- December 16th = CRAZY day! I spent the whole day helping my mom get ready for Christmas including wrapping and wrapping and wrapping TONS of presents. We, unfortunately, were so busy that we left late for the Rowley family Christmas party. We were able to get there and enjoy a dinner of enchiladas before playing Bunko. I've never played the game before but it was a lot of fun - it is very fast paced and great for a large group of people.
- December 19th = VANHIN TROFF CAME HOME FROM HIS MISSION IN HELSINKI FINLAND!!! The day was quite stressful because we had a huge storm hit and flights were being canceled and delayed right and left. We watched throughout the day as his flight kept getting delayed little bit by little bit. At one point the missionaries coming through Texas were told that there was no way they were going to get through Salt Lake. We prayed and watched fervently and finally left for the airport at 9:45 pm. Jake had to stay behind with sleeping kids. :-( There were so many missionaries coming in that night and the airport was quite crowded but we finally got to see him around 10:50 pm!
Differences? He is taller (by 2 or 3 inches) and his voice is deeper!
- December 20th = Jeremy wasted no time getting back into the groove of life and we had a big date night with my family. We had a barbecue and played Disney Trivia. Jeremy brought along his (now girlfriend!) Katie. She is a darling girl and so nice and we are really happy that she and Jeremy are dating.
- December 22nd = Dunford Christmas party included TONS of lasagna and breadsticks at the request of Jeremy. Very delicious and fun evening.
- December 23rd = Bentley family Christmas party. We had a huge Christmas dinner with ham and turkey and potatoes and rolls and fruit salad and then we went Christmas caroling. It is really fun to go caroling with the Bentley family because we can cover the entire 4 part harmony with 2 people on each part (at least). I was unwise in my choice of shoes, however, and my feet were promptly soaked through and freezing. We still had a great time though!
- December 24th = We continued our usual Christmas eve traditions and saw Frozen in theaters with my whole family. We ate at Cafe Rio (my dad treated!!! So generous!) and then we went back to my parent's house for our sibling gift exchange. My brother, Kayden, gave me a Whisper Mill! (aka wheat grinder) All of the kids also gave our presents to mom and dad and they were pretty spoiled! (My brother Zac is planning on leaving for his mission this year and he is taking my mom to see Wicked before he leaves!)
- December 25th (aka CHRISTMAS!) = What a fantastic day we had! I took a total of 2 pictures the whole day... FAIL! We had the most amazing breakfast (french toast, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, omelets, juice of all sorts, eggnog, chocolate milk) and got our gifts from my parents. We visited with the Bentleys after that and did our sibling exchange with them as well as receiving our gifts (and giving our gifts) to/from Jake's parents. We joined with my family again for lunch at my Grandparent Troff's house (hurray for ham, potatoes, shrimp, and pineapple!) and did MORE presents there! Abrielle received the envy-of-all presents there from my Grandparent's when she got the FurReal friend monkey you can see sitting across from her in the picture below. We caused a real stir with the other little girls of the family... oops! We finished the night with hot soup at my Dunford Grandparent's house and MORE presents - wow we are so spoiled!!! Well, when I say we finished the night what I really mean is we finished the celebrating. We actually went home around 8:30 and got to work on the house. We organized and put away toys, took down the kids' Christmas trees, and generally put Christmas away. It was a huge relief for me to do it together as a family and not on my own the next day.
Christmas breakfast!
You can see the monkey (Buttercup) by the chair in front of Abrielle. She had to be involved in everything for the rest of the day.
- December 27th - January 2nd = INFLUENZA. I wish I were kidding but I'm not. We got SLAMMED with the flu and not just the stomach flu but the FULL BLOWN influenza virus. Chills, high temperatures, so so so many aches, headaches, etc. The kids and I were down and out for an entire week+ and I was worried sick that we would be sick during our vacation. Jake, thankfully, never caught it and was an absolute CHAMPION in taking care of us all. We did nothing all week but stay home and stay in bed - sleeping and watching movie after movie. I am so grateful that I had the week off of work so that I could stay home and rest and take care of my kids. My fever only lasted one day and Nathan's only lasted a few days. Abrielle's fever finally broke the day before we left for Disneyland. Thank goodness!
All Nathan wanted to do on the worst days was lay in bed together and hold hands.
Two kids, very sick. Munching on crackers with cold rags to help with fevers.
- January 3rd - January 11th = DISNEYLAND!!! We had the opportunity to go with my family to California for an extended vacation. We feel so very blessed to have our family and to get to share these special times with them. We stayed in a house altogether that had a pool and a hot tub. We went to the beach (Huntington) on Sunday and had 5-day Hopper passes to Disneyland and California Adventures. It was wonderful and exhausting. I didn't take nearly the number of pictures that I should have but I have a few:
Splash Mountain
Riding with Nathan on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree
Meeting Lightning McQueen
Park snacks!
And Abrielle too..
Waiting in line and playing with his plane from Grandma Traci
Showing off her pin collection
Meeting Red the Fire Engine
My beautiful Cinderella
Cars Land
Attempting to get a picture with the princess.... she was being camera shy!
- Now what? Well... back to the grind! Abrielle has preschool tomorrow, Jake has work, and spring semester 2014 starts for me (as well as piano lessons on Tuesday)! I can hardly believe that school is back in session tomorrow. We have had a lovely break and I am not ready for it to end but I look forward to what 2014 will bring to our family.
Love, Shayla
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