St. George

 We decided that for New Year's weekend we'd spend our time in St. George with Brian and his cute girlfriend, Heather.  I was so thankful they came when they did because as soon as they got there the fire alarm in the main family room started to chirp!  Brian was super brave and took care of it for us. :)

Brian and the girls loved doing puzzles while we were down there.  Brian finished a beast of a puzzle and even did a few more.  I think even Heather got into them this trip.

 For dinner on Friday night we made homemade pizzas.  Brian and Heather provided the stuff.  It was so good and the kids had a blast!

 Even Dave got into the action - I had to get a picture of him cooking - yea, he's not one who really likes to cook or ever does.  But man, he rocked this one!  His pizza turned out really yummy.

Our trip was cut short when we got a midnight call that Nate and Becca had had their precious little babies too early.  Becca was only 24 weeks pregnant and had given birth.  We immediately planned our departure in the morning and came right home!  It was really fun to spend the time with Brian and Heather.  We're hoping to go down again soon and do a few more things we didn't do this trip. :)

Setting up the monster

 Dave had been wanting to set up this monster work out beast for a LONG time.  We decided this Christmas break was a great time to do it.  We found some flooring we liked and Dave painstakingly put it together.

 Dave's brother, Matt, was so great and brought over his cute family so he could help Dave put it together.

Matt actually had to have video and several pictures to be able to remember how to put the thing together again.  It was such a fun day.  We truly enjoyed having Matt and Becky and their 2 3/4 boys over for the day.

Christmas day

 Merry Christmas everyone!  This year was totally amazing!  We had so many fun gifts.  I was most excited about this one - the Santa gift.  Every year we have the tradition of Santa's gift being something the three girls can do together.  This year it was a new kitchen with tons of accessories.  They love it!  I'd like to put out an extra thank you to my special elves who put this together for us!  Thanks guys!

 

 We arrange the girls stockings in different sections of the couch so they know where their stuff is.

First reactions are my favorite!  They were thrilled!

All three girls got an American Girl doll, or one like it, from mom and dad.  It's fun to watch them play together.

 One of Dave's gifts was a razor scooter his size.  He loves it - he'd be on the couch and decide he needed some food - he'd get on his scooter and scoot from the family room to the kitchen.  Talk about a kid at Christmas.  I'm thrilled he's excited.

 The girls got him a Batman playset and LOTS of accessories and guys.  I think Jaylee has taken this toy over - she loves the "Bad guys".  Dave was really getting into playing this - sound effects and all!

 Mom and dad came over later for a gift exchange and dad sat in our new chair from them - yes, one of my favorite gifts :)  All the girls pretended to be sleeping for the photo then smiled.  They love their grandpa very much.

Justin, Amber and Heather also came over but I was too overwhelmed with all the garbage and gifts to think to take any pictures - DUH!  We gave mom and dad a book we created with all the pictures from our family reunion this year.  It turned out so good!  All of us sat on the floor and looked through the whole book.  What a treat!

Julie gave me the CUTEST purse for Christmas!  I was so excited!  Thanks Julie, I'm totally having you pick out my purses from now on!

Christmas night we got to eat with the whole Nelson family.  It was so yummy!  The grandkids had a great time sharing what they got from Santa.

Christmas Day was so much fun!  We filled almost a half dumpster with all the garbage from Christmas and the basement - a project Dave decided to tackle!  Can't say this Christmas break wasn't productive. :)

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve at the Jackman's is always a blast!  We started off with a fantastic dinner which everyone brought something to contribute.  As always there were fruit and veggie trays, supfe bread, shrimp (nasty) :), Green slushy drink, stuffed mushrooms and lots more!  YUMMY!!  Next we did the nativity.  We were all laughing so hard!!  Below are the pictures. 

The cast is as follows:  

Jaylee: Mary - Justin: Joseph - Carlee: angel - Chlo: Sheep- Shepherds were:  Nate, Dave and Brian's friend Chief - Wise Men: Brian and his other friend, Edgar.

 

 Like Mary's "ball baby" :)

 The chairs were the Donkey for the skit - it worked out great, thanks for the idea Chlo!

 I LOVE this picture of Justin and Jaylee - oops, I mean Mary and Joseph.

 The shepherds were "Sore afraid" :)

The girls loved meeting Brian's friends- they said they were a little afraid of them because they were a different color.  They all agreed that after talking to them they were super nice though.  It was a cool experience to have Edgar from Zimbabwe and Chief from Ghana with us!

 I love this picture - so sweet everyone watching the love of "Mary and Joseph" - well, maybe Nate didn't get the memo :)

 The amazing cast of the 2011 Jackman Nativity.

 After the Nativity Chlo, Carlee and Jaylee sang the song "Sing a Glad Noel".  They did such a great job!

 Brian's Friend, Heather, favored us with a spectacular version of "Oh Holy Night"

 Jaylee couldn't get enough of Bean.  You can see G&G Jackman in the back.  They are one of our favorite Jackman traditions.  I honestly can't think of any year they haven't been with us!  We love it!

 Then we play bingo!!  We love doing this - you win awesome prizes for getting bingo - we were laughing really hard having a great time.

 The little girls even have a group of gifts they can win. 

Then the bells came out!  I have no idea why this was so funny, but after the nativity and the bingo game we were all wound up!  Made it lots of fun!

 Mom was getting "mad" at the boys for not following along at the right speed :)

 There were a few gift exchanges too!  Dave gave to Brian this year - yea, he got a batman toy!  I think Brian liked it. :)

 Justin had Dave - Dave got a fantastic Chicago Bears hat.  Dave loved it!  Thanks Bean!

Christmas eve was wonderful!  Before we got all crazy mom and dad had us share different tender mercies for the year.  The spirit was very strong as we heard the stories of our parents, grandparents and siblings.  I feel so blessed this year to have had so many of my own tender mercies!  I'd say the largest was my most amazing family!  Thank you Jackman family for always being there for me and being the best examples I know.  I was truly blessed to be with you on such a sacred day!  Love you all!! XOXO