Christmas 2009

Well, what a great Christmas! We went up to Utah for Christmas again this year-it's hard not too when ALL our family's there. We started things off with a Hardin (my side of the family) Family Reunion. I was "in charge" of the planning for this reunion so I really was hoping it would go smoothly. Dave, Ellie, and I flew out to Salt Lake City, got to visit with his parents for a few hours (thanks for dinner!) and then got picked up by my parents to drive up to Island Park, ID where we were having our reunion. My parents have a 12 passenger van. They also have 10 kids. 5 of which are married. And 7 grandkids. And Toshi. And Eric and Kellie. Most of whom were in the car. Actually, we only had 12 people in the van, but they all had stuff. Food to feed 30 for 2 weeks, winter gear, clothes, toiletries, and a keyboard. And a violin. And a guitar. And a drum set (well, only one drum.) And about 20 ipods/laptops/electronic devices we can't live without for 3 days. So it was very crowded. Poor Dave was one-cheeking it off the edge of his seat pretty much the whole way.

We made it there in one piece and had a great time playing in the snow, hot-tubbing, eating great food, and hanging out together. We had a fun and goofy talent show in the great Christiansen tradition as well as a devotional and testimony meeting on Sunday that was really special. We also got to be there for my brother Matthew opening his mission call- Philippines Cebu Mission!



It was a great time together with the family and made me realize how blessed we are to be part of a family that loves each other and enjoys being together.

After the reunion we went back to Provo and spent a few more days with my family. We got to go "extreme sledding," a family tradition where you tie the sleds on long ropes to the back of the van and drive up and down a snowy road in the mountains. It is a blast! I couldn't do it this year because of the pregnancy, but Dave and Ellie had a great time. Ellie especially couldn't get enough of the snow and the sledding.


We had a great Christmas morning and brunch with my family, then it was off to spend a week with Dave's family.




We had a great week with Dave's family. Dave got to see some of the movies he wanted to see with his family, Ellie did buckets full of craft projects with the supplies Grandma and Grandpa got her for Christmas, and I got a massage! Yea! We also had a couple of very entertaining game nights together. A highlight of the trip for Ellie was going to the ice rink and having her Aunt Jessica and Uncle Steve and John teach her how to ice skate.

Ellie got really frustrated in the beginning because she just wanted to be able to skate really fast and obviously couldn't since this was the first time she's ever been ice skating. Jessica, Steve, and John were really patient with her and actually had her skating short distances by herself after a few hours! She was so proud of herself and had such a good time.

It was a great Christmas vacation! We appreciate both our families going out of their way to make sure we were comfortable and helping with transportation, etc. We love you all!