::a jeppsen christmas party::

We've been super busy this last week. We've been trying to finish up our Christmas shopping (Almost got it all done. We've only got a handful of things left now-hopefully I'll get that done on Monday), I got the boxes out to all my grandparents (always a fun experience-me and the three amigos at the busy post office), school parties, etc.

Saturday was the Jeppsen Family Christmas Party (on Matt's dad's side).

We get together for dinner...

I made lots of these...

Matt & J played bejeweled (a lot!!) on Amberlee & George's iphones...

Santa (or one of his helpers) always comes to the Jeppsen parties. He always brings the kids something little (a gift the parents send ahead for him to put in his bag).

The kids were way excited to see him...

Chloe waiting for Santa

Each of the kids got a little present and sat with

Santa for a minute while he gave them their gifts.

Chloe was just fine with Santa...

She got a princess Color Wonder coloring book...

Portie tried to just grab his gift and go...

His was a Toy Story Color Wonder book (no Buzz in it though, what the ???)

And Coopie...

...poor boy!! And he has mean parents who just take pictures of him crying instead of saving him from the big hairy guy.

...anyway, Santa brought him a little car; and he liked it. He makes little engine noises when he plays with it.

::a bright fhe::

We decided to have our family home evening

in the car.

We went to see the lights @ WB. They were fun. The kids get so excited about lights, and they loved these.

They hung out the window the whole time while I held on to Bubba's legs and the heater blew full blast.

After that we drove past a few houses in town with some pretty amazing lights.

And then we came home to our sad little lights display...

...but that's what happens when you've got the 5'3" in charge of the lights.

::and since we've no place to go...::

let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

Any time it ever snows anything significant at our house, we have to go to Grandma & Papa's house (they live at a much higher elevation that we do) to see how much they got...and boy did they get some snow on Sunday!!

only anout 2 feet!!

Matt keeps his 4 wheeler up there for that reason. One of his all-time favorite things to do is plow snow with that thing (he's weird). He goes out and plows anything and everything he can. The kids like to ride with him too (until they get too cold). So Matt took the big kids out and plowed for a bit with them.

They shoveled with Papa for a minute and then went in with

Grandma & Jennie and Bubb-Nubb :)

the tongue's gotta be out to get the shoveling done right

And that...

...is "doo-doo" snow.

You can probably guess who named it that :)

::friday & saturday::

Friday, Matt took the day off. It was fun to have Dadduh home for the day. He got to go to "dads & donuts" at Chloe's school (Portie went too), get some Christmas shopping done, & go to the movies with us.

We saw A Christmas Carol. That story is one of my favorites, and since we can't see the play like we'd like, the movie seemed like a great idea. It was really fun. The kids LOVE going to movies. Bubbs even had fun (he got a little fussy and fell asleep towards the end). The movie was kinda scary, but the kids loved it.

Coop didn't like the popcorn when we gave it to him. When he figured out he could dive into the tub and feed himself-he loved it!

After that we did a little shopping and then met Grandma & Papa Kitty and the Denams at Cheesecake for dinner for Papa's "bihsday."

And, of course, some cheesecake.

We mixed it up a bit-this time we got chocolate raspberry truffle.

It was good, but not as good as our usual chocolate tuxedo :)

Then on Saturday....

...right back down to Cheesecake. Is it possible to get sick of that place?? :)

Matt & I and J & Sae went to the Lakers game (aka the Jazz game).

We kinda sat up high, but it was pretty fun. Well, sort of. It depends on if you think it's fun to be a small number of a group of hated people among a larger majority of haters.

I didn't love that part of it, but the rest was fun....

Kobe's biggest fans.

out come the Lakers, on come the "boos"

...fun until the Lakers lost. They didn't do too hot. Kobe was battling a virus and a broken finger. I guess if the Jazz were going to beat 'em, this was their only chance ;)

So while we were gone, Grandma & Papa Snowman and Jennie watched the babies for us. They made gingerbread/graham cracker houses.

Aren't they cute???

Cooper's (Jennie made it for him)

Chloe's (her's has a driveway!!)

Portie's (all gummy "beyehs" and Buzz!)

Then they got to eat 'em

~The End