Lowes

Last Friday Lauryn and Braxton came to spend the night at our house. Missy had made plans with Kimmy awhile ago to have Kimmy take Lauryn and Braxton to Lowes here in Salt Lake, and Missy would take Hadley to Lowes in New Bern, (or near by) to this little project class they offer. When Missy found out that they were going to be at Grammy's, she let us know about it because Hadley really wanted to do the same thing as her cousins. So we took them for Kimmy. It turned out to be so fun. The kids loved it and so did we.

Here are Lauryn and Braxton, with the help of Calli and Nikki,
getting ready to start their project, the time capsule.

The hard workers.

I couldn't believe how much they liked this. They really got into it.

Painting at Grammy's house.

The proud carpenters with their finished projects

Thanks Missy for the great tip for a fun day!

Christmas

OK. For all of you who might be looking at this post beside Missy and Jake, you'll need an explaination. This is probably the longest post in the history of blogging! 50 photos! So be forwarned. We put tons of pictures from our Christmas season at the request of Missy and Jake. This is the only way we get to see each others photos. So...if you dare...here is the Hodson Family Christmas photo album.

First...Our new family tradition. We have a pre-Christmas party at our house and all the grandkids get their new Christmas P.J.s and a small gift. This year it was a snowman globe. Then we have dinner, frost Christmas cookies and make an ornament to take home. Then the moms leave and the kids stay for a movie and a sleepover. We had soooo much fun! I'm glad we started this new tradition. Next year I'll take pictures of the leepover part too. We all slept in the preschool room.

Then we got the best Christmas present ever!!! Missy and Jake and their children, Hadley and Browen, came home to Salt Lake to surprise us. We came home from church and they were in our living room. So, we got to celebrate Christmas with them for a few days.

I had to put this picture in just for fun. Browen is the cutest baby under any circumstances.

We took everyone to the Spahetti Factory for dinner one of the nights everyone could be together. These little cousins were so happy to be together that they wanted to be next to each other all night.

The cousins.

Look at this "little" man.

Then our other tradition of the formal Christmas Eve dinner. Our numbers are getting fewer and fewer now that we have to share our children with other families. We still had a really good time together. We read the Christmas story in Luke and then opened up the Christmas pajamas.

Christmas morning - This might seem like a lot of presents to some people but we all remember the times when the presents came out all the way to the end of the shelves.

The proud owners of new ipod nanos!

Christmas brunch at the Buckleys. We were all able to go to Kimmy and T.J.'s house this year. We almost didn't get out of there to go home after. There had been a huge snow storm and Jani and David has to leave their car there and go home with us. It worked out great for us but kind of sad for David because they couldn't get up to Henefer for his family party.

See Missy. Braxton and Lauryn both loved your presents! They were great!

Then last but not least, Grnadma and Grandpa Rudd's Christmas Dinner party. This is what I look forward to the most every Christmas. I LOVE being with my whole family. It will be a really sad day for me when we have to give up this tradition. The best part of it this year was that Randy and Scott came for a few minutes. It was so good to see them, as well as all my other nieces and nephews, and brothers and sisters. I love them all!

I hope that wasn't too painful for everyone. We hope everyone had a great Christmas season. We love you all!!!