Holiday Hangover

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting our Christmas pictures. There are not even that many, but I have just not had the energy or been in the mood to post. Before I delve into all of our Christmas festivities, I need to add the disclaimer that I have a terrible memory, so for those of you who spent time with me, please don't be offended if I fail to mention something fun that we did. Here we go: what a great Christmas we had! We were able to spend a whole wonderful week up in Bountiful, UT with Gregg's parents. We always have a really nice time staying with them and they always take really good care of us. We arrived the Saturday before Christmas, and were there to hear Larry & Jeannette (Gregg's parents) speak in church the next day. I love the Sunday that falls right before Christmas because you can always expect a Christmas music filled Sacrament meeting program, and Larry and Jeannette each shared very nice and touching Christmas stories. That night we played dominoes, and I lost terribly, but still had a blast (for those of you who may not know, I'm way into playing board games, and probably annoy everyone about it enough until they have no other choice but to play one with me). The next day (Christmas Eve), Larry left early in the morning to pick up his parents in Weston, ID to bring them down to Bountiful to spend Christmas (it was so much fun having them there and hearing funny stories about their kids growing up on the dairy farm). While Larry was driving up to Weston, Jeannette, Gregg, Mack and I drove up to Brigham City to visit with Jeannette's mom, Grandma Palmer. It was so nice to visit with her (she has to be one of the sweetest people on the planet) and see all the family pictures at her house. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, but we took a picture of Mack and his Great Grandma Palmer with her camera, so hopefully we'll get a copy of it. That night Chad, Gemmie and Isaac joined us and we all enjoyed a nice dinner together, played a rousing and rowdy game of Scattergories, and got to watch Isaac open his traditional one gift on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning Mack got up around 8 am, so that's when we started opening gifts. Gregg's Uncle Brad (Larry's brother) and Aunt Maureen joined us for a yummy Christmas breakfast, and the rest of the day was spent playing with our new toys. Angie, Jared & kids kindly spent a good portion of their Christmas day driving, and joined us from Cedar City that evening. The next day we hit up the mall for some after Christmas sales and that afternoon everyone went and saw I am Legend (Gregg wet his pants but is afraid to admit it) and loved it! I actually did not go because I cannot handle scary movies, so luckily I was able to use Dax and Maliya (Jared & Angie's kids) and Mack as an excuse to stay home. Thursday was another mall day. Friday afternoon Jeannette had two girls from her Sunday School class come and watch all of our kids while we went to the Speed Street Indoor Raceway. We did this last year and had so much fun we decided to give it another go. We had a great time and Uncle Rick (Larry's brother) even raced with us while Aunt Caroline took pictures with Angie's camera. By the time we got back from the raceway, Todd, Susy & kids had made it from Tooele, and we were ready to start the party! We started off with a delicious dinner followed by some yummy chocolate fondue for dessert, and then we opened sibling presents. After presents we played a really fun game where you start off with a gift that has been wrapped in several boxes and taped up good. Then you take two dice and take turns rolling them until you roll a seven. If you are the lucky enough to get the seven, then you go to the middle of the circle, put on at least a pair of mittens (we had to put on a beanie, scarf and mittens), and work as fast as you can to try to unwrap the present. If you get to the gift, you get to keep it, but your turn ends when another seven is rolled. It was really fun, and Chad ended up winning the coveted gift (Keith Urban's Greatest Hits... (Gregg says: if there is such a thing)). We followed up the gift game with three rounds of hot potato which were all won by Jamis (potatoes are kind of shaped like footballs, and we all know Jamis is awesome at football!) and then some good visiting and catching up before Todd & Susy had to head back to Tooele. We headed back home to sunny Las Vegas the next morning. We had a wonderful Christmas, and maybe we can convince everyone to join us in Vegas next year.

What a cute couple!

Mack with his Great Grandpa & Grandma Benson

Isaac opening his gift on Christmas Eve (dinosaur pj's and alligator slippers)

Mack opening his first gift Christmas morning

Mack checking out his new toy

Mack loves all his gifts... Thank you Grandpa Larry and Grandma Nette

Playing peek-a-boo with Lucy

Look what Santa brought!

Gregg loves his new watch... his wife and son are a close second.

Isaac and Dax playing some air hockey (it was a lot of fun to
watch them both add points without scoring).

The guys... I think they're watching Space Jam.

Grandpa, Grandma & all the grandkids (sorry, Jeannette, I didn't
know I caught you blinking).