Christmas Eve we made a short visit to Ryan's parents house to say hello and afterwards we headed over to my parents home to play our annual Bingo game. We had Dallas' girlfriend Lacie over this year, so that was a lot of fun to get to know our soon to be sister in-law (hopefully). We enjoyed a delicious ham dinner mom and dad made for us!
Christmas morning we woke up early and gave each other our presents! Ryan bought me an awesome pair of grey boots from DSW! He did a great job picking them out. I've found they look super cute with skinny jeans or leggings!
Ryan's main present I gave him was his new cell phone, the Galaxy SII that he got in November! I got him some more accessories for it and he was super excited. I also got him a few hooded shirts from Pac Sun and a pretty sweet JAZZ hat.
The few other main gifts we gave to each other was a new Dyson vacuum that we desperately needed,The Mentalist Season 1 &2, the Big Bang Theory season 4 and the Hunger Games Series.
We have started reading these books together every night a couple chapters and have seriously enjoyed them so much. We are so excited for the movie to come out the next couple months! Oh, we also got a membership to Planet Fitness to get into shape again! Seriously only $10.00 a month! Totally worth it.
After we finished our little Christmas with ourselves we got ready and headed over to my parents house. We HAD to be there by 9am so mom wouldn't be late to choir practice before church! This is our early morning photo mom wanted to take!
We opened presents and definitely got more than we needed or deserved. Mom always says she isn't doing much, but always goes way beyond like normal! She made us an adorable Owl decoration that we have hanging on our front door and we absolutely love it.
This was probably my favorite gift from my parents.
All of us kids gave mom and dad a carpet cleaner. We hope they have enjoyed it....not that their carpets are nasty or anything, but I'm sure after as many years they have lived there I'm sure they could use a carpet cleaning! haha
We had a great time opening presents and eating the quiche' that dad makes every year.
We headed to church with them to hear mom sing and enjoy the spirit there. It was really nice and relaxing to listen and sing Christmas music about Christ and be with the family. I stepped on a raisin that was on the gymnasium floor and it kinda made me mad, because it made my hills all sticky, but we got to sit behind some family friends and see a little baby girl smile at us that made me not so angry afterall. haha lil' Katie is so adorable! Church finished and I was able to say hello to one of my best friends that I haven't seen in sometime.
We went over to Ryan's parents home afterwards and had Christmas with them! It was so good to see his family and grandparents. Christmas breakfast is always a tradition at their home every year as well so we get double the breakfast on Christmas day, but this year for lunch! haha it is always fun and very good.
I was so excited to give our presents to his family and hope they loved them! We brought our table ping pong game that I gave Ryan this year and we played it with all of his family for hours! We had a tournament and Ryan won! We finished out visiting with his family and grandparents and decided we had had a day full of fun. We are so fortunate to both have such a great families.
Once we got home we watched the movie 17 Miracles (you can watch the trailer if you haven't seen it). This movie was the best movie I think I have ever watched. It was so nice to watch it on Christmas day with Ryan. I was in tears by the end of it and we both realized how blessed we are to have so much. We sat and talked about the sacrafices so many of them made for their families, friends, neighbors and ones they loved so much while on their journey to Zion just so they could experience something greater. They were so commited to one another and the gospel. They knew and trusted the Lord would provide for them. They saw miracles continuosly from their faith and hope. It just made me realize the things we take for granted every day and the commitment I want to gain towards my husband, family and the gospel. I seriously loved this movie and think after crying for a good 2 or so hours I think I will purchuse it and watch it time and time again.
Christmas was so great this year. Ryan and I are so grateful for all we've been given and hope to this coming year reconize the blessing we recieve more often. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!
