Christmas Christmas Christmas

I was going to title this post "Christmas Day," but we sort of had 2 Christmas days this year so it's just plain Christmas. Our first Christmas day --on the 22nd-- was sort of spur of the moment, and it was initiated when we started packing for Utah and realized that we didn't want to pack ALL our Christmas stuff down there and back! I know, it's so sad. Like, the ultimate First World Problem. TOO many presents to fit in the car! Wo is me! 

Anyway, my parents, who are always so on top of things, brought our Christmas gifts with them when they came for Thanksgiving! (that actually meant I had to be on top of things and have their gifts ready too!) They were pretty big packages so we figured we'd open them here, and it was a good thing because we really ended up with a packed car! (again with the f.w.p!)

Ashlyn has really figured out how to open presents! Although it's more "fun of ripping the paper" enjoyment than actual "there is something for me inside this" enjoyment, which is fine with me!

 She got so many fun things from Grandma and Grandpa! Her favorites that day were the little finger puppets of different animals. Even now I am still finding them all over the place, she loves to stick them on her fingers and walk around. So cute. She also got some playdoh, and a little toaster and food set and a cute little apron! (see below!)

Mom and Dad were so nice and got us a new card table and chairs! (Some of you remember the Pumpkin Carving Incident of 2010.... when our old card table collapsed, taking the pumpkins with it!!) I was so excited about that. They also hooked us up with a bunch of food storage and some other handy emergency necessities. I guess I am getting old because I get really excited about that stuff.

Ashlyn was my "helper" in the kitchen after our mini-Christmas, I was busy getting breakfast stuff ready for the ward choir and packing up the Christmas treats for our trip! I. love. this. apron!!!

Loves to boss Lucy around when she's on her leash. Our dog is such a good sport!

Big stuff helping Mommy!

That night was our ward Christmas party. It was a long-ish sit down dinner that was served. Thankfully I had the genius idea to bring Ashlyn's little high chair! I'm so glad I did because there is no way she would have lasted more than maybe 10 minutes if we were trying to just hold her on our laps or in her own chair. We had a good time chatting with friends and some delicious food!

OFF TO UTAH....

So I already posted about pre-Christmas Sunday and Christmas Eve.... so now here we are at actual CHRISTMAS!

We had a late Christmas morning! We were amazed that by 9:00 Ashlyn was still sleeping. But when  I went to check on her lo and behold.... she wasn't asleep at all, just laying in her crib playing with the cool new glow-bug that Nana had given her on Christmas Eve! Who knows how long she had been up!? So funny. 

It was late enough that we figured we better feed her breakfast before we actually did all the presents and stuff. So we just took her straight to the kitchen and had breakfast first.... so it was like 10:30 by the time we actually started the whole Christmas morning thing!

I don't have any action shots of her first seeing what Santa brought because I was taking a video. But it was pretty funny. When she first saw her little shopping cart with the Yo Gabba Gabba characters in it, she was all of a sudden really hesitant and shy about it! What?! Ashlyn?! It was cute. I think she was weirded out by the fact that there were 4 adults all just sitting around staring at her and trying to get her excited about her new presents. But she warmed up pretty quick and finally actually started touching it... then picking up the little guys...then finally pushing the cart all around! 

Santa is pretty proud of {her}self, this has been the #1 toy since Christmas day!  I {I mean, Santa} knew it was a good call getting something for her to both "put stuff" in and "push" everywhere!

Big smile says it all! 

Loaded with all her Christmas loot!

Trying out the fancy little doodler

 It was fun opening the rest of our presents! It was pretty quiet since it was just Collin's mom, his brother Tyler, and the 3 of us. Ashlyn had like triple the presents anyone else did, and she was perfectly content to play with each thing as she got it, so it took a while to get through them!

Reading the new books

Snuggling the new baby

Lucy of course got some presents too. She actually snuck one of her's out from under the tree the night before and had half-eaten it by the time we found her with it! (it was a raw-hide candy cane) But she also got a bully stick and a new collar...fancy!

Snuggling with Daddy after the busy morning

Collin and I were both spoiled as well! We set a super-low budget for each other this year because well, it was stupid to do much Christmas shopping after we seriously just got a new car, new phones....and something else that I can't think of right now. But we were really feeling the need to not spend much. Collin got me some new snowboarding pants (finally, my own! No more using his brother's old baggy ones!), and a new crock pot!  I gave him a new back pack and some new school clothes. I know, we are soo exciting.

Snuggling with Uncle Tyler (he is showing off his "grinch" pj's)

So much fun!

We didn't even do each other's stockings this year. so. lame. But I didn't miss it. We did fill up Nana's stocking and that was really fun! And somehow there ended up being some treats in our stockings anyways! :)

This is Lucy's Christmas Model pose. She wanted you to see her fancy new collar. Especially you, Dad.

I had to put this on here because I literally had a hard time throwing away my old Crock Pot! (on the right) That thing has been with us for over 7 years of marriage... and has cooked us hundreds upon hundreds of meals! It's a busy family's best friend! So long, farewell! And I'm excited about the new one!

Checking out some of the presents

I *tried* to get a mommy-Ashlyn picture. Haven't we already gone over how these never work out? This time I was wishing the *photographer* might have used the zoom perhaps a bit.... but well, whatever.

For the rest of Christmas day Ashlyn took a nice long nap during Christmas dinner.  Morgan's family came back down from Tremonton for dinner and then stayed through the rest of our stay, so Ashlyn had lots of cousins to play with all the time! The following day all the girls (minus Ash of course) went to Les Miserables! It was so great, and fun. I am hoping to go see it again. I wish I had gotten a picture of all of us there! Anyway, we did lots of Lifetime movie watching (I love this tradition at Nana's!), eating WAY more than anyone should, playing games, and having lots of great times!