The festivities started off by heading up to Grandma and Grandpa's on Friday (the 21st) after Kevin got off work. The kids' highlight that night, getting up on the top bunk in the spare room!
The next morning, we took the kids to a nearby park to feed the ducks while Kevin went mountain biking with his brothers. I think he may have been wishing after the fact that he would have chosen the ducks over the bikes! :-)
Barrett was equally enthralled by this little stream/waterfall as he was by the ducks!
Tender!
Barrett was Grandpa's little shadow while we were visiting!
And Payton was Uncle David's little shadow. I'm sure he loved it!
Later that afternoon (the 22nd), we went to the park so the boys could play football and the kiddos could play.
Alexa and Ainsley wanted to do a photoshoot!
A number of times during our visit, we would find Payton like this:
All ready for bed after a fun tub with cousins!
Oh, there's Payton with Uncle David again...surprise, surprise!
Sunday morning, we awoke to Payton having pinkeye! Actually, it was during the night that she woke up and couldn't open her eyes...so in the morning, everyone else got ready for church while I stayed at home with Payton and Barrett. And after Uncle Duane had called in a prescription for Payton's poor little eyes!
That evening, we went to the Mesa Temple to see all the Christmas lights.
The kids loved the reflecting pond.
And I was even able to meet up with a dear old friend, Krista, from back in my Calgary days. It's crazy how much time has passed since I last saw Krista, but it was just like we were teenagers again!
Christmas Eve was our big Mortenson Family Gathering. Everyone started showing up in the morning to play games.
Then we had a program.
Barrett continued to be Grandpa's little buddy!
As decent of a family picture as we could get!
This is what having too much fun and not getting enough sleep for several nights in a row ends up looking like!! Now it's back home to get ready for our own little Christmas!
