Christmas Eve 2009

Today was pretty fun. Derk and I were up until after 1am this morning wrapping gifts. While we were wrapping, Derk mentioned that a coworker had told him about a place to go hiking called Picacho Peak State Park. It's about a half hour north of Yuma. So we decided to do that for the morning. We woke up around 8, packed a picnic lunch and headed out. We managed to do 2 small hikes and a little bit of exploring before Asher and Cambria were worn out. By that point, they were both begging to be carried, which made for some very tired parents!

A pretty scenic view

Derk, Asher and Bri each found walking sticks


Kyrie kept finding quartz that she couldn't leave behind


A couple of self-portraits with my Asher


There was also a neat little cemetery that had some cool headstones

After that, we came back home and watched Miracle on 34th street. Derk made us pepper steak for dinner (so good!). Then we cleaned up the house a little bit. After that, we sang a couple of Christmas songs, then we opened our Christmas Eve jammies. I snapped a picture, and then we read the kids the story of the birth of Jesus. Bedtime came next, and let me tell you, I wish I had the "Santa won't come until you go to sleep!" excuse every night of the year! They went to bed so easily. Which is great, because Derk and I needed time to set up the trampoline for tomorrow.

I've decided being sneaky is way too much work. Every little clang the metal made during assembly made me so nervous the kids would wake up. I lost count at how many times I ran inside to make sure they were still asleep. We got it all set up without any problems, though, and now I cannot wait to see their reactions in the morning!

We wish all of you a very merry Christmas!