Christmas Break

Well, Steve finished his exams on Friday, December 18th and we flew out bright and early the next morning.... at 6:50..... Sure 6:50 might not seem that early to some people, but when you take into consideration that we live about an hour from the airport AND it was the weekend before Christmas AND it was supposed to be snowing.... We ended up leaving at about 3:45. Now you can't argue that THAT is not super early!!!

Thanks so much to our friends the Carters who drove us to the airport so bright (actually, dark... why do they say "bright and early"? It's not light that early... that is one reason it is so miserable....) and early!

Robby did quite well on the airplane. I was relieved.

One nice thing about leaving so early was that, with the time change, we arrived in Utah by 9:30a.m.! We were a bit tired, but excited to spend that first day with our families. That night we had our Toller Family Christmas party.

We were sure to get a picture of the four generations.... three of which are Robert Tollers.

Notice how Robby has his bottom lipped sucked in? He was doing this a lot that week leading up to Christmas. He also continued to chew like crazy on everything, as he had been doing the previous weeks. Everyone told me he was probably teething.

A few days before Christmas, my family (along with Steve's brother Adam) got together and made gingerbread houses!

I had planned to make a gingerbread train that night, but ended up taking care of a hungry and tired Robby. So, my nephew Kyler helped me make it on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve we had a little shindig with my family.  My parents bought a new house over the summer.  It was so fun to be together with everyone and actually have enough room for all of us!

We had a night full of food.......conversation.....

....singing Christmas songs....

...during which my niece Kahri just couldn't resist the urge to dance.....

.....a talent show....

...featuring break dancing by my nephew Kyler....

....which quickly turned into everyone dancing to Michael Jackson....

.....followed by the amazing musical talents of my three brothers.......

(They sang/played a rendition of Joy to the World. It was seriously so awesome!...watch the video below...)

(sucking that lip in again, eh, Robby?)

Robby was so excited for his first Christmas that he hardly slept at all that night! (Riiiiggghhhtt......I'm sure that's why he was up all night......)

Christmas morning.......

(showing off his cool trick Daddy taught him....Not even 5 months old and already standing! haha.....and sucking in that lip yet again....)

Enjoying the contents of his stocking...

Later that day we headed over to the Tollers, and then we all went over to visit Grandpa Toller (Steve's Grandpa, Robby's Great Grandpa-- Robert Toller #1).

Grandpa helped Robby open his present from Great Grandpa.

It was a nice Christmas. So nice to be able to be with our families and enjoy time together.

Robby got so spoiled in those weeks we were out there. He was a little nervous around all the new people when we first got out there, but by the end, he was loving all the attention and had warmed up to everyone.

We headed back to Ohio on January 6th. It was sad to say good bye, but we left with lots of new memories, a suitcase full of Christmas presents, a spoiled, but well-loved Robby......

...and TWO NEW TEETH!