Twelve Days of Christmas

Here is my journal of our 12 days of Christmas. The trip was just wonderful. I think I enjoyed the holidays more than ever this year. We had parties to go to almost every day and just kept right on partying in between as well.

1. On the first Day of Christmas, I finished packing, wrapping, washing, and did all of the last minute things that needed to be done before our big trip.

2. On the second day of Christmas, We drove to Oregon on the 22nd with a car packed completely full of wrapped packages. We stopped at my little sister's house in Salem for a little visit. Her new baby Max is getting big already. Then we were off to my Aunt's house for the 16th Arave annual sing-a-long. They really catered to the little kids this year which was really fun. There was a lot of activities to do for them in between all the singing. Eden and her cousin Shelby really hit it off. They held hands and led each other around all night. Dallin connected with Ethan too and followed him around most of the night.
All of our babies, Max, Daniella, and Catherine.
Tanner and his cousin Adam.
Eden loved being Mary, I think just because she got to hold the baby doll.This my Parents, siblings, spouses, and kids. I think Dallin and Eden are the only ones missing because Eden fell asleep and Dallin escaped somehow. I wish I would have grabbed them.

3. On the third day of Christmas, the 23rd, we got ready for church early and visited our friends and their new baby. We sure miss them. Then we visited our Aloha ward and saw many friendly faces. I was hoping that Dallin would do well in Sacrament meeting so people would see how much progress he has made, but after being in the car so much the day before and an unfamiliar ward really threw him and it was a disaster. Tanner was also grouchy because it was his nap time. We finally called it a day a half hour before church was over because the kids were just not cooperating. But it was so fun to see everyone. Later that day we had another fun Christmas celebration and yummy dinner with Grandpa Dickinson and relatives. It was really fun to visit with grandpa and to see uncle Van who was up from southern California.

4. On the fourth day of Christmas, the 24th, I woke up and realized that I still had not gotten Peter a gift yet. For some reason I had the worst time decided what to get and I really waited because I knew whatever I got him would be too big to travel home with. I finally decided on getting him new skis since he lost one somehow last year during transport from the mountain. They are special trick skis that have tips on both sides for jumping and going fast. So Lori helped me with that project even though she had about 50 things left to do that day. That evening we had a fun Christmas eve party with my family at my sister Laurel's house. Everyone brought lots of food and there was so much that we ate half of the selection early in the evening and the other half later. We totally pigged out on all the yummy foods and special mixed drinks. We had so much fun laughing and visiting. My mom gave all of the grand kids their Christmas jammies and then we had a gift exchange. We draw names in our family so everyone got one gift to open.

Poor tanner touched the fireplace and got his first lesson on burns. He lot 2 little blisters on his finger tips. Poor little guy cried for over an hour. I really felt for him a couple of days later when I burned my hand too. Dallin enjoyed passing out all the gifts and Finally opening something after waiting for so long. We were having so much fun, but our kids got tired so we had to head home to the Dickinson's for the night. We still had to prepare for the morning which consisted of more assembling of toys than I realized. That took a couple of hours, but got me all exited for the kids to find everything in the morning.

5. On the fifth day of Christmas, Christmas day, we actually slept in until 7:30 or 8:00 which was so nice because we were worn out from all the excitement. Christmas morning was magical. With so many people there the tree was overflowing and all of the kids anticipation burst with delight.

This is the traditional Christmas morning shot on the stairs, before the festivities began.
Tanner walked right in and found his door toy. He sat and played with it for 20 or 30 minutes. That was good because he didn't have nearly as many gifts to open as our older ones and he didn't care a bit. He also liked his nesting cups and trike.
Eden's Rose Petal Cottage was a huge hit. She loved unwrapping all the presents first and then she disappeared in her house with her new baby and kitchen supplies for most of the day. I kept checking on her and she was busy as a bee. It was so fun to watch her being such a girl. I think I would have loved something like that when I was little so it was fun to watch.
Dallin got his "big truck" that he had been talking about forever. He loved it and Daddy enjoyed helping him drive it with the remote control. He also got his big boy skates which were also a hit. Overall, everything went over well, which was so gratifying after waiting so long to give them their loot. Peter loved his skis too and said that he wished he had had skis like those since high school, so I felt like I did good. I had to tease him though because now that he has his dream skis he will probably be spending most of his time on the bunny slopes for the next many years teaching the kids! I got some great accessories including a big zoom lens for my camera and a photo shop program. Very fun.


Then to our delight we got a white Christmas! Someone said that it was the first time it has snowed on Christmas since 1967. Not sure if that is true, but it is the first time I have ever seen it. The kids got a big kick out of it. Dallin and Eden got to put their new hats and gloves to use right away.


That evening we enjoyed a lovely honey baked ham and Dallin had some guy time in the hot tub. Peter went to a Blazer game with Greg and watched them have their 10th straight win.


6. On the sixth day of Christmas, the 26th, Peter went to work with his dad and I went out to lunch with my best friend Angie. Of course I picked Benihana again because I liked it so much when I came home last time. She brought her cute little baby and we got all caught up. then that night we went to the Hedman dinner, which is an extended relative party at the Shiloh Inn.

1. It was fun to eat and visit with people.
   
   
   

7. On the seventh day of Christmas, the 27th, we headed to Lincoln City to a beach house with the Dickinson's We spent three days playing and visiting. Dallin especially loved seeing the Ocean. On the first night we had dinner and played games and sang Karaoke.

