Sunday, January 25, 2009

Merry Standring Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas with the Standring clan up at the Lodge over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Dan and I drove up to the Lodge to pick up Jim and Terri on Friday evening, and we met Ron and Jerri, Tom and Bridget at the Atlantis for a big buffet meal. The coconut bars were a big hit at the dessert station!
On Saturday, David and Diane brought the nephews up and we played in the snow a bit. As soon as he walked in the door, he proclaimed to Uncle Tom, "I'm not toast!" He spoke too soon, and the weekend of giggles and nuggies began in earnest.


Nathan was all giggles and smiles for the family. He has recently added sitting up by himself to his bag of cute tricks. What a handsome little darling!

The weather was warm enough to play outside, but there was still plenty of snow. Ian is growing like a weed, but he is still light enough to stay on top of the snow mounds. Diane and I weren't so lucky, but we warmed quickly by the fire inside.

On Sunday, Ian helped Oma frost the cinnamon rolls for breakfast while the boys went for Starbucks (how lucky that they found one open on 'Christmas'!). Afterwards we opened presents and watched some football. Ian was thrilled to watch Uncle Tom open the present with the plane (and airline gift certificate)-- amazingly, he managed to keep the gift a surprise until mere moments before we opened presents!

Even Cinnamon got some love on the festive weekend. Fun was had by all, although perhaps David and Diane would have wished for a little more sleep! Merry Christmas part 2!!!




Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year 2009!


Happy New Year! We enjoyed sushi on New Year's Eve with our friends Brian and Amanda. Brian is Dan's friend from college, who is now in the military and about to start his PhD in something well beyond my pay grade. I met Amanda in 6th grade, and we went to high school together. They have two adorable daughters with blonde ringlets, Taryn and Aubrey. The girls were complimented by other restaurant patrons for being so well behaved! We learned that they might soon be relocating from Nebraska to Florida. It was wonderful to catch up with them.


After a lovely dinner, we joined David and Diane for a viewing of the movie "Hancock," which was quite funny. We rang in the new year with a champagne toast, followed quickly by sleep for the girls and World of Warcraft for the boys. HA!

Merry Christmas!

To start the holiday season, we went with David, Diane, and the nephews to pick out a Christmas tree. It was a cool, foggy day and the dewey evergreen trees smelled wonderfully of pine (as they should!). Since then, we've enjoyed the winter wonderland inside David and Diane's house. It's all decorated and full of Christmas spirit!

On Christmas Eve, my grandparents arrived from Tucson for a visit. They stayed with my mom, and we got to spend lots of time catching up with them. We especially enjoyed playing with Cassie, who has a new rope toy!One delicious occasion was a lovely breakfast at the Original Pancake House. Bopa was recovering well from his recent cataract surgery. From the left: Grandma, Sarah, Dan, Niki (Mom's Boyfriend), Mom, and Bopa.

After they left, we enjoyed a few quiet days up in the snowy mountains with Dan's parents.