Sunday, January 4, 2009

Christmas in Idaho. Part 1.

Carter catching snow with his mouth.For Christmas we packed our bags and headed up north to visit Mike's family in Idaho. It always feels more like Christmas to me when it's cold and there is snow. But that's about it, after the new year I'm more than happy to trade in my snow boots for flip flops. I believe we were all excited to see snow when we arrived and were blessed with a white Christmas full of fresh snow. All in all, we had a wonderful trip and were so glad to be able to spend time together as family. It's always so hard to get on a plane and come home. We really do wish we lived closer to both sides of our family but until then are happy for the opportunities we have to get together, even if they are few and far between.
All of Mike's siblings were in town with their spouses and Carter was able to play a lot with his cousin Landon. I was worried at first that they wouldn't get a long, but they loved each other (for the most part, they are only 18 months so some fighting is expected.) Landon and Carter would take off and run around the house totally entertained by each other and surprisingly enough Carter didn't seem to get into too much trouble and stuck to playing with toys instead of getting into things we wasn't suppose too. Of course it did help that Mike's parents had a wide variety of new toys to play with including a rocking horse, vacuum, race cars, and a shiny new tricycle.
Carter and Landon. We took big family pictures on the days and Val gave the boys pipe to play with in between pictures. They banged them on everything and then made noises with them by talking into one end. Here they are following each other around and having a good time Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve the Dille family held it's traditional white elephant exchange. I think we made out pretty good this year, I got one of the "shamoo" towels, can't wait to try this thing out and see if it is as good as the infomercial says and Mike got some silicone cupcakes holders thanks to my suggestion to steal it from his Aunt. Hey it was that, or the Hannah Montana calendar. Carter loved the pile of shoes at the front door and I think he tried every pair on at least once.
Carter in Val's hat and boots.
Val, Brenda, Owen, Paul, Nikki and Bryan during the gift exchange.
Owen Smiling at Grandma Dille. Comparing baby pictures of Mike with Owen. A little tummy time for Owen. Poor guy didn't make it out in the snow, this was as much exercise as he got. Playing the piano with cousin AJ.

We did take Carter out sledding on Christmas Day. Grandpa, Paul, Brenda and Mike and I took Carter to the park down the street. We were out for about 15 minutes and Carter loved every minute. He was unsure the first time he went down the hill, but after that he would run back up the hill to go back down. I think sledding with Carter was the highlight of our Christmas. I love seeing him discover new things and I love seeing his excited about new things. This Christmas Mike and I really enjoyed just being parents and finding joy in our childrens joy.
Sledding with Grandpa on Christmas day.

No comments: