Merry Christmas!

We had such a fun Christmas in the Gardiner home. Although it was below zero, Santa and his reindeer still managed to make it to Alaska! The reindeer even ate the frozen carrots that were left outside. The kids slept in until 7:00 and I couldn't wait any longer, so I made more noise than usual and guess what?! They woke up! (Brett loves this side of me! When we were first married, he thought I was crazy waking up at 5:00 to open presents. He said, "We don't even have kids! Why are we waking up so early?") After opening presents we had a pajama day, lounging around sleeping and playing with toys.


Jenna did not want to wake up! She just kept yelling, "Back to bed! Back to bed!" (Hmm, I wonder who she takes after?) In fact, after she woke up and saw the presents she ran back downstairs and tried to sleep. I didn't let her, of course, because I was so excited!


This notebook was the first present Jenna opened. A few minutes later we handed her another present and she said, "No, I already opened one." It took a lot to get her to give in and open more. Man I could have saved a ton of money!

Dallin and Jared had no problem tearing into their gifts!

Santa made Jenna's Christmas dreams come true. She LOVES being a princess! (She's really into posing half tipped over....something new for her, maybe associated with princess status.) I love the high heels and crack up as I watch her trying to walk in them. She kind of reminds me of myself, which is why I avoid them at all cost!

Jared was so happy when he opened his new train cars and cargo set. He also loves his basketball, soccer ball and football. When he gets excited he talks a mile a minute. It's so dang cute!

The kids loved the choo choo train that Santa brought. Too bad he forgot to bring the batteries to make it run! Poor Santa just had too much on his mind! Dallin got spoiled this year too. He loves his new dinosaur book, bubble gum machine and underwater dino and guy. He is so passionate and yelled and screamed with excitement every time he opened a gift.

Jenna was dying to go out and play almost all day! So late afternoon, she finally got herself dressed in Jared's coat and hat and went outside. The two of us ended up in the garage, sitting in the van, listening to her favorite songs. After that, I pulled her in the sled and made snow mountains with her. What a fun day! I wish we could celebrate Christmas every day!

Pre-Christmas Festivities

It's been awhile since I updated our blog, so I thought I'd share some of the fun things we've been up to this month. We are so excited for Christmas and have been very busy preparing for Santa's arrival!

On Sunday morning we all got dressed up in our Sunday/Christmas best and headed off to church! I can't believe we actually got a couple of good shots of the kids. (I admit, I was being a little, okay a lot, psycho as I was trying to take these in a hurry before running off to choir! I hope Santa will still come and visit me!)

Behind those beautiful smiles they're saying, "Please Mom, can we be done?!"

My friend, Erika, and her husband invited us over for a fun party. Santa came and Dallin finally got to tell him that he wanted a "dinosaur underwater sea diving guy." Man, it's amazing that Santa gets it right every time, even with a description like that!

The boys and I spent some quality bonding time making gingerbread cookies for Santa to eat.

They were YUMMY! We did manage to save a few for Santa though! Hmm, for some reason I really don't think Santa really needs them.

Jenna is so excited for Christmas and loves her little reindeer that one of my past students gave me.

Yeah! We did it! We actually made a gingerbread house this year. (Okay, so I cheated a little and bought a kit, but at least I made time to do it!) Mom, I will never know how you had the patience to do several, made from scratch, each year!

Okay, I look so stoned in this picture, (Hmm, could it be all the frosting and candy I ate?!) but I just think Brett is so dang handsome, so I had to post this!

Wait! Santa has aged a lot since the above picture with Dallin! (I just had to explain to Dallin that Santa can't be everywhere and sometimes has elves help him out! Whew! That was a close one!) Jared wasn't too sure about the whole Santa thing. He chatted with him from a distance, but wouldn't sit on his knee. I can't say I blame him! He asked for a cargo addition for his train set.

Jenna loved this first encounter with Santa. (The second one didn't quite go as well.) She asked him for princess clothes.

Look! It's Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors and Mary! Some of us had fun dressing up for our ward party and some of us didn't. And no, there will not be a baby filling that manger any time soon!

Once there was a snowman! Dallin and Jared built this cool dude all by themselves! Don't you love the leaf eyes? We still have a few inches of leaves under our snow!

We had a fun playgroup party at our house! The kids exchanged gifts, ate lunch and had a great time!