Christmas 2015

4 of my greatest gifts together under the tree in their new Christmas jammies. 

These cute big sisters wanted to have a picture together. I love how much they adore this little nugget that has joined our family. They are the sweetest big sisters.

This sweet little missy before bed on her first Christmas eve.

 And before we knew it, littles were tucked into bed awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning. Daddy and Mommy may have stayed up just a little bit later, we were pretty excited too.

 Christmas morning arrived and we woke to find that Mr. Claus had arrived and these cute kiddos of ours were definitely on the nice list this year. 

 We also got surprised with a beautiful white Christmas morning. I feel like there isn't anything that makes Christmas morning more magical than a blanket of fresh white snow. 

 Little Hayze man slept in but his sisters were up and so excited we couldn't ask them to wait for him.

 Their favorite place to start is always their stockings. They can't wait to turn it upside down and dump the contents to discover the treasures inside. It seems so odd to me because my stocking was one of the last things that I opened. But there are no rules on Christmas right?

 Miss Mya wrote a letter at school to Santa Claus. She asked him if he would send her a picture of him with his reindeer. We weren't sure if he was going to be able make this wish happen but of course he did!

 Look at these sweet faces in awe of this Christmas magic! Santa left them a wonderful note as well as a picture of himself and Dasher. Pretty lucky ladies!

 It was kind of fun to have Hayze wake up a bit later than the others, then we could have time to soak in each of their reactions. He was a little unsure of why everyone was watching him as he came into the room. As soon as he spied his tool bench he froze, he just stood there and looked at it for probably a full minute. She didn't say anything, crack a smile or anything. It was hilarious. He finally broke and went right to work with his tools. 

 These girls wish lists were dominated by Little Live Pets. They each wanted a new little mouse and turtles to come and live with them and become a part of their little pet menagerie. They were not disappointed.

 Santa also brought each member of the family a nerf gun and extra ammunition.

 Daddy may have been a little excited about the nerf arsenal as well. He had Hayze set up on a rest, practicing as soon as they got it out of the box.

 This was the first year that we helped the girls choose presents for each other and it was really sweet to see them think about what the other one would want and to sacrifice some of they own money to help pay for the gifts. 

From across the world their cousins must have know how much they love these little creatures and sent butterflies. They thought they were absolutely magical.

This handsome guy also got a train set. Of course it was the train from Disneyland and his other was the Monorail.

Christmas morning is always more fun when you are able to share it with family and we were blessed to have both sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles join us for breakfast and presents. We were also able to sneak in some short Facetime sessions with the Makechnie's before they went to bed in Saudi and with Adam, Cami and little miss Abby in Texas. 

Senny snugging with Grams and Grandpa.

Hayzer loved his Baymax from Ty and Brooke. I love listening to his gruff little voice saying, 'Hello, I Baymax, your personal healthcare companion'. 

These guys, some of our favorites. Mya is already plotting how she is going to be able to babysit their future children. 

Megan's prized gift this year... a classy little gem from Savers. 

And these two young pups, all engaged. Trevan is a pretty good sport, he didn't realize that his first major holidays spent with the Hansen's were going to include all of my family too.

I had to take a picture of all the chaos. The wrapping paper, the kids in the midst of it all. It truly is a happy mess. I read a quote a while ago that called this a glorious mess! And it truly is. A mess of memories and love, those should never be cleaned up too fast. 

A Night at Temple Square

We spent a fun chilly evening with my family in Salt Lake enjoying the beauty of the temple grounds and the christmas light. I know that with all the different work schedules and how crazy life is that finding a night when we can all get together and do something like this can be a little difficult. But I honestly never regret a second when we can be together. We laugh, and enjoy ourselves. My siblings and parents are incredible with our crazy little herd of children. And they are even patient when it's me, the mom, spilling water all over the table at dinner. 

 We managed to get a picture with decent lighting of both us and the temple and when I looked at it later and noticed Mya had her hat pulled down around her eyes, just to be funny, I will admit to being a little miffed. I also admit to being a little uptight sometimes, I definitely need to work on that. Lesson learned right?

 Uncle Ty was kind enough to act as Sadie's personal transportation. 

 This guy, I make him take selfies with me because I kinda like him.

 The beauty of the temple. It was really neat to be able to go into the visitors center look at the cross section model of the temple with the kiddo's. The girls were really interested in knowing about the rooms. Mya was especially excited as she identified the baptistry. 

 When did this girl get all grown up? I honestly can't believe how quickly the time goes by and how I feel like I'm grasping to make it slow down. But as hard as it is to see her get older, I'm proud to see the little lady that she is growing into. I love her sweet heart and how she truly tries to be a good girl and she succeeds everyday!

Hansen Family Ugly Sweater Party

We attended our very first 'Ugly Sweater' Christmas party this year. Alexandra with the help of Uncle Guy and Aunt Leslie put on a fantastic gathering of all the crazy Hansen's in the surrounding area. They were the most delightful hosts and we definitely laughed a lot as we enjoyed one another's attire and exchanged white elephant gifts.

Since this was our first experience with the whole ugly sweater theme we didn't own any and I will tell you what, they are quite difficult to find and expensive to purchase! So we/I decided to do our own spin on ugly and went with super slash annoyingly festive. 

Papa was the winner of the voting for 'best' ugly sweater. I'm pretty sure it was the camo paired with the sweater that took it over the top.

The girlies decorating cookies with Kenz and Trevan.

 Little Senny looking festive in her giant bow and sparkly candy cane.

This was the only picture of my tinsel 'fur' sweater that I concocted for the occasion. I'm sure Leslie was loving how much it shed. But it was pretty entertaining and quite holiday fabulous!

And of course we've got an awesome 'Sadie' face. I love this girl so much!

 And we can honestly say this little boy is our favorite little boy in our family. 'wink' 'wink'