Christmas Catch-up (a.k.a. photo extravaganza)

Before the year ends I thought I'd post a bunch of pictures from the week before Christmas.

I drove the little ones down to Idaho and Utah by myself. I thought it was going to be scary, but all went well. The kids did great in the car and we made it safely to our destinations. Mike had a company Christmas party he had to attend in Portland, so he flew from there to Salt Lake and we met up at his parents house. Here are some pictures of our week.

Every time we go to Utah, we eat out way more than we ever do at home and that's because there aren't any good restaurants where we live! We went to a new Indian Buffet called The Kathmandu and it was delicious. Mike ate more than anyone. Indian food is his favorite, so it was no surprise he could barely walk out the door of the place. All of Mike's siblings (minus Jeremy) were in town for the holiday so we got to hang out with all of them.

Vessel and I looking at the jewelry at the restaurant. (courtesy of Karen)

Later that day, after some shopping at Whole Foods (I really wish we had that store here in G-Funk) and Barnes & Noble for some raw food cookbooks, we stopped off at Iceberg drive-in for a shake. Iceberg was a couple of blocks away from our old apartment, and I remember many walks down there with Mike back in the day. This, apparently, is only a "regular" size shake.

The 'rents.

Here I am with one of my favorite kids.

Mike with one of his favorite kids.

Aw, presh....

Some family pictures. Big smiles from the whole crew.

Here is Dave demonstrating his "taking things apart and then putting them back together" skills. The Duck Hunt gun was broken, but guess what? Dave fixed it! Way to go. We spent many hours playing old school Nintendo that week. And when I say "we" I mean "I."

Kat held up the stockings she brought for her and Aiden, but Mike and I couldn't help but think the carrots slightly resembled the cone bra from Madonna's earlier days.

Vessel and his cousin have a love-hate relationship, but had a great time playing together for the most part. (courtesy of Mom Bates)

Kat, Jenny, and my little Jakey. (courtesy of Jenny)

Beautiful sisters.

Jenny was on leave from the Air Force to spend a couple of weeks with the family so she was getting lots of pictures with everyone.

On Christmas Eve, we helped the boys make and frost sugar cookies for Santa. It was my first time making sugar cookies, believe it or not.

After the boys were in bed, it didn't take long for the cookies to disappear.

Even the celery was devoured....by the reindeer of course.

Christmas morning.

The kiddos' stockings.

Karen!

Vessel couldn't wait to open presents.

Jakey with Gramma.

Loving the cute smile. He got his first tooth that day!

First time opening gifts. Obviously, he didn't know what to do.

This picture just makes me laugh because it looks like Karen is applausing so politely and Dave looks like he's giving her a confused look.

Jenny got a puzzle for Christmas. And a box of Special K. Actually, two boxes of Special K. She sure hit the jackpot this year. :)

More gift opening by the lil'un.

And some gift opening by the big'un.

Christmas couldn't be complete without a family pyramid shot.

Jakey wanted to go sledding.

Brothers!

Danny served his mission in Guatemala, so his desire was to make us some authentic Guatemalan tamales. Here they are in all their glory.

And here I am feeding my face whilst giving the peace sign.

More sibling shots.

THE END

The Close of Another Year

We're winding down to the last days of 2010. I feel 2011 coming on strong. It's gonna be a good year. I am making a promise to myself and to you, dear readers, that I'm going to post WAAAAY more stuff on my blog. It's gonna be good, real good. As for now, though, I'm just going to leave you with these thoughts. Sometimes I wish I was the beautiful Emily Haines. I have a thing for hawt girl lead singers (think Hayley Williams, Kristen Hersh, Gwen Stefani, Neko Case, Lacey Mosley....you get the picture.) And when I say I have a "thing" for these gals, I merely mean I like their music, their style and their overall rock awesomeness. I love a good female lead singer. Girl power!....uh...ur....yeah. Did I just say that? Anyhoo, enjoy this here picture and link to a song I really like by Metric feat. Emily Haines. Toodles!

I lurve THIS SONG. <----------- yup, you gotsta click the linky link.

It Had To Be Done

The annual Christmas picture with Santa. It was J-man's first time. These pictures are such a rip-off, but I just had to have it. I'm a scrapbooker, ya know.

The Boy Child Reads

If you've got 5 minutes to spare, check out this vid of V reading. Oh, and you'll see Jakey, too.

Just a few recent pics

Vessel drew his family on his magnetic drawing board. (He's had that drawing board for about 3 1/2 years now and it's starting to show.)

All bundled up.

We got Jacob a Bumbo chair about 2 months ago but he doesn't seem to like it much. The only time he tolerates it is if one of us is feeding him. He started eating some solids about 3 weeks ago. Sometimes it's like you can't shovel it in fast enough for him.

Dear Santa

Here is Vessel's letter to Santa. You might have to click on the image to make it larger. This is what it says: "Dear Santa, I have been good. I want a spinning toothbrush. And a brain toy. And milk trains. Thank you! Love, Vessel"

Well, I think I know what a spinning toothbrush is, but the other two things? I'm clueless. I better figure it out soon though. Wouldn't want to disappoint the little tyke, right?

Irreverence

Jacob loves to laugh. And he laughs the most at Vessel. It doesn't matter what Vessel is doing, Jacob just laughs at him all the time. Sometimes it seems for no reason at all. Last night Vessel volunteered to say the family prayer. Throughout Vessel's entire prayer Jacob laughed like crazy. That, in turn, made everyone else laugh. We couldn't stop. And that just made Jacob laugh even more. It was too funny.

Randomosity

Thoughts and musings of my day today:

Salame.

It's been awhile.

It's wishing day all day today.

I love guacamole.

Remember ska punk?

I want a king size bed.

I hate it when people feel left out. It's sad.

Frozen leftover Halloween chocolate=yummy little treat after dinner.

Drain is clogged. Must be all that hair I'm losing. I might need Rogaine for women.

My freckles are starting to come out. Or are those just age spots?

Remember rubber cement? Ah, grade school....

I like meatless meat.

How hard is it to flush the toilet? I mean, seriously kid.

What am I passionate about? Good question....

Should I have more kids?

New goal=Stop being ashamed

Chi

Toss this all together, add some corn chips and cheese and you've got yourself some randomosity nachos.

Jacob

First time in the leaves

Not a big fan, apparently, since he's trying to escape.

Me with my sweet baby

Cute red jammies

Bald spot and "bear" bottom

Aaaaaoooooooo!

Halloween pics a week and a half late:

We threw an awesome Halloween shindig this year (for adults only.) Food, decorations, music, dancing, games, prizes....It was fun. A lot of stress for me, but still a lot of fun. :)

Here is the hubs posing as Buccaneer Bones.

I didn't get many pictures of the party, unfortunately. But here is one of the couples with their homemade costumes. They rocked!

Emily brought cupcake hamburgers

Terri brought deviled eyeballs.

Here's my little V at the ward carnival

And here we are as a fam. Lookin' goooooood.

Punkins