Thanksgiving 2009

For the first time since we've been married, Charlie & I decided not to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. It was nice to be able to stay home and enjoy the holiday, and have family come visit us. Charlie's parents came from New Mexico, and Charlie's brother Kelly & his wife Cassi came from Utah. We also had my sister Sandy & her family come over to join us for dinner. The food was fantastic and we enjoyed eating leftovers for several days afterwards.

Cassi & Kelly

Charlie's Parents: Karl & Janelle

Sandy, baby Hailey, and Ryan

Chris & Katie

Charlie & Carrie (and Isaac in the corner)

Earlier in the day we went to the park across the street to play bocci ball and enjoy the sunny 84 degree weather! Isaac had a great time playing & digging with his trucks in the dirt... until he realized he was missing out on all the fun with the bocci balls. The game came to an end when he decided to get in on the action and start grabbing the balls off the court!

Isaac before he discovered the bocci balls!

Every time Charlie's dad has come to visit us he has wanted to go fishing, but it has never worked out before. So this time we made sure to work it in! The day after Thanskgiving Charlie, Karl, Kelly & Cassi took a half day fishing trip out of the Newport harbor. They caught over 30 Perch, which are pretty small little fish, but they had a good time. Janelle, Isaac, and I stayed home and hit up a few Black Friday sales, went to lunch, and then relaxed and watched a movie.

Kelly, Cassi & Karl

Saturday night after Charlie's parents left, we took Kelly & Cassi up to LA for a Mariachi show! This place is the real deal. We were the only white people in the entire restaurant. It was a fun night and Isaac really got into it. He kept standing up in his seat to dance and clapping with the audience at the end of each song.




We had a fun holiday and are now looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home.

Trick or Treat!

Watch out for these two little sharks! Here they are last night at the church "Trunk or Treat."

And today playing in the backyard.

Isaac actually likes wearing his costume! He thinks it is fun to put it on and go look at himself in the mirror. We think he makes a pretty cute little shark.

I have never been a big fan of Halloween, but I must admit it is pretty fun dressing Isaac & Cracker up! Here they are in 2007 and 2008. Any suggestions for 2010?

Back to the Blog

Yes, it has been nearly 5 months since our last blog post. No, I don't have any great excuses. I kept meaning to update it but then I felt overwhelmed by all of the stuff I missed and think I should write about. So I am just going to go forward from today. Maybe I'll catch up on the older stuff later... and maybe I won't.

This morning we went to the Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch with some friends. I have known this place existed, but I had no idea how huge it was! We took a wagon ride around the farm and over to the pumpkin patch. Isaac loves tractors, so he was excited to ride on the wagon being pulled by a big tractor.

Inside the tents - another tractor! And pumpkins.

The ride back took us through all the fields and Isaac enjoyed checking out the scenery.

In other news, the A/C in our car broke this week. It was cool and rainy the day that it happened so I didn't think it would be a big deal. But then yesterday it was 85 and today it was close to 90 and Isaac and I were being cooked! I didn't know if I could be without a car and get to & from the mechanic to pick it up, since Charlie is in China right now and our other car is sitting in the parking lot at LAX. Luckily I have known my mechanic for years (way back to the days of my old Corolla), so he offered to give me a loaner car. And here it is:

A 1995 Chrysler Lebaron. After sitting on the shredded driver's seat, with my hands literally sticking to the steering wheel, listening to all sorts of rattling, and praying the roof didn't blow off on the drive home, I have never been so grateful for our Acura!

Hawaii

At the end of April, we took our annual trip to Hawaii. We went to the island of Kauai. We had a nice relaxing time. Unfortunately, it already seems like it was so long ago!

We spent the week relaxing, waking up late, going to the beach, relaxing at night, and spending good quality time as a family.

We rented a condo on Poipu Beach. It was the perfect location and had beautiful grass lawns and Isaac loved to run around and chase the birds




Here is the beach in front on our condo. It was perfect. We spent most of the week laying on this beach.




We also enjoyed the food- The Shrimp Station in Waimea.





Last year- we tooks a great picture of Isaac on this wave. He was only 9 months old and he waved perfectly at the camera while we was riding the wave. This year- at 20 months, he wasn't so cooperative.

We took a day trip to Oahu and explored the island. In the picture below is 'China Man's Hat'

We also wen to the North Shore and went to the famous 'Pipeline' where the surfers ride very big waves. Unfortunately- the waves were not big and there weren't many surfers. We must have gone the wrong time of day.

