What have I been doing all day while my kids destroy my almost clean house? Blogging of course! I have ear infections and just want to sleep, but my kids are making that impossible so I figure laying on the couch blogging is about the most productive I am going to be today.

We had such an amazing Christmas! We started out with our Santa gifts and stockings, then we moved on to the gifts from Grandma and Papa Bowman and Aunt Laura and Uncle Mark's family. What a haul! They got so many things to do arts and crafts with. That is their love lately - especially Jayne. We didn't do Christmas for our girls or each other this year because we are going to Disneyland in February. The girls didn't get much at my mom's either because my parent's gave us our Disneyland passes for Christmas. The real fun for them was when Josh and Dyan and Duffy and Marie Anne came. They were spoiled at that point!

We went up to my parent's at 9am and ate Monkey Bread (Bowman family tradition) then we opened our gifts quickly so we would be ready to talk to Katie at 10am. She called and asked how we liked our "Confederate Christmas". We had no idea what she was talking about. We realized that my dad hadn't picked up the mail for a few days. Jay ran over to the mailbox while we all spoke to her on speaker phone. We opened the box and each unwrapped our gifts while we spoke to her. It was fun. We got so many confederate flags, aprons, license plates (for the girls little Jeep), pocketknives, socks, etc. It was hysterical! We only got to talk to her for a half hour, but it was wonderful. At the end we sang our family song and she bore her testimony to us. The Spirit was so strong. It really made Christmas wonderful!

We prepared homemade tacos (Clifford style) for our taco eating contest while we took turns playing Guitar Hero III. I decided to use it as a walking excercise video to loose some weight before the taco contest. I was rocking out and jumpin' all over the place. Jessie has video that could definitely be used as blackmail. That's ok. I am ok in my uniqueness!

Elder Craig and Elder Baird showed up just in time to join in the contest. We had all eaten so much that morning and the night before that it was really hard to down the delicious tacos. I ate 15 and came in second place to Josh who ate 18. I did eat a lot of toppings on them and I had rice and beans too. I think we were about even. It definitely wasn't my record.

After dinner we opened gifts with Duffy & Marie Anne and Josh & Dyan. The big gifts this year were shoes for Willie, an SKS for Dad, and a record turntable that records digitally to your computer for my mom. It was a great Christmas.

We went and saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks" in the afternoon. The girls LOVED it!

It was such a wonderful day to spend with those we love! We miss the rest of our family and friends and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com