Christmas Week

It's been a long, busy, and fun week spent with Dirk's family in Arizona, packed with family dinners. We had a birthday party dinner, 2 Christmas dinners, a post-temple dinner and a saladmaster cooking supplies "please buy our product" dinner. We spent lots of time with lots of relatives. Some I'm not sure if I can remember names of the extended relatives, but mostly it was just Dirk's siblings and all Hayden's cousins.

We had a gift exchange with Dirk's brothers and sisters on Christmas Eve. Hayden got a "hulky-pokey hulk" which sings and dances and is a little scary to him. He also got a really cute jedi and we got a fun and humorous family activities book from Dirk's brother Luke and Sarah.

We woke up Christmas morning to lots of snow falling. There was a fresh new layer on the ground, and the snow was coming down in clumps. It looked real pretty, until we went outside and saw how wet it was. It made for a beautiful Christmas morning inside. Hayden was excited to watch the snow falling through the window. He also had fun passing out presents to everyone.

After Christmas Day presents, Dirk, Hayden and I decided to try and make some snowmen. The snow was quickly getting soggy from the wet snow that eventually turned to rain. The snow packed a little too easily and was really wet and heavy. We made snowmen and then I showed Hayden how to make a snow angel. It was really cute watching him struggle to move his legs correctly.


We had Christmas dinner with all the Neill kids and grandkids. Hayden is loving running around and playing with his cousins. They all have so much fun together.

Neill cousins: Brianna, Hayden, Rilee, Shannin, Chloe, June, Bryce, Patrik

We spent Christmas night and the next 3 days with Dirk's sister Carol, Steven, and their girls Chloe and June. Friday morning, we were able to go to the temple with Dirk's mom so she could go through and receive her endowments. It was such a neat experience to get to be a part of that wonderful day. Hayden had lots of fun playing while we were gone. That night he found that Uncle Steven is really good at rough-housing and playing rodeo.

Uncle Luke, Hayden, and Chloe

Chloe and June bug

I found Dirk in the girls' room helping Chloe with her doll clothes. It was so cute!

Chloe, Uncle Steven, and Hayden

Yesterday we drove 2 1/2 hours to Phoenix. More on that later.

*sorry so choppy and long... I was getting really lazy about posting something, but I had so many pictures to share... thanks Sarah and Paula for the pics I stole off your blogs ;)