The Holiday Photos Have Arrived

Jerry found himself with extra time on hand after the semester classes ended. He used his free moments to nurture his cooking hobby, even roasting our first turkey. Its carcass looks a little scary in the photo, but we felt confident enough in Jerry's skills to invite a neighbor family to help us eat the bird. Thanks to our other neighbor friends (who just moved away) for giving us their big ol' table so we had room for everybody to all sit together while we ate.

I have always been a dog-lover. When my cousin asked us to pack her pooch up to Boise this Christmas (too expensive to take him on her flight) we readily agreed. Tanker, an American Bulldog, gave us lots of tail-wags and doggy flatulence to make our drive lively. (We unrolled the windows every 5-10 minutes for fresh air).

With road closure on I-84 for several days during the week of Christmas, we felt grateful to find at least one day clear enough to drive straight through to Boise.

Once we got there and spent time with siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, good times unfolded. We especially liked playing Pit and Apples to Apples with everybody. Pictured is my next-door-neighbor cousin with her husband and 2-year-old son. We thought it was so funny to have a makeshift baby bjorn out of daddy's coat. Note the snow on Boise's sidewalk!! It rarely sticks longer than a day, but this Christmas it proved plentiful to the extent that the white weather wore out its welcome. (for me, anyway).

After coming back to Utah, we spent New Year's Eve day on Temple Square with one of our other neighbor families. They are Chinese, so we made sure to find the asian creche (as well as others from around the world) and we liked the Chinese luminara as well.