Christmas 2012

It's about time!
We went to New Mexico for a week for Christmas this year. We drove down, stayed 7 days, and drove back. It was a good time and amount of time to be there, but that town sure is more interesting and fun when it's not freezing cold with snow everywhere. Unless you have an all-day babysitter loads of money to spend on skiing, then it's a blast...but we didn't and don't, and didn't. We also drove up to my grandmother's house in Colorado for a day so she could meet Joshua.
Ok, it was actually a really fun trip, but I'm just home-sick for warm, sunny New Mexico. Here are some select pictures with captions from our trip. There are more on my facebook page under the "Christmas in NM" album.

 We took Joshua sledding at Pinon Elementary on Christmas Eve. He had a fun time until he got hungry and tired (maybe half an hour).

 This is just a really great capture. It's his excited face! He is so excited for Christmas!

 He had started pulling up on things right before we left for NM, but perfected it in NM.

 Coming over to investigate again. I just couldn't not include this picture, he's just so cute!

 I surprised Dave and Joshua with matching pjs that we opened on Christmas Eve, wore to bed, and changed back into after church.

 Oh, yeah, I made myself some, too. Definitely a new tradition! It was so fun! (Next year I will make them fit right, though.)

 Joshua had fun was somewhat interested in Skippy Scooter, and Scooter was actually interested in him, too, which he wasn't too sure about. Monkey usually gets up and leaves if Joshua comes near.

 We tromped through the snow one day to get some fresh air for a while. We took all my favorite cut-through short-cuts and visited some of my favorite parks, even though they don't look anything like they used to. (Ridgecrest to Brighton, Brighton to Kimberly, Kimberly to Rover Park, Rover Park to Aragon, Shirlane to Submarine park and back)

 Joshua liked playing Grandma's (his great grandma) piano just as much as he likes playing ours.

 We tried to get a 4 generation picture, but really, none of them have all of us looking at the camera unobstructed and smiling. Oh well. :) It adds character to them.

I made a double batch of my cousin's ginger bread recipe and made enough forms for 4 ginger bread houses and a ginger bread and lots of ginger bread cookies. It took me all evening to make the bread, and then we didn't make the houses until 2 days later. It was a lot of work, but fun. I don't think I'll ever double the recipe again. I had to have my dad stir it because I wasn't strong enough. Maybe if we do ginger bread cookies as friend/neighbor gifts next year...
We also went ice skating, but I didn't get any pictures of that.
And then last but not least.........







We got Chili Works!...Twice!!!!! oh yum. I got a Sausage Red Cheese (Shrek) both times because it's the most delicious thing ever made. I wish I had a recipe for their red chili sauce.