For Christmas I got a makeover!

Christmas was fun. Nathan didn't really get opening presents. So we helped--a lot. We'd rip the paper so he could see what was underneath. Sometimes he'd get interested and pull at the paper. Then he'd either get interested in the paper, or uninterested in the entire process, so we'd have to unwrap it a little bit more. So, better luck in four months. Actually, closer to three...time is going fast.

It was also good to see family. We miss the ones that couldn't come (and hope the presents got there in time!). Christmas evening, after all the presents had been opened and leftover pie eaten, nieces Hannah and Emily put their Christmas presents to good use. Namely, the REAL play makeup they had earlier unwrapped. Yes, that's right. I was very glittery and beautiful when they finished. Luckily, they stuck to putting glitter in my hair and pink, red, and purple lipstick on me, so my entire face was not purple (as three-year-old Hannah's had been earlier in the day).

The day after Christmas we went to Christmas Village in Ogden. I've never been during the day before, but it turned out better because it was (slightly) warmer than it would have been after dark.The kids had a lot of fun, the adults didn't complain (a lot) about the cold, and Nathan was remarkably happy. I think he's just happy to get out of the house with just two boring adults. Never mind that it's below freezing, just give me something else to look at!
I've gone to Christmas Village almost every year I've been alive. Some of the displays change, but there are other mini-building replicas that appear year after year, reminding me of the years when the animated Santas and elves seemed magical and almost-real.

And here's a few shots of the the other family's progressive breakfast, done the Saturday before Christmas.

Today I gave Nathan a bow to play with. Then I looked away, so I'm not sure how in ten seconds it got stuck to his bum. Impressed?

There and Back Again

Hi all. I posted these pictures yesterday but didn't add any description because, well, my keyboard was typing BACKWARDS. I don't know why. But today all has straightened itself out, so here we go.

We had a lot of fun, and overall, Nathan did really well. The plane ride there was in the evening, so he got overtired and overstimulated and screamed for the first little while. We eventually got him calmed down and he slept for most of the trip, which meant that we could also get a decent amount of sleep. When he woke up he made friends with an Australian baby sitting behind us.

When we got there we weren't very tired, which was wonderful. When we went to Amsterdam last year we were exhausted the entire first day. Adjusting to the time change wasn't too bad. Nathan was an angel baby and slept good in his crib and stroller (until the end of the week).

We had a good time exploring the city, either walking around or taking the train. Nathan loved the train. He'd get really excited when the train pulled into the station. He also loved riding the train because there were a lot of people to smile at. On our last day we had to ride the bus back to the airport and he fell asleep while playing with the bracelets the girl next to me was wearing.

My favorite part was wandering around the old part of Sydney, right around Sydney Harbor and close to the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. There's an old observatory they've turned into a museum on a hill overlooking the harbor. The view was amazing. They built the observatory to keep the time so the entire city could be on a standard time, and also so ships could get the correct time for their navigation calculations; there is a ball on the roof that raises to the top of a pole and drops at 1 pm. There was also apparently a personal fitness company that uses the park for its classes--there were groups running and dong kickboxing all around us. I can't blame them the location though. The views were amazing.

While we were walking around the Opera House, there were (I think) four Blackhawk helicopters doing maneuvers, and another helicopter looked like it was taking video. They weren't the only ones taking video, though. There was one of our group who was very excited. I'll give you two guesses.

Then we went to the Royal Botanic Gardens and walked through. It's quite huge. And lovely. There's good views of the harbor, lots of trees and flowers, and...flying foxes. Which we assumed were the bats that were thickly hanging from the trees. We also sat on Mrs. Macquaries' chair. She was the wife of one of the early governors of New South Wales, and had a bench carved into the stone on Bennelong Point so she could sit and watch the harbor.

That was our one sunny day. The rest of the days were overcast and not a little (but not a lot) rainy. It wasn't a cold rain, or a heavy rain, but it was a rain we didn't walk to walk around in for hours with a baby. So we went to museums. Not that we minded that, of course. We're big museum people. We just would have liked spending time at the beach as well. It was not raining our last day so we tried to go to the beach. On the map, it looked pretty close to the train station, so we figured we could walk it. Well, we did walk it. And we had just enough time to rest, take a few pictures and enjoy the view, and hurry back to the train so we could pick up our luggage and go to the airport. Our swimming suits, sadly, stayed quite dry.

Oh. And Levi did go to at least some of his conference every day. He'd go to a morning session for a couple hours, and I'd either go out by myself or, the last couple days, let Nathan get a decent morning nap. We all got colds, probably from the airplane ride. So the end of the week was a little more ornery.

My other favorite thing: We ate dinner at a little cafe overlooking Darling Harbor. Then, as we walked home, we stopped to listen to some Christmas carols. They had a group on a little stage singing a'capella. It was fun and kind of surreal to sit on the warm pavement and listen to the same Christmas songs I've sung and heard my entire life. Christmas is Christmas, even when it's summer.

And now I've got to go. I've got two babies here, one of whom is awake.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since my last post, and it will be a couple of weeks before my next post, so I'll overload you with pictures for this week. Be sure to ration them so you don't gorge on pictures today and then go through withdrawals next week.

The week of Thanksgiving the entire clan was in town. It's the first time we've all been together since June, so it was really great to see everybody. Tyler, Emily, and Hannah got a hold of our camera and had a ball. Which was good, though, because we meant to take pictures and didn't get around to it. So our memories of this Thanksgiving will be solely thanks to our helpful nephew and nieces. Here's a sample of what they got:






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We are truly grateful for (all of) our family(ies). Family is one of the greatest blessings of this life.

This is an unrelated picture of how helpful Nathan was during the raking leaves process. It took several days to finish the backyard, mostly during naptime.


It's always a sad day when you come home to find your son hiding in an upstairs bedroom, eerily quiet, guiltily indulging in...Dickens.

I left Nathan sitting, playing with toys, and came back to find him underneath the Christmas tree. He didn't even try to touch it, though. He's getting better at scooting around, although it's usually in the opposite direction of where he wants to go. But we're thinking the tree and soon-to-come presents might be just the motivation he needs. If he'll just hold off on crawling for a couple weeks, though, we'll be satisified.

Have a good next week! We sure will!