Christmas Eve Festivities

 Our Christmas Eve started off like this…dogs and all!

We made our road trip to Grandma and Grandpa's the night before to be able to enjoy family time on Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Emery sure has improved in her present opening skills since last year.  Sissy stood by for reinforcement just in case, but she had no trouble (she also opened some of grandma's wrapped presents under the tree, oops!)

The girls got matching feet pajamas and put them on quickly so we could complete our Christmas Eve traditions, hot cocoa and a car ride bundled up to look at Christmas lights.

Uncle Griffin and Nathan got cozy in their pajamas too!

 Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for making Christmas Eve so fun!

Family pics on our way out the door to look at lights…

Both girls were passed out in the car before we could make it nearly two blocks (and I forgot my camera to document :( ) but we enjoyed our cocoa and the quiet before having to return home to play Santa!

Christmas Favorite

Okay, so I'm a little overwhelmed in sorting through all of our Christmas photos.  I'll be sure to post our wonderful holiday for all to see but for now I just wanted to share my favorite photo from Christmas and quite possibly this year!

Zoo Lights

For the first time we went to ZOO Lights at the Phoenix Zoo!

We were all bundled up because the forecast was rain but we were excited and ready with our blankets and Emery in her wagon!

There was so many lights 60 million to be exact, it was so fun and beautiful.

Emery had a lot of fun seeing some of her favorite things come to life with bright lights.

Emery even gave mommy and daddy some help with the wagon.  When did she become such a big girl?

 It was so bright in areas you didn't even need a flash with the camera!

Here is a another one of Emery's favorite, the peacock.  She loved it!

 And then there was JENGA, the talking Giraffe. Come to find out my daughter has a favorite animal, a Giraffe, who would have thought.  She was so intrigued and called each animal a giraffe after meeting this one.

(We will definitely be taking a trip back to visit the giraffes soon!)

And my favorite was the spinning web spider!

We made it to the last event, the light show, as it started to sprinkle.  Millions of lights lined tall tress and changed colors to music.  It was so fun to watch Emery's face light up as she looked back and forth to follow the lights.

It was such a fun night!  If you are ever in the Phoenix area around Christmas time I definitely recommend going to Zoo Lights!  Just don't forget your scarves and cameras!!

Santa Claus

There has been a lot of talk about this man in our house lately!!  Now that Emery is talking up a storm…Santa Claus has become her two favorite words to say this holiday!

She may not seem too impressed on his lap, but she wasn't ready to part ways after two pictures, a candy cane and telling him what she want's for Christmas!

We also wrote letters to Santa...

And rode an animal carousel,

Checked out the fish tank, 

and rode some toys!

Our trip to see Santa Claus was a success!  The countdown is on for his arrival!