Christmas

This Christmas season has been extra special with Owen. Last year he was only a few days old and we had a quiet Christmas at home. We were still figuring out what we were doing, I was recovering and it was just a bit different. This year, we had a one year old and he started to understand the magic and excitement and that made it even more special for us.

We finally did a Christmas card! It seemed like it was finally time since we have a kid! Last year on Christmas Eve, we brought Owen home from the hospital around 6pm. Jimmy Johns was actually open so Dan got take out and that was our Christmas Eve dinner. This year, Dan suggested we continue the tradition and since I LOVE Jimmy John’s, I was in! They closed earlier this year so we just barely made it in time, luckily!

On Christmas morning, we got up and opened presents. This was Owen’s third time opening presents in a week so he was a pro. Not the best picture of me, but he looks adorable in his Christmas jammies!

Dan did awesome and got me some yummy perfume, a gift card for a pedicure, an awesome necklace, and a subscription to a trashy magazine! Yay.

I got Dan another sleeping bag (he has tons but still wants more), Supermane movie, John Stockton’s book, and a gift card to Sportsman’s Warehouse (his dream store).

Owen loved the excitement of presents and he really loved his popper toy. It is still one of his favorites and he plays with it every day. I’m sure he will love it even more as he starts walking. He also got a puzzle and some shape blocks.

We carried on the Sampson tradition of having cinnamon rolls. I briefly considered doing homemade then wised up and bough some Rhoades rolls. They were amazing.

After breakfast and clean up, we headed south to the Hills’. The whole clan (minus Mike, Hailey and Weston) was there for present swapping and Christmas madness. Owen slept through a lot of it, but did really well with all the crazyness and cousins everywhere. He is getting much better at handling the crowds.

Dan is still rocking the beard. Sexy.

After some lunch, we moved on to my mom’s house where she had a beautiful table ready for dinner. We met early so we could open presents there before the Thomases came over.

My mom went a little crazy again and we all got some awesome presents. Dan and I got a fabric steamer (we have wanted one for a while…ironing doesn’t happen here), a pop up shade/tent thing for summer, gift cards, emergency prep stuff, and a lot of other awesome things. We were overwhelmed.

Owen got some exciting presents and an adorable outfit. He was stoked to open even more presents and watching him try to crawl through the wrapping paper was pretty funny.

We had a delicious dinner at my mom’s house with Thomases and visited for a while. Dan went to a late movie with his brothers and Andrew and Steph and mom and I stayed at mom’s house. Dan and I spent the night there so we weren’t in a rush to get home. We just hung out and the next morning we just stayed at my mom’s.

Owen in part of his cute new outfit from Grandma!

He also got this rad mowhawk hat from Carrie/Mark and family. He actually keeps it on!

When we got home that night, Dan busted out his new sleeping bag and Owen got in on the action. He loves to cuddle up to soft things like pillows, blankets, etc and he makes the cutest cooing sound when he does it. He was cuddling with Dan in the sleeping bag here.

On New Year’s Eve, we met my mom in Bountiful at the Mandarin. It is an awesome Chinese food place and we LOVED it. Owen had his cute new hat on from Steph. He looks a little drunk here, but he was happy! Dinner was awesome and a tradition we might have to continue!

Our holidays were awesome and a perfect combination of relaxing and busy. Having time off work was so great and we were able to spend a lot of time together and with family. We are so blessed with the life we have and we try to remember to thank Heavenly Father for the blessings He gives us daily. Being an eternal family and having our wonderful families are at the top of that list of blessings. 2013 was an amazing year full of great memories and lots of joy. We hope 2014 is even better!