CHRISTMAS TIME COME AND GONE

Ok so I have been reading everyone's blogs about Christmas morning and they all woke up to open presents at 8am, 9am or 10am. What the...? Clayton and I were able to watch our nieces open their gifts and even they didn't crawl out of bed til 8am. What to know what time Clayton and I got up??? 5:30 AM. We couldn't sleep and that is 30 minutes later than we got up last year! What is the world coming too. You don't sleep in on Christmas! It is already too short. Ok done with rant and moving on...

I guess I will back track a bit to Christmas Eve. I didn't get any pictures of the McMurdie Christmas Eve party because I was waiting for Santa to show up, but apparently the reindeer were feeling a little lazy this year because we had to leave for the Andrew dinner before he graced us with his jolly presence.
It's never too late to write to Santa. Kace put an interesting spin on "mailing" a letter to Santa. He typed his letter on the computer, taped the letter to a balloon, and released the balloon into the sky at about 9pm Christmas Eve. Awesome.
Kace read the Christmas Story from the bible this year. The kid is only 6 and he reads better than most teenagers. He asked for a book with "chapters" this year for Christmas.
When we got to Rachel's, Tydon was helping Nate shovel the snow. That kid is so cute (except when he is crying).

So after the big dinner at Rachel's and Kace read from the Bible, we gave our gifts to Jesus (aka we write down things we want to work on to bring us closer to him individually, put them in a box, wrap it up, and then open it next Christmas Eve) and opened presents from Kami and Erik (they weren't going to see us on Christmas Day). Once all the festivities were done we went home and waited for Santa by falling asleep on the couch while watching A Christmas Story (thank heavens for TBS and their 24 hour marathon of that movie). This brings us to CHRISTMAS DAY!

So like always we sleep at our own house in Logan and then venture out to Tremonton for the first half of the day and then the second half we meander over to Trenton. The phrase "venture out to Tremonton" had whole new meaning this year. The folks at the news stations weren't kidding when they talked about the "big one" meaning the storm on Christmas days. The road to Tremonton (Valley View) was an awful death trap. Big gusts of wind, continual snowful, huge snowdrifts and NO SNOWPLOWS all make for a scary drive. But we made it...obviously because I am writing this post. Ok enough of my ramblings...time for some pics.

The girls scored a wii for Christmas and you can tell by Aubri's face how excited they were.
Aubri got a Ripstick from Santa against her parents wishes.

Hadlee got this sweet pink kitchen set. Maybe if I would have gotten one of those when I was younger I would cook more. Clayton you can thank mom for that one. Kidding mom.

Clayton got "The Dark Knight". Can't wait to watch that over and over and over and over and over again.
Brady had to get glasses a few weeks ago. He looks like a young Harry Potter. So cute!
All us girls got tickets to "Wicked"! Can't wait till April! Thanks Harry and Shira!!!

All the kids with Nana and Poppy!
Chloe loves (not sure if "loves" is a strong enough word) Thomas the Train. Clayton and I found this Thomas Tent online and boy is it HUGE (and impossible to fold up)! Jared and Jessica probably want to kill us by now...sorry again! Chloe seemed to love it though.


Brady and Hadlee in a box.
I guess Chole also loves 3:10 to Yuma.
Hadlee with more of her kitchen stuff.



Later in the day we headed out to Trenton. Thankfully the storm wasn't as strong on the way out.
We saw these things in Texas which mom and dad liked so much they gave them to Kace and Tydon for Christmas. Obviously they should have gotten them for Clayton and Cort as well.

Pretty sure we scored with Tydon's present this year. You might remember from this post how much he likes suckers. Best. Present. Ever (also cheapest present ever).



Mom has been wanting to redo her bedroom so dad wrapped up a paint can (symbolizing new paint job), light bulb (for new light fixture), cloth (for new curtains) and a log (for new dresser) and gave her a money tree for the rest of the stuff. See money really does grow on trees. Clever dad. Very clever.

We also rode on the tube behind the four wheeler. Even mom and dad took a turn. I love this picture of them.

Brandon, Cort and Daisy the dog.
The driver, Cort. Pretty sure he learned to drive from the devil himself.

Us!
Going tubing was kindof a last minute plan so we didn't have snow clothes and had to round up from the 'rents what we could. But, we did find some pretty sweet (or "sic" as Brandon the preppy-gangster would say) gear. Check out Clayton's had and you will see what I mean.

We had another death-defying adventure getting home. Apparently snowplows don't plow during blizzards on Christmas day. Thankfully with Clayton's mad driving skills, the Lord's blessing and Subie 2's awesome awesomeness we made it home safe and sound.

However shoveling ourselves out the next day was not fun...

After shoveling we headed back out to Tremonton to see what Kace and Tydon got from Santa and to watch a movie with Nana, Poppy, Jared, Jessica and the girls. On the way out we spotted this bald eagle. Once we left Rachel and Nate's we spotted 2 more.

Tydon wearing Kace's x-ray glasses.
Kace with his glasses and new teeth.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The other night Clayton and I were driving home and we noticed that the lights on the Logan Temple were not green...they were white/yellow. I have never seen that on the Temple before and am not sure why they did it. It was really pretty though. I love this Temple!!!