Here is Isaac and Charlie at the Pipeline

We also visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Isaac thought these fish were really cool!

Isaac and Mom

We had a nice time seeing Pearl Harbor.

Isaac didn't like going in the water- but he loved laying out in the sun! (Don't worry- he was lathered in SPF 50 all week long.)

And he was a pretty good traveler. On the afternoon flight over- he was great. On the red-eye flight back- he didn't sleep at all, but didn't do too bad.

We are already looking forward to next year's trip.

Weekend

One of the reasons that we bought this condo was because of the yard. Considering we live in California, and in Irvine, and in a condo... our yard is actually quite huge! We spent several hours on Saturday getting it cleaned up and ready for spring. And that's when Isaac discovered the joy of a garden hose.
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He probably spent half an hour playing in the water. It was really fun to watch him play and giggle in delight.

Our ward boundaries for church were changed a few weeks ago, so now we have a whole new ward and new callings too. Charlie & I are now teaching the 9 year olds in Primary. This Sunday was our first week teaching and meeting our new class: Jonathan, Joe, Rider, Staten, Anna-Julia, Maya, Audrey, and Alex. We are looking forward to a fun year with these kids!

Also on Sunday our friends brought over their dog Bubba; a 15-month old Golden Retriever. They left Bubba with us for the day while they were down in San Diego.

Bubba is a big, playful, rambunctious puppy! We all had fun with him except for Cracker. Cracker is a little prejudice and does not like other dogs unless they are dachshunds. He did like Bubba's big bone though!

The Real Housewife of Orange County

From looking at our blog, some of you might think that all we do is travel. False. The real truth is just that most of my life is not that exciting to write about! I've looked through my photos from the last few weeks and tried to find something that might be interesting enough to post and here's what I've got...

80's Party!

My friend Erin turned 30 and had a fun 80's themed birthday party. We got to go all out and get dressed up for the occasion. We even hired a baby sitter for the night!


Charlie Broke His Foot


My parents moved to Utah at the end of February and we went over to help them finish packing and load up the truck. If anyone knows my mom, you know that she has one of the cleanest homes you will ever enter. So in order to keep the carpet from getting dirty during the move (even though it is not her carpet anymore), she lined the stairs with plastic. Plastic stairs = slippery stairs. Next thing you know, Charlie is on the ground and all of the boxes he was carrying are on his foot.


I Broke the Trash Can


Like I said, my everyday life is not that interesting. But since we are on the subject of things that are broken, why not? I was just going to empty it but it slipped out of my hand. Charlie is out of town so of course I had to take a picture for him to see what happened. And now you all get to see too!

On Mondays I Baby Sit

My friend Sherri takes a pilates class on Monday mornings and I watch Daniel and Lucie for her. It is kind of fun having double kids and double dachshunds for a few hours! And Sherri watches Isaac for me too so it is a great trade off.

St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day we made corned beef & brocolli. Yes, brocolli not cabbage. We made cabbage the year that I was pregnant and the smell made me so sick that I don't think I'll ever be able to eat cooked cabbage again. Anyway, Isaac loved the corned beef AND the brocolli! He is a great little eater. Sometimes I have to trick him into taking that first bite of something new, but once he tastes it, he'll eat pretty much anything.

Santa Ana Zoo

For all of you locals, did you know that there is a zoo in Santa Ana? I didn't! But now I know and so do you. It is much closer than San Diego or LA and much cheaper too - only $7 (and kids 2 and under are free). Of course, as you might expect, it is also much smaller. Charlie was out of town over the weekend so I was looking for things to keep Isaac & I busy. Sherri & her family joined us on Saturday and we spent a couple hours at the zoo. The highlights for Isaac were (see photos above): the elephant, the train, and the goats. Next time maybe we will even get to ride the elephant.

And last but not least...

I Painted the Baseboards!

I totally just went and took a picture so I could show off all my hard work. Charlie is at his big event of the year in Chicago (standing on his broken foot all day, poor guy!) so what better time for me to paint the baseboards, right? Especially since we have had them for over a year now! They came primed white so it wasn't that noticeable (please tell me you haven't all been noticing my ugly baseboards for the past year), but you could still see nail holes and unfinished spots. Not anymore! My baseboards are pretty and semi-glossy white now.

