Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas eve with Mitch's family. 

Family, fondue and gifts were the perfect recipe for a wonderful evening.

I am so grateful we are able to spend time with our families during the holidays.

a few more highlights of temple square

i almost forgot to share a few more of my favorites from our temple square adventure this month.

{it feels good having the opportunity to catch up on things this week}

...had ourselves a merry little christmas...

we had a very wonderful christmas this year
it wasn't over the top
we celebrated on the simple side and it was absolutely perfect.
since mitchel played santa last year, i manged to pull of a surprise or two for him.
a new riding jersey and a new dress watch
for our family gift we added to our preparedness storage.

usually i have difficulty sleeping christmas eve...
this year was a bit better.
as we were crawling into bed christmas eve, mitch was pulling down his side of the bed....
cezar jumped up and lost his tummy all over the inside of mitch's sheets.
nothing is worse than cleaning up after a sickie at night....
after getting the laundry started and putting cezar in his room
we managed to curl up and relax for a bit waiting for the laundry to cycle.
10:30 rolled around and i couldn't wait any longer.
we slept with just the comforter.... i was to exhausted to stay up waiting any longer.
the boys slept together downstairs and i enjoyed curling up with my own blanket {no sharing required}

my alarm sounded at 7. i quickly turned it off and curled up waiting for sounds of the boys.
they didn't sound for another 15 mins or so but demanded attention as soon as they did.
i originally planned to get us all up at 7 {my little inner child is in full swing on christmas}
but i'm grateful i took it nice and slow.
once i let the boys out, i brought out their christmas bones and set them under the tree
next started bacon for breakfast and whipped up the batter for german pancakes {hootnannies}
i then debated whether to get mitch up or let the dogs in and see if they could stir him.
i tried with the dogs but jake quickly found his christmas treat under the tree.
there is nothing more charming than watching him attempt to drag around a 2 foot bone!
mitch finally came down and joined us.
we exchanged our gifts and then enjoyed our delightful breakfast.

we spend time with both families on christmas
this year was the dayleys. so we made our way to my families first and spent a little time with them.
christmas morning has always been magical at my parents house.
i'm grateful we haven't had to miss out yet.
we headed to mitch's parents around 12:30 and spent the rest of the day there.
being the first to arrive, we enjoyed visiting with his parents.
i may have been slightly moody {according to mitch} .... good thing i remembered caffeine :)
we had a delicious assortment of finger foods to munch on.
christmas was exciting on a whole new level now that kennady is older.
it was magical watching her excitement.
and in true dayley fashion we played lots of games.
we are so blessed and grateful for all the thoughtful gifts!

now the holiday season has just about come to an end for the year
we are so grateful for everything, especially for the wonderful families we have.

Merry Christmas

Christmas eve has finally arrived
the season arrives and quickly passes or so it seems.
i've absolutely loved spending everyday at the store enjoying the beauty of the poinsettias
and basking in wonderful company!

i look forward to spending a few hours at the store this morning
hopefully helping the last few customers for the year
this afternoon i hope to finish up a few last minute errands
clean the house and enjoy the evening with my mister and boys.

it's been a few years since we've enjoyed a white christmas...
this morning we are enjoying a quiet snowfall.
i'm crossing my fingers that it will continue throughout the day and
tomorrow we will enjoy a white christmas.

merry christmas everyone!

A little Christmas magic

tuesday night the dayley family met up in city creek for dinner at the cheesecake factory and a walk around temple square. of course i brought a plus one. mom dayley said it's time we change her name to nanna dayley. we sure love having her join us. unfortunately dad stayed home on our couch sleeping. poor dad has had the worst head/sinus cold this week. we missed him. there is something absolutely magical about downtown slc at christmas. temple square is by far the best part!!

more pictures to come. ashley asked me to snap a few family photos for her. it was the perfect setting.... too bad kennady was such a handful. no worries, i captured some darling moments!

a little preview

Abby and Russell

plus a little one on the way.

i think our little photo shoot turned out :)

more to come

i'm beyond exhausted and it's time to close my eyes

good night world

afternoon delight

it's finally friday. phew. the week has seemed to pass quickly but then waking up this morning it seems to have stopped.... time is a funny.

yesterday my nanna stopped by the store after she finished running errands for her boss. i sure love my sister. i asked her if she had plans for the afternoon and lucky for me she was free. i originally planned to spend the afternoon getting computer work done but changed my mind. instead we attempted a little christmas shopping. i picked up an 18" raw hide for the boys. i can't wait til christmas morning to give it to them! hopefully jake will know what to do with such a ginormous bone. as always it was a fabulous way to spend my afternoon. we finished out our little outing with a trip to yogurtland. absolutely delightful.

i ended up back at work to pick up some poinsettias for my mother in law and then stuck around to help with a couple orders. clocked out for the night at 5:30. it was a good day. i'm grateful for my job. i truly do love it.

fish eye anyone?

a lovely new toy arrived for me

i'm already in love 

Christmas with the grandparents

This past February the Holdaway blood line made the Guinness World record

for the most family members completing an ultra marathon together.

Jeff and Karen sent Grandpa the framed copy of it.

Mitch found Obama toilet paper and thought it was a perfect gag gift...

My Aunt Wendy also happens to like Obama....

Many laughs were had

Grandma gave Grandpa a new hat to keep him warm

After a day of opening presents

spending lots of time with all of our families...

Christmas was a success! 

Thanks again for all the wonderful gifts.

We are truly blessed.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Christmas ~ Taylor Style

After we opened gifts at our home

we got ready and headed over to Mitch's parents for a yummy breakfast of German pancakes.

then we headed over to my family's home.

We got to enjoy the quiet house for awhile since they were still at church

I brought Cezar with us.

Both Jake and Cezar would'be been a little too much for my poppy...

Every now and then it pays to be little ;)

Nanna and Cezar are the best of buds!! 

And Abby is the go to dog sitter.

Such a darling picture

Savannah drew our name this Christmas.

We went shopping for Mitch together.

Mitch has been trying to talk me into a lava lamp for awhile now...

And I caved when nanna and I found them at the mall.

She was very pleased with her gift to him.

It was a hit

Abby, Nanna, Mitch and I all went in on a Juicer for Mom and Dad

They loved it

Abby got mom a box of mini M&Ms

nerdy poppy

Christmas with a large family is special.

opening gifts takes quite awhile

It's always filled with thoughtful gifts...

laughter...

and magic.

I'm so glad we were able to be there for the whole thing :)

I love Christmas with my family

and we all wore the little one out