Christmas 2014

After getting home from Colorado, we had one day to get all of our final Christmas prep done.  Luckily, I had finished most everything before we left.  So when Nate got home from work, we had my parents over for Christmas Eve dinner.  Our new tradition that I decided to start was to make a soup on Christmas Eve.  So I made a delicious crockpot soup, with amazing sourdough french bread and salad and we all loved it.  We then got the girls in their Christmas jammies, got Harper to bed and snuggled up to watch Arthur Christmas.  (We started the tradition of watching a movie on Christmas Eve together last year) About 45 minutes in, my parents had to leave and as soon as they did Quinn got up and said, "It's time for nigh-night. I need to go to bed."  My jaw dropped.  What about our Christmas movie? Haha, but she was tired so I let her go to bed.  Stinker.  Nate and I finished building the girls play kitchen, did some last minute wrapping, and I baked cookies for my dad (that I always give him on Christmas morning), and we set all of the gifts out and went to bed.  It was actually a perfect Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning when the girls woke up, around 7:30ish, we got them up and got their diapers changed and got them ready before heading downstairs.  Even though Quinn got the concept of Santa a lot better this year, she didn't understand at all that there were presents waiting for her downstairs so there was no rush.  We spent about an hour opening up gifts and playing with toys before Harper was ready for her first nap.  This was the first year we were home for Christmas breakfast, so I tried to make scones and totally failed.  Hopefully they'll be better next year.

When Harper woke up a few hours later, we headed to my parents house.  We opened gifts from them and gave them theirs and then just kept prepping Christmas dinner.  My sister and her family showed up and it got pretty crazy with all of the kids running around.  Especially because Quinn didn't nap that day and she had a hard time understanding that her cousin, Jaeda, was opening gifts that weren't for her.  We're still working on the whole sharing thing.  But it was super fun.  Right when we sat down to eat Christmas dinner, my little brother skyped us from Mexico on his mission.  So dinner was eaten sporadically while trying to listen and talk with him and not all together which was a little hectic.  But next year he will be home, which is crazy to think about!  And it was so great to get to talk with him.

We went home not long after and the girls were both in bed and asleep by 7:00 that night.  It was a little different of a Christmas, but we are trying to figure out and start some of our own family traditions and it was a great day overall.  Watching Quinn and Harper is always a blast and I loved seeing them so happy.

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning

Nate's presents

My presents

Quinn's presents

Harper's present

Fall Festivities and Halloween

Ok this is going to be a picture overload.  But we did so many fun fall activities and Halloween things this year!  First up was our ward Trunk-or-Treat.  I went simple with costumes this year and just bought them online for a good deal.  Quinn was Glinda the Good Witch and Harper was Dorothy.  They were so stinking cute!  Quinn really got the idea of dressing up in a costume and how to trick-or-treat and it was so much fun.  She loved saying "Happy Halloween!" to people as she walked away too.

Then Quinn and I painted pumpkins and Nate carved one with her.  She enjoyed painting, but not so  much the carving.  She thought the insides were gross and ran upstairs after she had picked out the shapes for her jack-o-lantern until Nate was done carving it.  She did love putting the candle in and lighting it after it was done.

We also went to a fall festival with my siblings and their kids.  It was so much fun for the girls to be with their cousins and Quinn loved the animals and slides and jumping in the bounce house.

 

Finally, on Halloween day we went down to Nate's work for their Safe Street Trick-or-Treat for all of their employees.  It was amazing, just like last year!  The booths were all incredible, Quinn was absolutely loving all of the props and scenes and characters.  And she got way too much candy!  She couldn't even carry her pumpkin at the end because it was so heavy and so full.

Then on Halloween night we went to a few houses in our neighborhood with our neighbor, Quinn's friend Kiersten.  They were so cute together!  But our neighborhood was super lame and we couldn't find many people passing out candy.  So we then went to my parent's neighborhood and Quinn went to about 15 houses before she was too tired to do any more.  She was so cute knocking on people's doors and saying "Trick-or-Treat!"  I was dying watching how she was such a big girl.  She loved Halloween and is still enjoying her candy and she is still telling people, "Happy Halloween!"

Stephenson Reunion 2014

Now that my family is growing and starting our own families and getting real jobs and everything, it gets harder and harder to get all of us together at the same time.  But we scheduled a trip up to a cabin in Mammoth Creek a few months ago, and we made sure it happened!  We all arrived at separate times, but once we were all there it was an absolute blast.  It was a beautiful cabin, with plenty of room for all of us and all of our kiddos.  Most of us had our own bedrooms with our kids in a separate one, and there were bathrooms for all of us.  There was plenty of space for the kids to play inside, and of course the deck and the yard were perfect for them to play as well.

We spent our time riding ATVs, playing games nonstop, eating junk food, and just watching the kids play together.  We roasted s'mores a few nights and Quinn could not have cared less about them.  She just wanted to eat the chocolate and marshmallows by themselves.  Harper, on the other hand, was reaching and trying so hard to get a taste of the s'mores.  It was so cute.

The weather was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better time.  Quinn and Harper had a blast with their cousins, and they were both so well behaved!  They did great on the drive there and they both slept great for naps and night time the whole trip.  Quinn did figure out that she could easily climb out of the pack N play, so we had a long talk about her sleeping in mommy's bed.  She got out a few times, but eventually saw the gate outside of the door and climbed quietly back into bed and fell asleep!  We were so proud of her!  Then when Nate and I would go to bed we would move her into her pack N play.  It was so cute that when she woke up in the morning she would quietly climb out and come into our room. (She did go back into her crib though when we got home...not ready for that transition yet) One night when we went to move her, we found her on the floor in the corner and we were busting up!  She is too funny.

We couldn't have asked for a better trip.  We missed my brother, Connor, but we are definitely hoping to make this a yearly occurrence so he will be there with us in a few years!