Early Elko Christmas 2010

We spent four very fun days in Elko with Chuck's family the week leading up to Christmas.
Our last few visits there have been more 'event-centered', so this time it was fun to just relax and . . . hang around with family :).

We were excited to see little baby Eli again, although 'little' has ceased to describe him! Will really wanted to share some water with him.

Chuck was really excited to make gingerbread houses. We opted to spread it out over two evenings - the first evening we constructed the houses and then let the frosting set and then decorated the next night. We're hardcore.

And when I say 'we', I mean 'everyone else'. I did not do any building myself, instead leaving Chuck to make two houses, one for Clyde and one for Will.

The wisdom of that decision became apparent as I watched Chuck carefully place support graham crackers inside the structure. I would have leaned a couple rectangles together and called it a gingerbread tent :).

Our (apparently Amish) gingerbread house village.

Grandma set out to decorate the Christmas tree the morning after we arrived and found a very willing helper in Clyde.

I set out to put my braiding skills to good use (Chuck insists on keeping our boys' hair so short!) and attempted my very first 'Jennifer Aniston braid' in Mallory's hair.

That afternoon Grandma and Grandpa treated the whole gang to a trip to the movie theater to see 'Yogi Bear'. Here we have the four oldest grandkids: Clyde, George, Courtney and Mallory.

And then we got real ambitious and stuck all eight grandkids in the shot! I have to say, I had fairly low expectations for Yogi, but I thought it was pretty cute. I've loved Tom Cavanagh since 'Ed' so that helped.

After the movie (and Melissa's homemade pizza for dinner!) it was time to decorate. It was really fun to watch the little kids put so much of their personalities into their houses.

And the big kids got in on the action, too, of course! I convinced Clyde to let me put a green and red M&M border around his roof and house.

Clyde's finished product...

Will's and Chuck's finished product.

Our visit happened to coincide with Melissa taking her cute girls to get their ears pierced, so I tagged along for extra moral support. Courtney pretty much mirrored me twenty years ago: beg and plead to get your ears pierced and then get really, really nervous when it's finally about to happen. (I remember bursting into tears when my mom announced to me in the car that that's where we were going, no joke).

Both Courtney and Mallory did really great though, and the guy that did the piercing was really sweet and patient; I was impressed.

All done, yay!

That night was the Las Vegas Bowl and we beat University of Utah, hooray! That means Chuck won the bet and we're super excited to see Big Will sportin' some Bronco gear next time we visit Smiths :).

During halftime the kids put on a pretty hilarious talent show. George and Clyde performed a skit that featured a lot of breakdancing and one solid tackle!

The next day it was time for family pictures and . . . (spoiler alert!) we got some good ones - to be featured in a future post. In the meantime, here's a look at the behind the scenes chaos:

We were able to use the church to gather, which was sooo nice. Plenty of room for Melissa's photo equipment and plenty of room for kids (young and old) to run around a bit.

Melissa has all sorts of awesome studio gear - lights, backgrounds, etc.

My little wrestling boys, gotta love them!

Practicing our nicest smiles.

Trying to get a good shot of Grandma and Grandpa with the eight wee ones required lots of behind the camera antics to keep everyone's attention.

Chuck and George played hangman . . . the answer was 'Don't blink' :).

I love this one of Melissa directing her brothers and dad about how to stand.

We spent the rest of the day at Melissa and Kevin's house. After a wonderful prime rib dinner, we opened some presents. First we did our sibling gift exchange; it was so fun to see what everyone picked out for their assigned 'sibling'.
Here's Pops getting ready to open his gift from Chuck and myself. Not to brag, but I'm pretty sure we made him tear up a bit :).

Clyde opened this shirt from Aunt Amanda and Uncle Steve and happily exclaimed, "Just what I always wanted!!" Don't worry, the Star Wars Mr. Potato Head he received from his cousins a few minutes later elicited the same enthusiastic response. Funny kid!

That night Mom and Pops surprised me with MY gift: a laptop!! It's sooo much fun. Now when Chuck is at work and the little boys are safely tucked into bed I don't have to choose between my TV addiction and my facebook addiction - I can enjoy both at once :).

The next morning it was time to get on the road - right after Chuck and Pops made biscuits and gravy. It was such a great trip - we miss everyone and we're excited for our next visit, hopefully sometime soon!