Ho Ho Ho, Y'all!

Trying to keep our blog somewhat updated. Christmas 2018 was a good one. We started off the season by both playing in the San Antonio Messiah, run by our own stake. Having three kids makes doing anything like this difficult, but thanks to wonderful ward members, we got to be a part of it. It truly set a beautiful tone for the rest of the month!

Group photo! 

None of these events have photos, but the next weekend we enjoyed a holiday dinner hosted by the chief of ophthalmology at Wilford Hall, Dr. Caldwell. The highlight had to be the excellent White Elephant. We ended up with some Nerf guns, but the hot item was a pair of socks with Dr. Davies' face plastered all over (an oculoplastics surgeon in the Air Force).

The weekend after that we paused the Christmas festivities to celebrate Eli's 3rd birthday! We had a puppy theme and he enjoyed it immensely. He seriously needed one-- it was his first party and poor thing never has the focus on him ever. We forgot to take photos, sorry dude!

Then we hosted a little party with Sam's co-residents at our house. Only two showed up with their families, but I didn't expect any more. We had a food White Elephant and had a yummy pulled-pork dinner. Again, no photos...although one of Sam's friends took some and maybe I can ask for themwhen I'm not feeling lazy!

I realized I didn't get a photo of the kids with Santa, so I ran to the Bass Pro shot which had free photos with Santa. What I didn't know was how popular this was. I was supposed to get a ticket earlier that day then come back for that time. Ain't nobody have time for that! However, the elf, the amazing saint she was, let us in when she saw how sad our boys were and she got a huge thank you from us. Look how happy they are! When I took Eden off I noticed she pooped through her pants. Sorry Santa and everyone after that!!

On the Saturday before Christmas we went to Sea World and I made sure to get actual photos!

Beautiful decorations at the Beluga stadium.

My fave!!

We sat extra close this time and it was magical.

Santa!! I know him!

 We also got to see Killer Whales up close...like swim right pass us. That was super cool and I'll have to find the photos.

Left: Enjoying this giant inflatable. Right: Nothing's hotter than a father traveling with three kids. 

 Our neighbors gave us a cookie decorating kit and we decided to decorate them for Santa!

We also made cookies to deliver to our friends nearby! No photos there, sorry! But we do have photos of our beautiful decorated house on Christmas Eve. We made luminarias to light our driveway. Cool story: We made a random number of bags (like 29), but I swore I had tea light candles somewhere, but I didn't remember where I put them. I decided to say a prayer after learning from Joey's faith in prayer. I randomly went to the shed to a random box and found them. However, I realized there might not be enough. We decided to put them in our bags anyway. Guess what? There were 29 candles exactly. Such a little thing, but a confirmation of the power of prayer!

Christmas Eve jammies! Sharks for Joey.

Paw Patrol for Eli!

Eden even got some pretty PJs.

Christmas morning.

We love her. A lot.

Sam was on call Christmas, so the biggest thing we did that day was eat a Christmas lunch at the hospital...which happened to be super fancy and extra delicious. We could fill a plate or two of steak, turkey, etc. for only ten dollars! Christmas miracle.

We decided to hit Sea World one more time since we literally live down the street from it. We got to see the lights and sit on Santa's lap...after Christmas. What do you say? "Thank you for the presents, Santa!"

Actual reindeer.

Snow in San Antonio! A novelty here--it was even advertised.

Sesame Street Parade. It was crazy busy tonight!! But still worth the experience.

...And that's about it! We opened presents in Albuquerque, but that's for the next post I suppose. Happy 2019!

Thanksgiving 2018

We were privileged to host Thanksgiving this year for Sam's parents and the Dunlaps! We had an absolute blast (when not throwing up from a stomach bug). I hope I remember all the details...

Thursday: 

A girl in my ward creates these beautiful cookies that kids can paint. I bought one for each child and let them at it. The little kids were a little more excited to eat than to paint but I feel it was a success!

Eli liked the food coloring....sadly he threw it all up. On our carpet.

I did a lot of prep work the day before and bought most of the food, but I definitely did not feel like head chef in my kitchen! Sam, Sam's mom, and Jessica were all stars and made most of the food.

I don't know the story behind this photo.... 

Look how much she's grown since June!

What I always feel like doing (and often do!)

Hooray for deep sinks for baby baths!

I personally am not a fan of turkey. I'll eat it, but why make it when you can eat yummier things? Instead we made marinated flank steak and grilled chicken legs (pictured above). We also had sweet potato casserole, roasted red potatoes, rolls, corn and other things I can't remember. It was stinkin' delicious.

Then we opened our Christmas pajamas, a true labor of love from Sam's mom. She made dozens of these this past holiday season, I'm so impressed!

 Thanksgiving day was really fun...except for the fact that Eli had a stomach bug. It was really unfortunate that we got in in our home right when our guests arrived. Cleaning up puke all day, woop.

 Friday: We ate out at The Cove, maybe my favorite restaurant in San Antonio. The weather was perfect that day and Eli was feeling better. Then we decided to hit up the Alamo (our first time ever believe it or not) and then walk the River Walk. Our timing was quite awful for a couple of reasons. One, Black Friday, and Two, the lighting of the River Walk. So. Crowded. We didn't even come for those things, haha! The Alamo was beautiful and I got to learn more of why it is so famous. We then hit up the gift shop and Sam's mom bought everyone some whistles and Hudson a pocket knife. But that got returned rather quickly!

We finally have proof we went! It was really bright. Sorry boys!

We found these beautiful horses with their carriages.

We came home and enjoyed watching Elf in the evening. Then Sam's parents and Seb disappeared to get some Taco Cabana. I wish I could have seen it because Seb went in the PJ's Sam's mom mad for him, haha! It was yum.

Little girl cousins! So glad Eden has a cousin her age.

The Dunlap girls.

Elf shenanigans.

Saturday: That Taco Cabana we had last night? I threw that up. Yep, I got Eli's stomach bug. And so did Joey. I'm not sure what everyone else did that day. I think they went to Cathedral Rock park while I stayed in bed and slept. I finally came out at night. Jessica was so sweet to talk to me while I just sat on the couch. Sam ended up with the stomach bug later!

Our perfect daughter.

The Kratt brothers. "WILD, WILD, WILD KRATTS!"

Our matching PJs.

Thank you for visiting us! Sorry if we spread our icky germs to Albuquerque!