And that is what I have been up to in the past few weeks. Or at least what I took pictures of.

South Beach

Lucky me! Last weekend I got to tag along on another one of Charlie's business trips. It felt a lot more like a vacation to me though. Charlie's company was a sponsor of the Food Network's South Beach Wine & Food Festival. It is a fantastic event! I was actually a little jealous that Charlie was working at this festival while I was laying by the pool!

We landed in Miami on Thursday afternoon and checked into the Hilton Vacation Club in South Beach. It was the perfect location, right on Ocean Drive and just yards away from the beach. (One side of Ocean Drive is lined with vintage Art Deco hotels, shops & restaurants and the other side is the beach.) The Hilton was perfect because we had a suite, so there was a kitchen and an extra room which made it much easier to put Isaac to bed.

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Charlie headed off to the Burger Bash, hosted by Rachel Ray. They had dozens of famous chefs, and restaurants from around the country competing to make the best burger. Here's a few that Charlie tried:

• Morimoto- Saga Wagyu Burger (Saga Wagyu patty topped with barbecue saga wagyu slices, served with shredded cabbage and sweet red miso sauce)
• Love Food Cafe Burger - Cheddar Jalapeno Burger (Aged cheddar, fresh salsa, lettuce, sour cream, served on a NY roll.)
• SW Steakhouse Wynn Las Vegas - Ground Prime Sirloin Burger (Robiola cheese, black truffle mushroom duxelle on girdled muffin)
• Ubuntu - Vegan 'Boudin Noir' (Apple, Sauerkraut, and Caraway)

Yeah, I wouldn't have minded "working" that night either! He said the event was a lot of fun and his favorite burger was the Cheddar Jalapeno one. As Rachel would say, Yum-O!

While Charlie was gone Isaac & I headed out on our own little adventure. We hit up the McDonald's a few blocks away and shared some cheeseburgers & fries. Almost as good as the Burger Bash, right? Then since we were still on CA time we walked the path along the beach and then stopped for Isaac to play on the swings & the playground. We had the playground all to ourselves, the weather was perfect, and we could feel the breeze from the ocean and see all of the night life across Ocean Drive.

Every morning we all went out for breakfast at one of the many restaurants on Ocean Drive. Most of the crowd there is visiting from somewhere much colder, so everyone sits out on the patios in the sunshine. Just the fact that everyone there is on vacation makes the whole vibe of South Beach so relaxing and fun.

Isaac & I spent most of our time at the beach or the pool. The ocean was much too cold for my taste (I am pretty picky about this) but I don't think Isaac would have gone in willingly no matter what the temperature! When we were in Hawaii last year Isaac loved the beach. Every chance he got he would crawl straight towards the ocean. And he didn't mind the sand one bit. Apparently he has changed his mind. In Miami he did not want that sand to touch his feet and refused to even try walking in it. And when we got close to the ocean he was clinging to me like crazy. I finally got him to put his feet down in the wet sand but as soon as the water touched him he freaked out. Oh dear! I have exactly eight weeks to get him over this problem before we leave for Kauai. Anyone want to go to the beach with us?

The nice thing was that most of the hotels in South Beach rent lounge chairs & umbrellas out on the beach. Why don't they do this in CA? Anyway, Isaac was able to safely up on the chairs and away from that awful sand. It was actually quite nice! I had planned on having to chase him all around and instead I just got to sit and relax. We ate lunch and watched the sea gulls and Isaac waved hi to all of the topless ladies on the beach. Yes, apparently topless is okay in Miami.

Our hotel did not have a pool but someone from Charlie's PR firm was staying at the Loews and gave us his pool key. Thank you Mr. Glass! We loved this pool and here is why. 1) It had a kid section where the water gently eased into the pool and was only inches deep. It was perfect for Isaac to splash around in. 2) The water was heated. 3) It had a great ambiance. 4) The best part of all were the lounge chairs! They were padded and the pool attendants came and put fresh cozy covers on for us and brought us clean towels. The weather was gorgeous and it was so relaxing to lay out and enjoy the sun and the palm trees and a few airplanes passing by for Isaac to point out and get so excited over. It took Isaac a little while to warm up to the idea of the swimming pool again, but once he did he had a blast. And I must have worn him out pretty good because he even sat & relaxed in the lounge chairs with me afterwards. It was so funny to see this tiny little guy just chillin' in such a big chair. I wished Charlie could have been there with us.

