Our Christmas

This year I talked Aaron into finally having our own Christmas at home. It was a tall order since Aaron's birthday is on Christmas. I tried to make it as exciting as possible and I think our little party turned out really good. We celbrated his birthday on Christmas eve with a nice steak meal and an imitation "great wall of chocolate" cake. I thought it was pretty darn good. When we were at universal studios we saw this hat and decided it would be a fun tradition to make the birthday person wear it on thier birthday for dinner and presents. The kids got a kick out of it.
For his first b-day present I got him (and all of us so we could all open presents :)) a nerf gun so that we could have a nerf war. Whitney liked the idea of being shot at better for some reason so we set up an obsticle course or as Whitney says a "popscicle course" downstairs. She would run from station to station while we tried to hit her. It was pretty funny and I'm still shocked that she wanted to be shot at.
He then opened another present and the kids opened thier christmas eve pajamas present. This was the first time I'd given them pajamas for christmas and thought it was so fun that we'll make it a tradition. Whitney got some princess pajamas and Travis got some Cars - lightning McQueen pajamas.
We then sang songs, read them the grinch and then got Santa's cookies and milk all set. It was really fun to be the parents at home for christmas to assemble toys and get everything set up. Unfortunately Travis got pretty sick that night so he ended up in bed with me and Aaron on the couch (Travis started snoring and Aaron has no tolerance for that!)
The kids had a blast on Christmas morning. They were so good and I enjoyed every minute. We even took a half time after Santa's presents to eat omlets for breakfast. It was great. Here's some pics from our christmas:

This picture's for Grandma so she could see how much whitney enjoyed her present.

We then ventured through the snow storm to Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussens to celebrate the rest of the day. The kids were excited to open more presents there and see everyone. We got a good basketball game in and some good food - thanks mom!!! I don't know if I'll ever have a christmas where I don't long to be a kid at my house. I just have to many good memories of christmas growing up - it honestly was such a magical atmosphere and experience, something I'll probably never outgrow in my heart.

The next day we headed up to the Hoopes' in Idaho for more fun. Our highlights up there include sledding, swimming and playing toys with cousins.

We got back yesterday and it really felt good to relax and watch some football and get a good night sleep. It's so wierd how the new year has snuck up on us. I have a lot of goals to accomplish this next year. We have been so extremely blessed this last year. Me and Aaron joke that we will look back on it as our "golden year", but honestly with the kids at a great stage, great health, great vacations, great everything, it seems hard to beat. So here's hoping to a great new year - another year full of the excitement of living and what might be. Happy new years everyone!!

Here's one last video, I wish I could share them all - enjoy!