Christmas Vacation....with Davey!!!!

I think having Dave home for Christmas is defintitely #1 on my "Best Christmas Presents Ever" list. Seriously. Kayla and I had really missed him from being away at training. I was just so thrilled, so excited, that he would be able to come home for Christmas. I don't even want to think about how it would have been without him. So, yeah, only my skin was keeping me in and I was a little kid again, as Kayla and I counted down the days till daddy got to come home. When Dave got home I had a list, and it was along the same lines as this.....

"First, we'll make snow angels for 2 hours and then we'll go ice skating. And then we'll eat a whole roll of Toll House cookie dough as fast as we can. And then to finish, we'll snuggle."

-From the Movie Elf

We had a TON of fun! For the first little bit it was just so nice just to BE together. It didn't matter what we were really doing, we were all so thrilled to just be together as a family. We made pretty good use of our time, every minute was a precious gift to us.

We got to do a lot of Christmas traditions, look at Chirtmas lights, make a"gingerbread house"(though we actually broke the mold and made it with rice krispies) had a "tea" party with Kayla's princess dishes, went shopping, watched Christmas movies, went to Chuckie Cheeses, made goodies and delivered them together, and Dave was even excited to help me with our Christmas cards, all before Chritmas. We also got to see Dave's sister and her family in Denver, and my brother and his family. (Though I forgot to bring my camera at Michael's place!) We had a lot of fun this Christmas break!!!!

Dave was so sweet. I know I'm pushing the envelope, he wouldn't want me to say anything, but he did sooooo much to help me with things while he was here. He seemed to have a radar and jumped at the opportunity to help me with things. It was so nice. He really pampered me, even though I know he was tired and drained from his training. He even took special care in some of the big and little things too, like changing the batteries in the smoke detectors so I wouldn't have to, for instance...getting Kayla ready for bed, dishes, laundry, being on top of all diaper changes, and whatever I needed! Everything he did was HUGE to me. Dave did so much! You are the BEST honey! Thank you!

So here are some picture highlights of our Christmas time.

Christmas Eve


Kayla took this picture. We decided to go simple for Christmas Eve dinner by having Papa Murphy's and go all out for Christmas dinner. Kayla took this picture.

We role paled the Nativity and Dave read a picture book with scriptures from Luke 2. Makenna was of course baby Jesus and Kayla was (is) the sweet angel.
Dave and I were Mary and Joseph.

We all opened one gift, which was pajamas, and then Dave took the girls and they looked to see where Santa was on the NORAD Santa Tracker.
Christmas Day

Gibbons Family Visit

For Fun

Our "Last Days" with Dave

For Christmas my brother and sister-in-law gave us a date night with babysitting and a Chili's gift card. We also got to hang out with them and have dinner and play their new Wii.

They were so sweet to watch Kayla for us. I savored every moment with Dave, it was so nice to be on a date with him, just one last time. What a lucky girl I am! He's so handsome!

We took Kayla to Mr. Biggs the last night with Dave. Kayla won a game and hit the jackpot!

I'm so grateful for that time when we could all be together for Christmas. I, we, said numerous prayers in graditude that Dave was able to come home. For me, this Christmas was one of the best I've ever had.