The Holidays

In an attempt to appease my guilt for being an awful blogger these last months (and the majority of the year, really), I'm making a last-ditch effort to (quickly!) recap The Holidays...which I have officially decided includes Halloween too (I love things that come in threes anyway!).

Christmas was busy, busy, busy! Man, did I start late this year. In September I kept talking about how I was going to get started early, I wasn't going to wait too long and then get stressed this year, and then WHAM! it was after Thanksgiving and I hadn't done hardly a thing. And going out shopping with two little guys is tough for me when its not Christmas! Amazon.com saved my bacon!


When we took the boys to see Santa a few days before Christmas I totally thought Tommy would love it (cause he always has!) and Jacob would cry. Thomas was so excited, but he had a last minute case of the nerves when it came his turn and absolutely refused to sit on Santa's lap. He was worried that he wouldn't get the toys he wanted without telling Santa, so he begged me to tell Santa his wish list for him. Jacob was completely fascinated with the white-bearded man and made nary a peep of nervousness! And we coaxed Tommy into sitting next to Santa on a rocking horse, so we still got a cute photo!


We celebrated Christmas at my parent's house this year, just down the road 45 minutes from us. It was particularly wonderful because all of my brothers and their families were there. It was definitely a crazy household with eight kids aged eight and under running around, but I love my family and it was so fabulous to have us all together...it happens very rarely these days. One of my favorite things was seeing how my older brothers and I are now the ones playing Santa and making Christmas magic for our kids...nothing is more fun then seeing how excited your own child is for Christmas! On the big morning my parents' living room was a lovely explosion of boxes and wrapping paper! Though I always think its a little sad when that glorious, gorgeous pile of gifts under the tree is gone...




Jacob was super cuuuute on his first Christmas. And Tommy was psyched to get his remote control dinosaur "Spike"...He'd been talking about him for months!








We spent Thanksgiving with Ryan's family in Wyoming. I love my "second family," and every single one of his siblings was able to come this year, which is rare for his family too.










It was great to be back to visit his childhood home...it had been a while since we'd headed up to good ole Wyoming, and I really enjoy spending time up there. Probably my favorite part of Thanksgiving with the Laidlaws is their tradition of going up into the mountains to cut down Christmas trees. We always make a fire, have hot dogs and hot chocolate, and take turns riding the four-wheelers around...Tommy loved it and Jacob looked so dang cute all bundled up! We found ourselves a nice tall tree for our vaulted living room, and we got it for only $10! Woohoo! (Well, on second thought, it was free, because Ryan's dad bought all the tree tags...Thanks Glenn!!!)






Its also fun seeing how the Laidlaw clan is growing. For quite awhile the only two grandkids were our Tommy and his cousin Julia, daughter of Ryan's older brother Nathan and his wife Fabiana. This Thanksgiving there were two new babies, our Jacob and Julia's baby brother Misael, and now Ryan's brother Eric and his wife Hayley are expecting their first in February (a girl!), and Ryan's sister Melissa and her husband Seth are expecting their first in May (a boy!)! So it will be cool seeing the Laidlaw grandkid quotient triple in just over a year! Holidays at Grandma and Grandpa Laidlaw's house are going to start getting a lot noisier! ;)


On to Halloween...I love Halloween more every year! Last year I converted Ryan to the fun of wearing a costume (he made a fabulous Captain Hook) and he went all out this year as another dashing pirate...Jack Sparrow! Seriously, I was a little jealous of his costume's awesomeness. I was a glam Ladybug, and decided that wigs = fun! Tommy was an adorable Buzz Lightyear, and Jacob was a little Sheriff Woody to match.








We went to our ward's Trunk 'R' Treat the night before Halloween, where everyone said they hardly recognized Ryan and I, and I tried not to whap everybody accidentally with my wings! (Wings = also fun!) On the "Big Night" we had all our fam over for a little shindig at our house. We ate chili, decorated cookies, watched "Casper", and Tommy made his first ever trick-or-treating expedition to actual houses...three houses, to be exact! (We don't have many neighbors in our part of the subdivision yet. For that same reason we didn't get many trick-or-treaters either, which had me a little bummed. "C'mon kids!!!" I wanted to run outside and yell down the hill. "I buy the good candy!!!")


That was our trifecta of holiday fabulousness! =)

;)