I'm finally getting my Christmas post done. It has taken me so long to get to this, but in order to move forward in 2012, I need to finish 2011.
We had a fabulous time visiting Holly, Jeff, Claire and Ethan in Iowa. We arrived at their house in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. As soon as the kids saw us at the airport, they ran and gave us a huge hug, which we LOVED! It was a great welcome. We went back to their house and got settled in, then we started making Christmas Eve dinner. We had the traditional ham, funeral potatoes, ice cream roll, Jeff's appetizer and all by candlelight. It was delicious. After dinner, we went to deliver a Christmas present and sing Christmas carols to a lady in Holly & Jeff's ward who is in a wheelchair - named Gloria. We thought we were being so clever when we sang "Angels We have Heard on High" and sang the part Glo..ooooo.ooooo...ria, to her, but she informed us that a lot of people had the same idea! We went home, acted out the nativity and the kids opened their pajamas and went to bed, very excited for Santa to come the next morning. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of Christmas morning! The kids opened their Santa gifts first thing, then we went to church, and when we came home they opened the rest of their presents. We ate leftovers, worked on puzzles, and the kids played with their new toys. It was a nice, relaxing day.
The day after Christmas, we went to a German town called Amana. We got some hot chocolate and some pastries at the bakery and went to an upstairs loft area to have our snack.
Here is a picture of Papa and Claire in front of the Amana Fudge Factory.
In Amana, they had a lot of photo places set up for the tourists and we took advantage of them.
And then we found a store that had crazy hats. And we tried them on......
Jeff looks dashing in this apron!
Another photo opportunity - this time we were a little crazy!
Later that night, we drove to Cedar Rapids to visit Bryan's nephew David and Marian and kids. Lynn and Cherie were there visiting (Bryan's brother) so we were happy to have a good visit with all of them.
On Tuesday, we went to the Nauvoo Temple and did a session. Even though we had been to Nauvoo before, we had never had the chance to do a session, so we were excited to do that. The interior of the temple is beautiful - they tried to decorate according to the time of the early saints, and it is very well done. While we were in Nauvoo, we were able to visit Derrell and LauraLee Foote, who are serving a mission there. President Foote was our Stake President and Bryan was his counselor for a couple of years before we moved to AZ. It was good to see them - it has been a few years.
As part of their Christmas present, we took the Boyers out to dinner at HuHot Mongolian Grill. Even though Claire has her eyes closed, I wanted to put this picture in because I was very impressed the kids used their chopsticks to eat with.
The weather was so nice while we were there - unseasonably nice, in fact! The bikes were pretty much put away for the winter, but we got them down and took a few trips down to the park. It was chilly, but there was no snow and it only rained one day while we were there. It was so nice for us since we're big wimps when it comes to cold weather! Ethan also got to try out his new scooter that Santa brought him.
We went to Home Depot and Claire and Ethan had fun sitting on the tractor/lawn mowers.
We were also able to go to a school gym that they open up to kids. There are bounce houses, balls, riding toys, etc. and it's a big free-for-all. It was good for the kids to run around and get some energy out.
The last night we were there, we went to the mall. On Friday nights, the caroussel is free and kids can eat for free and have free ice skating. So, we joined the crowds at the mall and enjoyed the freebies.
Bryan and I EVEN went ice skating. Unfortunately, Jeff had to work that night, so he wasn't able to join us.
I was doing okay until Claire held my hand, fell and then I fell with her, landing on the insides of my knees with my legs in a "W". OUCH! They were quite sore for a week or two, but I have since recovered!
One of our favorite things about staying at Holly & Jeff's are the morning visitors we get. We LOVE having Claire and Ethan come in and snuggle with us in bed. They loved playing with our iPad and tablet.
Holly and Jeff got this fun new game for Christmas and we played it a lot.
We are thankful for Boyers for letting us come and spend Christmas with them. We had so much fun and loved every minute of it. THANK YOU!! We love you guys!
