Holiday Festivities and Such....

The holidays were, as usual, completely crazy but awesome. Unfortunately, I was awful and forgot to take very many pictures. I did manage to sneak in a few, though.

First, Pete's sister Vicki and her family drove down from Minnesota (brave souls) and stopped in Albuquerque to visit the weekend before Christmas. It was fun to finally meet the whole family, and we went to the zoo and aquarium. I didn't really understand the extent to which Barry's back was hurting him, and now I feel like we should've done something that required less walking. Sorry, Barry! It was pretty fun nonetheless, though I've never seen the zoo so empty in all my life. The best part of the zoo trip was getting to watch the polar bears get fed. They were CRAZY! The zookeeper kept tossing fish into different places in the enclosure, and one of the polar bears was jumping off this huge rock and diving after the fish like he was starving.



A couple days later we hopped in the car to make the 7 hour trek to Phoenix/Prescott for the holidays. Unfortunately it was pouring snow and the roads were iced along I-40, but the good news was we got to go through Tucson instead and got to visit Katie! We spent the night in her swanky, modern loft, and went out to breakfast the next morning with Kate and a couple of Pete's friends who live there as well, Mat and Tavish.


Back on the road, we headed to Phoenix where we immediately went to IKEA. I LOVE that place! We stocked up on the glasses we love that we got from there, and I ogled all the lovely things that I want. It was Christmas Eve, so we went over to Dad and Terea's annual awesome Christmas party. I look forward to that party the most at Christmas. We scored a monkey candle holder at the white elephant gift exchange, and won steak knives, a cutting board, and a RAD doggie sweater with an owl on it and a sheepie dog toy that baaa's at the trivia auction. We also scored some more clothes for Maya. Just as the auction was winding down, who knocked at the door? Why it was Santa Claus, of course! Peanut got her picture taken sitting on Santa's lap. She actually really enjoyed herself.



We spent Christmas morning at Melanie's, and then drove over to Pete's sister Dorothy's house for Christmas lunch. I wish I'd taken pictures of the spread, because it was amazing! All the family was there for the first time in years. Pete was more than happy to help in the kitchen. He loves cooking.

We figured since all the siblings and nieces and nephews were there, we'd better take advantage of the situation and take some pictures.


Next, we left early (sorry guys....more Christmases to attend!) and headed to Prescott for Christmas at Grammy's! I was a big dork and only took one picture while I was there! Erica and her family were there. Ella was loving Peanut, and Peanut was such a good girl and just sat there letting Ella poke and prod at her! It was pretty cute. Most the cousins were there, but Justin and Shannon just had their first baby girl on Christmas Eve, so they couldn't make it, and Uncle Mark and Aunt Debbie went to Utah to see their newest grandchild.

We spent the night at Grammy's and the next day went out to lunch at Oliva's so I could get my yummy Pollo Fundito! Pete's parents met us there along with my mom and step-dad, and my uncle Bill and a couple of his friends. After Oliva's we swung by Hanna's house to pick up Pete's niece Meghan for her birthday. We took her out to pizza and a movie. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, bedtime stories was really cute, and it's only rated PG. It was very kid appropriate, but funny for adults, too.

The next morning we piled back into the car for the ride home. It went nice and smooth, and we were grateful to be able to just rest before the next week began. It had been an action-packed and sleep-free week for sure!