She also had pizza and cupcakes for all the kids. Sara & Emily are so cute together. They stayed close to each other the whole night - they had to sit by each other & dance together. I just love those two little girls. I wish Jenn lived a bit closer so they could play more often.
Sara, Emily, Jackson
Sara's cousins (& siblings) that were at the party
Jackson (Emily's cousin) got Incredible Hulk fists for Christmas and everyone had fun trying them on.
For the party with Jeff's family we started off with family pictures. We then had our fill of crepes that Jeff's dad made for us. They definitely made us all miss European Connection. If only we could talk Jeff's cousin into starting that up again....
There was of course another round of gifts (Emily getting more dress-ups). Emily & Ella have had so much fun playing together. It was fun to have them together again. I can't believe it's been almost a year since we had our stay in Virginia. The girls have grown up so much since then.
On to extended family parties - we had a great night eating, visiting, laughing, & playing games with the Johnson's. Emily played duck, duck, goose with all the kids and was in heaven with cousin Eliza being there.
The Holbrook party consisted of lots of food and sweets and several games of hide and seek. Emily was thrilled to have her aunts and uncles playing with her and I think we all had fun jumping out and scaring each other. I wish Jeff's siblings lived closer - Emily sure loves playing with Stan & Brad.
At the Newman party we had the traditional pinata and white elephant games. Emily was very excited about the candy, money and little trinkets she got out of the pinata. My uncle ended up with a crown and jewelry set as a white elephant and decided to pass it on to Emily. She definitely has had a very pink & girly Christmas. 
We had a great Christmas morning. Emily has been so excited for Christmas and for Santa. As soon as she saw her new kitchen she began cooking right away and wasn't too interested in anything else for a while. We finally pulled her away for a quick breakfast before coming back to open presents.
Emily's first present was a dress-up trunk. The rest of the day was spent in one of her new dresses. She also got a book with all the scrapbook pages of her first year and a Sleeping Beauty polly pocket. I received my gift a couple weeks early on my anniversary. Jeff gave me a diamond band to go with my wedding ring. Jeff's biggest gift was a keyless entry to our car. Our other one broke and we have both been missing it a lot. I don't know who's more excited for it - him or me. 
Emily spent the morning and afternoon dressing up & cooking. I quickly realized that Jeff has passed on his dish cleaning skills to Emily - just set them in the sink & they'll magically get cleaned & put away. Jeff's afternoon was spent napping and mine was spent baking.
Emily has a VERY active imagination. Christmas morning Jeff's parents and sister came over to see what Santa had brought her. She spent a chunk of her time running from one end of the house to the other yelling after her "dog." I was able to snap an action shot of her running by and then I filmed one of her rounds. Enjoy my hilarious, and random, daughter.
We had a few Christmas get togethers with friends this month. The first with the Walls. Emily & Hannah played well together and entertained themselves so we could play a game of Pirates Cove (which I won for the first time ever). And as usual the stroller was the main toy of the night.
Opening presents
Last weekend we got together with the Lloyd's. Emily just loves playing with Hayden and unfortunately it doesn't happen as often as it used to. That night they had fun playing cars, chasing each other around, and holding baby Xander.
Of course there was the usual rough housing with Jeff as well.
We finally made our annual visit to Santa Monday night. We had a short wait out in the cold but Emily was excited to go in and see him. When asked what she wanted for Christmas she said, "A kitchen floor." (aka: kitchen)
My grandma had all her great-grandkids over on Saturday to decorate cookies. Emily loved it. She used plenty of marshmallows, chocolate chips and sprinkles. And for the last three cookies she realized she had licorice too and went to town.
After decorating cookies we stopped by my mom's house. Emily really wanted to play outside and I was in a generous mood, so we skipped her nap and pulled out her snow clothes. She didn't get too cranky that night and was adorable romping around out back, so I guess it was worth it.
We finally made it downtown last night to see the lights. Emily was so cute. She clomped around in her boots and ran around the whole place. She loved the lights and had fun stomping in the snow. When we came across a fountain, Emily stopped, watched it for a minute, and then asked, "Where's the dolphins?"
She is also very into her daddy.
What little girl wouldn't want to put the two together?
(I told Jeff I wouldn't post these....but I couldn't resist. 
My brother came home from his mission yesterday! We were all so excited. Emily has been talking about it for weeks. We've talked about Chris a lot and looked at pictures so she's aware of who he is and what he's been doing. When you ask Emily what missionaries do she says, "teach people about Heavenly Father & Jesus". Talking so much about Chris definitely paid off - when he came out Emily ran right up to him and gave him a big hug (as opposed to Sara who would only attempt a high five if she had someone else to cling to in the process).
Emily & Sara had fun running around the airport
At Grandma's that night
Welcome home Chris! We are so proud of you! You definitely had your fair share of trials the last two years and we're all very impressed with your dedication, strength, and determination. Congrats on working so hard and completing your mission. We love you!
After our brief stint in Provo (of course Jeff wouldn't stay longer than he had to on that campus) we hit the road for Vegas. After grabbing some dinner we made our way to our condo where we spent the next two days completely relaxing.
We did make it to the strip for a little bit but it was unbelievably windy and we didn't stay long.
The rest of our "vacation" was spent reading, playing games, watching movies (Jeff took me to see Twilight), and of course sleeping in. I was definitely ready to come home and see Emily. However, about 30 min after arriving home I was tempted to get away again.
