Merry Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas!  :) 

I'm kind-of laughing at myself that the first picture I'm posting is of our dog, Ziggy.  HA!  But I think he got the first present, therefore he gets the first picture.  And of course he was chewing up his toy right away!  Crazy animal!

It was awesome having everyone home for Christmas morning.  All 8 of us.  What a blessing these people are to me and Todd!

Brandon

Eric and Andraea

Kyle and his Pokemon beach towel

I love this picture of these two crazy kids! :) 

Dallin and his new Zelda shirt

Jacob and his "stack" of clothes!  (And these aren't even all of them.)

Dallin has gotten a few music ties through the years, but I think this one finally hits the spot! Yeah!

Kyle and his new (yep, you guessed it) Batman sweatshirt!

Brandon got the shirt that said Savage!  I wonder why... :) 

(Oh, and he thought that was pretty "Savage" of Santa!)

Jacob could never have too many clothes! :) 

Brandon got a really nice watch (you can't see it....but it's there.) :) 

Jacob got a new amiibo (whatever that is...something for the Zelda game)

Even I got a present!  (I bought these Disney socks for myself a couple of months ago and gave them to Todd and said, "Here is part of my Christmas gift.  Wrap it up!"  And he did!  HA!

Kyle got a Zelda sword.  He was excited about that!  

(That's all we need is another sword in this house!)

Todd used to wear the cologne, Elsha, back in high school when we were dating, (and I've always loved it) and I have looked around through the years to buy some more, but I've never been able to find any for a decent price.  A couple of weeks before Christmas I was shopping at Reams, and there in one of the aisles, right in front of me, were several bottles of Elsha!  I couldn't believe it.  

They were $20 a bottle!  Sweet! 

Always blurry pics!  UGH! 

Dallin and his new Spiderman sweatshirt.  (He and Eric got the same one.)

Jacob got one of those toys that you can make cool "impressions" of things.  

This is the top of Todd's foot!  Funny!

Everyone in our family got fun new socks (except Todd...oops!)  These are Dallin's, of course.

Eric got Zelda socks

And Brandon got Batman, of course!

And here is the backside...

I don't know why I didn't get individual pictures of all of the kids' socks, but I guess I didn't.  So here's a picture of all of us together.

Kyle got Pokemon, Andraea got Christmas socks, Jacob got Spider Man, and I'm wearing Eeyore! (from my Disney pack)  Sweet, right? :) 

And here's a close up!  (I think my foot is the smallest one there!)

We had a wonderful Christmas together.  Eric and Andraea left just after noon to go to her family's extended Christmas party in Tooele, and then they came back and slept over again on Christmas night.  It was great to have them for the holiday!  They left the next morning to spend time with Andraea's family in Fairview for the following week.

The rest of us stayed home all day and relaxed as much as possible! (Our favorite past time activity!) 

And then the day ended and Christmas was over.  I'm so grateful for Todd and all of my children.  Holidays just wouldn't be the same without family to celebrate it with.  

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2017

We had a great Christmas Eve!  It was so fun to have Eric and Andraea over for the evening and to celebrate Christmas morning with us.  I always love watching the kids playing games together.  

Here's a good shot of Eric's "trimmed" hair.  There's my boy again. :) 

We got a new tree during the summer for a really good deal, and even though we didn't even open it until this month, we were very pleased with our purchase.  The lights could switch between color or white.  It was awesome!  It definitely looks like Santa found our house!

And here's all the stuffed stockings after Santa's visit...

Our tree was great, but sadly, we were too lazy to decorate it much this year.  In the evening, when it was dark, the lights made it look really pretty, but during the day, it was a pretty boring tree.  But we didn't care.  We liked it just the way it was!

We had Grandma Johnson over for dinner on Christmas Eve (Grandpa couldn't come), and then we watched Kruger's Christmas, and Luke 2 (just like we usually do).  

And then it was time for bed...Goodnight Jones family!  See you in the morning! :) 

Jones Christmas Party 2017

We had the Jones Christmas party on the 23rd of December at Grandpa Jones and Judy's house.  Mike and Shauna and their family couldn't make the trip down.  We of course understood, but we still missed them just the same. 

We had dinner together and then opened presents.  It was a fun party.

