December catch up and New Years!

So with the "arctic blast" (worst storm name ever) I saw the most snow ever, plus some real life icicles, and they were big ones! They are awesome. And deadly (have you seen ice age lately?) Also, please pretend there aren't still pumpkins outside in December. And we didn't leave the house for a week, and I loved it.

We also went sledding in the back yard, and that was fun. Katie really liked it. But what she liked the best was jumping on the trampoline. Then Uncle Eric had the idea of having Katie punch the ice to break it, and then that was her favorite. She did it until we ran out of ice.

Christmas was fun, we did the traditional Christmas Eve with Jon's family, which is a lot different for me since growing up we opened our presents on Christmas Eve. But it was really fun, and we did get to open one present- a baby monitor, which has come in handy so many times since.

On Christmas Katie got a dollhouse from "Santa" (gramma!) and Jon got Kota, the robotic dinosaur. That thing is awesome and creepy. If you growl at it, it growls back. Katie loves both, and all the other presents too. I'm not putting any more Christmas pictures because they are all the back of Katie's head. Oh, also that is cousin Lucy in the picture, not Aimee. She didn't grow a head of hair overnight. Unfortunately.

We braved our snowy street and went down to Eugene and saw all of my family the day after Christmas. That was fun, and we got to see the California family that we haven't seen for a while. Danny and Kim's kids especially have gotten so big!

Then it was Grampa's birthday, and Jon's brothers did the price is right, it was fun!

Then we had Jon's extended family and it was Christmas all over again! Grammie always paints the most beautiful things, and she's given us about half our Christmas decorations! And we got an amaryllis from Aunt Gail, which I really hope I don't kill.

Then we had New years, and it was fun having a party and seeing family and friends. Katie managed to stay up past midnight, and was horribly overtired, but it was still fun.

And now its the new year, and I'm excited. Last year had massive ups and downs- really great moments right next to really depressing ones. So here's to hoping 2009 is a bit less extreme. Knowing me that's not likely, but a girl can dream!