Christmas 2008 with the Nortons

So, pictures will have to be added later. We were lame and didn't pull out the camera very much. My whole family was here over the holidays, thanks to our baby brother, Michael, getting married. My parents traveled from Wyoming to Utah and caravanned down with Spencer, and Alli and Jon. They got here the Sunday before Christmas. There was lots of running around town, finishing up last minute Christmas shopping the days prior to Christmas, but it all got done. Chris surprised me early (the Saturday before Christmas) with a beautiful new dining room table and chairs. He was trying to keep the surprise until Christmas, but they called and told him he needed to pick it up that day, if he wanted it before Christmas. It is a beautiful piece of furniture and is easily the nicest piece of furniture we own. Too bad it currently has to sit on our "silverado" carpet. Hopefully it will be sitting on finer floors soon. He also gave me a beautiful picture of the Logan Temple. We will hang it in our living room. He really did great this Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, Chris made the family a delicious prime rib. He cooked it on the routissere on the grill. Oh, it was delightful with its bits of garlic stuffed in. Michael and Elna joined us from Tucson after working on Christmas Eve. We finished out our Christmas Nativity Advent from Grandma Norton, Spencer read us a Christmas story, and my mom shared a family favorite Christmas story. We all then opened a present, "fam jams," as my mom likes to call them (family pajamas) and sent the kiddos to bed in the playroom (since their rooms were occupied by our visitors). The girls got to work wrapping, wrapping, and wrapping (oh, only until about 3:00 AM). Chris and the boys got busy wiiing, wiiing, and more wiiing. He was concerned that it might not work the next morning, so he had to get it set up and try it out.

Thankfully, our kiddos aren't early risers on Chrismas yet, so we were able to sleep in until about 8:00 AM (if I remember correctly--it was a lot of late nights). Camilla was surprised with a new beach bike from Santa. It is very cute, white with pink flowers. Luke got a new geo trax train and Lizzie got a little Bumbo seat. Santa also left the Wii Chris was trying out on Christmas Eve. Since there were 14 of us total, we moved the present opening into the family room where there was more room, instead of the living room where the tree was. It was fun to see what everyone got and how generous everyone was eachother. We were all blessed with a very nice Christmas, with lovely gifts. We had a brunch of eggs, cinnamon rolls, and bacon (it had to be brunch, since there were 14 of us opening gifts). For dinner, we had a ham, funeral potatoes, homemade rolls, and a jello.

After Christmas, there were preprations for the real reason we were all together, Michael's wedding. Lindsay and her family drove down from Northern Idaho and joined us on Monday. We had a day of family photos (you know Chris loved this), lots of Tiger Woods Golf Tournaments, a little Battle of the Sexes game night (Yes, the girls won), and lots of visiting and eating. There seemed to be daily trips to the store, since everyday, someone else came down with a cold.

Michael and sweet Elna were married on Friday, January 2 in the Mesa Temple. They were one of the first sealings in 2009 in the Mesa Temple (there were several at the 9 AM time slot, which was the earliest sealing time) and one of 38 couples getting married that day. Needless to say, the temple was busy that day. The sweet Golightly girls, Jessica and Brooke, came to the temple with us and babysat all of our kiddos and the Coon kids while we were in there. It was a "cold" (for AZ) morning, and they braved the weather until the visitor's center opened. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was so nice to have all of the family in there together. They had their luncheon at Serranos, and then we headed down to Tucson for the reception. Alli and Jon were brave and joined us in our car for the trip down. We had a good visit both ways and I we provided some good birth control on the trip (traveling with three cranky, tired, demanding kiddos). Lindsay, Alli, and I really weren't around much for the reception, we went and helped Michael set up their apartment as a honeymoon suite and our husbands took care of the kiddos and then helped move some furniture in. Our husbands were really good sports.

The plan was that everyone would head home on Saturday, but Saturday morning came and everyone was much too tired and sick, so we had another day of visiting. My dad and Chris planned a little birthday party for me, since everyone was here. We went to dinner at San Tan Flats, a little place in Queen Creek with outdoor seating with bonfires and dancing. We roasted marshmallows and enjoyed a nice Arizona night around the fire. After coming home, Chris surprised me with a cake. It has been along time since I have had a birthday party with my family and I quite enjoyed it.

Sunday morning came and they were headed home for real. My mom and Alli helped get things going in the wash. Jon soon discovered he couldn't find his keys, so after about an hour and a half of searching high and low, they decided they could leave with out them (they were later found in his luggage when he returned home). Mom and Dad left about two hours later, but caught up with the Bills and Spencer after they got a flat tire near Wikiup. We had a good day of visiting with the Coons. I stayed home with Lizzie from church, since she's had a cold. Chris took Camilla and Luke. They were excited to go to their new primary classes. It is hard to believe that Luke is a Sunbeam.

Our Christmas break ended with one last day playing the Coon cousins before they left town and a visit from Uncle Ben who flew in for the Fiesta Bowl. Everyone left us Tuesday morning, including Camilla who headed off to school. Luke and I started to pull down the decorations and get the house back together. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing process. We get distracted with Lizzie learning to roll over, reading books to Luke, and playing games on the Wii. Chris is back to the grindstone working hard. He feels like he has a lot of catching up to do, but I appreciate all the time he sacraficed to help host my family. Hopefully we can do it again soon!