A White Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and were able to spend it with both of our families. We spent a couple of days before Christmas in Mattawa with my family. All of my siblings were there with their families which totalled 23 people. My parents house was very full and very fun. Talia and Tucker loved playing with their 7 cousins. They also loved being the oldest cousins. There was plenty of snow and they went snowmobiling, tubing and four-wheeling everyday. Talia couldn't get enough tube rides behind the four wheeler. The pond was frozen over and the kids enjoyed riding the four wheeler on it. My parent's neighbor had a little snowmobile and the kids and a couple of their cousins (Parker and Calvin)loved riding it all by themselves. There are pictures of all of the grand kids in matching PJ's courtesy of grandma. We also took a new family picture thanks to our family photographer, Jana. She always does a great job and I am so impressed with how much she has learned in the classes she has taken.










We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Trent's family. We had a big dinner and then acted out the nativity. All of Trent's siblings were there with their families. Trent's Aunt LaRee and a couple of her kids and their families were also there. Santa Claus brought Talia, Tucker and their cousins Macy and Callie a little gift Christmas Eve. Christmas morning came a little early. Before the kids went to bed we told them they would have to wait until 6:30 or 7:00 to check out what Santa brought. Trent's sister Jodi lives in Richland and we were trying to wait for her to come over with her family. The clock in the playroom, where the kids slept was an hour early, so Tucker came into our room around 5:30 a.m. He was very disappointed to realize that it was 5:30 instead of 6:30 a.m. We sent him back to bed and I know that he never went back to sleep. When he couldn't stand it any longer I heard him go upstairs to his grandparents room. He probably thought that he would have a greater chance of success with his grandparents. The time finally arrived and Tucker was successful in waking up his sister and cousins. We gave the kids a Wii for Christmas and Santa brought some cool Wii games and webkinz. The kids were very excited to receive all their gifts and everything was unwrapped within minutes. I don't know who was more excited to see them open their gifts - the kids or me. I love to see their reactions to their presents and it was worth the wait. It was very fun to spend Christmas morning with the Jeppsons and our families are always so generous. Thank you to everyone for all of our wonderful gifts. Trent and I got a really nice camera and have had a lot of fun taking pictures of our family. Christmas afternoon we drove back to Mattawa for dinner. My dad likes to go all out for Christmas dinner and bought Prime Rib and it was delicious. We spent the afternoon playing the Wii, snowmobiling, four wheeling and playing games. Christmas evening we headed back to Richland and spent the next couple of days there. The kids played lots of Wii and played with their cousins and we got to go sledding on Carmichael Hill which was tons of fun. The last night we there we all went out for pizza! Sunday afternoon we were able to watch my newest niece, Lilah be blessed. We left right after the blessing and were thankful for nice weather to drive home in. It was so fun to be with both of our families but it was nice to return home after being gone a week.. Tucker walked into our house and said, "It is good to be home."