Christmas 2016

The Christmas season really is the best time of the year. People are all a little kinder and it's so much easier to feel the spirit. Being in Washington we have not had much snow which has made it a bit different for us but Christmas is Christmas no matter where you are. I had the kids cut out, color, and glue nativities and I was impressed with how well Cambria colored. She copied Atreyu for a bit and then decided to do her own thing. I love how they turned out.

On December 21 the kids and I picked up Jesse from work and we started the long drive back home to Bern. Jesse drove part way while I read to him. I was also supposed to be in charge of finding gas stations with this Truckers app which I wasn't very familiar with. We passed one because I didn't realize we were supposed to exit but according to the app it said there should be another one in about 30 miles. We had enough fuel to get there but as we started getting closer, we realized that it was probably going to be some po-dunk gas station in the middle of no where. Jesse kept teasing me that it was going to be  "Hills Have Eyes" gas station and I kept trying to delude myself into thinking that it was going to be a nice one. When we got there, Jesse was right. They were super old pumps that wouldn't accept credit cards and it looked really creepy. 

I checked the app again and it said there was another gas station in about 20 miles. We really started getting nervous and with about 15 miles left to go, the gas light came on. I was praying my little heart out that we would make it and Heavenly Father answered my prayer. Needless to say, I was much more careful after that.

After driving all night, we finally made it home! It was so nice to be back. We went to the ward Christmas party where all the kiddos in our family were able to help with the nativity. It was so nice to see the people in our ward again. We then went back to Grandma and Grandpa's and did our own nativity.

The kids got exactly what they wanted on Christmas morning. 

As per usual, I did not take enough pictures while we were all together. Cam, Janell, and Seth took the kids our sledding a few times which all the kids loved. We played games, had great food, and just enjoyed being together. Of course it wouldn't be Christmas is someone didn't get sick. Atreyu got the stomach flu which Janell's family had had a couple days before we got together and then it ran through most the members in Jenny's family. Other than that, we had a wonderful time and I loved being back home for a few days.