Thursday, February 12, 2015

Pre-Christmas Celebrations!

We got to go to my sweet St. Louie for Christmas this year! I loved it! It was kind of a different year with all the other stuff going on besides Christmas celebrations, but still great. 
We drove to StL with Andrew after we were all done with work and school.  It was a nice uneventful drive there. 

I love being welcomed home by this view! 

And really welcomed home by this view! My Mom does such a fantastic job of making things magical!



Family selfie time! 

The first item on the agenda was Andrew's graduation with his SECOND masters! The man is a beast! I didn't make it to the ceremony, but I'm still proud of his hard work! 

Next up, Michael and Laura's St. Louis wedding open house! They had such a beautiful wedding and reception in Utah and it was fun to keep the party going! We were reminded what a miracle it was that they had Baba seal them in the temple because he died the morning of this reception.  It made for a sad morning, but it was a happy reminder of the wonderful gift of the plan of salvation, that we get to see him again one day, and the gift he gave Michael and Laura by marrying them for time and all eternity.  He was a great and mighty man and he will be missed by all of us!! 

It was fun to have all of Greg's family at this reception, but we still missed the Deardeuff clan! 



Elizabeth was the photographer for the event and did a great job! She's got talent to be sure!




Tyler's family gave us the best present ever by driving to St. Louis to surprise us!! SOO fun to have them show up on our doorstep!! 




Love my dear friend Lauren! I love that we have stayed friends since high school! 




Sadly, I wasn't feeling so great at the beginning of the day, and by the of the party I had NO voice! None. It was the first time it's ever happened to me and it is miserable!! 
Overall it was such a great party!! SO fun to see people I've grown up with and really care about! St. Louis has some really first rate people, I tell ya what! 

Tyler entertained the kids (and Greg) for a while by showing them videos on his tablet. I just thought this was such a cute sight! 

The next day we went to church with my parents at the Single's Branch where they are currently serving. I just gotta say, I don't miss the days of wooing and dating. I like just sticking with my "Guy" :) 

Sara Bailey is pretty much a super star at our house.  She makes super yummy bread, which she brought to the linger longer after church.  Tyler asked if we could buy some from her while we were there and she brought him a piece right then and buttered it up just for him! We love her sweet heart!! And he got a nice hug to top it off!
Taking advantage of the yummy singles linger longer!

Sister Erekson!! CRAZY!! 


The Branch Presidency's wives. All great women! 

With my dear sweet friend Clarissa! I love her so!

I still had no voice at this point.  Very frustrating. 

This is out of order, but we took this after the reception.  We saw someone else take these and we wanted to try.  We still need practice.  hahaha

Watching Mr. Scrooge with the family.  Such a sweet view of the padres. 

Our favorite games this Christmas were Ligretto and It Came To Pass. 

These in laws fit right into our techie family! 

Elizabeth and I got to sneak away one night and see Annie! Pretty corny, but I LOVED it!! The music was really fun! 

Michael and I took Tyler and Laura sight seeing around StL one day. We went to the museum at the arch and rode up to the top! 
Michael and I are used to Dad doing all the tour-guiding, so it was a bit of a bumpy tour to say the least.  Hahaha. We missed Dad's vast wealth of knowledge about our city!






We went to a BBQ place for lunch called Pappy's. Such a good decision.  The food was incredible! I want to go back right now!! 


Next stop, the science center! It's way more fun when you're like 6, but we still had fun walking around.


Once we got back, we came home to some nieces and nephews that needed to burn off some steam so we took them to the church to run around for a bit. 



And what would a trip to StL be without Ted Drewes??? It would be sad.  Very sad.  So we definitely made a stop there!!



One of my favorite thing to do with my parents is talk with them in their bed in the morning (or at night) Some things never change, no matter how old you get!

William LOVED Laura and always wanted to be doing what she was doing and know where she was. I caught this cute moment of him copying her before praying.

Speaking of Will, that kid is a CRAZY sleeper.  I always found his body twisted and tangled after he went to bed. 

We also had a traditional teddy bear picnic! My mom makes these yummy bear rolls and we read the story she wrote about a bear that doesn't want to hibernate because he is one of Santa's Christmas bears! So fun!




CHRISTMAS EVE! 

We had our traditional Shepard's Pie dinner

Played Christmas music....

acted out the nativity....








and opened our new Christmas PJS! 




How did this girl get so grown up!??

And randomly someone set off fireworks across the street! Festive, but random.




Next up: Christmas!!! 

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