Week 3 (and a half) The Winders!

On Sunday morning, we got up very early and headed for Boise to see Calvin's grandparents, the Oylers. We drove through a lot of fog, but made it to their church by 11 am! We changed in the car and went in to listen to their beautiful Christmas program.

We spent a nice Sunday afternoon with Calvin's grandparents and aunts, Nadine and Gaydawn. Calvin's grandma made a delicious dinner and we had some very good pumpkin bread (made from a fresh pumpkin!) made by Calvin's grandpa. We were sad we couldn't spend more time there, but we were so glad we were able to visit them!

On Monday morning, we headed through Oregon and South to Nevada. There was a lot of snow in Fallon! On Monday night, we had FHE, and made carmel popcorn for the family night treat (I think it was that night?) On Tuesday, we went to Reno to do some Christmas shopping. We made sure we got home in time to watch the Las Vegas Bowl. Go BYU! Camden loves watching sports.

On Wednesday, we made delicious spudnuts :) Yum! Camden was so excited about them, he ate almost a whole "dough-nut" before it was cooked! I think he enjoyed the cooked ones much better.

On Thursday, it was finally Christmas Eve! We had a fun day getting ready for Christmas, wrapping presents, doing a little last minute shopping, etc. Calvin surprised me with some Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve! He knows how I love my family tradition of getting pajamas on Christmas Eve, so it was really nice of him to get some for me! My Mom and I found these really cute ones for Camden.

We also got to participate in a Winder family tradition. We listened to Calvin's mom read the Christmas story from the bible, and we sang different Christmas carols throughout the story. I really enjoyed it! Then we had some rice pudding with a danish dessert topping. Hidden in one of the bowls of rice budding was a white almond. The tradition is, that whoever finds the almond in their pudding gets a prize. McKay found it this year!

After that, we had another treat! Calvin and I bought Tim Tams so we could do a tim tam slam. We made some hot chocolate and taught his family the tim tam slam. It is so good! We watched Mickey's Christmas Carol and a couple short films on the same DVD, then got ready for bed!



(Warning: Santa Spoiler Alert!) It was fun this year to be at Calvin's house where the little kids still believe in Santa! We got up with Calvin's mom after all the kids were asleep to put out all the presents and fill the stockings. Ivan was getting a dog for Christmas, so Calvin brought it inside from where they were hiding it and let it sleep in the laundry room.

At 4:45 am (so early!!!) we got up and put the dog in the living room with his leash looped over the front door, then we went upstairs to get the rest of the family (their tradition is to have all the kids sleep upstairs in their parents room, due to the fact that one Christmas, Calvin and his sister got up early and peeked at all their presents). We came down the stairs, youngest to oldest. Everyone got to spend some time looking at what Santa brought and looking in their stockings, then we opened presents from everyone else. I was totally surprised that Santa brought some things for me that I had been wanting! Camden was excited about his new bike and all the other things Santa brought, including some balls (all types!), some farm animals, a train, some blocks, a bath toy, clothes, and more! Thanks to our kind families for all the nice gifts!

The day after Christmas, we took the kids to use the sleds we had gotten for McKay and Ivan. We had a hard time finding a good place with some snow, but we used what we could find! It was a little rocky and we ran into a few sage brush, but overall, it was a lot of fun!

We had a lot of fun sledding and tubing! After we got back, Calvin, Katie and I went to Reno to do some shopping and see a movie. We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. It was very disappointing. I really liked the first movie, so I thought it would be good, but we were not impressed. We did get to have dinner at In-N-Out Burger, which was pretty good, although not my first choice.

On Sunday, I got to see my second Christmas program and Calvin saw his third! It was a really nice program. They had some very musically talented people who put it together. I really enjoyed reflecting on the Christmas holiday.

For the last couple of days, we just spent time with Calvin's family and visited a few friends. It was so fun to be able to visit the Winders and they were so kind to let us stay with them! Thanks and we love you!