Christmas Catch-Up: Christmas in Colorado

After spending Christmas day with my family, we loaded up some of our stuff the next morning, and drove down to Colorado to spend some time with Cameron's family.

On the way there, we were able to stop and meet my Aunt Laurie for lunch at Cafe Rio (something we can't find up here in Minnesota).  It was fun to get to see her and to catch up.  We haven't seen her since Miley was a baby, so she got to see how much she has changed, and also meet Landon for the first time.

We made it to Cameron's parents house just in time for Landon to be able to take an afternoon nap.  I decided to take one with him - he had not been sleeping great on our trip, and so we were both in desperate need of some sleep!  While we were catching some zzzz's, Cameron and Miley took full advantage of the snow that had evaded Laramie and Minnesota thus far.  We had checked the weather forecast before we went down, and they were calling for weather in the 50's.  I assumed that meant there wouldn't be a whole lot of snow around, so we left our kid's snow gear up in Laramie.  Boy, was I wrong.  There was plenty of snow, and fortunately, with the nice weather, we made some makeshift sock-boots for Miley, and she managed to stay warm, despite her lack of gear.

*I have to give credit to Cameron's dad for all of the pictures...I was camera lazy during the time we were there, and wouldn't have any pictures if it weren't for him!*

She got in some sledding...

...snowman-building (which was much more G-rated than the snowman the guys surprised us with last year!)...

...and goat feeding before heading in for the day.

When Landon and I woke up from our naps, we let him open his present from Grandma and Grandpa (Miley had opened hers on Christmas Eve...a big Snow White doll that you can see her playing with in the previous post). 

That evening, we were able to have a belated Christmas dinner with Cameron's brother, Bryson, and his family.  The boys always love when they get to see Uncle Cameron and play video games with him.  :)

The next day, we just got to hang out and enjoy being with each other.  Miley got to decorate the Christmas tree (no matter if it was after Christmas, right?).

She also got to have plenty of tea parties (and come on....is there anything cuter than a daddy having a tea party with his daughter??).

That evening, we were able to meet up with Cameron's best friend, Chris, and his wife Heather.  We also got to meet their beautiful baby boy for the first time, Benjamin.  Oh yeah, and chow down on come Chick Fil' A...another treat for us Minnesotans.  We had such a fun evening with them.  We went to Chris' parents house to see everyone, then they came out to Cameron's parent house where we just stayed up chatting until well after midnight (a rarity for us these days!).

We were definitely kept busy while we were there, but there was also plenty of time for just chilling with Grandpa (and we managed to kill a lot of nap times and kids bedtimes by watching 24 with Cameron's mom and dad!  Ha ha!).

The time went too fast, and before we knew it, it was Thursday and we were getting ready to head back to Laramie to spend a couple more days.  Before we left though, Cameron's dad was able to catch these cute pictures of Landon (all geared up to go back to Wyoming, of course!).  And in case anyone is wondering which one of us he looks like...these pictures should definitely clear that up!

Next up...New Year's Eve and the drive home!

Christmas Catch-Up: Christmas Day

The kids were so excited on Christmas morning. Santa left Miley a Jessie doll, and a stocking full of fun things, and Landon got a Rody bouncy horse, and all kinds of cute thing in his stocking.

We opened stockings, and then had breakfast.  We tried to line up the kids for a picture in their matching pajamas, but you can see how well that went with two three-year olds, a 14-month old, and a 10-month old.

Ummmm...seriously?  :)  At least this next one turned out OK...

After that, we dove into the presents. Miley loved it this year, and could hardly wait for her turn each round. Landon is definitely at the age where he is more into the boxes and bows (as evidenced in some of the pictures below, where Miley is opening his presents, and he is looking at some other package!), but he still loved playing with all of his new stuff.

Miley was in heaven with her new princess dolls, Leapster Explorer, Bullseye to go with her Jessie, new clothes, new play food for her kitchen, etc.

Landon was spoiled with a train set, a ball popper, some trucks, My Pal Scout, books, clothes, and the most adorable mobile that my sister MADE for his room (pictures of that to come later!).

The guys were thrilled to find they each got a new Dewalt tool set, with a saw and some drills. Cameron also got some new shirts, work out clothes, shoes, a football, and a desk calendar with our pictures of our family.

I managed to not find my way onto the camera on Christmas (in fact, for the whole break!), but I was so excited to get some new Ugg boots, a Chi blow dryer (my old one blew up in my face a few weeks ago...good times), a North Face jacket, lots of cute shirts and a Shabby Apple dress, a calendar for home with our family's pictures in it, etc. Seriously, we were too spoiled.

We had to take a break in between all the presents to go to church, and with as crazy as the day was, I totally forgot to get a picture of everyone all dressed up! What was I thinking??

Everyone got naps later, and we had a delicious turkey dinner. It was such a great Christmas. I love watching my kids get so excited, and there is nothing better than spending the day with family!

Oh, and later that night, our special visitor came back.  Miley was much more excited this time, and even sat on his lap and told him thank you for all of her new toys (and that isn't the only time...for a couple days afterwards, when she would be in her room for a nap, we could hear her over the monitor saying, "Thank you Santa!  Thank you for my Jessie doll!"  To. Die. For.)!

Next up...after Christmas in Colorado!