Mom, Dad, thank-you for letting me pause my life for a few weeks to enjoy a swirling vortex of fun and excitement. Thank-you for not laughing too hard when I showed up in flip-flops; transforming your living room into a huge playroom to keep the kids beyond happy; Brian and Casey thank-you for giving endless piggyback rides; letting us help you with homework; giving up rooms and playing mountains worth of games.  Heidi and Shane thanks for letting us be with you and for bringing Colson.  I could still just eat him up!  For those of you who read this, thanks for listening while I practice for the day when I win my first Oscar.

We were able to meet up with some friends from college who now live in Colorado too.  Through all the hustle and bustle I forgot to get picture of all of us, but Will did manage to sneak some pictures of the kids after church.  We spent part of a couple of days together.

Yes, Annie freed the piggies a little too early and I struggled to get any pictures where her hair didn’t look like she had just shocked herself via light socket.

Michael and Jen, we love you!  Thanks for letting us play!

Hammond’s Candy was a highlight of our Denver trip. It opened in 1902 so it will be celebrating 90 years this year.  We took a tour of the factory to see how they make the candy canes and other sweet treats.

Brian thought he could mess around and not pay the price.  I took care of it, probably with way less grace than was required.

My sister Heidi, Shane and her little guy came out to visit too!

The conclusion of the tour dumped out out into the store.  It looks like Sea World isn’t the only place where they try to ensure you don’t get out without buying plenty of things you don’t need.  They sure are delicious though!

Annie was very overwhelmed by it all.  I loved watching her.

Their little delivery truck made me feel huge.  How much bigger have the people gotten over the last 90 years?!

So we got a little competitive with the gingerbread houses…and yes, Heidi and I are on the same team.  What happened to, “United We Stand?!”

Hudson joined the girls team after awhile.  He just wasn’t impressed with what the guys had to offer.

From the Gingerbread House:
Naomi: “Lily, you’re not talking about muffins here, this is a gingerbread house from scratch, this is hard. Remember childbirth? This is harder.

It looks like the boys are 0-2 at our house.

With the holiday snow calling my name, I bundled the kids up tightly and took them to the park behind my parents house.  Hudson was doing some wicked tricks.  Whether they were on purpose or of the accidental variety, Will managed to catch some of them in photo form.  In the above picture, my not so little, little brother, Brian was sharpening his camera skills.  To be quite honest, I was shocked that Hudson was able to clear the jump and my brother without a scratch!…And yes, Hudson did land on the sled, right side up.

It was a chilly 11ish degrees, but still well worth the effort.

Will did some splicing here.  Both images are Hudson!

Casey, my other not so little brother

Brian put down the camera for a little to see how he compared.

After a while, Hudson decided that he could take on bigger, more dangerous things with grandpa(i.e.-the Scout sled).

The holidays found us in Denver this year.  Upon arriving, we found that things were gearing up to be the perfect Christmas.  The flight in was great and flurries began a few minutes after we touched down.  We got nice, fat, snowflakes, Christmas Eve as well as Christmas.  It got so cold outside that the top layer of snow was glittery(beautiful for looking at and lousy for snowballs).To top it all off, my mom made a call to Santa a few days before Christmas Eve.  Annie loved the baby doll.  She even tried to name it baby Colson after her cousin.  We explained that Colson was a boy and she should probably choose a new name, but she was not interested.

Hudson on the other hand had no interest in Santa.  This was our third attempt to peel him from me.  The idea of a present straight from the North Pole didn’t even loosen the grip.  Either way, Santa did bring him the Spiderman yo-yo he was hoping for.  That is actually the only thing he said he wanted for Christmas this year.  And to think Santa took a special trip to hand deliver it.

Will’s work party found us at the Admiral Kidd Club this year.  Everything went off without a hitch, from the babysitting to the delicious food.  All the socializing with engineers left me in a little bit of a tailspin.  They are a different breed for sure.  None the less, we found our selves by far the most sober at the party by the end of the night.  It was a good way to end our holidays in San Diego.  We will be resuming the festivities in Denver tomorrow.  Here’s wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!

“A pirates life for me…or Annie.”  That is what I heard in the car headed up to Anaheim yesterday morning.  Pirates is still one of the ride favorites with my kids at Disneyland.  I think I am feeling braver taking the kids up by myself.  We tried out California Adventure for the first time while we were there as well.

Here is the kids first picture with a character.  They never want to go meet the people, but apparently Woody had my kids spellbound.  They both went running at him full speed.

Annie seemed excited to sit on Santa’s lap(Hudson was as far away as possible.  He wanted nothing to do with Santa).  Too bad he never actually asked Annie what she wanted.  I think she was a little bummed and slightly confused.  To be quite honest, so was I.

Not only did we enjoy, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” at the Haunted Mansion, but we were pleasantly surprised to find, It’s a Small World all mixed up with Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls.  Major props go to the Disney music composers.  I was very impressed.

I’ll be home for Christmas this year.  I’m so excited.  Will is completely correct when he tells me that home is where we are, here as a family, in San Diego.  I completely agree with that sentiment, but wish to add to it, offering that Denver still holds a piece of home for me.  I’m hoping to recharge and enjoy the Christmas holiday in the middle of the mountains and snow.  Yes, I’m having to partially buy a temporary wardrobe for this little excursion.  My mom said when she woke up a few days ago it was -35 with a high of 2 degrees.  I don’t know how our San Diego shells will handle this Colorado weather.  Really, any excuse to go buy Annie sweater dresses and fuzzy boots would have done just fine.  Will is flying the kids and I down early to give us a little extra time with everyone…almost 3 weeks in all!  Does anyone have any suggestions or well worn tricks for getting a 2 and 5 year old through an airport, happy, content and safely aboard? Obviously, the pictures provide a little glimpse into what we are really dealing with!

Okay, so maybe I’m not a fan of your typical Christmas goodies. Fruit cake and figgy pudding don’t exactly whip me into a frenzy.  I did finally start all of my Christmas baking yesterday and got almost all of it finished.  I found the mixing, pounding and dipping to be very therapeutic.  It feels good to have something else checked off the list, anyways.  I tried to keep the chocolate to a minimum to help stay the annual chocolate buzz just a few days longer.  I went spicy this year with baklava, spice cookies and some other random odds and ends.  The above pictured obviously includes some of the odds and ends.  I have even managed to  keep little hand and bodies from picking, poking, eating and licking the goodies.  Hudson was quite helpful this year.  His little hands proved very beneficial to the efforts.  Thanks little man!