Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning 2009

We were in Utah this year for Christmas Eve and Christmas at my dad's house. We have a tradition each year that we open two presents on Christmas Eve. One is a new pair of pajamas and the other is our favorite cereal. Here is Lincoln getting ready to open his very first Christmas present.
He is sitting up so well in the Bumbo! I can't believe how much stronger he has gotten in just the past two weeks.

Sheridan helping Lincoln open his gift (video below)

His new pajamas!! Love the soft fleece. He is not quite three months yet and in all 6-9 month clothes!

My favorite little stocking stuffer!! :)

Megan (21), Rich (23) & Emma (4) on Christmas morning. We have a tradition that we all have to brush our teeth before we are allowed to see the presents.

Lincoln on Christmas morning!

Sheridan and I each have a bear with 2008 on the paw (the year we were married). We weren't able to find a small bear for Lincoln this year, so we found this cute monkey instead to add to our family of bears.

Lincoln's cute New Years shirt! Teresa is so good about getting Lincoln cute things for each holiday. Baby's First Christmas

Jacob in his Star Wars gear! (6)

Emma and Anya with the sticker books we got them.

Megan with her HUGE New Moon blanket!!! Too funny

Grandma Hatch playing with Lincoln....he always lit up whenever she would hold him!

Lincoln with his Great-Grandma Hatch, I love this picture. Rich with all his new clothes

These cute boots that I wanted. I used to wear heals every time I stepped out of the door. Now that I have Lincoln though, it is really hard to balance that heavy car seat in heels! So, I needed a pair of flat boots.

Sheridan asked for red ties for Christmas and got a whole bunch!

Teresa with the frame we gave her of Lincoln's hand and footprint at 6 weeks.

Jacob and Anya checking out all the goodies in their stockings.

Emma LOVES LOVES LOVES candy!! Here is a video of Sheridan helping Lincoln open his very first Christmas present.

Early Christmas with the Hodsons

This year Sheridan and I were in Utah for Christmas instead of Idaho. So we had our Christmas early with the Hodson family. Teresa and Gabrielle both have December birthdays so we celebrated their birthdays as well.

We got this Little Mermaid Barbie for Gabrielle, but Nikola was so funny! She kept peeking into the bag and was so excited that Gabrielle had gotten a mermaid! She kept saying, "It's a mermaid for Gabbers!!" We would ask her, "Hey Nikola, what is in the bag?"
"It's a Mermaid"
"For Who?"
"For Gabbers!"

Gabrielle turned two!

One of the little books she received.

Sheridan's siblings also do a sibling gift exchange. Since we weren't going to be there on Christmas day we gave our gifts and received our gifts early. Sheridan really needed red ties for work and all he really asked for were white shirts and red ties. He got both and also got a Boise State beanie that he loved!

Teresa opening her Carrie Underwood CD and manicure gift card.

Alexandra opening her crockpot!

Nikola and Gabrielle with these cute sticker books we found for them.

Cute Nikola!(4 1/2)

Afterwards some of us stayed and played Cranium. It was so much fun! Sheridan and I came in second and were so close to winning! Mitch and his date won instead. From L to R:

Eli Hodson, Katie Stoddard, Mitch's date, Mitch, Alexandra Hodson, Austin Szwec, David Culbertson, Alex Holly, Danielle Clupfh, James Clupfh. Lincoln slept the entire time which was really nice!

Lincoln with Grandma Hodson and Sheridan

A cute video clip of Nikola (Tesla and Teresa's oldest daughter)

Emmett with the Fam 12/22

On the 22nd we headed out to Emmett for one of Derek's basketball games. We hung out at the house for a while before heading to the high school.

My ADORABLE 17-year old sister, Erica.

We bought the kids a few board games, Yahtzee being one of them. It was a lot of fun for all of us to play that night! I can't remember who won, I just remember that I got smoked by almost everyone. :)

Derek is 15 now!!

Luke picked out this cute snowboarder outfit that the kids got for Lincoln. Unfortunately, he was NOT a happy camper!!

Derek's Freshman Basketball Team

Lincoln watching the game. He would get scared and cry every time the buzzer went off (which was a lot!)

Derek's team didn't win, but it was so much fun to see him play!

Lincoln with his Great Grandma and Grandpa Rudd

I love Lincoln's face here - I think it is so funny!

This is Lincoln's Great-Great-Grandmother, Pearl Robison. It was so neat to get to see her - she is turning 90 this summer! She is so alert, I really hope I have as good of health as she does at that age! Unfortunately, Lincoln was starving when we went over there, so he pretty much screamed the whole time. I felt so bad, and we didn't stay too long because grandma had company.

For my baby shower, grandma made this beautiful baby quilt. It is really neat that Lincoln will always have something that his great-great grandmother made for him.

Sheridan was teaching the boys how to play Texas Hold Em. Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing!! :)

Luke (10)

Luke is seriously the funniest 10-year old I have ever met. With five older brothers, he probably knows way more than any 10-year old should though!! Anyways....Ruth had prepared a really nice roast dinner with a lot of side dishes. As we sat down to eat Luke goes, "Sweeeet!!! We have 'rich people salad' tonight!" I was cracking up! I took this after dinner was over.

Luke and Derek playing with Lincoln. There is a video below too. Another funny quote from Luke on this trip. I was nursing Lincoln with a blanket covering up. Luke knew I was feeding him and so he said, "Aren't babies supposed to only eat things that don't have acid?" I said, "Well actually, the only thing Lincoln eats right now is breastmilk". Luke turned about 10 shades of red and started stammering over his words! It was too funny. All he could say was, "Eeew creepy!" Of course, then Sheridan kept trying to tease him about it the rest of the trip.

Derek's creepy, veiny arms.

Luke with his pocket aces

Mom's presents for the kids. They were supposed to wait until Christmas, but of course, what ten-year old boy do you know who wouldn't sneak a peek into his present? :)

We were playing Apples to Apples one night (which I kept accidentally calling Apples to Oranges) and Luke starts singing this song about how I now have so much 'junk in my trunk'. That little punk!!! :)

The boys just being goofballs playing Apples to Apples. They are remodeling their house right now, which explains the sheetrock background.

Binghams & Clapiers

On our way back from Idaho we stopped in Bliss and met up with Lincoln's Great Grandma and Grandpa Clapier. They have somewhere around 90 grandchildren and great grandchildren! It was their first time meeting Lincoln. I haven't seen them since our wedding either, so it was really nice to catch up, although the visit was a little shorter than I would have liked because we had to get back on the road.

A few days earlier, we stopped and visited with my Aunt Ann (my mom's youngest sister) and her ADORABLE children. It was really nice visiting with her family and getting an update on everyone!

Bailey (8), Nyah (6), Lincoln (3 months), Brody (4), Rylee (2)

All of her kids are so polite and well behaved! Ann home schools her kids through a charter school program and it was really interesting to talk to her and hear about the charter program she works with. Education is so highly valued by Sheridan and me and we are still deciding what type of schooling program we want to put Lincoln in. I always appreciate hearing from people who have opted away from the usual public education.

Our visit here was short too, but it was great to see Ann, Troy and all their little ones!!!