Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas with Jared's family in Idaho Falls. Since I had just got my new camera (Canon 50d...love it!), I took tons and tons of pictures. Not all of them are great since I was (am) still trying to figure out how to use the camera, but they will do : )



And since there are so many pictures, I will try to avoid lengthy explanations- hopefully that will help it not be a marathon length post!



We had lots of quality family time, which is always dangerous when Stokes are involved. Randomness occurs often, sometimes in the form of family wig night, which generally results in jam out sessions.







Christmas Eve was very busy. The kids made reindeer food (so the reindeer could find the house...duh!)


We had a special visitor show up:

Of course, the classic kids acting out the nativity was performed (don't you love how most of the kids are keeping a close watch on the "donkey"), followed by a touching rendition of Feliz Navidad and a cousin gift exchange:

Um, have you ever laid your eyes upon a cuter angel? The answer is no, no you have not! Were you not aware that all angels carry around Elmo?

Matching pj's were worn:

and Grandparents were snuggled:

Then Christmas morning came. Everyone was exhausted from the night before. I LOVE the middle picture on the top row. Preston is explaining to Kerrigan that we were about to go downstairs to see what Santa left everyone.

(sidestory: Christmas Eve, as we were putting K to bed, Jared explained to her that Santa was coming and in the morning we would open the presents he bought for us. Kerrigan paused, then looked right at Jared and said, " Santa is SO COOL!" She is a huge fan now, and tells us how cool Santa is at least once a day.)

My favorite part of Christmas was watching K open her Woody and Jessie dolls (from Grandparents and Tucker). She was so in awe that she was actually holding them....and has not put them down since!

Then, after more feasting and short naps, we hit the great outdoors for some sledding. Grandpa attached the sled to the back of the snowmobile and gave us all rides. Jared, Kerrigan, Tucker and I took a turn, but I don't have pictures of it.

Tucker's first tube ride. Yes, he is going down alone. No, the hill wasn't as quite steep as it looks. And yes, he did sleep the entire time...such a thrill seeker!

LOVE the look on Kerrigan's face.

My sinfully good looking husband and son. You can't really see it in this picture, but Jared's eyes with the blue beanie...YEEEOOOWWWZZZAAAA!!!!

So, our move to Idaho has been difficult...like really, really hard. However, looking through these pictures reminds me of why we did it. We want our kids to have these kinds of memories with family. Yes, we have had a rough 6 months since leaving CT, but we just have to remind ourselves that FAMILY IS EVERYTHING!

The End.