Lights of Christmas 2013

I am way behind on blogging. So sorry!

So, I'm going to try to catch up as much as I can over the next few weeks.

This year, we went to the Lights of Christmas for Ellie Jo's first experience! It was pretty amazing! We ended up going after Christmas, because it was just impossible to get there before. (That was okay with me, because if you know me, you know how much I LOVE Christmas! It made the season last longer!)

I want to preface this blog post by saying that this trip was SUPER special, because Robert's cousin, Emma, came with us!

Emma worked so hard to help us get our house move-in ready when we bought it. She literally helped haul all of our (free) baseboards from a jobsite to our house, helped me scrub walls and cabinets to get nasty smells and yucky stuff off and out, painted, held tools - you name it, this young lady was ready and happy to help! Truly, without her, we would not have moved into our house as soon as we did.

At 13 years old, she really blessed us just by her happy countenance and good attitude, and we wanted to do something really special for her. Originally, I had planned for her to come over for a sleepover as soon as we got moved in and had a place for her to sleep. But it took longer than any of us wanted.

It just so happened that we had a free weekend right after Christmas, and we decided to go to the Lights of Christmas. I asked Jill (Emma's mom) if we could please have her over for her sleepover, and take her to see the lights. Jill said it was okay, and Emma was SO excited!

Here are the pictures from our awesome family night out!

Red & white trees

Stars

Mountains

Up on the Housetop...

Reindeer pause....

LEDs

Candy Cane Lane

Candy Cane tunnel

More red & green trees

Spectacular!

Approaching the nativity

Hark!

Pretty sure this picture was an accident. Not bad,
though!

Robert, Emma (hidden, lol) and Ellie Jo (also hidden)

Other side of the mountains

Pretty entrance

See-saw!

Horsies!

Moose, lol

Neon

Lights soooo high up

I would love to go to a retreat at Warm Beach!
It looks so inviting!

Lighthouse

I thought this was cool

This was so high!

Cowgirl

Spectacular!

From a distance, it just looks bright

Love that sign!

But I love these "grapes" and "vines" even more!

Ellie Jo did not like the grapes & vines, lol

To keep her warm, we left the rain slicker on the
stroller. Inside, we had her bundled in 3 layers,
2 blankets, and my electric heating blanket, which
we heated up in the car on the way there and kept
it warm in my Pampered Chef hot bag! 

Teepee? Or tree?

Walking in a lighted wonderland!

I am so sorry for taking this picture of the ladies,
but I wanted to show this awesome display of
miniature houses!

Look how cool it is!

Robert, Emma and Ellie Jo

Strollers make decent tripods, lol

All of us thawing from the freezing temps!

Emma Lou trying to keep Ellie Jo happy

The girls together! :)

It was at this point in the night that I decided I really liked having a 13-year-old and an 8-month-old out for a family night. For everything the 8-month-old requires, the 13-year-old can do for herself, and help you out with anything.

Emma was just so incredibly helpful! Ashley jokes that she's a diaper genie (no, not the kind you toss dirty diapers in!), because you'll no sooner mention that the baby needs a change than she'll be out of the room wiping up the kiddo and putting on a fresh diaper! Seriously, she moves so fast that we actually didn't see her do it twice. I cannot make this up! Anyway, we had set out to reward Emma for being such a great helper, and she continued to keep blessing us all weekend long! Amazing, sweet young lady.

Robert, Emma and Ellie

I wasn't in many pictures, lol

Stars!

Snowman & Snow-woman

Quick family photo! This was in the candy cane
tunnel, which was Ellie's favorite! We went through
it at least 4 times.

"Hold me, Daddy!"

Nativity

Cool figures

The Bible that Grandma Byers and Marcia Lathrop
made! Robert told me the story of how they
made a bunch of the props and decorations at
Grandma's table! Even Bruce The Spruce's lips!

I love the halo!

Robert showing Ellie the angels

Trains!

Reminds me of the Polar Express movie :)

I love the backdrops!

It looks so detailed!

Someday, we might have a special train room
so Grandpa Crombie can show Ellie about
one of his hobbies!

The Polar Express!

Ellie wasn't impressed

Doughnuts with Frosty!

By the time we got our doughnuts, we had pretty much seen everything. The doughnuts were delicious, as usual!

The girl running the doughnut area said, "Oh my gosh, your little girl is so adorable!" Just to see what she would say, I said, "Which one? We have two here." She looked surprised, and said, "Oh! Well, uh, they're both cute, but I meant the baby!" I laughed, and told her it was okay. Emma said, "I don't get many people telling me I'm adorable anymore, now that I'm 13!" Haha!

Anyway, we had a really great time, it wasn't very crowded, and we can't wait to go back next year. :)