Christmas morning

 Yay it's here!! Classic Christmas morning picture. Except Whitney is too tall for us to see Katelyn anymore, so they came up with some creative solutions!  

These pictures are not in order, just a random fun jumble of reactions and excitement!  This is the kids opening their big family gift from us- 

A hoverboard!!  It has been GREATLY enjoyed daily in the kitchen during this long winter we are having!

Here's Kate checking out her books from Santa, and being very surprised by a Barnes and Noble gift card from her cousin Jean!

everyone with their stockings and other gifts from Santa 

Aaaannnddd now everyone when all the unwrapping was done a couple of hours later!! 

Maris saying "oooh" about some crazy puddy and a cool mug from Grammy. And wearing her panda hat from Santa of course.

Everyone watching Emma open a present, and Emma being excited!

Katelyn opening a funny shirt she had asked for, and all the kids enjoying the fun toy Aunt Elizabeth sent us!

2 frames of Owen getting a Crunch Labs box from the mind of Mark Rober-- him realizing what it is, and Katelyn and Emma reacting to his excitement.

Whitney getting a book she wanted, and being surprised by some fuzzy crocs!

Katelyn loving her pocket hobbit from Grammy, and Maris opening a present.

Emma getting the Encanto Lego house (see Whitney's face too!) and wearing the adorable huge hat her kindergarten teacher made for her!

Owen surprised by some fuzzy crocs (I hit a huge Black Friday sale and everyone got at least one pair of new crocs!) and a cool globe from Grammy.

best present ever!!!! I have been wanting to take my family to Nauvoo for 20 years.....since I was there for a semester. Since before I knew I would marry Eric!  Since before I knew when or how many or who my kids would be....since this family I now have was just a distant dream.  I knew I wanted to take my family to a place that had such an impact on my testimony!  And time is running out for stuff like this!  So Eric gave me a game for Christmas, and told me to open it.... I started looking at the cards and he was like "keep going" so I opened the board and it said this!

I was almost crying and so was he and I hugged him, and then just hugged the game the rest of the morning!  I couldn't believe it was actually happening!  It has been so great, because I used to have a lot of anxiety about how I didn't get to do things I wanted to do with our family because Eric didn't want to do them (not true but I was tempted to think that a lot!) but this gift has basically shut down that temptation because I can be like "nope, he's taking me to Nauvoo!!" We are going for Spring Break and it's the best gift ever. 

Emma opening another present, and opening a lego set from Whitney!  She has had a lot of fun giving away her old Legos.

Katelyn laughing at the great and funny gift Owen got her- Shakespeare Mad Libs! And Emma BEYOND excited jumping up and down while Maris opened the Calico Critter gift from her, SO cute! That was the first gift wrapped and under the tree after Thanksgiving :)

Eric getting Lake Powell map socks from my mom, and Eegah from me!!!! (a movie we watched freshman year---we were very gratified that when we showed it to the kids later that week, they thought it was hilarious!  and now we can quote it as a family instead of just to ourselves, it's the best!!

And last but not least, Maris super excited about a Shooters SC quarter zip long sleeve shirt, and Whitney so happy to get some shoes she wanted. 

Such a fun Christmas morning with no meltdowns!! :)