we appreciate it all.  To see how spoiled, this was the tree at "Grandma Sun" and "Papa's" house.

Mckayla liked her owl she got, and has had lots of fun on the squishy mat Grandma and Papa got her.

Ellie got all sorts of Repunzel things since she looooves princesses right now, as well as some stuffed animals and other toys that she loves.

This was my attempts to get Ellie to try on her Repunzel dress Grandma got her.  It worked.  She was jealous that Elmo was sporting her princess dress.  And it made for nice family entertainment while it lasted.

Of course, she loved all Wyatt's toys better than her own, especially his car set and his blocks.  And they wanted to switch their "laptops" that Jen got them.  He wanted her purple one and she wanted his green one.  Good thing once each other's toys aren't there to envy, they just like what they got.

Admittedly, with some of our Christmas money we did go get Ellie a different car set of her own after seeing how much she loved Wyatt's toy.  It made sense since we realized after we were done with gifts that we'd gotten her clothes, books, puzzles, things to grow into, but no real toys...  She's definitely well rounded in what she plays with - anything and everything.

Another fun part of the trip was that Grandma Sun got a cotton candy machine from Papa, somewhat as a joke, so we had to have cotton candy one night.  The first flavoring they tried tasted a little funny to most of us, but Ellie sure loved it.  What kid who doesn't eat much candy doesn't love it when Grandma suddenly hands them  ball of cotton candy?

We also went out to eat and play with my Mom on the 4th of January.  We let the kids play at the mall playground for a while and then ate at a buffet out in the Valley.  It was a nice time for Mckayla to get to meet Grandma and for my Mom to get to see Ellie where it had been a while.

And the last thing to show for our Christmas 2012 (and into 2013) is that this was our Christmas tree at home.

  I love our tree and all our decorations that remind us to think of the Savior during the Christmas season.  And I have to admit, Christmas gets more and more fun as Ellie gets older.  I can't wait to watch both girls open presents and understand and enjoy more of the holiday season each year!