Away in a Manger

I was once told (by Santa himself and a very wise Seminary teacher) that the way to have JOY is like this:

JESUS

OTHERS

YOU

If we put Jesus first, other's second and ourselves last we will find true JOY! I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and remember that Christ is the reason for the season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Love Clayton and Heidi

MOUSE SIGHTING

Twas the night (or 5 nights before Christmas) when all through the house

not a creature was stirring (we were all asleep from the boring BYU game) except for the mouse

Sick, sick, sick! I hate mice. Not as bad as I hate snakes, but I still hate them. Stupid rodents.

So there we were at the 'rents watching the miserable BYU bowl game (seriously cougars what is WRONG with you!?!) and all of a sudden a mouse runs from the TV stand to the Christmas presents under the tree. Brandon saw it first and bolted behind his mom. Keep in mind Brandon is 22 YEARS OLD! Cortney was all worried that the mouse was getting into his presents so he got a stick and a shoe to kill it (ya right he is a wuss...a greedy wuss who was more worried about his presents than his 22 year old brother who was hiding behind his mom). Dad, the only man in the family (besides Clayton who calmly watched and laughed at the whole event from his place on the couch) jumped down to kill it with his bare hands...which he DID. Sick, sick, sick! Once he killed it and picked it up throw it away Cort ran up the stairs screaming. Keep in mind that this brother is 24 YEARS OLD!!! Dad proceeded to chase both of my brothers around the house with the dead mouse. At one point Cort ran out the door with no shoes and stayed out there for 10 minutes, all the while peaking in the windows to see if it was safe. Brandon locked himself in the bathroom (ok I'll admit it I was scared too so I locked myself in the bathroom with him) and peaked under the door to see if he could see dad's feet outside the door. Then dad threw the mouse under the door and Brandon (ok and myself) ran out screaming. It was quite the event.

Dad and Cort looking for the mouse

Weapons of Mouse Destruction (sorry about that...I know , I know it was lame)
Sick! I don't know why I put that picture on here. I can hardly stand to look at it!

Brandon locked in the bathroom (and me...standing on the toilet) looking to see if it is safe.

The humor of the mouse situation "almost" made up for the awful, AWFUL football game...almost!

I LOVE MY HUSBAND

Yes it is going to be one of those cheesy posts...sorry.

Reason #1469 why my husband rocks!

If you know me at all you know that I love Christmas. I love everything about it, the lights, the snow, the cheesy Christmas movies, the Christmas music, the decorations, the treats, wrapping presents, buying presents, baking, the smells, I even love cleaning the house at Christmas time (come on we already knew that I was strange). My mom calls me her "Christmas girl." 2008 has had its ups and downs for us and as much as I try to stay positive I have had a hard time "catching" the Christmas spirit. Yesterday I had a particularly bad day and I was telling Clayton how I wish that the Holidays would hurry up so that they could be over with. When I got home from work this is what I saw...

Clayton had made little presents out of paper and hung them on the tree. Every present hung had a day of the week written on it. I get to open one present each day until Christmas. So after dinner I opened Thursday's present. A little note was in it and this is what it said...

I get to open 1 present from Clayton, but it was his choice which present it was. When he came out of the room this is what I saw...
Sorry he made me edit him a bit. He said that he didn't want pictures of him floating around on WWW like that.

I couldn't stop laughing. Jess you now know that the wrapping paper you left on our door Tuesday night (thanks by the way) was put to good use. Definitely the best present I have ever unwrapped. Just what I needed.

Reason #1470 why my Husband Rocks

When I got out of the shower yesterday (yes yesterday was a "banner" day) I realized that I had 15 minutes to blow dry my hair, get dressed, put on makeup and drive to work. If you know me you know that this is IMPOSSIBLE. I am not high maintenance just a slow mover. So to help me get ready faster Clayton blow dried my hair while I put on make up. Now that is love.

A BIG THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND CLAYTON! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

SPENCER FAMILY CHRISTMAS P-A-R-T-Y

Saturday we headed down south for Grandma's Christmas party.

And a PARTAY it was. Thanks Grams!

Sadly I am too old for the pinata, but I still enjoy watching the kids take a wack at it.

Kace probably could've busted the thing in one swing. Definetely doesn't hit like his mother (just kidding Rachel...LAUGH)
This has to be my favorite picture. Tydon has been sick and was (obviously) very tired. He had quite the bipolar day. One moment he was happy, the next minute he was mad, and then the next minute he was crying. Repeat process for 4 hours. This picture came after he took a stab at the pinata. We cheered him on and that really made him mad because he threw the stick down and stomped off.
Ahhh the goods after they finally let Kace break it.

Happy moment for Ty. The kid can't get enough suckers. One in both hands and two in his shirt pocket.
I don't know what you guys do at your Christmas party, but at our we have a stripper before Santa. TYDON: Santa I want more suckers...NOW!
KAMI: Santa I would like a new pair fo LA GEARS with pink and green laces.

ERIK: How about bringin' me some Girbaud Jeans.
HEIDI: Let's see...Santa I would like a 401K and a IRA that isn't losing money.

CLAYTON: Please bring me a wife that cooks.

BRANDON: Santa, please bring me a chica to cuddle with...if you can't get me that a dog will work oh and if it is not too much to ask a nose hair trimmer as well! CORTNEY: I would like jumper cables for Christmas (ok so here is the real deal...Cort is getting his girlfriend JUMPER CABLES for Christmas...Julie I hope you don't read this...but seriously JUMPER CABLES. Come on Cort!!!! You do want to keep her around, right!?!) KACE: I want my eyes to not be red in every single picture. NATE: Santa I just want to have this moment last forever because I just LOVE sitting in your lap.

RACHEL: ummm... how 'bout bringing me some hot pads.