Okay, yes, we have more current news to publish today (it's actually February 12), but I figured I'd finish this post first, just to keep things in their proper (and continually late) order! We left Utah on the Monday after Christmas, slept in Tuesday morning and repacked, then Wednesday set out to visit Ryan's family in Hayward for New Year's! 
His mom had totally decorated the house for the holidays, which was about ten times more decorating than I've done in my entire life! It was very cool. Our first full day there we went with Ryan's dad down to the wrecking yard. The kids had a blast, playing on every piece of equipment, and stepping in every greasy puddle they could find. 
We also finally took a trip to the Oakland Zoo, which we had been meaning to do ever since we were married, but never got around to it. I think it's one of my favorite zoos that I've been to - it doesn't try to have one of everything, but focuses on exhibits (and species) that do well in captivity and show well. We'll definitely go back! 
Ryan's family took the kids to Toys R Us for a late Christmas shopping spree (plus a bunch of cool toys and crafts they'd already bought them), which kept the kids pretty busy at the house. Elise especially loved this tent, and her Wonder Pets paint set. Connor liked the paint set too, actually, but we insisted that it was her present, not his (he seems to enjoy taking over her stuff.) He got a set of Lincoln Logs, a spin art kit, and this cool sock puppet project, which he did with Bomi and Aunt Helena! 
On one of our last nights there, Ryan rummaged around upstairs and got out the family train set from when he was a kid. It was cute. He and Connor spent a couple hours playing with these trains, and ended with a pretty impressive setup. 
It was an awesome trip - really nice to just hang out with everyone. I'll admit, though, that it was kind of pleasant to come home after three weeks of traveling!
Christmas Day was busy, but somehow still relaxing. We did a big Christmas dinner, the preparation of which took up quite a bit of the day. Other than that, we opened presents and hung out with family. Here is the Christmas morning scene (note the adorable little juniper Christmas tree.) 
The kids dumped out their stockings first, which included crayons, flashlights, and, of course, candy. 
Connor and Elise received so many wonderful gifts from friends and family, we have to say thank you to everyone for their generosity. Caught in these pictures, though, are Connor's toy dinosaurs and "big kid" tool set, and Elise's playsilks, new pajamas, and baby doll. (Plus, of course, the crocheted Goomba Kelli made for Kevin.)
Ryan got me an I.O.U. for a new couch (which we now have, and it's fabulous.) 
I got Ryan the new Super Mario Wii, but that didn't make it onto the camera for some reason. Connor was very excited to give Kelli this ball of rainbow yarn he found at the store. The moment he saw it on the shelf, he ran up and said "We should get this for Kelli!" It took all his self control not to tell her about it in the days before Christmas. 
After our meal, and a trip to see the new house, we went to Grandma Cloe's where she gave us all these great handmade hats! They came in very handy, given how stinkin' cold it was up there. 
Oh, and then my brothers did this. Yeah, I guess we're related. 
Wonderful Christmas, wonderful trip.
This year we got to spend Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa up in Utah! Now, as a rule, we don't like to do Christmas away from home, but we figured that since we didn't make it up for Thanksgiving, and since I'll be pretty busy in February (when we traditionally go up to see real winter), the sensible thing was to do the holidays in Utah! Our first activity was to get Connor his first professional haircut, and heaven knows he needed it. I've been the one to cut his hair since he was a baby, but I've never pretended to know how. So, this was a combination mercy gift and educational experience for mom. Hopefully my efforts in the future will be a little bit better! 
From the first day we arrived, Connor was bugging Grandma to make "gingerbread men" with him. This was a big deal. They had to be gingerbread men, like in the story. So, Grandma explained that gingerbread was NOT the same as sugar cookie dough, and when he expressed his full understanding of that fact, she bought cookie cutters and made a batch of (mostly unspiced, for the kids' sake) homemade gingerbread. Connor came running to taste the dough, with pure joy on his face, but was extremely unimpressed. It tasted funny, he said, and he didn't like it. Soooo, Grandma put the dough in the fridge and proceeded to make another full batch of sugar cookie dough. It passed the Connor taste test, so the kids cut out the shapes, then later decorated their creations. Here they are looking proud. 
Elise insisted she wanted half a bottle of sprinkles on her cookies, then decided she didn't like sprinkles, and proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes scraping them out of the frosting with her finger. Yeah, the grown-ups didn't eat many of these.
We were blessed with plenty of snow to play in, and got to go see Grandma and Grandpa's new house in the countryside (they actually closed on it while we were there!) 
After Ryan joined us, a couple days before Christmas, he went with Connor and Chuck to cut a Christmas tree. My parents own property in the middle of nowhere that's covered with juniper trees, and although it was a little unconventional-looking, the little tree they picked was awesome. They unfortunately got stuck in the snow, since they made this trip during the beginnings of a blizzard (at Ryan's insistence), but they did make it out eventually. 
On Christmas Eve, Ryan made our traditional Christmas Crab (here he is cracking the leftovers),
and we all had the opportunity to paint wooden ornaments for the tree. Kyle and Kelli were there, and Uncle Kevin came down from Salt Lake to spend a couple days, so it was really cool to be together.
It was a great Christmas Eve!
His mom had totally decorated the house for the holidays, which was about ten times more decorating than I've done in my entire life! It was very cool. Our first full day there we went with Ryan's dad down to the wrecking yard. The kids had a blast, playing on every piece of equipment, and stepping in every greasy puddle they could find. 
We also finally took a trip to the Oakland Zoo, which we had been meaning to do ever since we were married, but never got around to it. I think it's one of my favorite zoos that I've been to - it doesn't try to have one of everything, but focuses on exhibits (and species) that do well in captivity and show well. We'll definitely go back! 
Ryan's family took the kids to Toys R Us for a late Christmas shopping spree (plus a bunch of cool toys and crafts they'd already bought them), which kept the kids pretty busy at the house. Elise especially loved this tent, and her Wonder Pets paint set. Connor liked the paint set too, actually, but we insisted that it was her present, not his (he seems to enjoy taking over her stuff.) He got a set of Lincoln Logs, a spin art kit, and this cool sock puppet project, which he did with Bomi and Aunt Helena! 
On one of our last nights there, Ryan rummaged around upstairs and got out the family train set from when he was a kid. It was cute. He and Connor spent a couple hours playing with these trains, and ended with a pretty impressive setup. 
It was an awesome trip - really nice to just hang out with everyone. I'll admit, though, that it was kind of pleasant to come home after three weeks of traveling!
