Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful Christmas. The Thursday night before we left for San Diego we had our own tiny family celebration. That night happened to be a rather large snow storm which made it extra fun to turn on the holiday music and open our gifts to each other. Gift highlights included a Thomas the train backpack/ rolling suticase (to be taken on the airplane the next day), a beautiful Kitchen-aid mixer that I have been wanting for forever, and some workout clothes and a flash drive. It was a nice night.




Friday we left for San Diego and boy oh boy was Kai excited. He had been asking every few hours for the last 2 weeks when we were going to go on the airplane. He had a great time being spoiled by Grandma Grandpa Whitney. Some highlights of Kai's trip included a trip to Sea World with just Grandma and Grandpa, the Holiday Bowl luncheon, parade, and actual game, and finally getting to open up all those presents.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to our final Christmas celebration at Lance's parents. The dinner tradition there is fondue and we look forward to it all year.

Enjoying the Lights

Last week we went to Temple Square to check out the lights with the YW from Church. This picture is courtesy of Amber. Thank you! :)

Over the last few days we've also enjoyed Lance's firm Christmas Party (yummy as usual), the Pep vs BYU Basketball game at BYU (Kai LOVED our behind the Pep bench seats and even gave the Cougar a high 5 which is huge for him), 2 extended family Christmas parties, caroling with a big group in our neighborhood, the RS Christmas Party, and helping assemble some fruit baskets. It's been busy, but fun.

Where Is Monkey George Going?

"Ummm.. to San Diego to see Grandma Grandpa Whitney." Kai told me very seriously the other day.

Video Attempt

Here is our first attempt at posting a video. This was taken the other day at our house when Kai's buddy Amanda came over to play.



And here is a picture of the two of them having a little cracker break later:

Weekend Excitement

Highlights of our weekend included:

-Kai enjoyed time and got good reports from two different babysitters on Thursday and Friday night. The holiday season has begun.



-Lance and Ashleigh went on an actual official date on Friday night to a John Schmidt concert at Kingsbury Hall. This guy is amazing. In addition to simply being an amazing pianist he throws in all kinds of extra entertainment like playing the piano with his hands crossed while laying upside down on the bench. The snow started falling while we were at the performance so when we left it was quite the winter wonderland.

-Due to the beautiful snow our power went out some time while we were sleeping Friday night and didn't come back on until around 1:45pm. It was starting to get chilly in our house and of course many of the items on my Saturday to do list involved things that needed power.

-While the power was out we decided to get out of the cold for a bit and go get Kai and Lance haircuts, so they are both sporting fresh cuts that look very handsome.

-Saturday night we had an interesting adventure attempting to get to a wedding reception in Lance's parents neighborhood. At our house the snow had stopped falling long ago and the roads were clear, but in his parents steep and hilly neighborhood it was snowy and slippery. We made it to and from totally safe and sound, but it made for some interesting moments for other cars that didn't have 4-wheel drive.

-Now it is on to a new week full of holiday preparation. It is a busy time of year, but it is so much fun.

Saturday is for Snow

So remember our post from last Saturday and how much snow there was. Now here is a picture of what was left by yesterday (Friday):


And here are some pictures from today:




(Lance doesn't mess around with a tiny snowman)






For those who are observant you may have noticed in one of the top pictures that our neighbors have a Chargers flag flying. Our other neighbor a couple of houses up the street is also from San Diego. You can sort of see him in the background of this picture. He was shoveling in shorts and his SDSU sweatshirt this morning. :)

Jam Session

Just a warning to Grandma and Grandpa Whitney (this is how he tells us he is talking about his San Diego grandparents)that Kai has been having his own practice jam sessions in anticipation of our upcoming visit.

A Snowy Return

Kai and I returned from our trip on Friday morning and then on Saturday morning we woke up to a great snow storm. It really helped put us quickly back in the mind frame of Winter and getting ready for the Holidays. We spent Saturday putting up our decorations, listening to Christmas music, and getting in to the holiday spirit. Kai and Lance also did a bunch of shoveling. Note Kai's tool for shoveling. He loves it all- especially the snow and the Christmas tree. Here are some pictures:











Like most people it looks like it is going to be a busy month for us. We took some time on Sunday to put things on our calendar for the month and it was quickly inked up with special activites on top of all of the normal things. We are going to be talking about this very topic in this month's neighborhood Mother's Education Class that I go to. In other words how to find organization and time to reflect on the true meaning of the celebrations in the midst of all the busyness. Anyone have any good tips? We will also repeat an activity that we did at this time last year. Everyone brings 1 favorite inexspensive household item wrapped up as a present. Then we do a gift exchange with those items and explain why we love those things so much. It was a great and fun way to get some new ideas/ tips last year. People brought everything from a favorite recipe to a favorite cleaning product etc.

Happy 30th Birthday Daddy!

Lance had his big 3 - 0 Birthday on Thanksgiving Day! We love him very much and are so glad that we got to spend some special time in HI with him on his birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy! Here is to a great start to the 30's!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Brice!

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Brice on November 21! To celebrate we went on a hike and had a super yummy dinner at Tommy Bahamas.

We Made It!

These were the words Kai exclaimed as he exited the plane in HI upon our arrival and our words upon our return. The other passengers on the plane found this quite amusing. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving trip on the Big Island. Much time was spent playing in the ocean and pools, eating super yummy food, playing and hugging cousins, and loving on grandparents. It was a great trip! Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson for more great memories in HI. Here are just a few of the MANY pictures that tell the story better.

Only 45 minutes to go until they come get us to go on the airplane, but he's going to keep an eye out just incase:


Lots of time spent enjoying the sunsets and playing in the grass in the back:


Some Surfing:


Riding on the Slides:


Taking a Swim Break:


Riding the Boat:


Golfing:




Hiking to the Black Sand Beach:








Happy Thanksgiving:


Dancing:


Loving Cousins (One 4 year old, Three 2 year olds, and One 7 month old):






Aloha!: