Christmas

Short version:

We got to spend some time with the Hobbs in Salt Lake before they went up to Idaho to spend Christmas with Jason's family. Then we went down to St. George for Christmas. I took over the cooking for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas breakfast, and Christmas dinner including my very first ham. Corby was totally spoiled with way too many presents. We also celebrated 4 birthdays and got to see Zack and Emily.

Long version (and we're talking LONG, this is more for me than for you):

Because we switched up our Thanksgiving/Christmas schedule to get all the Phillips on the same schedule, we are now off schedule with Jason and Diana. They stay in Texas for Thanksgiving and usually spend some time with both families for Christmas, so it isn't the hugest deal. So while they were in Salt Lake, we drove up pretty much every night after Rog got off work to spend time with them.

Tuesday, December 20

Jason, Diana, and Blake flew into SLC and my parents came up from St. George.

We had dinner at IKEA for Cailey's (Jared's girlfriend) birthday. (IKEA because IKEA originated in Sweden where Jared is serving.)

As we were leaving, Corby spotted a tv with old Mickey Christmas specials playing on it, so we had to stop for a few minutes and let him watch a few. (I'm pretty sure this is the same thing Jared talks about watching on Christmas in Sweden.) Corby thought it was hilarious and he loved this little chair so much that my dad was tempted to buy it for him.

Wednesday, December 21

Took family photos. (Corby had just woken up from a car nap on the way up and was definitely not in the mood for pictures. These are the best we got.)

Our little family

Whole Ririe clan minus Jared

Cousins

Celebrated Diana's birthday with an early dinner at Pizza Factory.

Thursday, December 22

Cookie party! I told everyone they couldn't stop until all the cookies were decorated.

Corby did his part by eating decorated cookies.

Opened presents from our virtual name draw. (We couldn't do a name draw in person because we weren't together for Thanksgiving.)

My dad got Corby a laptop. My real laptop thanks him! :)

My mom got me a CrockPot. I already have one, but wanted an extra for times when I have people over and need a second.

And Jason/Diana got Rog a chopper. We didn't take a picture, but he was very excited because now he will be relieved from onion chopping duty at our house.

Friday, December 23

My mom, Diana, Jason, and I saw Ballet West's production of the Nutcracker while my dad and Roger watched the little boys.

We all had dinner at Mimi's Cafe to celebrate my Grandpa Ririe's 80th birthday.

And then Roger and Jason put the little boys to bed while the rest of us attended the Ririe Christmas Eve party (a day early). It wasn't exactly our traditional Christmas Eve party as it was combined with my grandpa's birthday, but it was still nice.

Saturday, December 24

Drove down to St. George.

I volunteered to take over our Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas day meals as my Grandma Ford is getting a little old for it and cooking really isn't my mom's thing. So we stopped at Albertson's and bought a ton of food. Then I frantically went to work making fried rice and Dixie's egg rolls/sweet and sour sauce for dinner.

Sunday, December 25

We talked to Elder Ririe at the early hour of 1:00 am. It was fun to hear his voice. He is doing GREAT!

Corby woke us up at 6:00 am, so we took him out to the tree to see what Santa had brought him. We had set up a few of the larger presents - a car mat with cars, a lawn mower, and a shopping cart.

My mom and dad got him the mat and we got him the cars for the mat.

He loves pushing things around hence the lawn mower and shopping cart.

Then we made breakfast - puffed french toast, Mexican eggs, and my grandma made her famous frozen fruit salad. (No pictures because we were also frantically trying to get ready for church.)

We enjoyed church at my parent's ward. They had combined with another ward and it was packed! We were on the very back row of the overflow which was probably a good thing because Corby wasn't exactly on his best behavior. (We're working on teaching him that we stay in sacrament meeting the whole time.)

Came home and everyone took a nice long nap.

Opened more presents. Love this picture of Corby. He's like, "Clothes... oh yay..." Even though he might not have been excited about it, we really appreciated each and every gift he received.

One of his favorite gifts - slinkies from the dollar store! Go figure.

Fed the ducks.

Then Rog and Corby visited Rog's grandparents while I went to work on my very first Christmas dinner.

Appetizers - Bacon-wrapped weiners (my grandma's contribution), spinach dip (Knorr's), and cranberry punch.

Funeral potatoes, homemade rolls, green bean casserole (my mom's contribution), and my very first HAM!

For dessert we were supposed to have Candy Cane Pie, but the stores were all out of peppermint ice cream (of course they were, we did our shopping on Christmas Eve), so we settled with the cookies-n-cream version which was delicious, but less festive.

Played Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries - my gift to my dad. It has Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

Monday, December 26

Corby opened more presents. He was way too spoiled and was more into playing with them than opening them, so it took a few days to get them all opened.

This tool set was possibly his favorite gift of them all. He also really loves his "doctor's office toy" from his Grandma and Grandpa Phillips, we just didn't happen to take a picture of him playing with it.

Rog and my dad golfed.

Papa John's pizza for dinner.

Played Rummikub.

Tuesday, December 27

My mom and I hit up some after-Christmas sales. I got Corby his Christmas ornament - Mickey and Toodles in space. Can you say, perfect? And it was half off!

Rog, Corby, and I visited Rog's grandparents.

We celebrated Rog's birthday at Texas Roadhouse where Corby ate nothing but rolls (who can blame him, they are delicious) and ice cream.

Watched the Lion King. One of Corby's presents from his mom and dad.

Wednesday, December 28

Rog and I did a session at the St. George temple while my parents watched Corby.

Rog and my dad golfed (again).

We had leftovers for dinner to try to finish off all the food.

And a lemon cheesecake for Rog's birthday cake.

Played Oh Heck.

Thursday, December 29

Drove back up to Spanish Fork. (It was a Christmas miracle that we fit everything in our car.)

I took down our tree because it was a sad sight as it was totally and completely dead and the top 1/3 of the lights had burnt out.

Zack and Emily came to visit us! We didn't do anything special, but it was fun to see them and have our kiddos play together.

Rog and I got Cafe Rio for dinner and ate it while watching Glee's Extraordinary Merry Christmas after putting Corby to bed.

Tay and Martha stayed the night with us on their way back to school in Rexburg.

Friday, December 30

Listened to BYU win the Armed Forces Bowl on the radio. (We didn't have the station it was on and we didn't want to drive all the way up to Salt Lake to watch it there.) Go Cougars!

And there you have it. Christmas and the days before/after Christmas.