Christmas break with the Martin's

Ryan's parents and his brother, Craig, were able to come out here for ten days at Christmas. Whenever I told people out here that my in-laws were here for that long I always got a negative reaction with comments like "oh... sorry!" and "uh... I hope you survive that long." But I never feel that way with them and was so happy to have them here. Not to mention that I had three extra people around to help with Lucy (only now I'm back to wondering what to do with her sometimes)! Anyway, we had such a fun time doing lot's of shopping, movie watching, puzzles, baking and cooking, hanging out and relaxing, etc. Ten days went by way too fast!!

Here we are making Danish pastries- a very tasty yearly tradition.

You should see Craig when he's actually trying to flex...ha!

The first 1,000 piece puzzle was done quicker than expected, so Janae bought another 500 piece one as well. Puzzles are also a Martin holiday tradition of sorts.

Here's Lucy rockin' her first triple chin:

These plates look just like Janae's Christmas plates that she uses every Christmas, so when we found the paper version at BB&B, Ryan insisted we surprise his fam with them.

We ventured from a traditional Christmas dinner and went with steak, baked potatoes, salad, and lion house rolls. It was delish.

And for dessert we had apple pie made by Ryan and Craig, and red velvet bundt cake with cream cheese frosting made by Janae.

On Christmas Eve, we had a little family home evening and read the story of the birth of Christ, followed by a bunch of mormon channel Christmas videos.

She was NOT a happy camper for this picture. But she should have been since she had a cute new "baby's first Christmas" ornament behind her on the tree. :)

My mom found this gem of an ornament for Ryan. Fits him perfectly. He loves a good hot dog!

Mark and Janae found this ornament and I LOVE it!

Best stocking stuffer ever:

On Christmas morning we went to church and had a beautiful Christmas program. Then we came home, took a family picture, and then changed and opened gifts.

The contents of one of Craig's boxes. I have some even better ones that I might just hang on to as blackmail in case we ever need it someday. :) My favorite line of this visit came from Craig. We were sitting around in the living room eating ice cream and Craig, who was laying on the floor eating out of the small container sat up, looked around and said, "umm... did anyone see a chunk of ice cream fly somewhere?.... Like, a really big chunk?" haha.

And the best Christmas present of ALL..... SMILES! Real, intentional, non-gas-related ones!!!!