I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...

Is Christmas really over? I just turned on pandora to listen to while I typed this and it automatically started to play Christmas music because that was the last station that I was listening to. It made me a little sad. We have to wait 12 more months until we can feel that cozy comfort cheer of Christmas again. (Actually we'll probable only have to wait about 7 months because I swear they have Christmas stuff up in the stores starting in July. I was at Wal-mart and I saw cadbury eggs. CADBURY EGGS! Seriously.) Anyways, it's over and here's a crap loap of pictures documenting the awesomeness of it all...

Alright this one isn't about Christmas...it's about our anniversary. December 14th marked 7 years for ol' Jon and Katie. Wow. And just to show what an awesome (sense the sarcastic tone)wife Jon got, I totally forgot our anniversary and Jon brought me home these beautiful flowers. Yes, you can feel bad for him. I do. ...but aren't my flowers perfect? :)

On to Idaho!!!!!!!

Upon arrival at my parents house we were greeted by an spectacular miniature city that is slowly taking over their living room. My dad has quite the collection. he has everything from a festive ferris wheel to actual mini Christmas lights strung around the fence surrounding the outdoor ice skating rink. We were impressed.

...And of course Maddie and Lyndon were in awe. They loved it. Lyndon loved it so much that every single morning, despite any type of punishment, he re-arranged the gravel roads. every. morning. without. fail. I think I reconstructed about 50 roads during our stay.

We got to spend Christmas week up at my parents cabin in Island Park. I LOVE being there for Christmas. The cabin to me, is all about Christmas. It's a time that there is NOTHING taking anyone away. (Except for when my Dad has to fix something like say, the water heater that went out DURING my shower. ...for the record, I screamed. I couldn't help myself. The water was so frigid, I thought I just might pass out. okay, I'm being a tiny bit over dramatic but it was so cold. )

Pretty sure more candy went in their little mouths than on the house. Oh well. That's just how Maddie and Lyndon roll.

Maddie is patiently waiting to open her Christmas eve gift of...Pajamas. Does everyone do that?

Everyone was very focused on the Christmas eve movie...Dinosaur Christmas. My Mom found this obscure cartoon about a dinosaur and a little boy and Christmas. It was a hit...even with Grandpa. :)

Christmas morning!!! Santa came. He really did. I was upstairs with Maddie and Lyndon while we were waiting to go down and see if Santa came. I told Maddie not to peek but the next thing I know she's stretching her neck around totally PEEKING. She quickly turned to Lyndon and I and said matter-of-factly, "Yep. He did it. He came. I just had to be sure."

This was so sweet...The first present Lyndon opened was a gift from Maddie. As he started opening it Maddie scooted up next to him and put her arm around his back. They are such good friends. It makes my heart swell.

Yep. Maraca's. Lyndon was dying for maraca's. He wasn't disappointed.

My Mom made Maddie and Lyndon these adorable quilts and pillow shams for their beds. And also these awesome stuffed guitars to match. I gotta say, I LOVE that my mom and Jonathon's mom are so amazingly talented.

You know Lyndon...he's like the energizer bunny. He runs wherever he wants to go. He doesn't know the meaning of slow down or walk. But we finally found what it takes to get him to stand still. and I mean still. They each got these little mp3 players that we downloaded some of their favorite songs on. ...Taylor swift, of course. Fireflies by owl city, paparazzi by lady gaga (you should see Lyndon's rendition, it's pretty sweet.), party in the USA by Miley Cyrus to name a few. Lyndon is in love. He's one happy camper listening to all his music.

A look out the front window of the cabin. Christmas morning was beautiful. It was white and snowy and a light snow fell all day. Very picturesque.

Lyndon toting around his loot. A very life-like dinosaur that growls--incidentally it scared the crap out of me when I stepped on it in the middle of the night. (Thank you Jim and Kris. :) ) And then his beloved Handy Manny tools. Oh he's in love, alright.

Never a dull moment...

So here's the low down on kids under the age of 5 and snow...not my cup of tea. Here's why: it takes an INSANE amount of time to get them dressed, only to have those very boots, gloves and hats that took so long to put on come off after their first fall outside. I admit it's fun to be out in the snow with them but it will be even more fun when they can dress themselves.

This is Jonathon and Maddie digging a fort.

He just threw some snow in his face...

making a snow angel.

This is OG. He's Byron's dog. I have to admit, I was smitten with OG. I just love the little guy. How could you not?

New Year's eve...Lyndon is celebrating in a big way.

Playing cards with OG, uh I mean, Mom. :)

Lyndon LOVES to crack people up. Exhibit A:

And I can't believe I didn't get one picture of Ben (Benny, as Lyndon calls him.) and Rachel the whole trip. We got to see them a lot. It was soooooo fun! We ate at their favorite sandwich joint in Rigby and they took us to get gormet donuts in Rexburg, and they got to hang at the Perkes house in Idaho Falls. Good memories. My hope is that someday we will live near eachother. someday.

...making cookies with Grandma, Rylee, Maddie and Lyndon.

Maddie was smitten too. This girl wants a dog.

BIG TIME.

On our way home we had a layover in Las Vegas. This was the first time we've been back since we moved 3 and a half years ago. As we were flying in I recognized so many of our old stompin' grounds. The memories kept flooding my mind. Our apartment in Henderson, eating at Roberto's, shopping at Smiths, our condo, Lucid recording, where Jonathon worked, North Vista Hospital where I worked and where Maddie was born...it's was all too much. I couldn't help but shed a few tears. I surprised myself by how sweet those memories really are to me. I look forward to going back there someday.

During our lay-over Jonathon's brother, Micheal and his wife Cris, who live in Henderson, came to see us. It was fun to chat with them and catch up. They are having a little boy in just a couple of weeks. We're very excited.

Oh yeah, and now that we're home Lyndon is potty training. He's doin' great, just needs to work on hiking up those undies.

the end.