Christmas Trip

We were able to spend the Holidays in Washington this year. On December 19, all seven of flew out of Baltimore, paused in Salt Lake, and arrived in Seattle. By the time we checked into our hotel, it was 1am Seattle time, making it 4am Eastern time. Poor Jeremy had to be up and at the Bellevue office for a presentation at 8am that morning. Even though our bodies were exhausted, we still found ourselves waking up a 3am because of the time change. It was not a great night of sleep to put it mildly.

We stumbled through the next day, which was also Layton's 8th Birthday. While Jeremy was working we met up with family for a few hours before meeting him at the office for a Christmas party. After the party, we rushed (well we tried to rush in Seattle rush hour traffic) to meet up with J's mom & Grandpa, and my parents for a Very Zoopa Birthday Party. Afterward, even though our exhausted bodies protested, we took the kids swimming at Grandma G's hotel.

The next day was Layton's baptism. He was baptised in MV, at a very special all family baptism. When I say all family, I am including Kim B who is defiantly included as family. It was wonderful, and Layton was so happy. We had dinner and birthday cake afterwards. By the time we finished, we were all ready to sleep for days. The time change and late hours had caught up to us.

Saturday night I was able to meet up with some of my highschool cross country teammates. Brennan hosted. It was great to see everyone again, an catch up on eachother's lives.

On Monday everyone met at Isaac's for Christmas Eve. It was really nice to have everyone together at last. We used Grandpa's clam chowder recipe, and it was almost like having a part of him there with us. We missed him, but instead of sadness, we were able to smile and share memories. What a difference a year makes. Grandma is doing so well. She must have baked 100 batches of cookies and brought them in a Huge box, and doled them out throughout the evening. The kids ran wild, enjoying their cousins, and the rest of us visited and ATE.

Christmas was wonderful. The kids did not mind only opening Santa & stocking gifts this year, as our main gift was the trip. We drove up north to visit with Brennan's family Christmas day. It was really fun to be with them again. Grandma came over for dinner. I really enjoyed watching the relaxed relationship that she has with Brennan, Mary, and their kids. I am so glad that they are up there for her.

We continued to stay at the Rob's home until the 27th, at which time we packed up, cleaned up, and headed over to Isaac's place.

We spent the rest of the vacation there.

On Saturday we headed up to Crystal Mtn. for the B's cabin. Mom, Dad, Bren's family, Bren's friend Jared, & Isaac & his boys came. It was so much fun playing in the snow and sledding. We had to dig ourselves into the cabin. When we arrived, there wasn't even any place to park. Luckily, Isaac had the foresight to bring a snow shovel. Jeremy & Isaac cleared parking for the cars, and got I's hybrid unstuck while I brought the kids down the hill to the cabin where mom was making a fire. Just before we got down the hill, I hit a snow drift with the sled, and dumped Cora & Taylor face first into the snow. At the precise moment of the disaster, Kolby tripped and fell into the snow as well. We arrived at the cabin with three howling kids. Mom helped bring them all in, and I went back out to chop wood for the fire. After settling the kids at the cabin, I made four trips up and down the hill with gear, and the boys continued clearing the parking lot. On my last trip to the top, Brennan arrived. He couldn't have timed it more perfectly if he tried. With the work completed, we were able to spend the rest of the day playing in the snow. After dinner, we packed all of the gear back up the hill, and headed home. It was a lot of work for just one day, but it really was well worth it to spend the day as a family.

We had dinner with some very dear friends on Sunday. I got to see my best friend from childhood. It was really great to see the changes that she has made in her life, while we caught up, and reminisced about old times. Kim & Rick were great hosts, as they have always been. It was nice to spend some time with them. I would still dearly love to spend an afternoon baking with Rick, and glean some of his secrets. Especially his rolls...yum!

Another highlight of the trip was going with Grandma to buy her new car New Years Eve. We enjoyed spending the day with her, and then meeting Brennan & Mary's family for a late lunch.

We spent New Year's eve with Isaac's family, watching a memorable fireworks fiasco broadcast from the Space Needle.

On the 2nd we met up again with I's & B's families for a bowling adventure. I have to say, for all of the pro level wii bowlers that we had there, we were really quite terrible in real life. Jeremy won the game with with something like 114, Layton bumper bowled 109, and really the rest of us would like to forget our scores. It was some kind of crazy fun though. If you haven't bowled with 6 adults and 11 kids (18 mo. to 11 years), you haven't lived.

We spent some time with Mom & Dad on the 2nd. Layton got to use his new bb-gun, and ride in the Kaboda. Hannah even got to drive it. Afterward, we watched a really great movie, and returned to I's house.

We flew home on the third... What a great trip.