Clap Those Hands

Here is Kai first getting to break in to his other new Leapfrog toy- it has legs it can stand on or it can be flat like this. As you can tell he was very excited. Yeah for toys that make learning fun!

Merry Christmas

We had a great trip and Christmas Day in San Diego. We spent the last few days in San Diego enjoying the great weather, going to Sea World, going to Church, talking to great-grandparents in IL on the phone, enjoying great feasts prepared by my Mom, and watching Kai dance and play. Kai was apparently a very good boy this year because he was swimming in cool gifts- a bike, tons of puppy stuff, some super neat Leapfrog stuff, and on and on. In my family we go around in a circle opening gifts. Since Kai is the youngest he gets to go first. When it would return to him he would often seem a bit confused about having to put down his latest tressure to go on to the next. The present part of Christmas really is so much more fun with little ones around.

We flew back to SLC late Christmas night and are now looking forward to our second Christmas celebration with Lance's family tomorrow. Lance and his 2 siblings all have spouses from out of state so this year we were all able to coordinate our holiday schedules. It is nice to be able to stretch out the holiday a little longer after all the anticipation.

We've enjoyed getting home and finding more holiday cards giving us updates and photos from friends from the different adventures life has taken us on so far. It is great to hear what everyone is up to. We feel very blessed.

Sunny San Diego

Lance joined us last night and boy was it great to see him. Today we hung out at a park by the ocean, ate some yummy food and just had fun hanging out. Another beautiful day in sunny San Diego.

San Diego

Kai and I arrived in San Deigo on Sunday afternoon. We are having a good time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Whitney. Yesterday we went to the Poinsettia Bowl- Kai's 2nd Poinsettia Bowl. Kai is already swimming in toys and we haven't even had Christmas yet. That is the joy of being the oldest/ only grandchild I guess.

Santa

We had our Church Christmas Breakfast this morning.

Santa made a visit.

In theory Santa is super wonderful. In reality Santa is super scary.

Christmas Prep

Last weekend we put up our Christmas decorations and Kai has been loving it. So far he has been fairly gentle with the tree and ornaments which has been a bit of a surprise. He loves helping Lance water the tree- he gets down just like Lance and likes to look like he's doing something important under there.

Last night the 3 of us had dinner with Wes and Amy and then went and looked at the lights at the Gateway and Temple Sqaure. It was great- not too cold and beautiful. Afterward we went back to their house to check out Wes's new under the tree Christmas train. Kai thought it was super cool.

It hasn't snowed here since we got back from our Thanksgiving trip so Kai and I have really been hoping that it would before we leave for San Diego. After Kai's bath tonight he and I took a look out the front door window to do a snow check and it was snowing. YEAH! We took this picture of Kai looking which we think turned out really great. So.....let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Kai's Latest Stats

Head Circumference - 60th percentile
Weight - 50th percentile
Height - Off the chart

And, best news of the day, Kai is expecting a baby boy cousin in April. "Finally, someone littler than me."

Was that your tummy rumbling?

On Thanksgiving morning we were sitting by the beach when a 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck, the epicenter of which was virtually right under us. I've heard earthquakes before in the sense of windows rattling and what not- but this one I really felt - my chair was bouncing along the ground. Anyway, no tsunami warning, thank goodness, I wasn't up for a swim.

I'm impressed with modern structural engineering - a 6.3 magnitude struck the same spot about a month ago, and we are more worried about the damage the little cousins could do to the place than the earthquake. I guess nothing is completely earthquake-proof, but its nice to know that modern buildings are relatively safe.

Home Again

We're all back in UT safe and sound. We had a fabulous time in HI and tried to soak up as much of the warmth as possible. Lance's parents accompanied Kai and I on the red-eye trip home. Once again he was quite the little traveler. We had to fly from Kona to Honolulu and then from Honolulu to SLC. The first flight went by quick with the help of some of his favorite puppy boooks. Then on the long flight he fell asleep as we were taking off and woke up about 10 minutes before we landed. I was very grateful. We returned to snow on the ground in UT which has really helped put me in the mood for Christmas.

Many thanks to Lance's parents for a magical trip. Kai had a great time playing with his cousins Jake, Kennedy, and Emmeline. His favorite memories are probably swimming, playing at the Beach Club, the Turtle (which he says quite clearly), the boat ride at the Hilton, the kid fridge, riding in the elevator at the Condo, and anything he did with his cousins- "Come on Emmyieee, it will be fun to go in the water I promise".