Christmas in St. George 2011

Santa found us in St. George this year for Christmas! It was Losee Family year and we all gathered in 2 timeshare condos and spent a week of fabulous fun together. Hayley promptly hung up all our stockings so Santa knew just where to find us!

We were on a strict schedule for the week - everyone had a meal, a treat a talent, an activity and many other things to share with the family. We made a schedule so we all knew what day was what.
We got there just in time for Christmas Eve and mom and dad went to work preparing the meal. It was delicious and we had full tummy's to start all the activities.

The nativity was first on the list. Rease was Mary with Nolan as Joseph. They rode into town on the donkey (uncle Garrett.) Uncle Chad, Liev and Wyatt were wisemen. Baby Ranger and Aunt Steph the shepards. Rhen was the angel. Overall a great group reenacting the nativity.

Grammie had lots of gifts prepared for the grandkids and we opened those on Christmas Eve. The babies looked so cute in their beanies.

Matching pjs for all the grandkids.

And a night isn't complete without a horsey ride before bedtime.

The kids were so excited for Christmas day to come that it took a while for sleep to come. But they finally got some sleep and woke up to find that Santa made it all the way to St. George!

Rease and Rhen were very excited about their dress-ups and makeup boxes. And baby Liev was just happy about all the excitement!

Josh and Liev - two handsome boys!

Christmas night is Bingo night and the kids had their bingo game first. (Grammie rigged it so that they all won twice - she had two gifts for each of them. Shh don't tell them until they're older!)

Then it was adult bingo. I have to admit this is one of my favorite things to do as a family. Mom and dad had a ton of gifts/giftcards/money all wrapped up. We play a ton of quick games of Christmas Bingo and then the winner of each games spins a wheel to see whether they get to pick a gift to keep, one that is up for grabs or lose a turn to pick. It turns into a heated battle when gifts are up for grabs and the best gifts are stolen and then restolen. I happened to pick the $100 bill but my gift was up for grabs and it got taken by Justin who ended up with it in the end. It is a great game and we all have so much fun!

Even though we lost the $100 bill, Josh and I ended up with some great gifts and giftcards.

The next day we took a day trip to Zions since we were so close. We stopped on our way to meet up with our friends, the McCarty's, as they were on their way to California.

The day at Zions ended up being a great day. We were all bundled up for our short little hike, but it was warm enough that we didn't freeze.

Josh took the lead with the others close behind.

We got to the top of the trail and were supposed to see a waterfall and some clear pools. It ended up being just a little dribble of water off the rocks, but we got a picture anyway. We had a really fun day in the canyon.

That night was talent show night. Justin and Steph showed off Ranger's reading skills, Josh and I and the kids did a song, Chad and Britt prepared an "elf yourself" video of their family, Hayley and Caleb did some magic tricks and Uncle Garrett

We made our way to Nielsen's Frozen Custard 3 or 4 times during the week.

And the girls snuck away one afternoon at got pedicures. So nice and relaxing!

One night we went to a great restaurant Samarai 21 hibachi grill. We loved the food and the chefs were very entertaining!

One of the activities planned was a bowling day. We were split into teams and had a bowling tournament. It ended up that Justin's team won, but we all had a blast including the kids.

After a great week in St. George, we packed up and headed home. Rease and Rhen were busy watching a movie so we didn't pay much attention to what else they were doing until we looked back and saw this:

Rhen had bitten off the top of a marker and decided to spread it all over her face and hands.

And Rease just went crazy with her makeup.

We had such a fun Christmas this year!

We wish all of you a Happy New Year!