Home For the Holidays

We had an incredible Christmas holiday! It was so much fun to be back in Alberta and to see so many people that we love!

We knew that things would be pretty busy before Christmas so the first thing we did when we got back was meet up with these wonderful people! We feel so blessed to have such amazing friends. We have so much fun together!

 Pepper Jack, Cambrioleur and Mr. Max hanging out with Uncle James!

Nicknames courtesy of Mark

 The next night we headed out to Mountain View to watch the Christmas Program! One of my favorite parts of Christmas! I loved being in it when I was going to school in Mountain View and honestly I wish I could still be in it...but I can't so I'll just watch it instead.

 My favorite part of the whole program was the nativity!

Mikhail was in it too and even though he complains about it, once he gets on stage he gives it his all and he does a great job!

We also got to see some more important people!

I just love this girl! It was so good to see her!

We also got to see these lovely people which doesn't happen very often so we are so glad that we did. Love em!

 After the program there was a dance and of course Santa came!

 Does Santa look familiar to you?

The next day we had the opportunity to attend Adam and Jane's wedding. I got to briefly meet Jane in the summer when they had only been dating for a bit and since then we have been routing for them to get hitched. They are so good together and we couldn't be happier for them!

Christmas Eve was spent with the cousins on the Toth side. It started off with a toonie lunch and then we played some basketball! It was so much fun but I was so tired! I hadn't exercised since Max was born and my competitive side might have made me over do it...BUT I survived and it was a lot of fun!

Later we got together again for a beautiful and delicious dinner at the Toths!

We played a couple games. Some organized...

and some not.

Later Grandpa handed out some presents and we watched a couple short Christmas videos.

After the Toth party finished we headed back to open our Christmas pajamas!

Christmas morning!

Max loved the bows!

Natalie figuring out that she's going to Taylor Swift!!!

Waiting for breakfast with Hub.

This might be my favorite present Max got. Isn't it the cutest! Thanks Nat!

And of course some mini floor hockey.

That night Max got a bath from Dad and Uncle Ben.

The next morning we headed out to the ranch to celebrate with my family.

The boys got matching outfits. Aren't they the cutest!

Cousins!

My handsome men!

I also was lucky enough to hang out with these crazy kids to take some engagement pictures! Aren't they cute!

My Men

Max had been a bit fussy today. Not awful but there definitely wasn't a lot of smiles... until his dad came home. I was sitting on the couch trying to play with him when Mark walked in the door. As soon as he heard the door open he turned his head around to see what was going on and all Mark needed to do was smile at him and he got all excited. This is a regular occurrence. Max loves his dad! And Mark loves Max. It's a relationship that I had anticipated being jealous of when I was pregnant. I'll be honest, I was worried that Mark would love this baby more than he loved me and I was not OK with that! Mark has made extra effort to remind me that I'm number one and I'm very grateful for that but I'm also grateful that Max has a dad that loves him so much! I love my boy and I love my man even more!

Soo handsome!

What a Week!

Last week Max got to meet a lot of new people! His first meeting was on Tuesday and it was a total surprise! The last person I ever thought would be knocking on our door would be Cody but that's exactly what he did Tuesday afternoon. It was soo good to see Cody and be able to actually sit down and catch up. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that. What was even better is finding out that he is doing so good! We were excited to introduce Max to Cody and Max seemed to really enjoy him (though you can't really tell in the picture). 

One of the best surprises ever!

 After Mark was done class on Thursday we headed back to southern Alberta. The plan was to surprise Uncle Ben. We went straight to the ranch and spent the night there and then headed into town Friday afternoon for a gathering with my family.

Cute Cousins!

That night we headed over to the Drew's. We had set up a video chat date with the family so they were all downstairs sitting in front of the computer when we came up behind them. It was fun to see Ben again and it was really cool to be able to introduce him to Max. He was a little unsure of how to hold Max at first but he warmed up to him quickly! They definitely got along.

Grandpa Hub playing with Max... Moose pouting in the background.
Photo from Emily

Max with Uncle Ben. 2 very happy boys!
Photo from Em 

While we were in town we also got to catch up with Carly and Ryan and Jaqui and Johnny. Max got to meet Cambree and Jack for the first time. It's so fun that our friends had babies the same time we did.
I wasn't very good at getting pictures that weekend but I did happen to get one of Max and Jack, the rest I stole from sisters:)

How cute are they?!

They're going to be buds!

Elder Drew to Uncle Ben!

Elder Drew served in the Boise Idaho mission (Spanish speaking) for the past two years and a bit and yesterday he got home. We are so proud of him! He was such an incredible missionary that he got a promotion to Uncle Ben! And Max is so excited to meet the amazing man he was named after. 

Welcome home Ben! 

We love you!

A couple pictures of the month before Ben left. So much has changed!

"I love ya!"

Christmas can't come soon enough!