December 26th...

Christmas Morning, take two...

We did things a little differently after breakfast we normally take turns opening presents going in circle youngest to oldest, only my dad is nice and lets my mom go before him even though she's older, anyways this year Brent and our girls went first because Brent had to leave. On Christmas morning Brent's dad backed into our car and left a huge owie on our car, so they were trying to find a place to get it repaired before we left. We only took video of the dent for some crazy reason, but anyhow three days latter we had a new fender on the van and we were good to go.

SO back to Christmas...

All of the kids and grandkids draw names and buy for one person and then my parents usually give a couple of presents to everyone and so does my grandma so it can take awhile with all of us, but its a lot of chaotic fun and its safe to say I had the most emotional Christmas, 3 presents made me cry!!! I just kept blaming it on the fact that I am pregnant but we all know I am an emotional person anyway.

Trena opening

Kenzie giving Ava loves

4 of my most beautiful gals

All the kids seemed to really like the Tinker Bell house

Katrena's huge closet for her American Girl Doll's clothes

All the boys got tools

Also my parents gave everyone (grammy Ann too) our own 72 hour kits fully stocked.

Taylor and I found ourselves recording each other a lot.

This was my 2nd present that made me cry, no not the calendar, my sister Kayleigh signed the whole family to walk/run in my son Braxton's name in June for the pregnancy and infant loss walk/run.



Here is the cardboard shirt she gave me to tell me.

Kayleigh showing the 5 little monkey and crocodile finger puppets I made for Kaden.


These are the Three Little Pig Finger Puppets I made for Kenzie.

Kayleigh also made my parents a book with letters from each of us kids to each of them, plus a letter from Trena and Ava to each of them. Ava told me what to write and Trena's letters made me bawl.

My mom crying to Trena after reading her letter to her.

Ava and Kenzie again. I don't think I got any of her and Kaden together, Kaden really needs a boy cousin.

Grammy Ann opening presents

Mom and Dad with some of the kiddos

Trena ended the morning by looking at the scrapbook for Braxton.

I received a FABULOUS present from parents but that will have to wait because the pictures on their camera.

We then all got dressed and headed to Hires for lunch/dinner. My dad's parents had rented out the back room and him and his two brothers and their families came and we did a white elephant exchange. We took family photos but they are also on my parents camera! For some reason we failed to take any pictures there on our camera only video.

When we got back to Norths Trena got to open her presents from grandma and grandpa and then it was off to bed.

Christmas Night With Watts Family

My mom always has a Christmas Eve/ Christmas Morning around the actually holiday not necessarily on the 24th and 25th. This year it was the
25th to 26th.

Our night started w/ our stockings

Trena and Ava were first

Then sweet Kenzie with help from dad

And Kaden with help from mommy

Then all the boys open at the same time, their stockings have pretty much the same with small differences like different t-shirts.

Here is my brother Tyler

And Brent with his popper

Then all the girls had their turn

Kayleigh, Ava and Kenzie

Next up my mom and dad:

My parents always just do stockings for one another and this year my dad decided he wanted to buy my mom a ring. So they shopped around and my mom found the most beautiful ring, they put it in the safe and she wasn't going to see it again until Christmas. My mom was so full of anticipation and wasn't even sure she remembered exactly what it looked like.

Surprise!!!

Only it wasn't ring she was expecting, my dad had made her a bouncy ball ring!

She then got the ring she was expecting and it was just as beautiful as she remembered and all of us girls were in awe!!!

Then it was Dad's turn

After all of that excitement Trena got to open up her stocking from Santa. I also forgot to mention that my Grammy Ann was here for Christmas this year!!!

Then Trena got to open her presents from Mom and Dad, she got lots of clothes, a Monster High doll bed/mirror and a new sleeping bag.

A scarf from mom

And then we ended the night playing some fun Christmas games!

My parents also gave each of us a sentimental memory gift, mine was the best, but that post is to follow.

Vacation Day 9, August 10th, North Carolina

Well our trip was through and we were headed home. I had seen all my great Aunts and Uncles and some of my cousins but had missed out on seeing so many too.

We decided to make a quick swing by my cousin Jenny's house (my Uncle Shelton's daughter), only her and her oldest son Landon were home so we took a few minutes to visit and then we were on our way.

I made the request that we make one more stop on our way to the airport and that was to go by the cemetery where some/most of our family is buried.

Thornton is my grandma's maiden name.

This is my Papa's grave he was my Grammy Ann's second husband, they married when my mom was a teenager so he was my grandpa in every way shape or form.

My great grandmother

My great grandfather

My Uncle Shelton

I also have three cousins buried at this cemetery. My Grandad (mom's dad) is buried in Rocky Mount North Carolina, and my Aunt Mary in Raleigh, NC.

We grabbed a late lunch and took a goodbye photo with Grandma and we were off to the airport.

We arrived in Vegas at 11pm, 2am to our bodies so we decided to rent a room and make the 2.5 hour drive home the next day.

Vacation Day 8, August 9th, Maryland and back to North Carolina

After sleeping in for a little while we were off to see the Temple, although this is the Washington DC Temple it is located in Maryland and not actually in DC.

The DC Temple has special meaning to me as it is the first Temple I ever saw after my mom joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when I was four years old and we still lived in Virginia.

The Washington DC Temple

After we left the temple we drove back to Clinton, NC to my Grandma's house where we met up with my Uncle Marshall and Aunt Janice, as well as my cousin Michael, his wife Holli and their kids Austin and Regan for dinner. Trena and Regan get a long so well I was sorry they didn't get to spend more time together. They spent dinner chatting and Trena (my book lover) even left with a list of books to read.

After dinner we went to my Aunt Alice's house, her husband breeds and sells boxers and the girls were able to feed two of the puppies bottles.

This was all fun until one of the puppies decided to poop on Ava's leg, luckily she had a towel over her legs to catch most of it.

Then it was back to Grandma's for milk shakes! You can't go to Grandma's house with out having her yummy homemade chocolate milkshakes. When my mom was little my grandparents owned a few different restaurants, one was called Brownie's and one was called The Freezer Fresh. These were local mom and pop restaurants owned and operated by my grandparents they were the cooks and the waitress.

Uncle Marshall even stopped by for a milkshake and to say goodbye, Ava loved playing with her great uncle.

This piano was mine when I was a little girl and although it is wobbly my grandma has kept it at her house all these years! She also has the rocking chair that was in my nursery when I was a baby in this room too.