Holidays

I have a lot to catch up on from the holidays... Better late than never, right?

We started Thanksgiving off with a 10K Turkey Trot in Walnut Creek with a Biggest Loser, Bernie from season 5 (he only ran the 5K). It was really fun and beautiful through the city park and along the Iron Horse Trail. Our goal was to finish in less than one hour and we crossed the finish line at one hour, ten seconds!We spent Thanksgiving locally with Jeff's mom's family. It was nice to not have to drive very far to enjoy family and food. Dylan wants whatever Great Grandpa is having!
Sienna was in heaven with the "older girls" (Jeff's cousins). She followed them around the entire time. They were so sweet to her.The next night we went to the lighting at Temple Hill. The program was fun and Sienna loved the dance performance and the singing of carols. It's kind of a joke to take the kids anywhere if we have to sit longer than one minute (Jeff and I are usually laughing, but I can't say the same for the people around us), but we had a great time and let them lose outside on the grounds (where Sienna tried to jump into the stream). Beautiful!Some friends and I took our kids to the Golden Gate Express Garden Railway exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The exhibit features mini versions of San Francisco landmarks, all crafted from recycled materials. Very cool! We had to hurry and see it because the kids tried to climb onto the exhibit to grab the train and cable car--no strollers allowed.My picture of this didn't turn out very well, but Sienna was so funny at our ward Christmas party. All the primary kids were on stage singing and acting out the Nativity and Sienna begged to go up there. We put her on the stage and she was in heaven. She didn't know any of the songs, but she pretended to sing along and loved every minute of her stardom!Dylan learned a new trick, of which he is very proud.And, Sienna taught Dylan a new trick.One of my favorite childhood Christmas traditions was going to San Francisco to see the lights and eat Chinese food. We did this every year and I always loved it. This year I was reminded of that as we spent Christmas Eve in the city with my parents and a few of my siblings. Having just moved away from the city, it was fun to be back to enjoy the Christmas festivities. We had lunch with John and the kids got their monogrammed gifts--he goes nuts over catalog stuff!We went to the observation tower of the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and saw beautiful views of the city. It was a very clear and gorgeous day in San Francisco. We went to the Hyatt near Embarcadero where we saw an expansive Christmas village exhibit. We ate delicious Chinese food at House of Nanking. And, of course, walked around Union Square where we watched ice skaters and saw the lights and giant Christmas tree.
The kids were exhausted by the time we got home and even slept in until 7:30 Christmas morning (which was still way too early for my parents)! Sienna loves her new scooter! It was fun to see Sienna so excited for Christmas. Jeff and I went on a run in the afternoon and as we were running I realized I forgot to give Jeff his main Christmas present! I was so concerned about the kids, that it completely slipped my mind.
This was the first year we hosted Christmas dinner, which included the Sister missionaries, my parents, my brothers, and my sister and her family.