I couldn't go to any of the Festival events because I had Isaac with me. Next year we will have to bring a baby-sitter along. (Any volunteers?) But one morning Charlie gave me his pass to go check out the Grand Tasting Village before all of his work stuff started. It was even better than I had imagine! They have these huge white tents right out on the beach and there is all of this cool stuff going on. There are three stages and each one has a celebrity chef cooking before a live audience. I got to see Martha Steward, Rocco DiSpirito, and Rick Bayless! There was a book signing tent, a Paula Deen tasting tent, Evian had this cool lounge area with big round bean bag chairs to relax in, and so much more! My favorite was the Whole Foods tasting area. You just went through a line and got to sample all sorts of cheeses, fruit, pastries, the "chef specials", salads, drinks, etc. It was just too bad my plate was so little! Then behind all of this is another set of tents where all of the real tasting goes on. I was there early so everyone was just setting up, but it was booth after booth with tons of gourmet food & wine samples. I probably would not ever pay the $200 to get in, but it was fun to get a free sneak peak.

Another dinner that Charlie had to go to was the Emeril Lagasse Tribute Dinner. This dinner was a $550/person event. Again, there were all sorts of famous chefs preparing the menu and it was a big five course meal. Charlie reported the food to be pretty average tasting, and the old saying held true: the higher the price, the smaller the portions! It was a long drawn out event, but he did get to have dinner with Emeril, Martha Stewart, Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and a few others.

I got to experience a new luxury on this trip. A First Class airline seat. With Charlie's Executive Platinum status comes free upgrades whenever there is a seat available. They normally will not allow me to be upgraded because I am flying on a reward ticket, but they made an exception. And now I really don't want to go back to coach! Because First Class just has so much SPACE. And FOOD. The regular airline seats can feel pretty cramped, especially when you are sharing yours with a wiggly toddler. But First Class? The seat was like a double-wide, but that barely mattered because there was also floor space so Isaac could sit or stand down there all he wanted. And the food - it just kept coming. Nuts (they are warm), salad, rolls, sandwich, ice cream, cookies, chocolates, drinks, more drinks, bottled water, and warm wash cloths. And much nicer flight attendants. Like I said, I'd really rather not go back to coach.

Unfortunately, my renewed appreciation of American Airlines came to a screeching halt about 10 minutes after we landed. Because then we got our stroller back and it was broken. AGAIN. We didn't even bother arguing with baggage services this time. And I don't think we'll be buying this same "fragile" $70 stroller again.

Even with the stroller casualty, it was a great trip. It felt like a mini vacation for me. But before you start thinking that Charlie has a dream job, let me just say that he really was working most of the time. And this is by far his most fun event of the year. At least I think so!

Visitors

I am pretty behind on my blogging! At the beginning of February we were lucky to have some family come to see us. Charlie's mother, Janelle flew in from New Mexico and our sister-in-law, Cassi came from Pheonix. We had some fun plans for the weekend but things didn't turn out quite how we hoped.

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Isaac had a horrible stomach flu for the whole week leading up to their visit. Everyday I kept thinking he was getting better and everyday he kept throwing up and having more diarrhea. All he wanted to do was sit on my lap and watch his Aquarium DVD over and over and over again. I got lots of good cuddle time in, but that was about it! By the time Friday rolled around I had a messy house, no food in the fridge, lots of errands to run, and a few mountains of laundry to wash. We were nervous about Janelle & Cassi catching Isaac's flu but ultimately we all decided they should come anyway. And luckily by Saturday Isaac was doing much better.

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But it was raining. So our plans for whale watching and hanging out at the beach were not going to happen. We were able to walk out to the Newport Pier during a break in the rain. We also got our Sprinkles cupcakes, drove by the temple, had lunch at South Coast, and did a little other shopping. It was a fun day but I think we all agreed that the most fun we had that weekend was just sitting around talking.

Cassi, Janelle, Carrie & Isaac on the Newport Pier

Cassi, Carrie, Isaac & Charlie at Sprinkles

Isaac's first ice cream cone - thank you Aunt Cassi!

Sunday, on the other hand, was not so fun. Charlie & I both woke up sick! We spent the day taking turns in the bathroom and laying around feeling miserable. Lucky for us (and not so lucky for them) Janelle & Cassi were there to take care of Isaac. I felt so blessed to have the help. Thank you both again!

