I guess it had been raining in St. George for about a week-- this NEVER happens. Living in the desert, we love the rain but hardly ever get it, and when we do, it pours and pours, and then a couple hours later is so sunny and bright, you'd hardly believe what it had just looked like a couple hours prior. We were so excited about the rain, but unfortunately there were flood warnings like the entire time, and people were being evacuated out of their homes because of the storm-- it was kinda a big deal. The surrounding mountains received snow instead of just the rain we got-- they were stunning! -- to say the least. Here are a couple pictures Fuzz took on his phone of Pine Valley Mountain near the beginning of our trip:
McKenna had an especially fun Christmas this year-- She just loves those TV shows like Trading Spaces, where the kids get a whole room makeover, and her room has hardly changed since she was born-- except she's moved up from the crib to a big girl bed;) She's had hung up a picture in her room of what she would love for her dream room to look like someday . . . so we took that and ran with it. The night of Christmas Eve, Fuzz and I, Tiff and Aust, Tara and Trav and the rest of us all met up at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's with the rest of our trillion cousins for not only our annual Christmas Eve get-together, but an added celebration. . . their 70th anniversary! Crazy awesome! It was a blast to see everyone that night and introduce my new hubby to those of my relatives that hadn't yet met him. After that we all headed home and had an enormous sleep over at our parents house-- all of us. They kept McKenna distracted downstairs while we took turns all helping out in her room upstairs, cleaning, taking out furniture, painting, and then putting everything back together. We were up most of the night finishing up everything, but we did it! McKenna slept downstairs with everyone else and because we were having a sleepover she wasn't a bit suspicious about not going to bed in her room. Christmas morning we all woke up bright and early--we all looked like zombies because of our lack of sleep--well I normally look like that anyways when I wake up, but this time it was all of us. We all met up in my parents room all gathered around on the floor some of us on their bed. Dad began to read the Christmas story from Luke so we'd be reminded of the true meaning if Christmas. . . After that we all headed into the living room and would you believe it, Santa found us!! How did he know we'd all be there?! He knows everything. haha
We had a beautiful Christmas all together! It had been such a magical morning, and then we heard my mom yell, "McKenna, you have so many things laying out here we don't want to get ruined or broken, why don't you just go put them in your room real quick." We all knew what that meant. Ken started walking towards her room with her arms full of her new treasures. . . and we tiptoed just far enough behind her that she didn't know we were actually following her. She opened her bedroom door and then just stood in the doorway, staring. We were waiting for Some kind of reaction, but she was just in shock kinda for a second. . . then we all yelled "Surprise!" And ushered ourselves into her new dream room. She was still, in her head, trying to put everything together. . . and came to the conclusion that we must have done EVERYTHING last night. She was looking all over her room, jaw-dropped, trying to take it all in. She commented that it looked exactly like her picture of her dream room and just couldn't believe it. The funniest thing ever was watching little Mylee walk into the room. . . it was a surprise to her too since her aunt Kenna is the funnest person to play dolls with and Mylee spends most of her visits in that room playing with her. . . she was so stunned!!! hahaha we all couldn't help but giggle watching her try to figure this all out. Finally after a moment she yelled, "Grandma! I didn't know Santa had a Magic Wand!!!! (with all sincerity)" We all couldn't help but bust out laughing! Mylee couldn't figure out why, it was just so cute we couldn't stop, and then she started to make that pouty face that she makes occasionally. . . and then yelled STOP LAUGHING!!! haha which just made us laugh even harder. Then she started crying, and so we had to explain that we were just laughing because she was just so cute. She knows that we love her just hates being laughed at-- especially if it's her mom laughing. She does the funniest thing-- Whenever Tiff laughs, about anything for longer than like a second, Mylee takes it personally and says, "Mom! Stop laughing! Stop laughing I said!!!" Never Aust, just Tiff. They said they would put her to bed back at home and they would stay up and watch a movie or TV show and Tiff would sometimes laugh and hear Mylee yelling from her bed, "Mom I can hear you!!! Stop Laughing!!!" hahaha she is so freakin funny! Anyways. . . Ken's Christmas get's even better. . . well three days later was her birthday, she turned eleven. We all woke up bright and early and mom started making crepes for her. We all got our presents set out for her under her birthday sign hung over the fireplace and began singing her Happy Birthday. Then we all pulled out our camera's and began taking pictures just as we usually do as she unwrapped her presents- I had made her an adorable scripture case the night before and couldn't wait to see her unwrap it! Finally all of her presents were opened and she was grinning ear to ear, sweetest girl ever, couldn't stop thanking all of us, and then. . . there was a knock at the door. Mom said, "Oh that's probably Grandma and Grandpa for you Ken! Kenna why don't you go open the door for them!" Ken popped up and went to open the door, to her surprise she opened it and there were all of her little friends there with presents for her! There were about ten or so of them with Jamaica, who had had them all meet up at her house and then brought them over all together. Kenna was once again standing in shock in the doorway haha she was so surprised. They all ushered themselves in and began immediately to all gather in the living room where they'd seen her unwrapped presents and continued to have her open all of theirs.
