"Hi train, wait a second..."

Grandpa Stan got a neat toy this year, a remote controlled train that rides in a circle around the Christmas tree. As Grandpa and Bryson were playing with the train, Grandpa said, "Hi train, wait a second, Bye train. Wait a second, Hi train." Bryson thought this was so funny, he repeated it over and over for a good part of the night.

Coming down from the Christmas High

As you can see, Christmas really wipes us out. Both Chris's and my family live very close. I'm talking blocks away from each other. Christmas for us is planned out with schedules and lists to make sure both families get their share of the wonderfulness that is us. For example, our day went something like this.

6:45am- Wake up, get video camera ready, wake Bryson up, open presents, get ready to go to Grandma Debbie's.

8:30am- Go to Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Stan's house. Open presents and eat a warm-up breakfast (actual breakfast will follow, however, I am pregnant and could not wait until 9:00 to put something in my stomach). Consolidate presents and put them in an empty corner for pick-up later.

10:00am- Pick up Sister Snow (an elderly friend from our church), go to Grandma Pauline and Grandpa Steve's house. Help finish actual breakfast, eat breakfast and proceed to open more presents. By this time, Bryson has got the present thing down.

1:30pm- Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins come over to my parents'. We proceed to, guess what, open presents and eat some more.

5:00pm- Go to Chris's Aunt and Uncle's house. We hadn't even set our stuff down, when we were pummeled with presents. There wasn't any time to find a seat, so Bryson opened his gifts on the kitchen floor, which was actually helpful because it meant we had direct access to more food.

We were so worn out by the end of the night. We back tracked to all the houses we had visited that day, picking up the gifts we had left behind earlier and saying our final exhausted thank yous and Merry Christmases. Now, don't get me wrong, we are very blessed to live so close to so many of our family members. We wouldn't have it any other way and pray that we can afford to live in San Diego forever. I'm just saying that that was our Christmas day- exhausting, draining and absolutely wonderful!

Sea World at Christmas

We like Sea World. They always have fun stuff going on at Christmas. We went to a special preview night for season pass holders last night. We got great seats for the Shamu Christmas show. Here's a few photos.

November wrap up

So a few things happened the last week of November. First, Jessica's homecoming.

Jessica came home from her mission to New York the day before Thanksgiving. We were so happy to see her. This is us outside the stake center after she gave her talk.

For Thanksgiving we went up to Whittier. The two hour drive up turned into four hours and at a rest stop Angele accidently put a bee in her mouth while she was eating an orange. It stung her on the inside of the cheek and she had to suck out the stinger. Sorry, but it's too wierd not to tell. Anyway, she was in pain, but when we finally got there we had a good time. Bryson really liked playing with Scrabble the dog. Real sweet dog.

The next photo is of Bryson and one of his first violin lessons. Steve brought home a 1/8th size violin and taught Bryson how to hold it. He catches on quick.