christmas recap

how is it already the ninth of january and i still haven't uploaded christmas pictures??

oh well, better late than never, right? i've got close to 1,000,000 pictures {maybe that is a slight exaggeration...} from our christmas vacation so prepare yourself for picture overload. we had a wonderful break and loved spending so much time with family and friends! danny took a week off from work so we had plenty of time to do all of the fun things that we had been wanting to do. it was perfect!

we decided to do our own thing christmas morning and it was magical. christmas this year was completely different than last year {see pictures below...} and we loved every second of it.

max was so thrilled that he could finally touch the presents under the tree and he had no problem learning how to open them up. max woke up around seven {he must have felt that something special was going on...he rarely wakes up that early!} and we read the christmas story in luke and had a yummy breakfast before heading into the living room. of course, we had to do the choo-choo train tradition and since max is the youngest, he led the train. he LOVED it. he was also so excited about his new blocks and piggy bank. {hopefully we can always keep christmas this simple!} danny and i both got gifts that we had been secretly hoping for: danny=a tie rack for his 20+ ties! and me=pureology shampoo...i am in heaven!

after cleaning up and getting ready for the day, we said good-bye to our home for a week and headed to provo. we spent the day with my family, eating a delicious brunch, opening gifts, playing games, and having fun. my parents got max a cowboy hat just his size and he is obsessed!! we have a true cowboy in the making. he also got an alphabet book that has quickly become his favorite and some new jammies. we headed to mike + bekah's around five for a special christmas dinner and played games into the night. my mom got this game called telestrations and it was a blast! we were dying of laughter. since we put max to sleep in a crib there, we decided to stay the night ourselves. danny and mike stayed up until midnight playing wii {in our bedroom!} while i started reading the potato peel pie society. i can't wait to finish it! the next morning, we helped laney get ready for the day so max + laney got a lot of quality cousin bonding time...including some bath time! haha they are two cute little kiddos.

sunday afternoon we made our way up to layton where we celebrated our third christmas! {being married is the best!} we had a delicious christmas dinner with the whole family and opened even more gifts. we are so spoiled! max got some awesome new books, and the cutest stuffed puppy, along with some alphabet magnets. we stayed in layton until wednesday and while we were there we went to see tangled at the gateway...such a cute movie! we had to buy a bag of popcorn for $5.50 {since when did popcorn get sooo expensive??} but it saved us since we had max with us. he just kept shoveling it in :) after the movie we went to temple square with danny's parents. it was FREEZING but worth it. the lights are always amazing to see and we got to see the new replica of the salt lake temple. that alone was worth the trip!

oh, and on top of all the festivities, danny grew out his "beard." he was SO dang proud of those few hairs that made their way through :)

wednesday max and i came back to my parents, and danny stayed up in layton one more day for dental work + a ski day. he joined up with us thursday night and we spent the rest of the weekend with my family working on a 2,000 piece puzzle, playing lots of fun new games, {including bang!} and eating a ton of delicious food. we spent new years at mike + bekah's again ringing in the new year and had a great time, as always.

on our way back to nephi, we stopped at my grandparents where they let us borrow a new carseat for max!! our little chunk has finally upgraded to a front facing car seat!! hallelujah! he doesn't look super thrilled about it in the picture...but believe me...he is!

phew! that was a lot. congrats if you made it to the end :) we hope you all had a fantastic christmas holiday {even if it was a few weeks ago...} we sure did!!