2008 Christmas Break

OKAY I know I haven't been the best at this blogging thing. I much prefer Facebook to this but I will try to do better at this. For Christmas we went to San Diego and spent the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa Norton. We were there for approximately 10 days which just blew by way too fast if you ask us. It seemed like 4 days of total fun! It was so fun as the kids were able to enjoy Grandma & Grandpa and their Smithson cousins at Lego Land two different days of pure bliss! We also visited the Wild Animal Park in Escondido, The San Diego Zoo, and Oceanside Pier/Beach. Emma had a really bad fall down a really steep and dangerous hill at the WAP. Needless to say she is sooo tough and she is all healed today. But we have lots of photos to remind her to listen to mom and dad and not run uncontrollably down an asphalt hill. We had about 5 different family parties including the of the Daynes families. Christmas Eve was spent at Uncle Bob and Aunt Jane's house, yummy food and a fun Nativity reenactment for the kiddos not to mention a visit from Santa. Uncle Bob opened a mysterious gift of the old roman solider lamp that had been waiting almost 10 years in holding for its rightful return. (So glad to get that thing out of our garage!) Christmas Day was so much fun opening gifts with Grandma and Grandpa. Later we went to the Smithson's where we enjoyed the traditional cheese strata, ham, peas, fruit salad and all the many yummy desserts. The day after Christmas we had brunch with one of Ryan's former girlfriends and her family with Ryan's parents hosting and the Smithson's also attended. New Years Eve with the Smithsons, Daynes, and Uncle Rob and Aunt Cindy from Utah also joined us at Grandma and Grandpas for a fun filled an evening. Myra learned to play Balderdash and she was really quite good at it. So good that her uncle Robert kept choosing her answers. We decided to return home to AZ the next day and about 20 miles from home Kara began to fuss saying "I don't want to go home!" Ryan asked her where she wanted to go and she said "Back to Grandma and Grandpa's house." Ryan then asked do you want me to turn around and go back and she said "YES!" We finally convinced her that it would be lots of fun at home too and it was as soon as she saw her bedroom and all of her own toys and things.