H Family Christmas Party

Family Christmas Party 2010
This last Saturday we celebrated Christmas with Brian's family. This is an unusual year for his family because so many of his siblings will be away for Christmas. Austin and FayLyn and their girls are now living in Indiana. Sarah is visiting them for a week this year and will be spending Christmas with them. Patra is visiting her in-laws in Virginia and Allan and Kami are heading up to Idaho to visit her family. Danny is serving his mission in Brazil. That leaves just Sam and Mat at home and our family and Michael and Hailey in the area.

We started the morning with a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs and hash browns, bacon and sausage. Then the real treat of the morning came when Danny was able to use Skype to "call" home. We had an hour to talk to him and it was really great. We could all see him on the computer and he could see several of us at a time. Even better, we could all hear what he was saying the whole time so we didn't have to share the phone. Later on during the call I went out into the kitchen and I could still hear him talking so I didn't miss out on anything. I really wish that technology had been available while I was on my mission, but I'm grateful that Danny got to use it and that his mission president approved. He gets to call again for an hour on Christmas Day to talk to his mom and dad and I think that's just wonderful. It was really great to hear from him.

After talking to Danny it was time for presents. Ethan and Tanner were the first to open their gifts from Grandpa and Grandma.

They received their very own tool boxes that they could build themselves. Brian and the boys spent Saturday afternoon and evening assembling the tool boxes and they absolutely loved the project.

For their second gift they received tool sets. They were able to use these sets to put together their tool boxes. Tanner fell in love with the saw and has been begging to saw more things. We put their tool boxes and their tools up high in our storage room so that Bradon doesn't accidentally stumble upon them. I think they'll be fun for the boys to use when they're helping Brian with various projects.

Next it was little Bradon man's turn. Michael assisted him with the opening since he wasn't too sure about what to do.

He got a bean bag toss game which he instantly fell in love with. I think it may be almost as good as bowling. His older brothers have loved it too. This year we exchanged presents with Michael and Hailey. We got them some movie passes and also ordered the game Sequence off of Amazon. It said it was a jumbo version, but even we were surprised by the size of the box when it showed up at our door. When I wrapped it it ended up looking like a giant sausage. I thought they might hate us for buying them a game that was so large. Fortunately there is a smaller tube inside the bigger one and the chips and cards could be put inside a ziploc bag, so I don't think they'll have to give up a piece of furniture to fit it inside of their apartment.

And finally here's a couple of pictures of Brian's mom and dad. They are always so generous and good to us and our family.

I couldn't ask for better in-laws or better grandparents for my children.

Merry Christmas!