We hope the next visit will be a little bit longer, and a lot more fun!

January Trips

I am a little behind on our blog so I decided to combine two posts into one. Our trip total for 2009 so far = 2.

HENDERSON

Since we have been married Charlie and I have had a tradition of going somewhere each year for New Year's. This year we decided to spend a quiet New Year's Eve at home (we were all alseep well before midnight) and headed out first thing on New Year's Day instead. Chris & Carly were in Henderson visiting Carly's parents for the holidays, so we drove up to see them. We stayed at a hotel just a few minutes away from the Wilkins' house, but we spent most of our time hanging out at their house anyway. A big thank you to the Wilkins' for taking us in!

Isaac brushing his teeth at the hotel

Isaac at the hotel breakfast buffet. He loved the french toast & sausage.

I always regert not taking more pictures! Isaac had a great time playing with his cousins outside on the swing set and inside with all of the many many toys, and was spoiled by Grandma Wilkins with plenty of treats. He loved all of the space to run around in and climing up and down the stairs too.

On Friday afternoon we took the kids to a nearby mall so that they could all ride the carousel. They got to ride not once, but twice!

Ginny, Carly, Lucy, Chris & Asher

Charlie, Isaac & Carrie

Carly, Chris, Charlie & Carrie. Can you tell which two are twins?

On Friday night the Wilkins were so nice to baby sit Isaac along with Chris & Carly's kids so we could all go out to dinner. We met up with Carly's friends Holly & Mark and had a nice dinner at Macayo's - a local Mexican favorite. Or at least it was a favorite until everyone ended up with food poisoning later that night! (Somehow I managed to aviod getting it though, lucky me!)


One of the highlights of the trip for me was our multiple stops at Sonic. I know I have mentioned this before, but I absolutely LOVE Sonic. Actually, it is one particular drink that I truly love and the tricky thing is that not all of the Sonics can make it right. My drink is a Route 44 Low Cal Cherry Limeade Slush. But some Sonics don't make it Low Cal and they add tons of sugary syrup to it. No good. And sometimes they make it carbonated. That is wrong too! And sometimes they put way too much slush and not enough juice. But sometimes they make it just right and then I absolutely love it! And Isaac loves it too...

Carly, Chris, Charlie & Ginny working on the Disney puzzle

It was a very quick trip to Henderson, but luckily it was a pretty quick drive too. We left on Saturday rather than Sunday hoping to avoid the New Year's traffic coming home from Vegas. We were slowed down for awhile at the CA Agriculture Inspection (totally pointless!), but other than that it was not bad. We were home for less than a week before leaving for....

ATLANTA

Charlie has to go to Atlanta every year in January for work. And I have to go to Atlanta every year in January for fun. :) I occasionaly get to tag along on Charlies business trips because he has so many airline miles saved up. Since he is Executive Platinum on American Airlines he gets double miles every time he flies. And he flies quite a bit which equals lots of miles. Our trip to Italy a few years ago, our recent trip to Paris, and all of our trips to Hawaii have been on miles, plus lots of other little trips along the way too. It is a great perk of having a traveling husband!

So this trip to Atlanta is always one of my favorites. We stay in the JW Marriott, and the hotel just happens to be connected to the Lenox Square Mall. And in January there are always tons of after Christmas sales. I have gotten some great deals there in the past! I also love Atlanta because of the yummy Southern food and the people are so friendly there. So a fantastic hotel, nice mall, awesome sales, great food, and friendly people make for a pretty good weekend!

Isaac enjoying the room service

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the JW Marriott also has one of my favorite room service menu items (I think the lobster rolls at the Surf & Sand in Laguna Beach are still my number one!). It is their "healthy" french toast made with whole wheat toast and coated in some kind of crunchy vanilla cereal coating and topped with fresh fruit. So yummy! I did mention that I go to Atlanta for the food, right?

