Holiday Festivities

We had such a wonderful Christmas break this year with my family in Logan. It was so nice to have a couple weeks to just relax after finals.. and before we all started school again!

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is all the decorations that go along with it. One of the traditions in our house is my mom's "memorabilia"tree. I'm pretty sure she's been collecting ornaments since she was a little girl! Every year we put the tree up as a family -- and it's so fun to pull out so many ornaments that have memories of our childhood and all of the places that we've traveled. 

I took a few pictures of the ornaments that I remember most on the tree. My mom got the ornament below when she was nine!

This ornament was another favorite as a child. Each one of us would take turns moving it around to our favorite colored light!

These other ornaments are also from my mom's childhood -- It still amazes me that they're intact after all these years!

And of course, another one of my favorite parts of being home is seeing my sweet dog, Kona! I couldn't help but take a picture of her cute winter coat. 

We started a new Christmas tradition this year of making a gingerbread on Christmas Eve! I had never made one of actual gingerbread, so of course, I loved it! I was surprised that all of the boys got pretty excited about it too. haha. 

The finished product...

I was "Santa's" helper this year... and spend a whole afternoon wrapping all of Mom and Dad's presents for the family -- I think the total count was 45! Good thing I enjoy wrapping presents, right?

Traditional Christmas morning picture with everyone in their pajamas.. and Nick and I with our morning faces! haha. 

My Grandma and Uncle Mark came to our house for Christmas dinner along with two guys from my dad's ward. We love having visitors in our house!

If you know my dad, you know that he's always looking for a better, more efficient way to do a job. Nick was helping us cook Christmas dinner, and my dad came in with goggles and rubber gloves for Nick to cut onions with! He claims it keeps your eyes from tearing, and your hands from smelling like onion all day. But you have to admit, it's pretty clever, but looks hilarious!

The day after Christmas the family went ice skating together. I was pretty rusty after not going for a couple years, and took a pretty comical spill, but we all had a great time. 

One year ago on New Years, we got engaged at Temple Square! It's so amazing how fast a year can pass by.

Nick had to go back to Provo for a few days to work, but I was so glad that he could come back to Logan for New Years weekend! Aaron and Scott decided to take a quick trip to Cancun that week, but ended up getting back in to Logan that night as well. We celebrated with some Martinelli's, lighting off firecrackers, and mom's tradition of banging pots and pans outside.

Scott was at a friend's house for the midnight celebration, and Aaron was feeling a little left out with out a "significant other," so he just had Kona fill in:) This picture was all his idea!