Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We had a wonderful holiday season! The only bad thing is looking back it seemed to have disappeared into a whirlwind! We drove down to Albuquerque to spend Christmas with my family. That was not my favorite drive but thankfully Cole was an angel for most of the 12 hour trip. *cringe* I think I complained more than he did :) We arrived Friday night late and spent the next two hours trying to wear Cole out since he got a second wind upon arrival. On Saturday the fun began. I stayed home with my mom (this was one of her days off) and Bret and my Dad headed off for the New Mexico Bowl. Jill came over that morning with Xander and he and Cole had a blast. It was pretty fun to see them play. When the men arrived home I heard about all the fun they had and believe me - there was plenty of pictures of the game. Bret even took some pictures with the cheerleaders (which cracked me up). I was glad they had had so much fun. That night we played games and had a fun time. On Sunday we drove out to Keri's ward in Los Lunas to listen to her teach in Relief Society. I'm sure it was an amazing lesson but sadly I didn't get to hear any of it. Cole was having a rough day and didn't want to go to nusery so we spent our time walking the halls. Oh well. We then had dinner at her house that night. Cole - the cook- even helped with dinner prep. He had a blast chasing the kitties also. I'm not sure the cats enjoyed it to much! On Monday Bret, Keri, Dad and myself headed up to Santa Fe for the day. Bret had never been and I wanted him to see it. I love Santa Fe for all its culture, museums, and so much more. It was a great time. We arrived home in time to head over to the Pearce's for dinner. While there we exchanged gifts with each other and allowed the kids to pretty much run amoke together. Tuesday I went to lunch with my dear friend Amanda (who had put up with me for the past gazillion years) and then came home for another night of games. We also went to see the traditional Buggs Lights. Cole loved them and ran around the entire time shouting "Lights, I see!!!" It was pretty cute. Wednesday night we had the missionarys over for dinner and to play chimes. It is a pretty awesome tradition. Afterwards we drove around to see some Christmas lights. Thursday morning was so much fun with opening gifts and spending time with my whole family. Cole made a haul between grandparents and aunts/uncles. Bret also enjoyed all of his gifts especially a church book from my parents. He still can't keep his nose out of it! All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. Thursday night Bret and I stayed with Keri and Cole had a really hard time going to sleep. He didn't fall asleep until almost 1am and then all the adults had to get up at 4:30am for our annual trip to the Bosque Del Apache. It is a bird refuge and we love it! But in order to see all the geese rise from the lake at once ( a truly amazing sight) we have to leave by 5am. Thankfully this year Katy and Lyle decided to stay home and watch Cole for us. (Thanks again!) We had a great time and saw lots of birds, 12 deer, and an elk. We got back in the afternoon and the boys headed off for a movie (they had also played lazertag for 3 hours earlier in the week for more boys time). Saturday I went to visit another friend,Amy, who just had a baby and got to spend a little time with her. We then played more games and had tonz of fun. Sunday came to fast and we left early in the morning for our long drive home. What a great vacation.
New Years we didn't do anything big, but just stayed home and watched movies together. The day after was football and we had Scott over for the day. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and our family hope that this new year will be filled with blessings for everyone!