Christmas Day!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

This is the first Christmas in I can't remember how long that we had snow!

It snowed Christmas Eve, and has been sleeting and raining for the most part of the day!We hope that our poor palm trees make it! They all look like Alfalfa!

Christmas Morning we always let the kids wake us up at whatever time they choose!

This was the first year in Shotwell History that we woke up before the kids! My poor

mom was waiting in her car since 6am outside because we all slept clear through til 7:30am!

After presents we always have "Christmas Casserole" for breakfast. I think I was still in

slumber heaven because I totally forgot to put it in the oven.....

Brunch was great though!

First the kids tear into their stockings, as Nat King Cole sings Chestnuts Roasting!!

A sleepy eyed Jaxyn is excited about the Indiana Jones

action figure that Santa brought him!

Daddy hands out the presents one by one, everyone takes their turn to open their gift!

Sorting the presents.....one by one!

Happy Christmas Kids!

Kylie is known for her Hot Cocoa addiction at our house!

That is why this mug that Jaycie made for her was the PERFECT gift!
Santa put hot cocoa in her stocking.....she is set!

Grandma got Jaycie Sudoku puzzles.....think she's happy about it?

Grandma nailed it this year by giving Jaxyn a Hulk Costume...

He had 3 different costumes on his list, Storm Trooper, Hulk, and Iron Man.

Luckily Grandma followed through, because Santa missed the boat!

Ugg....What happens when you tell EVERYONE you want the same thing?

You get 3 pairs of the same thing! No Problem! I'm SO happy to have warm comfy boots!
Santa presents at our house are always wrapped in Santa paper and always opened last!
Everyone is ready to tear into their last gift!
Brynklie was so excited to get her American Girl Doll!
A lot of what we did was homemade this year! Kylie made this

long board for Skyler....Santa brought him the wheels, the trucks, and bearings to complete it!
Santa brought the whole family a few fun gifts!

Rock Band 2 and

Wii Outdoor Challenge!

Jump Jaycie!!

The kids had a blast all day......

but it was far from quiet!!!

Jaycie was very generous to give me a very nice Willow Tree collectible.

These are my favorite!

She also gave us a beautiful Manti Temple card, which is where we were sealed, and drew us a

silhouette of a couple. She is very thoughtful.

Thanks Jaycie, I love you!

All the kids made us nice things at school this year! Kylie made me a gorgeous shelf and Lance a beautiful wood pen! Brynklie and Jaxyn also made us some fun stuff!

Being a parent is the best! I love this part!

We were fortunate enough to spend some of Christmas with some

sweet friends of ours. The kids spent some extra

time crafting some special gifts for our friends the Carter's.

Sister Carter showed the girls her calander from her daughter,

it had special pictures of her family in it!

The Carter's are special "adopted" grandparents to our children!
We love them and feel very blessed to have them in our lives!

Ruth and I, she is a great friend!

btw, as a general rule, I don't get ready on Christmas....

you just gotta deal with how I look when I get up! I deserve one day off!

Merry Christmas Brother and Sister Carter! We love you!

Yes, there is still Paper Rt. on Christmas!

We brought the papers home with us, since it was snowing so hard!

It wasn't so bad! But the smiles on our face might be a little forced! Lol!

Christmas Jammies!

Another Shotwell tradition is to get Christmas Jammies!

Part of this tradition is trying to tell the kids that we aren't doing it this year.....they never believe us! What a surprise.....Jammie Pants!

The golden questions...will these be long enough?

Everyone is ready to head to bed so that Santa can come!

Putting out treats for Santa!

Kylie always does a good job of making sure things "look" good for Santa too!

The Christmas Story

We always read Luke 2 and then watch the Nativity Video, followed by Mr. Kruger's Christmas!
This year we had a new way that we did this. A good friend of ours had this little "program". It was certain verses followed by Christmas songs! It was great! Next year will be better though, I should have had music and papers with the words!
It's always nice to know where to improve! Lol!

Chime In!

One of our Christmas Eve traditions is chiming! This actually is a new tradition, started last year! We received our chimes last year from Pam (Lance's sister) and then this year we made them for our friends and family! This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve!

Before we chime, we have our Christmas Eve dinner. Traditionally we always have Norwegian Meatballs, Cheesy Potatoes, Rolls, and lots of fun appetizers. We also always have Egg Nog, Wassail, and eat by candle light!

Jaycie and Grandma Sandy!
Kylie and Maddy are happy little chimers!


Jackie and I were holding the same note!

Uncle John and Aunt Kim are always in for fun!

Grandma leads the band!

We ended up being pretty good at "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"

Christmas Treats

So, last week I said that I was surprised how calm things were around here......

This week, I'm starting to panic! I obviously haven't gotten as much done as I thought!

Today we spent a good part of the day preparing the traditional "Shotwell" Christmas treats!Butterfinger cookies and white chocolate pretzels!

Everyone was a big help! See the look on Brynklie's face? She ate too much chocolate
and spent most of the day sick! Poor kiddo!
Finally getting the wassail made! I think I may have saved Christmas!! :)

Polar Express!!

Jaxyn had his Kindergarten Christmas Program on Friday! They did the Polar Express!

It was done really well and the kids had a great time performing their songs and dances!They each made a cute little train car, and wore their jammies!

Jaxyn had so much fun singing! I was really impressed with how well

he knew the words to all of the songs!I don't know what happened to the lighting on this picture....

but, Jaxyn knew his part very well!

"The bell still rings for all those who believe."

Mrs. Heger is always cute to take pictures of the kids,
great memories!

Snow Day!!!

We got about 3 1/2 inches of snow on Wednesday night. That warranted shutting the

schools down on Thursday to have a Snow Day! Pretty pathetic....but the kids' were

in heaven! I doubt that there was one kid that stayed inside on Thursday!

I wish I had pictures of what the older kids did! Not one of them wasted this fun day!

We played in the yard with the kids and built a snowman.
Jaxyn enjoyed the snow, he was drenched the whole day!Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman....
Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall!
Brynklie stuck around to see it through to the end!
Jaycie, Brady, and some friends went hiking on the Red Mt. for their Snow Day!

Most people wait til spring to tackle such a feat!

Oh, to be young!

The Red Mountain doesn't get snow on it very often!

Enjoy the view!