2012 begins with the celebration of my Grandma's birthday.  This year we planned a little surprise and pretty much crashed her house with minimal notice.  It was a fun day, we love you Grandma!

 Notice the Rock on Alli's finger.  She got engaged the day before.  And below is Grandma reading letters we all wrote her.  If you know my Grandma, you know there were a lot of happy tears ;o)

Bryce was thrilled to have a couple cousins there to play with.  And part of the trip I got to hang out with cousins as well.  They have always been a huge part of my life, and though I don't get to see them as often as I use to, I am so grateful for the times I do get to spend with them.

 Above is Bryce with Caitlin, and below is a water polo game we went to of Court's.

 Here's the happy couple, we'll be returning in March for their wedding!  Yeah!

The last night of 2011!

I want to share this fantastic idea! If you love food, like I do, you'll love this!

On New Year's Eve, the small group of us went on a little restaurant tour, where each of us got to choose one place, order one thing off the menu, and then we all share that one plate / dessert / whatever the case may be. It took several hours, but it was so fun, and pretty inexpensive. Each person pays for their choice, great group date idea... Though I think 4-6 people would be ideal.
Bryce chose first and he chose the enormous pizookie at BJ's. With a little encouragement from me. At BJ's mom also ordered hers, which was this Chinese salad that is fantastic! Then we went to Tahoe Joe's for dad's pick, where he ordered a steak a la Cart. So yummy! I love a good steak. I kept things a little simply, but I just might be Chipotle's biggest fan, and I ordered each person one chicken soft taco. Ty wanted sweet potato fries, but we didn't have time, but had we the time, that's what he'd have chosen. Emily picked sushi, the jalapeno and the Joel - Rolls, each person getting two bites. And we ended with Lisa's choice at Sticky Rice, where she ordered some fried rice that rivals some of the best I've ever head, Hong Kong included!

Side note: At the sushi place we got miso soup with extra tofu - Bryce loves Miso and Tofu!

After all the fun and eating, we headed home to greet cousins who came to play games and share mom's traditional new Year's drink! Great, great, great way to end the year, and wonderful people to be with to welcome in the New!

Our clean kid ;o)

Bryce is such a funny kid. After cleaning up the branches of our Christmas tree (see previous post) there were needles that required sweeping. Once I realized Bryce had been trapped by the mess, I had to get a video. This little kid does not like to get dirty. And I love him even more for it!

Couple last things of 2011

Bryce helped me dispose of our Christmas tree. What a helper! It took me about 10 minutes to clean the sap off his hands, thankfully it was just his hands and not the walls and furniture ;o)
For the record, we did love our live Christmas tree.

This is the advent calendar I grew up with. I decided to let Bryce position the pieces all by himself. As you can see, this year we had flying shepherds, a dead sheep, and a more social Holy Family, mingling outside the stable :o)

Christmas is so much fun with a child in the house!

The train museum!

One great thing about Christmas on a Sunday, is that Ty gets the following Monday off! So we headed to Sacramento to the train museum... But this time made the trip even cooler for Bryce.The train picked up Bryce, Grandma and Poppy, and while they rode the train to the museum, Emily, Ty and I drove the car. The train was empty enough that Poppy took Bryce to talk to the conductor who let Bryce sit in the driver's seat, is that what it's called? Anyway, they let them toot the whistle and everything. Bryce had such a great time!


Who knows how long this phase of Bryce's will last,? I think it's so great when kids love something so much and makes them punch-happy excited!

Christmas!

This year we changed our traditional carolling a bit and invited a few other families to join us. Also, instead of visiting the same families we have for years, (sorry to those who were waiting for us) we instead walked around my neighborhood singing to complete strangers. I have to be honest, I wasn't totally thrilled to knock on the doors of strangers. But I have to say, this was the best part of my Christmas. No one was unhappy to see us, and there were a handful of people who seemed so grateful we had come. We even had a few people cry, one lady try to give us money, and a few who seemed so lonely and without family... What a blessing it was to me, to see how a simple song about Christ could make someone feel loved and happy. I am so grateful to have had this experience, and I hope to repeat it every year to come. Christmas Eve was quiet, and perfect. We had dinner, read the Christmas story in Luke 2, opened a present, set out cookies and milk for Santa, then off to bed. Bryce is beginning to get excited about it all. My favorite part about Santa this year is the look on his face when he found the cookies half eaten... ...Still not sure if he was confused, or bugged about Santa getting cookies and he didn't.

Thank you Santa! Bryce's favorite thing was his harmonica! He's pretty good too!We started a new tradition this year, crepes for breakfast! Delicious!After church we took presents and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Biggs' house for the rest of the day. I'm not sure the car has ever been so full!A couple presents were captured on camera: Hit sticks and a Thomas suitcase.

...And an Emily train!

It was a wonderful Christmas! So grateful for the season to

celebrate Jesus and the time with family!

Saw this on my uncle's fridge...

... thought I'd pass it on ;o)