Kristin, Jasmine, Sierra, MaKenna, Kyle, Zach, Andraea, and Eric.  Emma is the one sitting in the chair with the hat.  :) 

Parker, Grandpa Jones, Todd, Alice, Aaron, Kristin, and Jasmine

Matt and Haley

Kyle, Dallin, Zach, Andraea, and Eric (Hey, do you notice anything different about Eric?  HE CUT HIS HAIR! (Compare to the Johnson Christmas party pic!)  It was my Christmas present.  (Just when I was finally getting used to it! HA!) :)

Malissa, Henry, Ryan, Judy, Grandpa, and Todd.  Jasmine is in the front.

Sierra and Kyle 

(And like always, I'm sorry about the blurry pictures.  I think I need a new camera!)

Back Row:  Malissa, Ryan, Rob, Aubrey, Judy (and her son and his wife...can't remember their names...sorry...story of my life)

Front Row:  Alice, Henry, and Parker

 Malissa, Ryan, and Alice

Aaron and Kristin

Melissa and Todd (so blurry! UGH!) 

Rob and Anissa

Sweet little Henry.  Look at those beautiful blue eyes!

And a few more pictures...

Parker and Owen (Love the Davy Jones hat/mask) :) 

We had a great time and it was awesome to be together for an evening.  

We missed you Mike, Shauna, Annie, Spencer, and Sophie!

  Merry Christmas Joneses! :)

Johnson Family Christmas Party 2017

We had the Johnson Christmas party on the Monday before Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We all had a great time.  We played a game where we passed a ball around to each other and then said something nice about that person.  It was fun.

Disclaimer:  For some reason, my camera took terrible pictures over the Christmas holiday.  (And Grandma's house had terrible lighting...) But they're all I have.  Sorry...

Kyle, Dallin, and Jacob

Kyle

Gina came to the party too.  We were glad to see her.

Gina, Grandma, and Melissa

Melissa and Todd

Melissa and Gina

Eric and Andraea (Oh, the hair!  Look at Eric's hair.) :) 

Brandon, Grandpa Johnson, Michelle, Grandma Johnson, and Josiah

Joshie, Brad, Caleb, Moriah, and Gina

The Johnson family

Kyle and Dallin

This picture is awful because of the lighting, but it showed what Grandma ended up with for Christmas.  It was a Spider Man mug!  Hilarious!  (We played the "white elephant" game where you got to steal gifts from each other.)  Eric and Andraea were the ones who brought the gift.  It also had a whole pack of cocoa to go with it.  Grandma loved it! :) 

We had a wonderful time.  We all laughed and visited and then laughed some more. 

Merry Christmas from the Johnson Clan!
(And we missed the Cruz family!!)

Thanksgiving 2017

We had Thanksgiving with the Johnson clan this year.  We held dinner in our basement...a little crowded, but it worked out fine.  We actually only had 17 people this year, which is less than we've had other years.

See all the cute decorations that I whipped up at the last minute!  (Tip: Don't wait to buy Thanksgiving decorations until a day or two before the big event.  The dollar store will be out of most everything.  Just take my word for it. HA!)

Wendy and her kids came for Thanksgiving and it was so fun to have them here.  She isn't planning to come for Christmas, so we were so glad to have her for at least this holiday.  She's always so good about driving down to visit, and we all love it when they come.  (We definitely missed Anthony. He had to work....UGH!)

(Clockwise from left)  Josiah, AJ, Josh, Alexis, Moriah, and Kyle

Brandon, far left (at the head of the table), Grandpa Johnson, Grandma Johnson, Wendy, Brad, and Dallin

Moriah and Kyle

Of course, we had some yummy desserts!  It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without that, would it? 

Todd and Melissa

Caleb, Michelle, and Brad

Melissa and Mom

Melissa and Wendy

Eric and Andraea spent the holiday with her family this year, but they did come over after Thanksgiving and it was awesome to see them! (Do you see how long Eric's hair is getting?  I've asked him to cut it for my Christmas gift this year...we'll see what happens.) :)  For the record, I do love him either way of course.

It was a great holiday!  We have so many things to be thankful for.  We are truly blessed and I love my family so much!  Happy Thanksgiving!