Merry Christmas 2015

  We had a great Christmas this year.  We started the holiday just like every other year by letting the kids open one present from me and Todd on Christmas Eve.

Even though our kids are getting older, they still look forward to this one event every year.  Through the years, we have given pajamas (the younger years), then slippers.  And now we've settled on calendars the past few years.  Here are the kids opening their present on Christmas Eve.

Jacob and Kyle

"Is it my turn yet?"  See?  Even Eric can hardly wait for this yearly ritual.  :)

And Dallin...

These next few pictures were taken after the kids went to bed.  The stockings were full...(and just in case you're wondering why we have a sheet hanging from our fireplace....it's because we set up the projector for Brandon's call the next day and we wanted to project his face onto the sheet, so we could all see him at the same time).  Clever, eh?  :)  Remember when we projected Eric onto the wall when he was on his mission?

The tree on Christmas Eve.

Even Ziggy got a present! :)

And now it's Christmas morning!  We always gather together at around 7 am.

Wake up Dallin!

Ziggy found his present too!

Kyle got a Red Ryder BB gun.  I hope he doesn't shoot his eye out!

I don't know why I took a picture of Dallin holding a box, and not what was inside, but just so you know, this was a ukulele.

Eric got an art mannequin.  It allows the artist to position the body in various poses, and use it as a model to draw what the body looks like in those different positions.  It's pretty cool!

Kyle got Chewbacca slippers! :)  May the "force" be with him...or at least warm feet!  HA!  Jacob got slippers too, but I didn't get his in the picture.  Oops!

Eric got a Zelda jacket.  He was real excited about that, which made me pretty happy too.  :)

Jacob got a Ukulele too (and a book on how to play).

Jacob got a Terreria shirt...

And Kyle got a Minecraft wallet...

Eric got a few Zelda things this year...Zelda Monopoly was among them!  (Dallin is holding up a piano book in the background.)

Oh, here's a closeup!  :)

Dallin wanted some "crazy socks."  (Eric got some too.) 

Dallin loves putting 3D puzzles together.  He has a lot of different ones in his room.  This year he got the Empire State Building.

Jacob loves the books, "Diary of a Wimpy kid," and I saw these books, "Diary of a Minecraft Zombie," and I knew he would love them.  How can you go wrong with Minecraft and Zombies? :)

Here is me and Todd showing off our gifts from Jacob.  They have a "Santa Shop" for the kids at school, so he was able to pick out some gifts for us.

I got a red heart ring and Todd got a little trophy that says, "All Star Dad."  Jacob did good! :)  (Thanks honey!)

And here's just a bunch of pictures of everyone showing their gifts.  We really are so blessed! 

Todd loves this picture, so I decided to get it for him and frame it.  He was excited.  (And now it's one of my favorite pictures too!) 

The kids each got a couple of Lego superheros in their stocking that they got to put together.  They were so cute! :)

Eric got Iron Man and Thor

Here's Kyle putting his together.  I think he got the Joker and Batman.

AND HERE WAS ONE OF THE BEST PARTS OF THE DAY...TALKING TO ELDER BRANDON JONES!

Merry Christmas son!  We miss you so much.

And here he is projected onto the sheet!  I guess we should have ironed it! :)  Oh well, he still looks awesome to me!

We talked to Brandon for about 45 minutes and it was great!  It was so nice to hear his voice and see his face!  He is doing well and we are so proud of him for all his hard work.  We seriously had a wonderful Christmas!  I am so thankful for everything that we have.  We have been so blessed in our lives.

Merry Christmas from the Jones family! :)

Johnson Christmas 2015

We had the Johnson Christmas party on the Monday before Christmas (the 21st).  We had it at my Mom and Dad's this year.  Wendy drove down with the kids on Saturday, and stayed for 3 days.  She drove back on Wednesday.  It was awesome to see her, even though it was a really quick trip, but we missed Anthony!  He couldn't come because of work. 

We had a talent show at the Johnson party also.  (It's sort-of the thing to do.) :)  Dallin played the same song that he played at the Jones' party (except he forgot his music this time, so he just tried to play it from memory.  It was still amazing!)  Cute Joshie played on the piano too.  And Caleb played a song as well.  They did awesome!

And AJ sang a song that he learned in school.  It was seriously so cute!

Then Todd put together some "Jib Jab" Christmas videos highlighting everyone in the family.  They were so funny and cute!  Everyone loved them.  We laughed and laughed!

Riley came a for a little while and it was great to see her.

Dallin and Kyle...silly kids!

And then AJ tried to get in on the action...HA!  (More like photobomb!) :)

More video watching

I couldn't get Gina to smile.  I don't know why, but I'm glad she was there. :)

Yep, I was there too! :)  Me, AJ, and Jacob

Me and my Dad

And me and Wendy

Gina and Wendy

Brad and Joshie

Goofy Eric!

Me and Alexis

Grandma and Riley

Moriah

Jacob, AJ, Alexis, and Joshie

Brad and Caleb

Josiah

Silly Josiah

Grandpa Johnson, AJ (Kyle in back), Dallin, and Alexis

Eric is so dramatic!

We all had a great time.  We opened presents from each other and ate some snacks.  It was awesome to be together with the family!  And everyone was there (at some point), except Brandon, of course.  And we missed him!  

Merry Christmas from the Johnson family!

Jones Christmas 2015

We had the Jones Christmas party at Aaron and Kristin's this year.  It was a lot of fun.  We also had a combined birthday party for Grandpa and Zach, since the party was actually on their real birthdays (Dec 19th).  Kristin made these amazing cupcakes just for them.  Happy Birthday you two!

Zach and Grandpa

Zach (And Anissa and Annie in the back.)

Luckily Zach and Grandpa shared their cupcakes....and trust me when I say that everyone LOVED them!  Kristin rocks at baking! 

After dinner (and dessert), we had a talent show.  This is Dallin playing the song he composed, "12 days of Christmas."  Each "day" was played in a different key.  It was pretty amazing!  Good job Dallin!

Other people did talents, but those pictures didn't really turn out.  But, Annie sang a solo (I wonder as I wander---absolutely amazing!) and Sierra played a song on the piano too--she's totally getting better every year!.  Alice did some cute dancing while the music was playing.  I'm sure there were more numbers, but I can't remember what they were.  (This is why I should always post right after the event...so I don't forget the details!)

  

This is mine and Jake's attempt at a "selfie."  Except it was taken with my camera, (by me) so I couldn't see if we were in the middle or not. 

Oh well...nice try anyway!

And one more...

This is when Alice was dancing around.  It was so cute!  She's got quite the rhythm! :)  You go girl!

Ryan and his new baby, Henry.  So cute!  He's almost 5 months!  Where did that time go? :)

Then we all sang some songs together and opened presents.  Jacob and Emma got the swords from Ryan this year!  So awesome! (Thanks Ryan!)

Sierra, Sophie, and Aubrey

It was a great night!  Everyone was there except Shauna (and Brandon and Grandma Jones, of course).  Shauna had just had surgery the week of the party, so she wasn't up for the drive (or the all-day party.)  We missed you Grandma Jones, Shauna, and Brandon!  

Merry Christmas from the Jones family! :)

It's beginning to look a "little" like Christmas!

Here are a few pictures from the beginning of December.  These first two are of Eric and Andraea at our ward Christmas party.  They are so cute. :)

And here's Kyle and Jacob at the ward Christmas party

Jacob and Mom  :)

These last two pictures are very blurry, but they are of Jacob at his very last Christmas concert at Arcadia Elementary!

Honestly, that makes my heart so sad...

Yep, it's beginning to look like Christmas!  December, here we come! :)