Day-After-Christmas and beyond

R braved the crowds and made a few returns the morning after Christmas. He also picked up a few more sets of our Christmas china that we got last year (50% off!).

That night we had our traditional Eastley-Day-After-Christmas-Dinner. We've done that the last few years to alleviate the busy-ness of Christmas day. Thank you Linda, for hosting. It was lovely. We even got to meet more of Alex's family, and listen to a little bit of Swedish (although not much because they put most Americans to shame with how well they speak English). The kids had a great time playing together, and couldn't wait to open more presents! R was super excited to be given a box of authentic Julmust (Yool-moost), which is a Swedish soda that he came to love while he was there on his mission.

We were so happy to have R home all that next week. D-man especially got super-attached to his daddy. We played, ate, and slept in varying cycles and had a great time. R and I had the opportunity to serve in the temple on Wednesday, so we took turns there with a switch-off in the parking lot. We had some friends over for a kid-friendly New Year's Eve party (countdown at 7!!) and had a fabulous time with some Twister, party horns, and a little dancing.

R was good to take the boys out to play in the snow. He really got a workout:

You gotta see this wipeout....


D-man really loves to make snow angels, and it is so cute to see his little arms and legs wiggling around. :) He reminds me of the little brother on "A Christmas Story."


What started out as angels (after numerous sled runs) turned into this:

I love that my husband is so willing to be a great dad. His boys love him to death and I had such a great time watching them play together.

On the 2nd we finally got to go sledding. There is a great hill not too far from here that is perfect for kids--not too steep and not too long. Mr. B took to it like a pro. He really is built for winter sports, being such a heater. He went up and down and up and down over and over by himself, without even getting tired. D-man didn't like the sled so much, but he had fun making snowballs.





We had such a great holiday season, and were so sad to see R go back to work. Monday was sure a long day. I tried to make the week pass quickly with extra cleaning projects, but it didn't last too long.... :)

Funny thing about deep cleaning is that while you're doing it, the visible things get dirtier, and while I may have a clean coat closet, you couldn't have seen it for the kitchen tile screaming for a broom and mop!