Kid's Christmas Party, THEE Palliser, and Nick's

I am so behind on blogging! I got so wrapped up in getting ready for Utah and doing fun Christmas party stuff that I am just getting a chance to document everything now. Here are some pics from our festivities the week before Christmas. (Friday the 18th) Kyle's work has a party every year for all of the employee's kids. Deakon was so excited to go that he hardly took a nap (should have known not to tell him...) We got down there and Santa came in and Deakon's face lit up so much that I laughed out loud. He was called first and ran up like a champ. (he was first last year too... weird) Anyway, he was so excited to open his 2 gifts from Santa. They also gave them a candy cane and a gift certificate to McDonald's for a Happy Meal. Deak let us know right away that he wanted that for dinner- "the one with a toy!" (thanks a lot Jenn... jk) He also had a blast, as usual, testing out the cars in the showroom. Thanks Cochrane Dodge and Santa!

Showing off his loot:

Checking out the storage in the back of the van:
Such a happy little boy... this day anyway:

Driving the truck:

Saturday the 19th, we got up bright and early to make like a million (ok... 4) packages of bacon to take up to the Ward Christmas party. This year they did a little brunch with kids activities and then a program at the end. Brunch was excellent because they had EVERYTHING you could think of to eat: pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, fruit, yogurt, etc. It was delicious. We took Deakon around to decorate a rice krispy tree, make a nativity set for FHE, and get a family picture taken with Santa (NO... I will not post this picture. Kyle's eyes were closed and my body is making an extremely awkward looking pose. Just look at the cute one above!) They also had some kid's movies playing, but after Deakon started running in front of the projector, we quickly left that room. They had a short program reading and acting out the Nativity scene. The primary had to sing the opening song and I am pretty sure that the only person anybody heard was me... SOLO time. They wouldn't even look at me... darn kids. Just kidding. A group of us in the old/new primary leadershipy positions (like that?) sang a song near the end that I thought went well. Deakon and Kyle didn't last for the program and so I told them how awesome I was when I got home. :) The afternoon consisted of getting ready for Primary the next day and getting ready for Kyle's adult Christmas party at The Palliser! I had been so excited for this since we found out. A chance to dress up, eat fancy food, and ditch our son for a night out- plus a free room at a gorgeous hotel... who wouldn't be excited. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a dress from Eva's sister who was pregnant at Bret and Eva's wedding so it was perfect! We got to The Palliser and quickly checked in and checked out the room before heading down for end of the cocktail hour... probably should have stayed in our room for a bit longer as we kind of stood getting asked what we were drinking... ok, not so much the pregnant chick, but you get the picture. They did the party with 2 other dealerships. All 3 dealerships have the same owners so there were a lot of people there. We found a few of the younger guys to sit with and settled down for an INCREDIBLE 4 hour meal. I had emailed the hotel earlier in the week to request a gluten free meal and they did not disappoint. They didn't have to change too many things, which is always nice, and I got one on one attention from a server all night. We had a delicious tomato soup (which some dumb girl kept insisting that is tasted like spaghetti sauce... some people's kids...) a beautiful salad- really, it was like art on a plate. I didn't want to mess it up. For the main course we had some super good cut of steak (can't remember which one...) and veggies. Everybody had this weirdo mushroom gravy (not really weird, just saying that because I hate mushrooms), but they just did more of like some natural juices for mine. IT WAS SOOOOOOO GOOD... and while I am pregnant, I can hardly eat meat most of the time. Kyle said mine was better. That made me happy. For dessert they had these dark chocolate tarts with fruit that looked so good, but they had their chef make me creme brulee with fresh berries that was absolutely to die for. Nobody at our table could eat like half of their tart because it was so rich and they were pretty jealous of me. He he. I kept reminding them that at the beginning when I was starving to death, they all ate fresh buns that smelled delicious! Ok, so I am sorry that I went on and on about food. I might just have to eat something now... Oh, before I forget. During dinner, they gave a few awards out for years of service, salesman of the year, etc. and they also made us play a version of Family Feud. The winner of the table got to take home the centerpiece. It was pretty fun hearing what people wrote down. We did a sheet together and Kyle totally rocked it. The funniest questions were "what are the first five things that guy's notice about girls?" and "what are the top five things that wives nag their husbands about?" and "what are the five things that people do at work that they should do at home" So... although we totally won, a guy at our table stole the centerpiece (we didn't really mind) because he wanted to put the ornaments on his tree. Now if that doesn't make you laugh... I don't know what will. They had a dance after dinner, but because it was nearly eleven we headed up to bed because we had to get up early to drive back for church and to rescue Grandma from Deakon. Our bed was so comfortable, but we got an awful sleep. Our window was right outside of the train tracks and Kyle insisted on sleeping with the window open because he was hot so we got to listen to trains all night. How romantic, right? Ha ha, ok here are some pics.

Ryan, who stole the centerpiece, in the elevator:

Checking into the room:

Cheesy room picture!

I wanted to take some pictures on the way to the hotel... not sure why, but this is what we came up with:

I told Kyle he could do whatever face he wanted... hoping for a smile. I am only slightly disappointed:

In the lobby at the hotel:

Marilyn and Kirsten flew in from Ontario on the 20th for a few weeks and so we planned a dinner in Calgary with everyone for the 21st. We ended up at Nick's and had a really fun time at dinner catching up with everyone. Deakon and Brodie were a bit crazy (ok... mostly just Deakon... let's be honest) so I let Deakon take some pictures while I was trying to finish eating. I am so excited that Erin is having a baby just days after us! They are having another girl so it will be fun to have kids the same age. We were really sad that we weren't able to see you guys more... we got back from Utah the night before they headed back to Ontario. Enjoy my artistic son's pictures:

Grandma and Erin:

Kylyn, Kirsten, Stacey, Stacey's boyfriends(don't hate me... I am bad at names):

Deakon was totally loving Brodie. Kyle needed some practice for baby number 2:

I thought I did so good taking this picture of everyone... AND MARILYN and Stacey's guy ARE LEANING BACK!!! I wish I would have taken more. :(

We had a great week before Christmas! Stay tuned for more!!!