Christmas Day!!

I woke up around 8:00 Christmas morning to let Ziggy out and couldn't go back to sleep! I made Michael get up and made some hot chocolate for the both of us before heading in to unwrap our presents. {We kind of did our Christmas early this year, or so I thought until I opened my presents. Michael got me some skis at the end of November and gave them to me early so I could use them! I gave Michael some ski pants and pedals for his new mountain bike early as well.}

While drinking our hot chocolate, Michael and I started opening our presents. He got some sturdy boots for snowshoeing, a shirt, sweater and some patagonia shoes. I loved watching him open his presents. He had two presents under the tree for me. One was small and the other was huge. In the small present was some skiing socks! Just what I needed so I won't use Michaels ski socks anymore. I opened the big present last and Michael kept saying, "Don't get your hopes up." I started to open the present and couldn't believe what was inside, "A Camera!" I screamed. I couldn't believe it; I was so excited! I never in a million years would've expected it, he totally spoiled me. All the pictures below are taken with my new camera! I'm still trying to learn and get used to it, so have patience with the blurry ones.

We went up to my parent's house around 11:30 and had breakfast with my mom and dad and Wes & Jess and the kids. We watched Morgan, Carson and Malia open their presents. (That was the funnest part of the whole day). Their reactions were priceless. Morgan and Carson got these funny shoes that blow up and (supposedly) make you jump really high. We all tried them on and found that they did not do much, but the boys loved them! Malia got a baby doll with a high seat, crib and stroller. I can't believe what motherly instincts she has at such a young age. She was feeding, holding and pushing that doll as if it were her baby.

Oh! I almost forgot, Santa stopped by... and so did two little elves! It is tradition for Michael's dad and sister to dress up and deliver presents to families on the Harley on Christmas Day. They stopped by in the afternoon to say hello. Morgan stayed in the kitchen because he was nervous to see Santa, so Santa went into the kitchen to talk to him. Morgan wouldn't look or say anything, then all of the sudden he turned around and said "Thank you for my remote control car!" really fast and then turned back around. I then told Morgan that Santa's elves were with him and he needed to go say hi. Morgan went into the entry way and hugged Ryan (Jessica's boyfriend) and told him thanks for his presents. Morgan is 6 1/2 years and I thought he'd for sure be skeptical of Santa by now, but he really believes in him; it was cute.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Michael and I decided to head out into the mad crowds of shoppers and get some last minute gifts; we kind of procrastinated. Luckily, it only took us each about 2 hours. We knew we would be gone all night at the Muhlesteins, so we needed to get Ziggy some exercise. He has been so stir crazy this winter and has been getting into everything! We took him to the park and threw the chuck-it for a bit, then took him inside the house and he was pooped for the night. We went up to Dave and Paula's for a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner. They served up crab and chateau brion beef with a terragon sauce. It was delicious! We then watched Nick and Sadie's girls perform the nativity scene and I played a few songs on the harp. Marci and Dan couldn't be there in person, so we had them on video chat for the program. :) We did the traditional hokey pokey dance and limbo (with the songs). It was really fun to just play and laugh together. The little girls were having so much fun. After dancing, we opened presents and shared our favorite Christmas memory.

We had a blast that night. I always love being with my husbands' family, they are so fun to be around!

Family Christmas Parties

We had both of my "extended family" parties on the weekend before Christmas. The first one was at Maddox in Brigham City. It was fun to see everyone on my moms side of the family, because we really do only see them about once a year, during Christmas time.

The Ridd party was held at the Hyatt in Sandy. We ate a pot luck dinner, played a white elephant game and wrapped presents we had all brought for a Samoan family in Kearns; where my parents are serving a mission.

Temple Square

A few Sunday nights ago, we went to temple square with the young women in my ward. This was a fun activity for the girls, because they got to bring their families along.

I hadn't been to temple square during the Christmas time for probably three years. It was beautiful. I always forget what a spectacular display it is. My favorite lights were in this first picture. They were an assortment of orange, red, green and yellow lights. They covered every single branch of the tree. In person, it almost looked like the tree was on fire!

I love him

This picture taken by Marci in New Jersey.

I absolutely love it.

Christmas Tree & Finals are SO OVER!

Last Saturday, we bought a Christmas tree. We fell in love with the more "sparse" looking ones. I told Michael that they feel bad, because they aren't the traditional Christmas tree so they probably don't get chosen as much. He agreed, so we picked out the most beautiful, perfect one we could see. I couldn't hold my excitement in and started snapping shots before we even got home! I love that Michael likes decorating the tree just as much as I do. :) We spent all morning hanging ornaments on the tree, while Christmas music played. We also attempted another Christmas photo with bwoost. You can see how well that went.

Michael finished his last final on Tuesday, and I finished my last "written" final yesterday. Oh, what a wonderful feeling it is to be done! I just have to do a presentation in one class next week and I'm officially done with the Fall 2010 semester. It will be strange to have so much time on my hands, but I will surely soak up every minute of it. We are happy to have so much time to spend together now and are enjoying the Christmas season.