Christmas 2012

The long awaited Christmas morning was finally here! Each year I get older, I do a smidgen better at getting a good nights sleep. Although Christmas morning isn't quite as magical as it was when I was a child, there is something ingrained in my head that makes it impossible to not wake up at least 5 times Christmas Eve night. But, I am progressing each year!

I was so excited to get the kids up and out of bed to see what amazing things Santa had blessed us with. However, it didn't go quite as planned.

They were both whining and uncooperative at the top of the stairs, neither of them wanted to go down! I was so bummed, I almost wanted to bah-humbug it and go back to bed. But I knew once they saw their stockings and presents the tears would have to go away.

We had a great Christmas, Santa was so good to Stew and Lily and knew just what to get :) Stew got his very own ukulele, Jake and the Neverland Pirate toys, and some yummy treats. Lily got a Belle doll, lots of Disney princess toys, magnets, and a scooter.

We gave Grandma & Grandpa Stewart and Grandma & Grandpa Heslop personalized videos of the kids sending a Christmas message and just being kids at the park. It was so fun to see how much they appreciated the love and time that went into their gift.

Children make Christmas so magical and I am so bless to have the most beautiful kids to spend every single day with, especially Christmas Day!

Christmas EVE 2012

With just a little bit of thought, I think that it is safe to say that Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the whole year! It is so magical. Everyone is in such high spirits, it is easier to think about and celebrate the Savior, and of course, DONUTS are consumed in ridiculous amounts! But it is totally justified because it is Christmas Eve and it happens once a year, right?!

I am so in love with that sweet husband of mine! So blessed to have him to celebrate these precious moments in life with. And especially this time of year I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending Christ to this earth to make it possible for me to live with my beautiful family for eternity. 

And my adorable mother...she is the kindest, most self-less person I know! I am still trying so hard to be like her. She is always thinking of others and she is always the one who makes Christmas Eve so special and scrumptious! Love you Mom.

 

Now this is where the "magic" of Christmas Eve happens! Thinking of the donuts makes my stomach churn because I have very little self control in this area, but it is always soo worth it. This year however, it was impossible to eat more than 4 - 5 donuts (normally I can throw down 7-10 like that!). The grease factor was slightly ridiculous. With each bite of donut, a splash of grease would ooze from the donut, they were soaked! After much investigating, Mom figured it was because she had to substitute margarine for butter.

- Lesson learned: never make homemade donuts with margarine -

But despite only being about to eat half the normal amount of donuts, it was still a successful and memorable Christmas Eve. And thanks to Cort and Leanna for forever now hosting Stewart Christmas Eve gathering!

I know there are minimal pictures, and they aren't that great. But I was busy enjoying the moment. And isn't that what it is really about?! Sometimes I put to much stress and pressure on myself to capture moments but than I end up missing them, so I'm just working with what I got :)

Hawaii...

a much needed vacation! Although we worked about half of the time doing Live Love Spa events and meeting with spa directors, it was so much fun to spend time with Paul. December was out of control busy and it was great to relax, work, and play with my sweet husband.

Surprisingly, me and some of the Live Love girls got Paul to wake up at 5:30 a.m. one morning to go on a snorkeling adventure. It was early, but so worth it! We rode that giant raft-boat over the another island, Lanai, and stopped at three different spots to snorkel. Paul had never been snorkeling so it was fun to experience that with him. The round trip took almost all day but the views and fish were amazing. We even saw a whale jumping as whale season had just barely begun. 

Stopping alongside the road to one of our meetings to enjoy the gorgeous view.

One of our meetings took us to the Grand Wailea. It was outrageously gorgeous there. We had a short visit the the spa director there, and after selling two blend bars (of which I am insisting I get commission on because I rubbed the feet of the two assistants there who were raving about us and our blend bar) she gave us a spa day as a gift to celebrate our seven year wedding anniversary! We started out splitting up and enjoying the bath treatments that are famous to that location. There are all different kinds of baths using beautifully colored salts, each representing an island of Hawaii. Then we met back up and had a couples massage. It was the perfect way to help us unwind from the whirlwind of the last couple months we have had.

We kind of decided to celebrate our anniversary over a few days. That is always my favorite way to celebrate anyway and since we were in Hawaii, why not?! The next day we were meeting with Four Seasons and in their Hotel we had heard of a great restaurant called Amasia. We splurged a little but it was sooo worth it. The food was probably the best I have ever had! We got a sampler item from the menu that came with about 8 - 10 different small portion dishes. Then it came with this huge coconut cream dessert. It was so a-maz-ing! It is one of those things I will be craving for YEARS to come.

I was excited to come home to my sweet kids knowing they had been parentless and passed around all week. As I was changing Stew that night, I got a little surprise! It completely freaked me out at first cause I just say this giant black mark up his leg. But soon realized Cort had left me a sweet marking, with permanent marker of course.

Oh, and HAPPY SEVEN YEARS to my SWEET HUSBAND! 
Salt of the Earth's take on our Hawaiian adventure found here.