CHRISTMAS!!!!

First we had Christmas morning and present opening at my parents'. We're waiting in Mom and Dad's bed to go open presents :) Super flattering picture of all of us, I know.
This is just after we woke Lydia up for her first Christmas. She wasn't quite sure what was going on.
The married siblings all went in on getting Mom a really nice new set of pots and pans. It was long overdue. She was very excited.
Lydia's first present. New things, no matter what they are, are always very exciting for her.
She liked how it looked, then was taken a little by surprise that it did something, then didn't understand that it was time to open the next one.

Notice that it's still dark outside. We started at about 5AM, like usual :)
Then off to Robert's parents' to wake up everyone to open presents at about 7AM (Robert's family has always appreciated their sleep on Christmas morning. It works out for us :) Here we are waiting on the stairs in our Christmas Pjs to go up to open presents.
We walked into the front room to see this...
...A Brooklyn Shrine. It was a funny thing in reminiscence of the Terrel Shrine that is at Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's house, as seen below. It was just for kicks and giggles, and was taken down shortly after. They don't really love Brooklyn more... I think... ;)
Opening presents. You can see my new Cricut to my left :D!!
Although she is still a little too small for it, Lydia loves this rocking Pooh Bear she got.
Lydia playing with Aunt Jamie.
Then back to my parents' for Christmas breakfast. Yay waffles!! Only got a couple pictures.
My brother Scott chilling with the babies.
Then off to visit Grandpa Coy Johnston. Here's a 4 generation pic x 2
The next day we have another Christmas present opening session at Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's house.
There's a lot of us. It gets kind of crazy.
Lydia was very fascinated by Cousin Bailey's new laser pointer. It kept her entertained for quite some time.



It was a wonderful Christmas!! I'm already excited for next year :)

Meeting Brooklyn, Christmas Parties, and Christmas Eve

This is me meeting my first Richardson niece for the first time. She is so sweet, so beautiful, and she and Lydia are going to be the best of friends.

Richardson Family Cousin Gift Exchange

Pictures in Christmas PJs from Grandma Peggy Richardson

Santa always comes to the cousin gift exchange, so Lydia got to meet Santa twice this year. LUCKY!!!

The Nertz Nerds 3rd Annual Christmas Gift Exchange and Nertz Tournament.

We get together at the King's and have a gift exchange and then play Nertz. We had a great turn out with 9 teams, but we missed those who couldn't make it and hope to see them next year. Robert received a Stats Model action figure from Jeff Ouzts.

I got a great candle from Natalie Garner.

Team Richardson. We are too cute :)

Kaci and Natalie adopted Lydia into Team Indian Princess. She fit right in.

Team Babysitters. Hunter and Aaron watched the babies so that we could play. Don't worry, as far as I know they didn't use the guns around the babies.

Aaron got Lydia to go right to sleep. Masterful babysitting skills Aaron!!

Wilcken Christmas Book Reading and Bunko Night

Wilcken Christmas Eve (We were also able to go to the Johnston (Robert's Mom's family) Christmas Eve dinner for a little bit but unfortunately no pictures)

Me and Robert with the youngest 3 Wilcken grandkids

We eat a dinner like they would in Christ's time - fish, unleavened bread, etc. It used to be by just oil lamp, but as our family has expanded our lights have had to increase to include candles and the Christmas tree. The spirit of the night is still there.

Cute Christmas Outfit, Full Bowl of Baby Food, and Sleeping Mishap

Aunt Kaci bought Lydia one of the cutest Christmas outfits. You got a sneak peek of it in the Merry Christmas post but here she is posing for a few pictures in it. Thanks Kaci!! We had several cute Christmas outfits given to us. I barely found time for her to wear all of them. I hope we have another baby that is this size at Christmas so we can use the outfits again.

On December 19th 2010, Lydia decided that solid foods were good. She finished her first full bowl of baby food/cereal. Since then she has done overwhelmingly better and has loved every type of fruit or veggie food we've given her thus far except pears (random right?)

Happy fed baby :)

Lydia pulled her headband over her eyes while she was sleeping and woke up with a raccoon-like red mark across her eyes. We thought it was pretty funny and she got a kick out of us laughing at her.

Trip Down, Friend Reunion, and Curry Wedding

Bean was lucky enough to join us for the ride down. She kept me awake while I drove from Cedar City to Vegas. She's a hoot. It's always party time when she's around :)
We had breakfast with several old and dear high school friends that also lived in Provo sometime in the recent past but now are scattered across the country. It was SOOO great to see everyone and how big all of the babies are getting :) In this picture, Robert and Trent thought they could switch the babies and we wouldn't notice. Needless to say, we noticed ;)
From left to right, these three suitors of Lydia's are McKay Manning, Hyrum Schuetzler, and Logan DeVore. I think all 4 babies were expecting us parents to do a trick, so none of them were smiling. A cute picture nonetheless.
Devin and Autumn Curry coming out of the temple happily married for time and all eternity on December 18th 2010. BEAUTIFUL!!
Tyson Oliver, Tyson Smith, and Tyson Skouson (Baby). It's a good popular name in our circle of friends :)
President Toone did an AMAZING job with the ring ceremony.SOOOO HAPPY!!!And again... SOOO HAPPY!!!Decorating the car with Post-Its = Awesome
After the reception a few of us headed to QT. Tyson and Lizzy had a chugging show down. They had me pick the beverage. From previous experience I knew that Squirt is the absolute worst drink to chug, so of course that's what I picked :)

Brace Yourselves!!

A flood of posts is coming your way updating you on everything from our Christmas Arizona trip to the present. It's going to be a bumpy ride!!! It will mostly be pictures and a few videos with captions here and there until we get closer to present happenings. I hope you all haven't given up on me! I'm back folks!!!!