Christmas Festivities 2017!!!

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Clause ;)

We hosted our annual Christmas party at our house early because Josh's parents were coming out for Christmas and we wanted to make sure it was intimate and special. We had all the Grandparents over and the kids were spoiled rotten with presents! We also made special gift baskets for each of the Grandmas which were a big hit! I'll let the pictures do the talking....

So much love!!

Evie's favorite Disney movie is FROZEN so it was only fitting that Elsa and Anna were her very first Barbies :).

Great Grandma Helm gave her this little walking pony and it was a big hit!

I helped each kid write a special Christmas card for each Grandparent letting them know how much they love them. It was decorated with snowflakes and their precious words inside were so sweet.

He still loves fire trucks!

Giving Grandma Jill some picture memory books :).

Austin got to hand out presents to everybody. These are the special gift bskets I was talking about!

My Mom was still in lots of pain from her surgery so we moved the party over to the floor so she could lay down. Austin got a fun "dig for your own rocks" kit!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Porter can always be counted on to show up to our parties. We are so blessed to have so much family close by!

Taking a moment to love on my boy.

Evie is "Gampa's" biggest fan!

Next there was the annual Cooley Family Christmas Party! We drove to St. George and enjoyed lunch at Chuck a Rama (Great Grandma Wiegel's Christmas present to everyone) and then we headed over to the club house to play games and enjoy Gena's Christmas devotional she had prepared. It was so much fun! Then we headed home late that night to pick Grandma Janis and Grandpa Steve up from the airport for more Grandparents and fun!!!

Chuck a Rama! YUMM!!!

Evie going around doing her socializing ;).

With the large amount of women in my family, the men have to stick together! ;)

Cutest little elf at the party!

I love my Aunt Heidi

Heidi's family!

Enjoying the devotional while Evie ran around distracting everybody!

Cousins and Aunt Heidi!

Cody and Sweet Grandma Wiegel. She's an angel in disguise.

I was so happy Josh was able to make it this year to the party! Last year he was working :(.

She wasn't happy or anything... ;)

Where's Evie???

There she is!!!

Outside the club house chasing the ducks.

Evie was fascinated by the swans.

My little love bug :). Happiest girl in town!

Christmas Eve started with church and then baking Christmas cookies! We finished the night off with driving around the neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights! Evie's little squeals of delight with every decorated house was priceless! We finished off the night with a little Christmas devotional where we watched the nativity story and Dad taught us about the true reason for Christmas. Austin fell asleep mid-movie and Evie was quickly on her way to dreamland herself. It was such a busy day full of so much fun! It didn't surprise me that they were barely hanging on to consciousness. We loved having Grandma and Grandpa here to enjoy the magic with us!

All dressed in our Sunday Best!

Making a huge mess in the kitchen with Grandma the reindeer!

Oh messy girl.... :)

Rolling out the cookie dough.

Priceless memories.....

Time to decorate!

Mmmmm... cookies.

The queen of sprinkles!

Taking his frosting duty very seriously...

Oh my goodness this was fun!

Just look at our beautiful creations!

Christmas Eve was a success!!! The beautiful spirit in our home that night before bed was so strong, I couldn't stop crying while I said our family prayer before we tucked our babies into bed. We are so blessed.

Christmas day came and Santa did not disappoint! The kids woke us up and then we came downstairs where Grandma and Grandpa were sleeping to check out what Santa had brought! Santa had left his hat and a note by the cookies and milk he had eaten and we were all surprised by Evie's reaction... She was angry! No, LIVID is more like it! hahaha! She kept pointing to the empty plate and saying that she told Santa that he could have 1 cookie, not two! NOT TWO!!! hahahahhahaha!!!! It was hilarious! Then the explosion of presents and wrapping paper commenced and we all had a great time! Evie loved her new doll house and was especially excited to learn that the toilet really flushes and that her dolls now have a bath tub! Austin got a new tool table complete with every tool and was especially excited about the chain saw ;). He immediately got to work sawing all of his sisters Christmas presents..... careful not to harm any of his own. We then spent the rest of the day and clear into the night playing board games, eating, and enjoying our special guests. Grandma and Grandpa had to go back home the next day so we didn't let any time go to waste! It was such a beautiful Christmas :).

He got all sorts of new rock collections and educational books. His little "rock scientist" self was very excited!

Both kids asked Santa for Star Wars stuff and he did not disappoint!

May the force be with you.

Clark Griswold.... ;)

Helping Grandpa unwrap his gifts (hehe)

The bath tub!

Lots of candy!

Wow! A toilet!

Her new doll house!

Decisions, decisions.... Which tool to use first.....

A new rock game!

And of course some umberellas for when it rains.... because Mom is getting tired of hearing all the fighting over the one pink umberella we own ;).

It's YODA!!!

And Darth Vader....

My happy boys :)

We sure do love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Her precious face! It's a Winnie the Pooh Blankie!!!

She was in Pooh Bear heaven!

Daddy helping make Christmas breakfast!

We quickly learned that Austin is a very sore loser when it comes to board games.... we will have to work on that. Apparently Josh was just like him when he was little! Shocker...

It's game time! ALL. DAY. LONG.

Austin got a little boy shaving kit and he makes sure to shave every time Daddy does ;). Evie is super jealous over this special bonding time and always says, "I wish I could shave my face like Austin." :(

Austin also got a rock tumbler for Christmas and it became a really fun family project!

All the grit and debris from the rocks.

Washing off the rocks and seeing how beautiful they turned out!

Voila! Thanks Grandma Jill and Grandpa Nate!

Sure do love my crazies!

Christmas came and went, but the memories will last a life time! I can't believe how much fun we fit into just one month! 2017 was so good to us and I can't help but count my many blessings. :)