Saturday, January 9, 2010

christmas part 3: the wedding

the big event of the week was john's wedding on dec 26. he married his high school sweetheart at the oakland temple. yippee for john & kristen!
of course we took lots of photos after the ceremony.
and that evening we ate lots and danced a little at the fancy reception.
welcome to the family kristen - get ready for some good times.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

christmas part 2: christmas eve & day

the traditions of christmas start on the 24th. mom cooked an amazingly fancy meal, we wore our crowns from the poppers, had a christmas program and some played with their napkin rings...
christmas morning of course was filled with lots of present opening. we brought grandma some boston items - including a lobster hat.
dad was the lucky one this year to get a quilt made via mom.
and keeping with tradition we talked around the lafayette reservoir. this time we even had an ornament to put on the tree. i was glad to have john back this year to jump with me.and my favorite tradition - bowling! grandma even got in the action and as long as she had a steady hand she bowled quite well.
that evening we headed to palo alto to see some forrest family, eat another great meal via katie and wished niece madelyn a happy birthday.
a very full, yet perfect christmas day.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

christmas part 1: asilomar & the temple

this year for christmas we headed out to san francisco to visit the shafer family and grandma hayden. it was a wonderful week. the trip began with 2 days in monterey/carmel at asilomar. of course on the way down we stopped for fish tacos and fried artichokes.
we enjoyed a wonderful christmas concert at the carmel mission by chanticleer. we won't get into our car getting towed...

the following afternoon dad, john and i decided to bike the 17-mile drive. the ride by the water was windy and then it got really really hilly. once we hit the peak (after lots of walking) dad got a flat so we called for a ride. i think we were in a little over our heads - but at least it was pretty!
back in oakland we all visited the temple and took some family pictures. it was one of those perfect clear days when you can see downtown san francisco.