Christmas Break

This Christmas break was the best one that I've had in a long time! I didn't have to work. Ross didn't have to work. And we were able to spend a lot of time sleeping in and spending time together and with family and friends.

The first surprise of the break came on Tuesday the 21st of December when I woke up around 9:30 am surprised to see Ross standing in our bedroom. There had been a snow storm that hit the area pretty hard and the district had decided to cancel school for the day, so Ross got to start his Christmas break a day early.

The next big surprise came a couple days later when an old friend of mine, Mandy, showed up unexpectedly at our house. Mandy and I know each other from our CEU days. She and Lesley played basketball together for CEU, plus Mandy and I were in the same student ward (she was also my very first visiting teaching companion). Anyway, we had lost touch for the past few years and were able to connect again recently via email. She was in town for the Christmas break and decided to make a visit. I'm so glad she did! On the Monday after Christmas Mandy, Lesley and I were able to meet up and go to lunch together. It was so fun to get together again like old times! Here is a picture of us at he Thai restaurant that we ended up eating at.

During the week after Christmas we decided to go spend a couple days at my parents house. It snowed most of the time we were there so we didn't end up doing as much as we thought we would, but it was still fun.

On Thursday, Ross met up with his brothers for a "guy's day" since Kyle would be moving to Louisiana soon. They ate lunch at Tucano's and then when to see "True Grit" - a lunch full of meats and a remake of a John Wayne movie, what can be more manly than that?

One of the nights we were at my parents' house my brother took his wife out for her birthday, so my parents kept their kids overnight. So Leah got to have a slumber party with her cousins. Here she is with the other two babies that were born in 2010.The four kids just before bed time (actually this was probably taken well past bed time).

We also got to visit with the Turner's one evening during the break. We really enjoyed being able to spend some time with them. Being back in their home during the holidays felt just like old times.

Here are a couple of pictures we got of Hannah and Leah together while we were there. A couple of cuties.

It was so fun to have Lesley, Brian and Hannah back in town for the holidays. We didn't get to see them as much as I would have liked to, but we were still able to treasure the time we did have together. Hannah really liked Leah, whenever she saw her she would point to her and say, "Baby, Baby." Hopefully next time they are together Leah will be better at playing with her.

For New Year's Eve we were supposed to have dinner with Lesley's siblings, but the snow storms made the roads too dangerous to travel to her sister's house. So we missed out on spending time with them. We did go to Ross's mom's house to spend New Year's Eve with her, Kyle, Amy and Jackson. We ate pizza, played some games and went to bed right after midnight. The next day, more family members arrived so we could have the Leslie's traditional New Year's grilled salmon dinner (and steak for those of us who don't eat fish).

On the Monday after New Year's we went to say goodbye to Lesley, Brian and Hannah since they would be flying back to San Jose the next day. It was sad to have them leave again, but so nice to have them here for a little while. Here's some pictures we took that night...

But like all good things, this Christmas break went way too fast and now we are adjusting back to real life in 2011. I hope this year is as good for our family as 2010 was!