CHRISTMAS DAY

After all the fun at our house we headed to Grandma Coache's

Rylan & Paislee got a game that Great Grandpa just had to try
We went over to Grandma Zip's for more Christmas fun
Of course after all the Christmas presents the kids enjoyed sitting and playing their Nintendo DS's

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Our beautiful Christmas Tree
Cookies & Pink Milk for SantaStockingsThis year we were lucky to have Bob-o and Grandma Coache come over to watch the kids open their presents.

CHRISTMAS PAJAMAS

Every year my mom makes Christmas pajamas for the the kids. This is our 12th Day of Christmas present. The kids love that Grandma makes them their pajamas.

CHISTMAS EVE

Because I had no contraction the entire day of Christmas Eve, we decided I would be okay to go over to my mom's house for a little while. We always start off by reading a Christmas story. This year my mom wanted to read Mr. Toomy. It is about a wood carver who carves a nativity set for a widowed women and her son. As Katilyn read about each piece he was carving my mom pulled the piece down from her carved nativity set for the kids to look at. They thought that was pretty neat because that is about the only thing in Grandma's house they aren't a load to touch.

Katilyn & Jessica didn't want to wait until tomorrow to give the kids their presents

Grandma & Grandpa get to open their presents on Christmas Eve each year.

Grandpa & Grandma Milford

My dad got an iPad for Christmas, but because of their trip to Chicago the week before Christmas he got it early. Rylan was teaching Grandpa how to play Angry Birds.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas Eve is always a night I look forward to as the holidays get close. We usually start the night out by having dinner with my family. We then pick Jordan's family up and head down town to hand out socks, beenies, jackets and gloves to the homeless. Once that is completed we go back to my parents house to open up our 12th and final presents from the 12 Days of Christmas, which of course are our Christmas pajamas. We have done the same thing every year for a while now and I am so sad to say this year is going to be different. With me now on bed rest I still thought I would go and just do a lot of sitting everywhere I went, but I had a little scare yesterday and I decided it just wasn't worth it. I will be staying home this year for Christmas Eve. This does break my heart but at the same time I know that having a baby 7 weeks early would be harder than missing Christmas Eve. Having this baby inside of me has been a challenge from the moment we decided to have another child. I believe this is Heavenly Fathers way of teaching me, what exactly he is teaching me I am not sure, probably that I am not Super Women. I can not do everything and make everyone happy. He is teaching me I need to slow down and enjoy what is in front of me. With Jordan working as much as he was I was starting to just move on with out him. Now I need him more than ever. I realize how much we truly are a team. He is a wonderful man and I am so lucky to have him be my partner. This Christmas Eve as I sit here in an empty house I realize what Christmas is all about. It doesn't matter that I won't get to do everything I wanted to do tonight, what matters is that MY family is healthy, happy and truly loved. We have a roof over our heads and we eat every day. We are about to have a beautiful child of our Heavenly Fathers join our family and that is more than I could ever ask for this Christmas! Please have a very Merry Christmas!

HUNGRY REBEL

We have got to have the hungriest kitty ever. She is always running to her bowl and crying to be fed. Last night we were all in bed, the dogs were all laying in our room and I could hear noises down stairs. I told Jordan he better go check it out. This is what he found.

BIG BED

Rylan decided to take every blanket and pillow in our house on his bed. He is having more fun than I am on bed rest!!!

ZOBRIST CHRISTMAS PARTY

Saturday was the Zobrist Christmas party. It is always so nice to see all the family so I was not going to miss it. I sat in the recliner chair and watch all the fun. My cousin told the story about baby Jesus and also the signs from the Prophets about when the baby Jesus will be born. After the story was over each of the kids got candy canes filled with Hershey kisses. These were to represent the Sheppard's staffs. My mom then gave us each a picture of Grandma & Grandpa. They are always missed, but Christmas time brings back so many memories that makes it just a little harder.

Wii

We were given an early Christmas present this year. Jordan's sister is also pregnant and about to have a baby any day so we had an early present exchange with them. We truly could not believe how kind they were to give us a Wii. The kids have been having a ball with it. Rylan is actually getting pretty good and Paislee just loves to be a part of the fun!