We had an amazing Christmas! We were able to get a beautiful tree that I loved! It made our apartment smell amazing. As we decorated our apartment, I realized that we had a lot more Christmas decorations than I thought we had. We put lights on our balcony and I loved walking into our front room and just feeling Christmas.
We were able to spend a few days before and after Christmas with my parents in Washington this year. All my sibling were there--the first time we've all been together since my wedding a year and a half ago! (And let's face it, weddings aren't the best time to get caught up with family.) It was amazing and I loved every chaotic minute of it. Here are some highlights:
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| Our tree! |
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| A Danish pig |
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| Another Danish ornament |
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| Us with our tree |
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| Michael with Ben and Sam |
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| Uncle Michael |
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| Trying to take our picture in front of the Columbia River Temple |
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| Ben in blue, Sam in grey. At the playground in my parents' neighborhood |
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| Charlotte |
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| Beautiful Charlotte |
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| Christmas Tree |
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| Madeleine making Christmas cards |
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| Attacking Uncle Michael |
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| Michael's counter-attack |
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| Waiting for the "okay" on Christmas morning |
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| First looks |
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| Classic Christmas |
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| Lydia inspecting a present |
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| Ben and Sam |
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| A sewing machine!!! |
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| Sam, excited. Priceless. |
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| The best Christmas present ever! Thanks, Michael <3 |
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| Tyler's Christmas |
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| The best picture we could manage of all the grandkids |
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| Technically I "promised" not to post this. But it is the only picture of the whole family. Let it be known that this was early on a travelling morning and no one had makeup or hair done. And Vanessa is 8.5 months pregnant. |
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| The Original Ashby Family |
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| Shooting on the farm |
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| Ben and Sam with ear plugs in |
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| Hannah being afraid of the .44 |
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| Shooting BB guns |
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| Ben showing me the leaf he shot |
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| My birthday cake :) |
My birthday is the day after Christmas, So of course we weren't going to spend the day driving. That gave us the day to go visit my grandpa Ashby on the farm. It was great to be in the open and re-live so many childhood memories. Michael and I took a long walk (searching for Hannah's puppy) and it was fun to see the fields and feel at home. Grandpa Ashby is my last remaining grandparent and it was wonderful to be with him and get to talk with him about life. What an amazing man.
On the 27th we headed up to Eden, UT to spend a few days with Michael's family skiing and playing. It was great. His parents rented an awesome condo close to the ski resorts and a ton of room for
Rollicking and fun family time. We get to see most of Michael's sibling on a weekly basis, but it was fun to see his two youngest siblings and his parents.
The snow was... limited, but the skiing was still fun. One day the boys went shooting and the girls stayed home and made some blankets for Primary Children's Hospital as well as some awesome flower clips for hair. It was a great week with the Murrays! Here are some pictures. (We seem not to have used our camera all that much...)
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| Meeting up with the Carters at the Church History Museum |
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| Bjorn and his gun |
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| Gavin and Bjorn's gun |
It was a great, busy Christmas break. We had a ton of fun, but I think that next vacation we'll be sure to spend a few days of down time at home so we can actually rest a little.
Merry Christmas!!
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