A Merry Christmas Post

Hooray! I'm putting up a new post! I've been soooo distracted these past couple of weeks (obviously!) with all the Christmas festivities and traveling. Here's what's gone down during the holidays for the Dangerfield fam:

• On the 18th we continued birthday celebrations for Adam and Carol (since this was their actual birthday) with a little gathering at Emily's house. She cooked us a yummy dinner and then we had cake (a little Adam sized cake), and opened presents. It was a fun evening!

• On the 20th we drove up to Utah to spend Christmas with my family in Sandy. Our driving day went smoothly with no bad weather to slow us down. We timed it just right - the minute we drove into my parents driveway it started snowing! And this was the beginning of quite the little blizzard! It filled up the yard in no time. Soon after getting our stuff in the house, Emma was anxious to go play... so Ben helped her bundle up and they went in the front yard to get a little playtime in the snow. Emma loved it!

• The day's leading up to Christmas were filled with lots of shopping, visiting the grandparents and extended family up in Salt Lake, playing games, and watching movies (we saw I Am Legend in the theaters and also rented The Simpson's Movie - and a note to those wanting to see I am Legend... it was super freaky!!! I hid in my jacket most of the time and was practically hyperventilating through the whole thing - and if that's what you're going for, then have fun!! It's quite the scary little thriller).

• For Christmas Eve breakfast we went to Market Street Grill in downtown Salt Lake. I had the Eggs Benedict, which are so yummy! After eating, we shopped at the Gateway for a bit (with dad taking a brisk little jaunt in the fountain) and then rode Trax to a fun bookstore for some browsing and hot chocolate. Later in the day we went on a marathon shopping trip (because this is dad's favorite thing!). He likes to take note of closing times for stores on the night before Christmas, so that he can cut it as close as he can. :) Within the span of about 2 hours we went to - Costco, IKEA, Home Depot, Seagull bookstore, Macey's grocery store, and picked up gift cards at Cafe Rio and the movie theater. It was crazy... and should have been a world record! Anyway, this little shopping trip was sooo much fun and the snow was coming down like crazy, making it even more memorable. :) Before going to bed that night Ben was very good about doing all the the traditional Christmas Eve traditions with Emma - they made pictures for Santa and wrote him a little note and put out cookies and milk for Mr. Clause and oatmeal and carrots for the reindeer. Emma was so fun this year for Christmas!

• Christmas day was just super! We were all so spoiled! Emma got some great presents from her grandparents and aunt and uncle. I'm super excited about my new camera from my family! Woohoo!! My blog readers will reap the benefits of my new toy as well! :) I'm also all ready to try out the KitchenAid I got from Ben. I went to the grocery store today and was sure to pick up stuff I need to make bread - I can use the handy dough hook attachment to mix up some yummy bread dough! Yippee! Hopefully it will turn out!

• We drove back to AZ on the 26th and spent the night at our house. The next morning we went over to Ben's family's house in Gilbert and had Christmas morning with them (hooray for 2 Christmas's!). Once again we were spoiled - Emma got a fun playhouse that we'll be putting on our back porch and Ben and I got a ton of wonderful new clothes. We stayed with Ben's parents for a couple of days and just came back to our house this morning. As in Utah, we also watched movies and played games with Ben's family. We watched National Treasure in the theater and watched Stardust at home (a gift from Peter). Stardust was awesome! You all need to see it! The closest movie I can think to compare it to would be Princess Bride - it was really fun, so everyone go rent it, or just buy it!

Okay- this post has been rather long winded. Did any of you actually read all of it? If so, good work! We really have had a great holiday season so far and are now looking forward to New Years!