Christmas Extravaganza Extraordinaire

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

If a picture says a thousand words, then hang on. Because you are about to read a novel. All of the following pictures were taken the week of Christmas, when my entire family (except Matt) were together with all of our kids, luggage, noise, germs, laughter, and good company. It was a wonderfully hectic, crazy, and loud week that I would never trade. I love my family.

Sunday was the day everybody was together for the first time. Some of my cousins, including the only other family on the Hazard side who has kids, came up with everyone else, so we had 13 adults and eight kids under the age of two crammed into my parents' house for a few days. It was awesome. Here is Bennett, Adalie, and Jeffery watching Bennett's new favorite YouTube video, "Boom Boom Pow" by Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas. We can all thank Aunt Courtney for that one.

While we were together we took pictures of all the great grandchildren for my grandma and grandpa Hazard's Christmas present. The picture looked like this. But getting it was like this...

If you like a challenge, try getting eight kids under the age of two to sit still, be happy, and look in the same general direction as each other. Right.

And speaking of my grandma and grandpa Hazard, they arrived at our house Sunday night to spend time with us and the babies. And we're sure glad they did because we sort of like them.

Monday we went sledding in the street. Here is Griffin and Zoey. Zoey loved sledding.

Here is my dad and Evelyn. Evelyn loved sledding.

Here is me and Bennett. Bennett has a severe hatred of sledding.

Poor Bennett. This was literally the most terrifying experience of his young life. He not only screamed and panicked whenever he got anywhere near a sled personally, but completely lost it when anybody went down the hill. I am sure he thought we were all gonners. I finally took him inside, but he only calmed down after everybody (particularly Grandpa) was safe and sound inside with him.

That night, a very brave young woman from my mom and dad's ward babysat our kids alone while we all went to a Kurt Bestor concert in the new highschool. It was really good and inspired me to one day re-learn how to play the piano...maybe.

Almost every morning we would gather all the kids (and any adult who just wanted a good laugh) together for Story Time with, guess who? Me! Usually still in my pajamas. Going to Story Time every Monday morning with Bennett qualified me for this job, and I have to say I was pretty good. We had different themed days, including an "Animal" day, and a "Moral and Ethics" day. It's never too early to learn good morals and ethics.

Just like real Story Time though, most of the kids could care less about the stories and just wanted to dance and play with puppets. It's a good thing my mom is a Kindergarten teacher. Her classroom tools came in very handy.

One night my dad gathered all of the grandkids into the living room and told them to wait there for a surprise. A few minutes later he returned carrying this HUGE stuffed dog at child eye-level. Pandemonium erupted. Kids ran for cover from the threateningly large dog that had obviously eaten Grandpa and would inevitably eat them, too. It actually ended up being a great toy/pillow/wrestling partner once the kids warmed up to it. But it took awhile.

Like I said, it was a great pillow. We did lots and lots of relaxing on it. We did lots and lots of relaxing lots and lots of the time, really. It was very...relaxing.

Grandpa Great relaxing.

Me, relaxing.

Tuesday we got out of the house and did something my family excels at...bowling gutter balls.

Each frame we bowled had a different requirement. Here we have my Grandma and Grandpa demonstrating the, "Between the legs backwards" technique.

The, "One-handed Squat" move, performed by Allison and Courtney. The competition in this game was very stiff. I was lucky to end the game with 69 points...which is sadly a better score than some more serious games I have played in the past.

After the first game, some people went home and some people (like me) decided to stay and play a real game before calling it quits. I would like to proudly announce that it was during this game I broke my personal record of 111, ending the game at 114. I am now considering touring on the professional bowlers circuit.

My grandma and grandpa at the bowling alley. These guys are tigers!

Wednesday we got to go skiing! It has been a long, long time since I have attempted anything like this, since we have lived in Texas a few years and before that we lived in Idaho but had no money. I was a little worried about my rusty abilities, but my fear was in vain. I am amazing!!

Here is Courtney, boarding like a pro.

Griffin and Ashland. The teacher and the student.

Me on my ski blades. They are like skies, but way shorter so it is easier to do tricks and jumps with them. That's the theory at least. I did get pretty good at doing 360's down the hill, and I believe I also had one of the best wipe outs of the day when I misjudged a pretty big jump and landed belly flop style. Let's just say Bennett was lucky to still have a mother at the end of this day.

Logan and Rachel. Besides my belly flop Rachel had the most entertaining fall. It was like watching a metier come screeching from the sky into a giant cloud of powder at the bottom of a very steep hill. I was fortunate enough to be behind her when it happened. And you are fortunate that I had the camera.

She lost both skis, both poles, and her hat, but not her courage or sense of humor. She strapped everything back on and kept carving her own path down the mountain. Way to go, Rach.

Thursday was laser tag day. This is something we have done before and loved so much we did it again. We played several rounds with different teams each time. One game I was on my grandpa's team and he taught me his super Marine moves while I covered his back. The next game we switched teams, but I don't think my grandpa remembered I was no longer on his side...and I took full advantage of the situation. I spent the entire second game standing right next to him, yelling for him to lay down cover fire while I shot him repeatedly. When he started wondering where the shooter was, I blamed Courtney (who was on Grandpa's team) and he spent the rest of the game going after her. Haha! I love my grandpa.

Thursday was also my family's "Christmas" since Logan's and Griffin's families were both leaving the next day to spend real Christmas with their wives' families. So that night we all gathered in the living room and watched a rousing performance of the Christmas Story by our oh-so-talented children.

Evelyn was a very convincing Mary. Not many people know that Mary wore a sparkly princess crown and halter top sheet dress the night of the Nativity.

Bennett was Joseph. Joseph, unlike Mary, did NOT like wearing a skirt. He was very unhappy with the whole idea of it.

Jackson may have a bright future as an actor. He was probably the only child who fulfilled his part of shepherd/wise man without a major breakdown. And his costume was amazing.
Adalie was an angel. She was responsible for singing to the shepherd/wisemen in her beautiful cry...I mean, voice.

And here is Baby Jesus. Zoey was just a little off on the gender, but other than that she performed her part stunningly. Even when Mary tried to put Baby Jesus in a headlock.

After the spectacular Nativity play, we divided up the presents and started opening. Bennett and I got a ton of great things, but I am getting really tired of this blog so I am only going to post a few pictures of the night.

I had Rachel's name this year, and I gave her an apron and a fondue cookbook. As happy coincidence would have it, my grandma gave Evelyn a little apron, too, and it was the same style as the one I had given Rachel. They will make a cute pair cooking in the kitchen.

Rachel made everybody's presets (as usual), and they were all super cute (as usual). She made Bennett a ton of really cute magnets that he could stick on the fridge or a cookie sheet. Bennett instantly loved them, and spent the rest of the night playing with them exclusively.

My mom and dad have a garden in the summer time, and they like to put stepping stones in it. So for Christmas this year I got a "make your own stepping stone" kit and had all their grandkids put their hand prints and footprints in them. They were a big hit and really fun/messy to make.

And that, in a nutshell, is the week of Christmas. There was also lots of talking, eating, a trip to the temple, being together, visiting friends, and seeing the new and improved BYU-Idaho buildings, but that will not be posted today since I feel I have already gone above and beyond the call of duty here. Of course, there is still actual Christmas day to post on here, but we will get to that later.