Early Christmas party...

Thanksgiving has now past and we had a good one. It seemed like it all went by to fast. My brother Mickey and his family came in from Las Vegas and stayed with us on Wednesday night. And that was fun to get to play some games with my nieces that night and stay up a little and watch a Christmas movie with them since I don't get to see them very often. The next day being Thanksgiving we were all able to meet up at my grandparents house in Mesa and do lunch there. So myself and Justin and Ryken were there along with all 4 of my brothers and their families and my parents and grandparents and a few others too. : ) It was great for us all to be there and enjoy some time together as a family. Justin had to work that night so he had to leave early to get some more sleep and go to work. So Ryken and I hung out with everyone else that night at Deak's place. Of course I guess there was to much going on or maybe I was just to lazy to break out the camera but I didn't get any pictures that day. : (

The next day was just a little more relaxed for me. I didn't need to go out and do any Black Friday shopping like my mom and sister-in-law. So later I just met up at my Grandparents and hung out with my parents. Till later that night when myself and my 3 sister-in-laws decided to go and catch a late showing of Twilight! I was pretty excited that I had someone to go see it with since it seemed like everyone else I knew had already seen it. We had a fun time even if some of us didn't like the movie as much as others. :) I was in need of a little girl time so thanks for the fun few hours girls.

And finally on Saturday we were planning on having a little early Christmas party as a family since we were all in Arizona. We met up at Jared and Lori's and there had our 2nd annul Baker Family Christmas Brunch. It was lots of fun to just relax with everyone and enjoy all the company. Ryken had lots of fun once he stopped being a stinker and played with some of his cousins.

Every year we each draw names for who to buy gifts for. And we usually all try to go in with us kids and get my parents something that they want. This year we decided to get my mom a new camera since hers was broken and she wanted one with bigger screen. And this was her reaction when she got it...

Priceless right. I guess she really liked it. And so did I. Lori did good on picking out a cute one just for mom. And apparently my mom told Lori that my dad had been wanting an Ipod. So that is what he got...

Hopefully he liked his gift as much as mom did. : ) Another person that loved the gift that they got was Ryken. He is the biggest fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and loves to watch it on TV every day. So of course he would love his gift...

Here he is trying to get to the gift inside...

Yay! Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on DVD! He had the biggest smile on his face when he saw this. I of course didn't capture it on film but you had to be there to see the excitement. And later everyone was nice enough to let him watch a few episodes on the DVD. Thanks Jared for giving up the TV for a little while. : ) Justin and I loved our gifts too. Even though I have yet to see mine, but I know I will love it when I do get it. : ) While we were out there that night and once Justin got to join us out there since he worked that morning, we ended up watching a few Christmas movies and just getting into the holiday spirit. Thanks for the great time and for having it out at your place Jared and Lori!

Since we were in the holiday spirit we decided to put up our Christmas decorations on Monday. Justin was great and went out Monday afternoon and hung up the lights outside. And later that night we put up the tree. Once Ryken was asleep of course since we didn't want it to be a major disaster. I was a little worried of how Ryken was going to be with the tree this year but I am happy to say that he is great with it! He hasn't really tried to take off the ornaments or pull at anything yet. But I guess we still have a few more weeks. : )

If you look close you can see him at the bottom checking it all out. Now if we can just keep him from opening the presents once they are wrapped we may have a happy holiday at our house this year. : )