8. On the eighth day of Christmas, at the beach, we had a gift exchange with the siblings and grand kids. Of course the kids really have the present thing down now and they enjoyed some new sticker books, cars and art supplies, etc.

The big surprise gift was a new computer for Lori from all her kids. It was fun to see her get something fun since she is the one giving so much most of the time. The other fun part was getting the Dickinson family cookbook that Tammy has spent months compiling.
For one of the outings, we went to a lighthouse. The ocean was so stormy and gorgeous looking. It was so breathtaking with huge waves and lots of fog.
Here is the lighthouse. I found out how out of shape I was after climbing all those stairs.
While we waited for our turn to climb the stairs, Dallin buddied up with Luke. He only wanted to hold his hand and hang out with Luke. Dallin LOVES everyone in the Dickinson family and knows every one's name and many middle names. Dallin loves to hang out with boys that are older than him and be a big boy.




I thought this picture of Derek looking out one of the windows was so cute.
When Dallin got close enough to see up the lighthouse stairs, he was in awe and ready to go. Unfortunately he didn't quite fit the height requirement, but the tour guide let his hood count for a couple of inches.
This was a great activity for our little guy. I am sure he would have loved to climb the stairs again.
Eden had fun hanging out with Grandpa in a little waiting room.

Back at the beach house, everyone loved sitting in the hot tub. Of course I am not allowed right now, but it seems like I am always pregnant so I am used to it. A group of us stayed up late having a sudoku tournament. It was fun because we started with easy ones and then they got harder and harder. We all had copies of the same one so we would race. I came in second place several times, but no one holds a candle to Heidi's mass skills. I took some lessons from her one time, but she still beats me in half the time.

9. On the ninth day of Christmas, our last day at the beach, we hung out and cleaned up and had a nice lunch. Here is a shot of our group. Some people stayed for one more night and some of us left that evening. We left and made it to a birthday party for my niece Shelby. She turned 5 and Eden LOVED the strawberry shortcake theme. She kept saying "look at the plates and cups" and admired Shelby's special strawberry shortcake hat and cake. I am pretty sure we know what to do for her birthday in a couple of weeks. It was fun to visit with my siblings one more time too.

10. On the tenth day of Christmas, the 30th, we visited the Dickinson's ward. Unlike the week before Dallin did great in sacrament meeting and Tanner was much happier. Dallin was also exited to go to "Grandma's primary" (she is primary president). He did pretty good, but needed one of us to stay with him. It worked out so well because Lori did a sharing time with a train theme and gave out train cookies. He was really into that of course and I think he thought it was cool to have his grandma teaching. That night we had yet another party with the hedman side. Grandpa and Peter played pool and the kids loved playing with their second cousins. We had another good dinner and sang some songs and visited with Peter's cousins and siblings.

11. On the eleventh day of Christmas, the 31st, I finally got to see my other best friend Amy and hang out for the afternoon. We went to the mall and shopped around and found some fun things to buy and had a yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I love their Farfalle pasta with chicken, it is to die for. She also had her little girl who is almost 2 who kept us laughing the whole time. Then that evening we took the kids to the traditional new years eve skate with the Dickinsons. Peter talked his mom into having it early evening instead of after midnight so all the little kids could come. I had fun visiting in the party room and watching the kids have so much fun. Dallin felt like such a big boy with his skates but ended up playing with the cars and wagons most of the time. Eden was the same.

Eden loved the purple car of course.
Dallin enjoyed a variety of different vehicles.

Sherry helped Eden skate around for a while until she got tired of it.
Tanner loved his car so much he even at his pizza in it.
John and new baby Zora.
At least Dallin liked the idea of having his own skates. I am sure it won't be long until he is all over the place with them.
This was the best. Dallin and Tanner entertaining themselves. What a nice big brother. Dallin and Eden were so worn out that they fell asleep after 2 minutes in the car. So we took them home and put them in their beds. We left Tanner with the Dickinson's to play and left for a new years eve party at my uncles, which happened to only be 5 minutes away. It was a smaller quiet party with some of my relatives and my parents. None of my sibs came so I had my mom and dad all to myself! That was pretty cool to really sit and visit with them and hug on them a lot. We snacked on finger food and laughed and told stories the whole time. After the new year we headed home and to my suprise, Tanner was still up at 1:00 am! They said they were just having so much fun with him that he stayed up with the group. He can be really cute late at night so I can understand that. He crawled right into Peter's arms and fell to sleep pretty quick though. We finally went to bed around 2, and I can't remember the last time I stayed up so late.

12. On the twelvth day of Christmas, New years day, was our trip home so that Peter could work on the 2nd. We slept in until 8 instead of an early trek because of all the partying. We finally pulled out at 10 and got on the road. The kids did fine as usual watching movies all day. To my suprise Tanner only took one 2 hour nap and then stayed up late again last night. I can tell he is tired but I don't know when he will get caught up. We got home by 7:30 and now we are ready to get back to the daily grind. Dallin's therapy starts up again today and School starts tomorrow. Peter is back at work and I am blogging and unpacking today. I have so many more pictures that I will probably post later and videos too, but that is my recap of 8 parties and 10 days of nonstop fun and visiting. What a wonderful time. The kids are getting old enough to play with other kids, everyone kept commenting on how well Dallin was doing, and I didn't have very many responsibilities so I just enjoyed being with everyone. Definitely one of my favorite vacations ever.