First Christmas as Mr. & Mrs. Peirce

It has been such a great holiday break for us. Once we finally made it to Utah we spent a couple days in Logan and then a few days in Kaysville with Stephens family. We did quite a bit of driving back and forth that two weeks but it was so nice having both of our families so close together. Stephen and I had a list of four movies we wanted to watch while we were back in the states. They were catching fire, the hobbit, thor 2, and enders game. All of them were awesome! I miss going to the movies. We made a habit of going to the 3$ night movies on Tuesdays the summer before moving here. It was always a lot of fun. One night while staying in Kaysville we drove to see the Layton lights and then just drove around for a bit getting lost and looking at the lights on peoples homes. It was so nice to have the freedom to get in the car and drive around wherever we wanted to go and whenever we wanted to. The Sunday before Christmas we went to Stephen's parents ward for church in the morning. It was nice visiting with some of his favorite people from home. Then we headed to Logan and went to my parents ward. That evening we were at Stephen's grandmas with his family. She was so surprised to see us. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of her hugging Stephen. It was the most precious moment. She was so excited to have him home. We had turkey dinner, played some games and watched his parents, aunt, and uncle open their presents from his grandma. It was a really fun night.
The rest of the week before Christmas we spent with my family. We celebrated Jesse's birthday and had a big steak and shrimp dinner one night. We were also able to go to the Temple one time and it was really nice being able to go back. We really miss living right across the street from it. On Christmas Eve we had a great thanksgiving style dinner. Stephen and I left for about an hour or so and got some last minute gifts for everyone. Christmas Eve was perfect because the entire family was all together. We felt very blessed to be able to be home to see our families. On Christmas morning we opened presents and had our traditional Christmas breakfast with my family. That afternoon was when we went to the hobbit and then came home and had cheese, crackers, and apple slices for dinner. That is always my favorite little treat at Christmas time. Overall Christmas was wonderful. Stephen got me a very pretty snowflake necklace. I got us both a home t-shirt so that we can remember home while we finish out our stay here in Beautiful Dominica.
After Christmas we spent one more day with my family and took some family photos, then had a delicious family dinner at the Elements. The next day we headed off to Vegas with Stephen's family to visit his sister for the weekend. That was a lot of fun. We played games and spent a lot of quality time together. Us girls were able to go do some shopping together while the boys did house work and played with the kids. One night we all went to the strip and saw the botanical gardens at the Bellagio. It was really cool. Then we went and did my favorite thing there is to do in Vegas and watched the Bellagio fountains. It was really nice being with his whole family for a few days. It was a really busy couple weeks and we loved every minute of it!

We got the white Christmas we wanted!

 Stephen with Clay and Kaylee!