new.years.eve.part-ay!

When we are in town for Christmas, it has become tradition that we part-ay at Mom and Dad's on New Year's Eve. Mom makes delicious fondue and we stay up waaay too late playing games and having fun. Apparently this year we added wearing our Christmas pajamas to the tradition list.
Grandma entertained the grandkids with, yes, treats. I think she attempted to give pretty clear instructions:
However, Hazel is still related to me, and would rather suck the frosting straight out of the bag. Mmmmmm!
We kept ourselves entertained with RockBand, Bananagrams (I'm still the all-time champion) and lots of dominoes.
2010 was packed with vacations, projects around the house, and family time. I hope that 2011 is just as amazing, with perhaps a little less travel and lots of time with the new baby!

Thanks, Big Sister, for letting me steal all of your jammie pictures!

heber.creeper

We thought it would be fun to invite Grandma and Grandpa to ride the Heber Creeper with us. In all my Utah-living years, I don't think I've ever ridden that train. I do have many memories of it passing us while we skiied on Deer Creek, so that's close enough, right?
The following picture wasn't that funny...
until I looked at the next picture, notice any similarities between me and my mom?
Like mother, like daughter.
The ride was a lot of fun and the company was top-notch!The scenery was beautiful, oh, how I love my mountains.
Seth caught some pretty pics on our way back down the canyon.
I caught a pretty pic of Hazel's sweet shiner. The other guy (a metal bench on the train) fared much better than she did.

utah.post.christmas

The week between Christmas and New Years was all about family, fun and hanging out.

We hit up the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with all the cousins, it was so much. Best part? Meeting Grandma for lunch after. Yum!
We begged Dougie and Mollie to go see the lights at Temple Square with us. It's been a long time since we saw the lights, it was a lot of fun!
PS- have you seen the awesome model of the temple in the visitors center? Loved it!
Hazel spent some quality time with the Grandparents- she could eat them up. We iChat every week, but it's so much better being there in person!
Seth helped my dad with some "man-stuff" around the house. I'm not sure what they were doing, it involved re-wiring, several trips to the basement and some magic. Next thing we knew there was internet on the TV.
I was determined that Seth go skiing while we were in Utah. He's only been once before and had a miserable time. (That's what you get when you ski on the East coast). My brother-in-law, Phil took him up to Alta and he had a w.o.n.d.e.r.f.u.l time. (That's what you get when you ski in Utah). I was super bummed that I couldn't go, being pregnant and all, I guess it's more important that I grow healthy taste buds and lymph nodes.
Praise be- I was in town for a Sister Saturday, just one of the things I miss being in Maryland. It was at Mom's house and the weather was treacherous! Thankfully everyone braved the blizzard and came to celebrate babies! My cousin just had a baby in November, and well...newflash...I'm having one in April. I feel we were sufficiently spoiled, who doesn't love a baby shower???
We made sure to hit all of our Utah favorites while we were in town, Joe Vera's, Cafe Rio, In-N-Out (technically a Vegas-fave, but hey...it's in Utah now!), Seth's best friend Eric, and as much family as possible. I loved having Seth around for nearly three weeks straight. That was the best Christmas present Hazel and I could ask for.
I know it's blurry and she's got food in her mouth- but I just love this picture.

ho.ho.ho.

Christmas at Mom & Dad's. Always, always, always perfect. My mom has a knack for decorating the house, I am always amazed with what she comes up with. This year it was her Christmas trees (yes, there were several), it was all awesome and I was scheming ways to fit a.l.l. of it into my suitcases.
It was a relatively quiet Christmas morning, although Dougie stuck to his pesky brother duties and made sure we were up before the sun came up. We scurried downstairs and were all pleasantly surprised that Santa had found us.
Hazel's "big present" is coming in a few weeks/months...we just didn't have time to make it. It's going to be a.w.e.s.o.m.e!

The fun continued later in the morning when the sisters and their families showed up for - yes, you guessed it: waffles, strawberries and whipped cream. It's a G-family tradition.
AND I l.o.v.e it.

We rotate names each year, this year Kel and I had each other. She gave us one of her awesome, amazing, handmade calendars (I loved the last one so much, it's been hanging for two years...even though the days don't match up!). They also made sure that Hazel and Fetus have some fresh, new Ute gear.
A lot of blood, sweat, tears, time, energy, sneakiness and work went into Mom & Dad and Kellie & Phil's gifts. I made them Family Proclamation books. I was pretty much sick with worry, stressing about what they would think. Thankfully they turned out and I'm pretty sure there weren't any spelling errors!It was a p.e.r.f.e.c.t Christmas, who doesn't love spending time with the fam?

christmas.eve

Leave it to Grandma Tang to make sure the grandkids were spoiled and entertained on Christmas Eve.
(There are payoffs to patiently helping your baby girl glue her gingerbread house together)
Grandma and Grandpa gave us all Christmas pjs - Hazel loved her new jammies, Grandma's little rocking chair and, of course, Grandma Tang.
One small highlight of my Christmas Eve - giving Kellie the present she's always wanted.
(She really is giddy with excitement).
...My only regret is that I didn't have time to add 7 more kids and 3 dogs.