{christmas 2014}

i feel like the holiday season came and went so incredibly fast.

we had so much fun being able to spend so much time with our families.  matt's family all lives within 10 minutes of each other, and all of my siblings that live out of state were here for christmas so it was good times for all.

i brought my real camera to every event and had grand intentions to take real pictures and capture perfect moments. buuuuuut i never whipped it out, not once.  cell phone pictures for the win!

matt and i decided to start the tradition of sleeping under the christmas tree and watching movies on the night before christmas eve (dec. 23).  we pulled our mattress off of our bed and pulled brooks' crib mattress out and set up camp in our family room.

brooks was in heaven.  he thought it was pretty cool and kept jumping and rolling from mattress to mattress.  he of course stayed up WAY later than he should have but it was so much fun.  surprisingly, we all slept great!

christmas eve we went out to lunch with just our little family and then finished up some last minute shopping.  we wrapped presents, made food, and then headed over to my parents  house for some christmas eve excitement.

we ate dinner, had a talent show, and acted out the nativity.  brooks was a cute little shepherd that didn't participate in quite the right way.  he was a wandering shepherd haha.  

after the nativity, we opened our gift exchange presents and the presents from my parents.  it was pure and utter chaos.  there was about 40 people all tearing into presents at once.  this year was fun because brooks got the hang of opening presents and got excited to see what was in each one.

^^just a small glimpse of the madness on christmas eve^^

we decided to sleep over at my parents christmas eve and do christmas morning at their house.  after we got all the kids settled in bed, santa's two elves headed out to pick up presents and set up christmas.

after santa's elves were done setting up christmas they got in bed.  about an hour later, brooks woke up whining and saying, "mama" over and over again.  matt handed him to me and he threw up ALLLLLLL over me.  merry christmas to me!!  i could tell you exactly what he ate if you want... haha.  we got that mess all cleaned up and then finally went to bed.

we woke up around 8am to a white, white christmas.  those ones are the best kind :) we headed upstairs to see what santa brought.

we were all spoiled, that's for sure.

we had a delicious christmas breakfast, then headed home to put away presents, nap, and gear up for christmas festivities with matt's family.

i had this moment on christmas day where i was overcome with happiness and love for my savior, Jesus Christ.  matt was in brooks' room rocking him to sleep, and i was in the family room holding sleeping remi.  it was so peaceful and calm and as i sat there looking at my sleeping beauty, i couldn't help but think of Mary and Joseph seeing their child for the first time.  

i am so grateful for the birth of our savior, for the gospel, and for my sweet little family.

after our naps, we headed to matt's parents for more presents and a christmas feast.

christmas 2014 was one for the books!