We left on a Thursday and it took an entire day to get there. Our flight from Dallas to Atlanta was first delayed and then cancelled so we ended up with a 4 hour layover at DFW. By the time we finally landed in Atlanta, got our rental car, and drove to the hotel it was after midnight EST. And Isaac had not taken a nap the entire day! When we got to the hotel they told us that they were oversold and they sent us across the street to the Ritz Carlton instead. Even though it was really inconvenient we were kind of excited because neither of us had ever stayed at a Ritz. Well the lobby was beautiful, the whole place smelled wonderful, the staff was very nice (maybe that's just Atlanta though?), and the elevator even had a chandelier in it! But then the room... it was just alright. It was nice, but not really much nicer than the JW Marriott. The bed was really comfortable though, and they had Bvlgari soaps and shampoos in the bathroom which was nice. And even though Isaac's crib was the standard metal hotel crib, the Ritz actually put bumper pads and baby bedding in it which was nice. The only big downside was that the rooms don't have bathtubs. 17 months ago we could not have cared less about a bathtub. But now we have Isaac and so we care. Because he hates the shower and we didn't want a dirty kid all weekend! So the next morning we checked out and moved back over the JW Marriott.

Charlie & Isaac waiting in the terminal

Isaac at the hotel playing with his cell phone and the real phone too

While Charlie did some work on Friday Isaac and I headed over to the mall. Shopping with Isaac is usually pretty impossible. He is very impatient and only tolerates the stroller as long as we are moving. If I stop to look he throws a fit. Unless he has some juice or goldfish to keep him occupied. Well I lucked out because on this day the impossible happened. Isaac fell asleep IN HIS STROLLER!!! I was completely shocked. Maybe it had something to do with no nap the day before and staying up past 2:00 am? Maybe I should try that more often! j/k But I bet a few people wondered why I had such a huge smile on my face while strolling through the mall with a sleeping toddler. Unfortunately I didn't find too many fantastic deals this year, but it was still really nice to be able to shop in peace.

That night for dinner we wanted to find a place with really good Southern food for dinner. We went to place two years ago that the conceirge had recommended and we loved it, but this concierge had no idea what we were talking about. We tried searching through the restaurant list on our navigation, and ended up just driving around looking for something. Isaac was getting tired though and we weren't having any luck so we ended up at some buffet style place. It was nothing special. Except for the rolls. The rolls were fantastic!

On Saturday Charlie had to work for most of the day. Isaac & I drove downtown with him but then we headed over to the Georgia Aquarium. It is the largest in the world and was rather impressive. For the first few exhibits Isaac was completely mesmorized. They were more and more tanks every way we turned with different kinds of fish, crabs, jellyfish, turtles, sharks, whales, dolphins, rays, eels, otters, sea horses, etc. Some of the tanks were up over our heads on the ceiling. There was a tunnel tank that you could walk through, and there were open tanks where you could touch the things inside. Isaac loved it! We spent almost 5 hours there but that included lunch and a nap. Again, Isaac was so tired that this time he fell asleep in my arms! I found an empty ballroom and laid him down to sleep in the corner (kinda unsanitary - I know... but we're talking about the same kid who is drawn like a magnet to every trash can he sees, so I figured this couldn't be much worse). So we had a fun time at the aquarium and then went back to meet Charlie as he finished up his work meetings.

Isaac pointing at the fish

My favorite tank at the aquarium

Georgia Aquarium

That night for dinner we set out again to find a good Southern place. First we were going to try The Flying Biscuit (featured on Rachel Ray's $40 a Day) but when we got there we found out they are not open for dinner. Once again we ended up driving in circles with our navigation looking for something good. And then... we found IT! The restaurant we ate at two years ago! Charlie spotted it and we both knew right away that was the place. But what we hadn't remembered was that this place is located in the middle of the porn district. It is totally surrounded by strip clubs and porn shops and the like. I felt like we were back at the Moulin Rouge! There was a bit of a wait but we decided it was worth it, and it was. We had chicken fried chicken, chicken friend steak, macaroni & cheese, and onion rings, fried okra, sweet potato souflet, cornbread, and rolls. Yum! Just as good as we remembered. And we found out from our waitress that this place was featured on the Food Network too! On Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. See, we knew it was good! The Colonade, in case you are wondering, and now we'll know where to go again next year. Except I have to warn you if you do go, it is known as the "Gay & Gray" restaurant. All the old people and all the gays eat here. Can't say that I blame them - it is great food!

Sunday morning we got our chance to go back to The Flying Biscuit. We met up with Charlie's friend Jeff for breakfast. We were a little disappointed though. This place didn't quite live up to all the hype. And the portions were so small that Charlie actually had to stop and get more food after we left! It was nice to see Jeff though.

