Post Wedding Events-Was There Christmas In There Somewhere???

Our fun didn't end with the wedding. We had an interesting 10 hour slick roads drive home with Amy and those sparkling traveling companions, Hailey and Makayla.  Hailey: "You shouldn't lick fire hydrants. They might have dog pee on them." That girl is a total killjoy.

As soon as we got home, life returned to the normal business.  Hailey had her school program. Conveniently, she had a cute new dress to wear.

Anxiously looking for a familiar face...

..oh yay! She's spotted us!

It can't be easy to get a gaggle of first graders to all sing together.

Hailey, asking her teacher if she could tell us good-bye. Okay, let's be honest: Hailey was only interested in telling Aunt Ashley good-bye

and posing for one last picture.

Did I mention that Pearsons came home with us? They drove Megan's car from Salt Lake to Billings so that Megan and David have a way of getting home to Rexburg in January.

We loved having Pearsons with us for a few days. Among her many other talents, Brinlee is really good at appreciating Grandma's cooking.

Stan and I, on the other hand, are back to our "must fit into our wedding reception clothes diet".

After staying with us for several days, the Pearsons took our favorite Pearson grandchild and headed off to Fairfield in a borrowed truck to visit McKay's parents before flying home to Portland.

Brinlee is 18 months old the day of this picture (Dec. 22).  Don't grow up too much before we can see you again, Brinlee!

Our next event is Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas Eve party. Here Makayla and her second cousin Elle Jones are playing "get the cookie in your mouth without using your hands".

Hailey and her second cousin, Sydney, who was an untouchable winner of this game.

Next up is the "be the fastest to unroll the toilet paper" game.
Wait a minute--isn't that the same game these girls use to get into trouble for at my house?

I played the piano for the hat game, as tradition dictates,

 as well as for the Christmas carol sing-a-long, and Makayla helped me, as tradition dictates.

We had our good yearly visit with Santa.

Hailey had a long chat with him, then

Makayla decided she needed a second visit, just to insure that Santa got the message about her non-naughtiness.

Santa didn't forget to stop and check on Grandpa and Grandma.

Finally, Christmas day arrived.

If you haven't realized this yet, let me assure you Christmas morning is infinitely funner with children in the house.

These girls not only love to open presents,

they love to watch others open presents.

and admire new Christmas necklaces.

Well look who left their Breckenridge, Colorado honeymoon to spend Christmas with us!

The newlyweds, pretending they like each other.  At least I think they were pretending.
 We enjoyed having them visit so much we made them stay with us for a week and a half.

The girls got night masks from Amy, to convince them it's time to be asleep. Dream on, Amy.

Alas, life did not come to a stop for Amy.  She had to return to work the day after Christmas while we got to play with Grandma's new Costco toys for the next several school-less days.

Hailey got the boardgame "Trouble", which we found ridiculously addictive. We pretty much spent a whole day playing it. After the 30th or 31st time, Hailey managed to stop sobbing if she lost.

We made some reindeer cookies

cause we just haven't had enough sugar yet.

It wasn't all play at our house. Megan and David devoted some time to painting these magnificent dollar store picture frames in their wedding colors because

yes, honey, we still have one more wedding event. Get that checkbook ready!