Last Thoughts on Christmas in San Jose

Better late than never:

A: In my efforts to get my last post up in a decent time-frame, I neglected to put in these videos. I also did not put in some pictures Dallin wanted me to, so he has done so here. And while we are at it, I'll put in some pictures I wanted but Dallin didn't because they are a little blurry. So here we go.

  

D:

I guess we should include some actual narrative of what happened in San Jose. Shannon, Jeff, and Axel got into San Jose the Friday before Christmas, and we got there Saturday.  We did a lot of watching the boys play, because they were just too stinkin' cute. We played new games people got for Christmas - Perpetual Commotion (Nertz), Loaded Questions, 7 Wonders, We Didn't Playtest this at All (actual name), and Catch Phrase. We even playtested Brennen's game the Legend of Drizzt. Aerin and I bonded over playing on the Wii and the N64. Occasionally we let others join us. The food was delish (ribs for Christmas Eve! Sushi! Chicken Katsu!!!). There were outings to the Discovery Museum, the new Hobbit movie, the mall, farmer's market, and a hearty Christmas Eve walk that turned into quite the photo op. The big family picture and the pictures on the bridge are all from that walk.

The Grandparents Beagley came with Bradley, Sarah, and their two boys. Bradley is my cousin, and he's about Brennen's age. We did not include photos of all of them together out of deference to their policy not to put pictures of the boys up. Totally understandable. But they were so cute! Brennen's nurse also brought over her little boy, and the five of them were a hoot. The weather being as nice as it was, they ran around outside as much as they wanted. We got tired long before any of them did. The other boys were all so active, it was funny to watch Everett being Everett: sitting quietly in one spot, watching all of the chaos around him with a look of "What on earth?" clearly showing in his eyebrows, clutching sidewalk chalk in both hands.

Shannon, Jeff, Dad, Alicia, and I got to go to the very disappointing BYU bowl game in San Francisco. At least the BYU band sounded good. We met up with Alicia's cousin Amanda, who was in the band, at the game. After the game, we found out that another of Alicia's friends was in the area and had been at the game, so we met up with her and her "manfriend" for breakfast. How is it that even when I go back to where I grew up, we end up visiting my wife's friends? It's because I'm a terrible planner. I did get to see Thomas and Candice, but I didn't really have to go out of my way for that to happen.

Our trip back was a bit of an adventure. Our flight to Spokane was on New Year's Eve. We left for the airport at 5:30 for a 7:30 flight, which was already cutting it close. Well, the flight was delayed until 8:50. But, right after we got to the airport we found out that the freeway we had used to get to the airport was now closed because of an accident. Leaving later wouldn't have really worked. We found this little art display in a big empty hallway, and Everett had a blast. He wandered up and down that huge hallway to his heart's content. We got to board at about 8:15, but we didn't end up taking off until after 9 because they were waiting for connecting flights. Everett was a pretty happy camper, except that this is well past his bedtime and we wanted him to sleep. He did not. Once in Spokane, they must have been understaffed for transporting baggage because it took us another hour of waiting to get our luggage. Everett finally fell asleep, and Grandpa said he'd stay in the car with him while we ran in to say hi to everyone at Julie's house. We got to Julie's 2 minutes to midnight, enough time to get our cups of punch and start counting down the seconds for the new year. A few kisses and hugs later, we said our hellos and goodbyes, found our apartment still standing, and went to bed.

That's enough vacation for a while. Here's some pictures.

We are raising a very sensitive child, especially to the beauty of music. He looks like he's about to cry!

Everett loved his Grandma

In case you were wondering, the boys got SPOILED!!

 Shocking news: Aerin was indeed there. We have photo evidence. She got the ukulele.

More family pictures

I like the sitting one better. It just fits our relationship with Everett so well (Us: "C'mon! You can do it!" Ev: "But I'm so comfy... and you guys look so ridiculous."). Plus he was crying in the crawling picture. That wasn't fun.

 The subtle side-eye. Yes, ribs for Christmas Eve dinner. It was glorious.

 And now, more pictures of the boys:

 Happy Grandpa!

 Textbook examples of parallel play (playing similarly next to each other without interacting). I may use these someday. There was honestly no bickering between these two, just a never ending stream of cuteness, naps, and the occasional tantrum (our son, unfortunately).

 So cute!!!

A: 

Everett pictures that Dallin says are slightly blurry, but I don't care!