Christmas With the Valencia Family

After we spent a good part of Christmas morning with my Dad's side of the family we headed to my Moms for the Valencia Family Christmas. My Mom, Step Dad Dan, Step Brother Keith, Gary, My sister Erin's family and my brother Panchito's Family were all there, my Tia Martina & Cousin Ayla even stopped by to say hi. We had lots of yummy snacks then Mom made an awesome Christmas dinner, complete with ham, prime rib and all the fixings, mmm I'm getting hungry again just writing about it. =) We had a really good, probably one of the best, Christmas's in a long time. It was great to just hang out, chat and let the kids play without having to hurry and rush out.

This year we did something a little different, we still bought gifts for all the kids, but instead of the adults drawing names like we usually do, we decided to take the money we would normally spend on a gift and put it towards doing a family function. We all put our suggestions into a hat, then drew 3 out, from there we narrowed it down to 2 and put them back into the hat to draw for our function. We will be renting a cabin all together as a family, doesn't is sound so fun? I am way excited, so if anyone knows of any good cabins to fit all of us please leave a comment or email me. =)

This year we really focused more on the real reason for the season: Jesus Christ. A loved learning all about Jesus and actually retained it this year, she gets so excited every time she sees a big star, she wants us to follow it to find Baby Jesus. =)

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas spending time with those close to you. Me & my Honey

My Sister Erin, Brother Panchito & Myself
The Holmes Family

My Brothers Family

My Parents

The Hensley Guys

Our precious Angel taking a nap

Look at all the presents!

The kids really made out with gifts

Hanging out

Kissing Cousins A & Kai

Cousins

Cousin Ayla & Tia Martina

Eating by the fire

Christmas with Nana

For the most part we did all of our Christmas when the Bates family was here earlier in the week, but we did leave just a couple gifts to open on actual Christmas morning. So we got up on Christmas morning and opened the a few gifts we had left, you'll have to watch the video below of A,it's cute, then we headed down to Phoenix. We always enjoy spending time with some of my Tia's & Tio's but it seems like we never do it enough. So our first stop of the day was to my Tia Monica's, Tio Oscar's house. A just loves to play with her cousins and we enjoy visiting we even got to see my Nana and my Dad while we were there, so that was nice. Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning.

A and her Nana

A and Cousin Madisson

Me & my Dad

A and her Tata

Playing Barbies

Cousins Madisson & Marissa

Be sure to scroll down and mute the music before starting the video.

Time with J

After our ultrasound on Tuesday Grandma & Grandpa took A back to the house and D, J and I got to go on a date night. We went to dinner at Chilli's then to see the movie 'The Blind Side', if you haven't seen it, GREAT movie. It was so nice to have that time with just the three of us, it has been along time since J has had us to herself for a little bit. The next day D watched A while J and I went & got long overdue pedicures. Let me tell you how great it felt and how much better both are feet looked when we were done. A was pretty upset, she wanted to get her toes done too. =( We then headed back down the mountain to get J home for all the Moseley & Hunt Family activities. Thank you for staying a little longer with us Kido, we really enjoyed the time with you. We love and miss you so much!

Getting our pedi's

A with Grandpa

A with Grandma

"Snuggling" with Grandpa

Christmas with the Bates Family 3

SANTA CAME!

He and the reindeer's ate all the snacks we left for them.

Good morning!

WOW a new Jeep!

Stocking time

Opening presents

Reading the book Grandma & Grandpa got her. It was one of those recordable books, she loves to hear Grandpa read to her everyday, sometimes several times a day. =)

In her jeep with her new baby she named Byron. =)

Playing with Aunt L

That's right, Santa came a few days early just for us. We all must have been good boys and girls. A's face was priceless when she walked out of the bedroom and saw all the presents, especially her jeep. After opening presents we made breakfast croissants and just enjoyed our time together. We hope all of you had great Christmas's with your families.

Christmas with the Bates Family 2

After our gingerbread house contest we decorated some cookies for Santa, then A got to open a gift and what do you know it was new PJ's. =) D then read us all the book 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' before we laid out the cookies & milk for Santa, the carrots & sugar for the reindeer and for the first time this year we put "reindeer" food in the yard. Then it was off to bed so Santa would come. Cute picture of D & L

A decorating cookies
Even grandpa helped
D with his girls
Aren't they so cute?
Opening her gift
Story time

Feeding the Reindeer

Be sure to check back & see if Santa came. =)

Christmas with the Bates Family

As I have said before, the holidays are usually a pretty busy and crazy time for everyone, they usually feel rushed and like you never really get to spend the time you want with your family. Not to mention having to firemen and a nurse in the family, it seems like one of them always works the actual holiday. The Bates family decided last year to start celebrating some of the holidays not on the holidays, so we can actually enjoy our time together with out feeling so rushed. So this year we celebrated our Bates Family Christmas up here in our home on the 21st & 22nd.

Everyone arrived early afternoon on Monday, we got all our snacks out and just hung out for a bit. We then ate Christmas Dinner and after dinner we started our 2nd annual gingerbread house contest. Our teams were chosen this year by drawing names. Dan & Dave were partners, Lori & Jordan, Melissa & Alyssa & Jim & Cyndy, A walked around ate candy & supervised. =) We had 1 hour to build at the end of one hour our neighbors were gonna come over and judge the finished houses.

Little did we know Dan was trying to bribe the judges by texting them while we/he was building. Jon our neighbor said that a bikini would help him sway to one house over another. So what did Dan do? Yup, he went and put on one of my bikinis to try and get that extra vote. =) LMBO everyone about died when he dropped his robe, and was standing there in a BIKINI it was hilarious! Poor Jordan & Alyssa.

Anyway. back to the contest. The bikini didn't help Dan too much because Lori & Jordan took 1st place with their house, Dan & Dave's house tied with Melissa & Alyssa's for 2nd place & Grandma & Grandpas took 3rd place. Here are the houses below, do you agree with the judges?

Lori & Jordan's House

1st Place
Dan & Dave's House
tied for 2nd Place

Melissa & Alyssa's House

tied for 2nd Place

Grandma & Grandpa's House

3rd Place

Dan working the extra votes

1st place winners

Lori & Jordan

You may be asking yourself what do the winners get? They get...bragging rights till next Christmas. =)

Come back soon to see more pictures and hear more about our Bates Family Christmas.