December

So this is really a Christmas post, but there's some stuff from before Christmas, so it will just get tossed in here.

First off we have my nephew's piano recital. He's almost 8, and his teacher just happens to be my sister-in-law, so that was pretty cool.

He did a very good job, but the best part was his Star Wars song that he played with Jenni.

It was pretty cute.

So our plan this year was to go to Wisconsin for Christmas. In fact, way back when, Will insisted that we plan this baby around the fact that we were going to Wisconsin for Christmas. So in our current situation, it was very sad that we could only be there for a couple of days. Well, more like 36 hours. Will had pretty much no time off and buying 3 tickets instead of 2 really ramps up the price. So we got tickets to fly out to Minneapolis on the evening of the 23rd and tickets back out here on the evening of the 25th. 

So we left after going to church and taking a nap on Sunday. The hour or so drive there Ellie was horrible. Then when we went through security, she kept running away, and even crawled around under the security equipment and got us in trouble. She was horrible up until we strapped her in on the plane. Then she was tolerable, and then she fell asleep. She slept through half the flight (like half an hour), then the hour layover in Chicago (we stayed on the plane), then half the flight to Minnesota (another half an hour). She woke up in time to land and I carried her around and grabbed our suitcase while Will got our rental car. It was SO COLD! We still had a 3 hour drive to Nana's house, so it was nice that she fell asleep again. But by the time we got in (around 4 in the morning for us) my poor feet were so swollen it was hard to get my shoes on. I was lucky and got to sleep in the car some though.

So, that was our trip out. We woke up on Christmas Eve a few hours later when Ellie got up (at 7:30). And that's when the fun began.

Cousins Ellie, Leif (just over 18 months), and Connor (14).

This is the first time Will's whole family has gotten together, at least since I married into it.

Lisa, Nora (almost 2), and Nana.

Gracie (5) and Denise.

Lloyd and Gabe (2).

I got to take a nap while Ellie played with some of her cousins out in the snow.

Ivan (6)

Grace, Ivan, Chloe (4), Ellie, Connor.

Connor was a sweetheart and pulled all the kids around the house in the sled.

Then we all got together and went to Will's aunt and uncle's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Ellie did not get a nap, and so managed to fall asleep in the 10 minutes it takes to get to their house.

I didn't get pictures of it, but Will's uncle Eric had duck calls for all the kids, and it got loud pretty quick. It was way funny though. And then all the kids got to pick a stuffed animal and they were all pretty cute. It was really sweet.

Ellie and Chloe

Nora did not appreciate Ellie snuggles (the bear she is holding is one of the stuffed animals they got to pick).

Carri, Connor, Grace, Chloe, Leif, and Nora.

The stairs were especially exciting for the kids. Also, the food was great. I ate too much, despite specific attempts not to.

Then we went back to Nana's house and put on our Christmas pajamas and left out some cookies and milk for Santa.

Ellie's pajamas were courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.

Then we put Ellie to bed and we stayed up too late talking and playing video games.

Christmas morning Ellie woke us up, again at 7:30. And we went to open presents before everyone else showed up to open stockings.

Not a great picture, but for some reason it's the only one I got with her and one of her presents.

Ivan, Leif, Denise and Chloe.

She also got Fruit Loop flavored chapstick. Apparently this = toddler crack. I was gonna let her go to town with it, but as you can see, she was very good at smearing it all over her face. I've been rationing it out since then.

All the kids eating Christmas lunch/dinner.

Once again the food was delicious. In fact, I had the best apple pie of my life that day. We all had to eat a little early because our family had to leave.

Ellie, Dave, Leif.

Ellie didn't really want to leave, especially with so many fun cousins to play with. She was very good while we were there, once she warmed up to everyone. I was impressed by how quickly she managed to do that.

So then we packed into the car and drove 3 hours to airport. It was 8 degrees outside. I slept a good portion of it, but Ellie somehow managed not to. That might explain why she was a stinker at the airport, although she did a little better going through security. We did another short flight to Chicago, but this time we had to switch planes. Ellie was horrible then too. Of course the boarding gate was so crowded that we had to sit on the floor and eat our dinner, but I'm sure she managed to annoy the people around us just fine. Thankfully she was good on the flight back, although she did not sleep. At all. In fact, she didn't sleep until we got through the train and shuttle it took to get to our car. And she finally fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot. Little stinker. We got home around midnight.

The next day my baby sister, who is leaving on a mission in a month, went through the temple for the first time. So poor Ellie spent the entire next day with a new baby sitter, in a new place (my sister's house) after only a few hours of sleep. And traffic was so horrible on the way home that we got there several hours later than we expected. Poor nasty thing. She got a much needed nap, and then she got to open the rest of her presents that we couldn't bring with us.

All in all it was an awesome trip and well worth all the hassle of travel, but it would have been nice to stay longer. We have decided that we need to plan a trip to Wisconsin again next spring or summer. It won't be with the whole family, but it will be better than nothing. And we will have a new little one with us :)

So that was pretty much our Christmas. We got some good presents and spent lots of time with family. I still have a hard time believing that this year is almost over.

Random baby stuff: I'm currently 31 weeks and uncomfortable all the time. Last Sunday our Stake President approached me. Our conversation went something like this:

Him: Are you about to deliver a baby?
Me: Not for a couple more months.
Him: *looks at my belly* Oh my goodness... bless your heart.

That pretty much sums it up. 9 more weeks...