Christmas

 We had a wonderful date night with the siblings! My parents watched all the kiddos and we went out for Sushi. It was a wonderful night full of laughs and awesome conversation with these people we love so much!

Sadly, we got hit with some serious sickness the weekend before Christmas. Davis had it earlier in the week, then Hudson came down with it and the next day Chase did. We had to cancel a bunch of our plans and just cleaned up a lot of gross throw up messes and comforted our poor, fevering boys. As Hudson was laying on the couch totally exhausted and feeling so crummy, I pulled out Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone to read to him. He immediately perked up and loved listening while he rest. It was fun to add a little magic, even though he was miserable. Having sick kids around Christmas is so sad, especially when there were fun parties we had to miss. But this is partly why we start celebrating Christmas early in the month and continue all month long, so it's not too big of a deal when something like this throws a kink in our plans.

 I wasn't able to get the classic "family around the Christmas tree on Sunday" picture since Chase was still so sick and Ben stayed home with him. Hudson was better so the two of us went to church since I had to lead the music in Sacrament meeting. It was a beautiful meeting with messages of Christ and pretty music.

 We had a cousins dinner at Amanda's house that Heidi and I went to. It was so fun to see Kelly and Ella (and everyone else). It was a really relaxed, low-key affair. After three days of cleaning up puke it was nice to get out.

 Christmas Eve brought us a few gifts- 3 healthy kids (finally!) and some snow! After a birthday brunch at my parents house we came home to let the boys play in the snow. They made snow-mice since Davis is obsessed with Mickey. I was glad these boys were finally able to get a little fresh air.

We had a great Christmas Eve celebration at my parents house! We did a talent show for the little guys. Davis jumped. Hudson did light-saber skills. And Chase played the piano. We played some fun games and chatted and enjoyed each other's company. Everyone's favorite part is the candlelight dinner. It's always so delicious and peaceful and just full of Christmas spirit, love and family. 

We did the nativity puppet show and then opened gifts. Our very favorite moment was when Heidi gave Hudson his "force has chosen you" Lightsaber! (It changes from blue to red, so you can be either Anakin or Darth Vadar, also Hudson made up that name for it, although he's sure that's what it's called). He screamed and shook with delight and then almost tackled Heidi with the most sincere hug of excitement and appreciation. It was the cutest little moment! 

 We got our boys to bed and finished up Christmas stuff. We always wrap the top of the stairs so that the boys can't see down there to see their toys. It was so fun to see them tear down the wrapping and run down to the tree Christmas morning. They were so excited to get the nerf guns they asked Santa for!

After the excitement of presents we had Ben's parents over for a lovely brunch. I didn't take one picture. Overall, I was disappointed with my lack of beautiful Christmas pictures. But I was also trying to just enjoy the moment with my family, so not every thing got documented well.

At some point on Christmas day, Hudson fell asleep just like this on the ottoman. It had been a lot of excitement!

 We had a beautiful Christmas dinner up at my parents house and played Chase's new Harry Potter Clue board game. It was a really beautiful Christmas. I feel so lucky that this year everyone was healthy and happy and that we were together!