Christmas Bliss

Cheesy title?  I know!  I have no idea how to put into words how wonderful this Christmas was.  Definitely, the best ever!  There are so many reasons..  Jeff and I had all 5 kids together, which rarely happens.  We were able to spend precious time with friends and family but most of all Jeff made me the luckiest girl in the world.  On Christmas day he surprised me and proposed!  The ring was beautiful and he picked it out all by himself.   I seriously feel like I am the most blessed person alive.  Jeff and I have been dating A LONG time, 2 1/2 years to be exact and I still was not expecting a proposal.  I have known for a long time that I would spend forever with Jeff but timing is a tricky thing.  Jeff has been super patient with me while I work through issues related to trust and independence.  Once you have to be independent it can be scary to give that away.  He deserves a medal, seriously! 

On Christmas morning after we had opened all the gift, Taesha brought me in the family room and played a song she wrote for me on the guitar.  She is really talented and it was awesome.  I will keep the words to that song forever.  Then she directed me to one last gift under the tree.  Even as I was opening the small box I did not full expect an engagement ring, and there it was!  What an incredible moment to have Jeff propose with all 5 of our kids there.

Here are a few other photos..

 

We headed over to my parent’s house after for a party and I told the kids not to say anything and see who noticed first.  We all took bets with the front runners being Kim, Tamra and Elden.  WELL, none of them did.  I practically had to sit on Kim and Jill’s lap before they noticed.  Then they both responded in usual style with lots of yelling and screaming.  I think we about gave Grandma Gayle a heart attack!  The only person not absolutely thrilled by the news was Samantha, now she can no longer marry Mitchell!!

So with that said here are some photos from Christmas Eve.  I love it when the kids do the program.  As the kids got older Tonia and I decided to work into the program some of their talents.  Taylor played the violin and piano, Hayden the piano and Ryker  the drums!  Mitchy was a Wiseman and Jord made her debut as Mary.  Check out the middle right  photo, life is never boring with Jordan.  Luke and Seth (okay, mainly Luke) sang the cutest songs.  I absolutely love Jen’s boys and feel so blessed that we get to spend so much time with them.

 

Santa arrived as usual and there was lots of presents, games and great food!  Mitchell is always saying funny things.  When Santa asked him about how he was doing in school he said “I would have to say only about average.”  It was so funny, so honest!  For Christmas Taylor made me that cute scarf! 

When we got back to Jeff’s house the kids sprinkled reindeer food and left cookies for Santa.

Christmas morning was so incredible.  All of the kids got lots of incredible stuff.  To highlight a few, Chase got a skate deck and lots of clothes.  He tried to put everything on as he got it!  Didn’t work. T got an acoustic guitar and lots of shoes.  Taylor got a sewing machine, clothes and a giant Hershey bar.  Mitchy got all things STAR WARS!!  Jord got frogs, an easel and princess stuff.

Every Christmas Jeff makes a movie for each child of the year’s events.  Here we are on Christmas Eve afternoon watching all of them!  I love it!!