Christmas-ing

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already!  Here is a little bit of what we did throughout the month of December to bring out our Christmas spirit.  

The night before we left on our cruise we took a little pit stop in Houston.  Dillon had worked there last year and was excited to show me this mall.  It was the biggest mall I've ever seen!  We had dinner at Cheesecake Factory, shopped and enjoyed watching the ice skaters inside the mall.  I couldn't get over the size of this Christmas tree!

I jumped on the 'Elf on the Shelf' bandwagon this year.  Gracie the Elf joined our family the night we got back from our cruise.  I was excited to see what Sequoia would name her as she is always coming up with the most random/unique names for her imaginary friends but she insisted on 'Gracie' of all things... well okay then!  Unfortunately I don't think Gracie had quite the magical effect on Sequoia's behavior that I had hoped for.  Bummer.  Maybe next year.

Every year Sequoia's school does an amazing Christmas party called Christmas in the Village.  We were out of town last year so we were extra excited to attend this year. 

I didn't get a lot of pictures but we had a good time.  The Santa they had was super cute.  Sequoia was extra shy and wanted nothing to do with him.  She finally gave into a high five but wasn't about to sit on his lap!

Sequoia's babysitter took her to the mall one day while Dillon and I were at work.  She said Sequoia did a great job of sitting on Santa's lap and asked for "decorations for her room."  I have no idea where that came from but figured since she wasn't afraid of him I should take her back for a picture.  On Sequoia's last day of school before the break they had a darling "Polar Express PJ Party" so I decided to take her in her cute Christmas jammies  when I picked her up.  (I was glad I did since she didn't wear them on Christmas!)  Sequoia did a great job and was really cute with Santa.  I just wished she would have been that way for the free one but whatever.   

Sequoia's dance class did a cute little Christmas Recital.  Dillon and I had little hopes for Sequoia's performance after what happened last May with her dance recital.  But we were pleasantly surprised when she did a fantastic job and danced her little heart out!

We love that she has a tiny class and we LOVE Ms. Cassie!

Dillon's mom and Grandma Story came to the recital.  We had brunch with grandma after.  She's the best!

The Friday before Christmas we headed up to SLC to check out the Temple Square lights with the Story Clan.  It was so crowded!  This year Julia's mom, brother and brother's fiance joined us from Brazil as well.

::grabbing some dinner before the lights::

 ::love::

Quoia didn't want to get out of her snugly stroller for pictures.  Who can blame her?

So Jenna and I just decided to have a little photo shoot.  We're awesome.  I think Kyler's words for us were "who wants a normal girl anyway?"  haha

We're also loving Jordan's girlfriend, Amanda.  She's not quite as crazy as us but fits in great!

Sequoia attended church with my parents.  She was excited all week to wear her "special Christmas dress."  She picked it out herself as she is very picky about what she'll wear these days.

Sunday night was the Clayton Christmas Party.  Sequoia started running a fever so I just went with my parents while Dil stayed home with her.  They're too funny.  They sure scored with the white elephant!

All of the Clayton Girls got Oobee's slippers.  Fancy!  We missed Em and Quoia!

Christmas Eve Dillon and I planned to take Quoia skiing but she was too sick.  Dillon and his brothers never pass up a boarding opportunity though!

Christmas Eve we always spend with Dillon's mom but Quoia was just getting worse so Dillon flew solo to his moms and Quoia and I stayed in bed.  Things didn't improve much for her on Christmas... more to come on that later.  Ho, Ho, Ho!