Here's Jamaica and Fuzz . . . and Boots all watching Ken unwrap her presents.
This cake Sophie made was ADORABLE!!!
They played a bunch of Minute to Win it games and then all had a yummy crepe breakfast. After that they made home-made lip gloss with their favorite colors and flavors and then got to take them home with them in their little goody/party bags. Later they had cake and ice cream; I'd made her some lemon cupcakes late the night before with the intention to decorate them bright and early that morning, but mom had beat me to it and had "Martha-Stewarted" them up for me. They were so cute and so yummy~ Needless to say, the party was a blast!
Okay quick backtrack, to the day before Christmas Eve. We call this day Christmas Adam since Adam came before Eve haha kinda our family joke. . . and we have a big fundraiser every single year where we sell hot chocolate with our Sevy cousins and friends on the corner by our house, and give all the money we make to a charity, this year we gave all the proceeds to the Ronald McDonald Foundation. We chose them, because our cousin Travis and Lindsey had just had twins and they were born way too early. The Ronald McDonald foundation was such a blessing to them at this time, and helped them among other things have a place to stay while their children were in intensive care-- way neat organization! So this seemed like the best place to put all the donation funds this year. It was bright and early and freezing cold, but so much fun!
Mylee had to test it out for us . . . just to make sure it was good enough to give out to other people ;)
Tara, Asher (big brother of the twins), his uncle Sean, and Mylee.
Here's the Crew---
Little bonding second cousins ;) one from China, one from Indiana. . .both meeting up in Utah.
This was Fuzz's first year! He was getting so into it! Chasing down cars. . . haha just kidding, just doing a great job of smiling and waving and holding up his sign ;)
That afternoon we all went bowling together! Super fun!!!
Tiff and Aust-- who by the way just found out they're having a boy!!!
Mylee's ball barely made it to the other end of the lane every time, but she did so good! Her celebration dance was the best part!!!
Fuzz has done this a time or two . . . pretty much a pro~
Mylee loves her uncle Brittan, he kinda likes her too ;)
Tara, Mom and Dad
Brit and Ken
We just had to sneak in a snow day while we were home. We drove up to Cedar Mountain and the road up the mountain was closed! So we just played around in some snow we found near the base.
Fuzz made a snow Angel--
Mylee Loved the sledding no matter how freezing cold she was.
Fuzz's niece Jordan got the most adorable puppy from her Grandma DeAnn for Christmas, her name is Ellee-- she's a miniature shitzu.
Christmas at Grandma Sorenson's-- everyone opening their presents from Grandma and their cousins. Their Christmas breakfast was AMAZING by the way-- this was my first Christmas Morning at the Sorenson's.
Another highlight of our trip home was helping to shop and wrap presents for some kids on the Indian reservation that needed some help. My dad with his work had put together a donation drive to help these families out, and we got to help wrap presents and then shop for some other families too. This was such a neat thing for us to be apart of and to witness such charity and generosity from people in our community that had seen the sign in the window at my dad's work and had come with gifts for children they had never met and would probably never get to know. One of the most endearing families was one that had the oldest son, who was still a child, fighting cancer. It was because of this that they could hardly afford a Christmas for their family. My dad and brothers went with their buddy Santa to deliver the gifts to these families, truly a sweet, humbling experience for them. These kind of things are what made Christmas especially special for us this year. My mom told me once, in response to my question, "Is Santa even real?" that he most certainly is, Santa is a representation of the spirit of giving, and as long as we are doing all that we can to keep that spirit alive, Santa will always be real. I'm reminded of this as I think of the experiences we had this Christmas season, and the things that really mattered, and those that didn't so much. This was our very first Christmas together since we've been married, wow! We can't wait for next years!
The morning we left to come home we woke up with snow all around us-- and most of the ride home! The scenery was gorgeous we just had to take pictures-- especially because there seldom ever is snow in so many of the places we drove through.
Here's right behind Bloomington--
This was right by the Hoover Dam (we couldn't really see the dam though.)
We stopped by this In-N-Out and everyone was so excited about this snow. An old man came up to me in there and said, "What's all that white stuff outside." Kingman seldom ever see's snow. In-N-Out's seldom ever see snow!
We saw like a million Joshua Cacti. We actually drove through the Joshua National Park.
We got back to El Paso and would you believe it. . . we found more snow! It snowed the next day too!
It's good to be home in El Paso-- but I'm actually going back to Utah this week for Brittan's farewell!! He's going to Richmond, VA, and couldn't be more excited. We wish him the best of luck on this 2 year adventure! I'll be home for a couple weeks because Fuzz will be doing some training for a few weeks out in the field so it will be good to at least be home with my family ;) It's funny how sometimes the timing just works out perfect!