Charlie & Jeff at The Flying Biscuit


Carrie & Isaac at The Flying Biscuit

We headed back to the airport, and then two flights later, plus a stop to pick up Cracker, and then we were home!

Christmas in Las Cruces

We spent our Christmas this year in Las Cruces, NM with Charlie's parents and our sister in law Cassi. It was a fun couple of days and we were glad to be able to go. Charlie took a half day at work on Tuesday and we drove to Scottsdale, then drove the rest of the way on Wednesday.

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For Christmas Eve we had posole and tamales for dinner and Charlie set up all the luminarias in the yard. Those are some of the Wood family Christmas traditions that come from living in New Mexico. Isaac opened up his new Christmas pajamas and we read the Christmas story form the Bible and watched a short video of the nativity.

Isaac in his Christmas pajamas with Grandpa Wood

We started out Christmas morning by opening all of our presents. Isaac had fun tearing the paper off of his first gift, but after he saw what was inside (a little train he can ride on) he didn't care about opening anything else! We eventually opened up all of the other toys though and he had fun playing with all of his new stuff. He was very spoiled with gifts from Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma, and Santa. The rest of us got some very nice gifts too.

Isaac and his new train

For breakfast we enjoyed Cassi's homemade cinnamon rolls. They were some of the best we've ever had! And Isaac absolutely loved them too. Karl, Charlie & I all went on a quick 3 mile run. No offense to Isaac, but it was really nice to run without him! It is much easier without having to push a stroller or stop every few minutes to pick up dropped items or hand him sippy cups and Cheerios.

Cassi came over later to open gifts and we all got to talk to Kelly (Charlie's brother & Cassi's husband who is in Afghanastan right now) for a bit. Karl & Charlie put together a puzzle that is a map of Las Cruces. We had an early prime rib dinner, got drinks from Sonic (my favorite place!), and that night Charlie & I went to a movie while Isaac was sleeping. It was SO nice to have grandparents there to baby sit. Thank you again Janelle & Karl! This was the first movie we had seen in probably two years. We saw Marley & Me. It was good, especially since we have become such dog lovers... but the ending was just TOO SAD! I was crying my eyes out.

Carrie, Janelle & Cassi

Janelle serving Christmas dinner

On Friday Janelle & I headed out early to try and catch some after Christmas sales. We picked up a few things, but didn't really find any great bargains. Charlie and I got to go on another date. This time we went to Old Mesilla and had lunch at La Posta. Later on that afternoon Karl took us down to the University to show Isaac all of the farm animals. Isaac loved them! We saw cows, pigs, sheep, horses, and one rooster. One of the horses was very friendly and came right up to us so Isaac could pet him.








Saturday Charlie & I left Isaac yet again and drove out to White Sands. It is a national park that is supposed to be beautiful. This was my fourth trip to Las Cruces and I still hadn't seen it! Unfortunately, once we got there we found out that the road into the park was closed because it was "icy" (it actually seemed to be completely dry). So we didn't get to go very far. We didn't get to the true white sand, and the sand we did see didn't look very white next to the snow. So White Sands is still on my to-do list for next time we visit!

Carrie & Cracker at White Sands

We didn't make it this far in, but this is what we should have been able to see!

We came home and all had Robertos for lunch. Karl, Charlie & I kept working on puzzle #2. Later on we met up with some of Cassi's family and went shooting. I had been once before in college, but that was several years ago. Karl brought his pistol & his rifle and we took turns shooting at targets.

Karl & Cassi

Charlie shooting the pistol

Carrie shooting the rifle

Saturday night Cassi came out shopping with Charlie & I, then we picked up Isaac and went to see Christmas lights and get ice cream. We saw a few houses that were all decked out with lights. This one that does "Christmas in Cruces" was our favorite! They had tons of lights and they flash on and off to music that is broadcast over a radio station. Very cool.




Sunday we drove home. We decided to do the drive all in one day. That was a very long day. Twelve hours in the car and Isaac slept for a total of 25 minutes. Thank goodness for his DVD player though. It actually wasn't that bad, but we were definitely glad to be home.

The second finished puzzle

Thank you Karl & Janelle for such a nice Christmas and for watching Isaac for us so much. It was great to see Cassi too. We are looking forward to Janelle & Cassi coming to visit us in just a few weeks. And tomorrow we are headed to Vegas to see Chris & Carly's family for New Years.