a very merry christmas

we were able to be in utah for 25 days over the holidays. 25 days may seem like a lot but when you live across the country you just try to soak it all in.  plus, it isn't very hard to say goodbye because you are ready to go home.  we had such a great time and it was so nice to be with family.  holidays have become even more fun with e here.  it's kind of hard to come up with a lot of traditions for just our family when you aren't home for christmas but we still had a few.  one that i want to always do is give my kids a new christmas book each year.  there are so many to choose from and i love children's books. we really kept christmas quite light because we knew she would get spoiled from grandparents.

we love cousins

 sunday before christmas selfie

 christmas eve at onna's house. we spent that night and christmas morning with nate's fam.

christmas morning, just waiting for the sleepyhead to wake up.

 she pulled a little at the paper but wasn't too crazy about opening presents.  watching her face was pretty cute though.

 another selfie, this one on christmas day.

 her and grammy opening more gifts.

 the day after christmas we went with nate's family ice skating in midway.  we put elin in an umbrella stroller and just had a blast.  she fell asleep about 30 mins in and we just kept on going. one of the most memorable moments was when jon(nate's dad) fell flat on his back.

the whole family minus karen who's taking the pic.

 the next week we were back to see the ice castles with my family and to do more ice skating. elin fell asleep again and we had a blast again. i love ice skating.

what a great christmas!