Christmas 2009 - Part 3

Part 3 of the Taylor Family Christmas involves visiting my side of the family immediately after Christmas. This year it was the 26th that we headed up.

First stop is to visit my Grandma Taylor. She's always a crack up, telling the fun stories of the happenings of the whole family. She's holding up well for her age, and I regret that I didn't take a photo while we were there. We DID manage to get a slice of my cousin Valerie's blueberry pie, YUM!

At my folks' place they gave the kids with their presents, Kylee got another doll and since she's 8 finally got a display case for the dolls that she's gotten over the years.



Rylan got a new sleeping bag to use on his scouting adventures and a crisp $50.00 bill to buy a backpack.


Shelly and I got a nice gift from the parents and the kids had fun just hanging at the grandparents' place.



My folks loved their "Get Out for a Night" basket, and really fawned over the photo filled coffee table book Shelly had made with the family photos we had taken this year.


Dad got a Blu-Ray player for Christmas and took advantage of my being there to have me hook it up for him. Kylee of course managed to sucker Grandpa into getting out his 4-wheeler and going for a ride despite the below freezing temperatures!

Christamas 2009 - Parts 1 & 2

Christmas with the Taylor family is always a 3 part tradition.

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Part 1 - Christmas Eve with Mom & Dad Barnes

With Christmas Eve being Norm's birthday, we've gone up there every year to celebrate the birthday and the holiday with the whole extended family. Since T&T are up in the Great White North and T&W are in Maui (jerks!) we got to spend some time with just our family.

They put together a great dinner of Ham, Potatoes, and such, with some fresh pineapple and macadamia nuts they brought back from their trip to Hawaii.

After dinner it was time for Presents. They got each of the kids a special "Hawaii" gift in addition to the Christmas presents.

The highlight gifts would have to be the knitted caps from Grandma Barnes. Kylee looked absolutely ADORABLE in hers, and Rylan's is a bit on the Goofy side and fits his personality to a "T"!

We also made a trip up to Grandma Kemp's, next time we plan on being outside when the temperature is in the low 20's, both Shelly and I agree to bring a jacket with us! The walk was a bit chilly to say the least. But, it was good to see Grandma Kemp, and we both got a good little gift from her.

We got home in time to get the kids settled down, and "Hopefully" get a visit from the Jolly old Elf. The kids put out some "Reindeer Food" for the team pulling his sleigh...

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Part 2 - Christmas Day - Home Sweet Home!

It's hard to believe, but Rylan had to wake Kylee up to see if there was anything under the tree.

They found that, despite their "Naughty" tendencies, they must have been "Nice" enough throughout the year to meet the requirements to get presents delivered by Santa!

They started with their stockings that held a variety of things and were topped off with a brand-new Webkins pet for each. Kylee and her black kitty and Rylan with his Pug.

Of course, the kids once again were spoiled rotten, I'm not sure how that seems to happen every year...

The kids seemed to get pretty much everything that they had been hoping for.

Kylee got a portable DVD player for the car, 2 new Zhu Zhu Rats/Hampsters as well as some accessories for them, a Hannah Montana Guitar Game for her room, a Nintendo DS game, some pajamas that she wore all day in addition to her pink "Snuggie," and a few other things I can't remember... She had to "Cheese" it up for every picture I took...


Rylan got a new Boy Scout shirt, a Nintendo DS game, some weird Wii game that I can't pronounce, some new movies to watch, a banana game chair, the DJ HERO Game for the Wii, a couple of Nintenedo DS Games, and a few other things I can't remember...


We had our traditional Christmas Morning Omelets. They were big and yummy! Of course they were full of the sauteed mushrooms, ham, cheese, and onions that make them just perfection.

Those kept us full for the better part of the day.

We spent the rest of the day just hangin' out. Of course we got to have our late Lunch / early Dinner from Hunan, the best Chinese food on the planet!

It was an almost perfect Christmas Day, the only thing that could have made it perfect would have been to have Dylan here. It's been kinda weird not having him here for Christmas this year, but he'll be back on the 2nd, and we're all excited for that!

Christmas Comes Early

Dylan left on Sunday to go spend the Christmas Break with his mom, so we had his Christmas on Saturday afternoon so that he could enjoy his presents before he left.


Dylan was ecstatic about his "Transformers" belt buckle.

He was also happy to be able to play Raving Rabbids with Rylan before he left. The boys spent all afternoon playing that game.

As for Dylan's "big" present, an Ipod Touch, I'm not sure who was more excited, Boone (Dylan's adopted brother), Rylan, or Dylan Himself.

It was SOOO much fun to watch the boys spend the afternoon playing, and laughing together as they played the video game on the Wii or as they played with the Apps that Dylan downloaded to his Ipod.

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Dylan got there safely, avoiding the weather mess in the North East. The house just seems a bit on the empty side now that he's away. Poor Rylan really is missing being around his big brother.

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On the "Cute" side, Kylee drew a Nativity Scene while in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and it's so darn cute I just HAD to post if for the world to see.

Christmas Time

I Know, it's a few days past Christmas, but at least I finally took the time to post about it, so back off!

Christmas was a 2 day affair.

Starting Christmas Eve with a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's.


The kids got some great presents, as did we. A lunch of some home made Turkey Noodle Soup and time with Jay & Eileen as well as Great Grandma Taylor just chatting made the time go by quick. Rylan got a puzzle, and it was great to see him and Dylan spending time together working on it.

From there we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Barnes' for Grandpa's birthday party.

The whole family was there (Except Brian and Shelby, staying with the new baby). It's always good to get everyone together and just relax. Of course Brooklyn still hates me, so I didn't get the chance to come within 10 feet of her without her turning the other direction. I do regret not getting more photos that night.

CHRISTMAS DAY

I think this was the first year that the kids didn't come flying out of their rooms before the buttcrack of dawn to go downstairs and open presents. They actually waited until 8 like we had asked them.

This year was a big year for Rylan, he got to be more involved with helping Santa. He's growing up soooo fast!

Santa seemed to be pretty good to the kids once again.

Of course, Shelly has the kids totally photo trained, so after every present was opened, it was Turn, Find The Camera, And Pose!

I think Rylan was as excited for the Beef Jerky as anything else!
We even managed to capture the elusive "Smile" that Dylan seems to hide deep somewhere.

After presents we started our traditional foods for the day.

Breakfast was Marc's famous Omelets!

Still looks good enough to eat. And they tasted better than they looked!

The best part of Christmas was that we stayed home! I love that we can just be with each other and not have to worry about trying to get from place to place.

Shelly and I don't get "presents" for each other, but this year I surprised her with a "present". I have been putting together a video of the family's activities for the past year. Parts 1 and 2 are done and I let her see it. Part 3 will not be done until after the first of the year, had to include Christmas. I'll put them online in the near future.

We also got our traditional Christmas Dinner again! Take Out from Hunan Village, the best General Tso's Chicken on the planet. And the owner was so nice, she slipped a gift certificate into our bag for Christmas.

We spent the better part of the day playing Guitar Hero and Castlevania on the Wii. Kylee played with her makeup (Santa should know better!) and we just 'Hung Out' for the day.