Christmas came and went so quickly. It is always a bit depressing taking down the decorations and tree, but it is nice to have a clean and clutter-free house! My parents drove down from Charlotte on Ryan's birthday (the 23rd) and my sister flew in on Christmas Eve. It has been a constant party! Our biggest accomplishment has been the amount of food we've eaten. Let me see if I can remember everything: Pumpkin cheesecake for Ry's birthday, apple pie, lemon/raspberry shortbread squares, every appetizer you can imagine for Christmas Eve dinner, traditional ham dinner for Christmas served with green beans, potato casserole, salad, and Costco rolls. Then we had left overs for a few lunches/snacks. Mom, Jill and I ate dinner one night at a fancy restaurant in downtown Stuart. I ate the flank steak, of course. We had pizza night, taco night, and pf changs frozen dinner night. We've had chocolate truffles, cookies, Christmas cake, kettle corn drizzled with chocolate, lots of German cookies, and lots of Coke to keep the party running all night long! Gluttony at it's finest, I guess!
We walked on the beach a few times. Went to downtown Stuart. We played games. And we got addicted to the Netflix series Out Of The Wild (venezuela and alaska). It seems like whenever we get together, we try to relax and just enjoy the time we have together. We never feel the need to pack our days and get tired and stressed. I love that about my family.
Enjoy the pictures!
^^On Ryan's birthday, we opened presents in the morning, took him out to a BBQ restaurant for lunch, and then my parents pulled into town right around dinner time. We had homemade pizza, opened MORE presents, and celebrated at DQ with some peppermint blizzards.
^^that night we pulled out the gift my parents got the girls and got building! This beautiful KidsKraft kitchen from Costco. It came together so easy and quickly. By the end of hour 2, we were finished!
Christmas EVE
^^our elf Jack left Brinley a note and a little gift. She was such a good girl this year and Jack noticed!
^^Christmas jammies!!! They were ultra cute this year!
^^we read the nativity, sang some Primary songs and Christmas hymns, and finished the night off with reading The Polar Express followed with the girls getting their bells. They were ringing extra loud that night.
^^putting the bells on the tree
^^after the girls got into bed, we started bringing out gifts that needed to be wrapped still (ahem--Ryan!!) and the MANY gifts my sister brought for the girls. That auntie loves to spoil her girls.
^^adult jammies!!
Christmas MORNING
^^Santa came!
^^I didn't take any other pictures while unwrapping except this one of Brinley and her new kitchen. The more and more she plays with it, the deeper she falls in love with it.
insert--eating scotch stew and christmas cake for breakfast and lots and lots of people napping around the house.
^^Christmas afternoon walk on the beach.
^^baywatch ;-)
^^Brin loves Sophie.
^^momma and her girls
^^Ellie wasn't too sure about the sand at first, but she got her hands dirty and really had fun. This was the first time she has been able to walk around without any help! and she didn't try to eat the sand--YAY!!
^^they were pretty much inseparable all week.
^^group shot--cloudy, but a nice 72 degrees.
^^girls dinner in downtown Stuart. Momma using her flashlight and peepers to read the menu.
Unfortunately, I had to work a couple days while my family was visiting, but we tried to make the most of it. They went to the Oceanographic Society and had fun, they went to the beach a few more times, and helped me out by taking care of the girls. On Friday we hit up the beach one more time!
^^such a diva!
^^lunch at our favorite place, Mulligan's. 
^^Headbands rocks!!! Especially when Ryan gets "bra" and Dad gets "bikini"
^^we ended our last night together watching our favorite show and hearing my dad tell stories from his childhood living on an acreage in Canada, his mission stories in Bolivia, and his 6 week job in the Arctic when he saw a male wolf watching him only 30 feet away. In this picture he is sizing the wolf prints he saw. I have heard this story countless times, and it makes me smile, and scared, every single time. It's my goal in 2014 to start writing down these stores.
It is amazing how quickly Christmas ends and the start of a new year begins. We had such a wonderful time together and I am so grateful that my parents and sister were able to spend the week with us. Ryan and I were kind of depressed about having a super short break this year. After many many years spent in school and having a month of, we were really sad to only get 2 official days off this year. He didn't have any free days off to take (used all his vacation time to take the Bar), and I had to work after Christmas. I know that the moments we all spent together were meaningful. Family is so precious to us, and whenever my parents visit, we get refocused on life more. It is so motivating being around someone who has been there. Who has struggled like we have and are. and now they have made it. They always offer such sound advice and we appreciate them so much.
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