Christmas 2018

If we didn't love coming to town for Christmas, we wouldn't do it. We love it. and we are very blessed that we have two awesome families to celebrate with. But it is a WHIRLWIND trying to do everything with both our families!

Christmas Eve Breakfast @ Sue's
Sometime Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, both families usually go to a movie. We sat holiday movies out this year.
Christmas Eve Afternoon- Grandma Cook's Christmas Party
Christmas Eve Night- Grandma Jane's Christmas Party
Christmas Eve later @ Night- Open sibling gifts at my parents house
Christmas Eve Late- Gavin & I always open gifts to & from each other
Christmas morning- open our little family's Christmas gifts from Santa
Christmas morning- go to my parents to open gifts from Santa
Christmas morning- every year Gavin's Aunt Lorean hosts a Christmas morning breakfast. This was the first year we missed it.
Christmas afternoon- Gavin's family's Christmas celebration, dinner, & gifts.

Phew! 
Here's some pictures...

Both my boys got ear infections the day we left for Utah. Owen got over his really fast, but J was miserable for a couple weeks, despite shots and antibiotics. Poor baby! If you can't tell in these pictures- his face is all swollen and runny.

My parents always get us matching pajamas on Christmas Eve. It's such a fun tradition! Usually we get pajamas that we love and will wear again and again. No offense mom, but these ones aren't getting worn all too often!

Funny stories about the pajamas-

• At first, Owen REFUSED to put the pajamas on. Gavin said he'd never been so proud in his life. Eventually we got him to put the pajamas on by convincing him that he'd be able to run extra fast in these pajamas because he wasn't wearing pants.
• Because everyone looked the same, people were getting each other mixed up. At one point, I handed Trace my phone, thinking he was Gavin. The funniest is when Hailey came up behind Jake, wrapped her arm in his, and laid her head on his shoulder. Jake let her sit like that for about a whole minute until someone else noticed what was going on.
• Megan's friend from the singles ward came over to my parent's house while we were all there opening presents. It was a little bit awkward. Jake texted the family "why is this guy here?" After the guy left, Jake said "I went to high school with him! Do you know how embarrassing that was?!"

Santa left a bike for Owen at our apartment in Texas. Owen looked over this picture again and again, and examined every inch of the bike. He told everyone he got a bike with a water bottle!

Soo spoiled!

One fun gift my sisters and I all got- tickets to see Wicked in Salt Lake in February! So, Owen and I got a bonus present of plane tickets to come back to Utah, so that I can see Wicked with my family!

The Brothers

You'd think I'd learn my lesson about doing indoor iPhone photoshoots with my boys, but nope! I'll keep trying! These turned out a little better than J's newborn photos, thanks to help from my mom and husband. Plus, somehow by some miracle, we got Owen to cooperate enough to get a few good pictures. I love these ones!

Because we were in the mood, I needed a pic with my new baby too!

Hospital Stay

Naturally, we took a ton of pictures during our hospital stay. Newborn babies experience so many firsts, and change so quickly, you just want to document it all!

I couldn't wait to have all my boys with me! I was so excited for Owen to meet his new brother. Something tells me I'm going to need to protect J from Owen's loving until they get a little older...

 

 

I've heard some moms say they want to get out of the hospital as soon as possible. Maybe I just like being taken care of haha, but I loved the hospital stay. We got decent meals delivered, the nurses treated us like we were their lifelong friends, and it was nice to have professionals around every corner to answer any questions or calm any nerves. And of course, it was so nice to have uninterrupted time to stare at J and to snuggle him!

After three nights at the hospital, we went home Sunday morning. 

 Thanks for the great experience, Baylor Frisco!