ABC's: Christmas, New Year's, and Caleb turns 2 months old

What a wonderful Christmas we had! We celebrated just the three of us a few days before Christmas, and then the next day we completely surprised Brent's family by flying to Colorado to be with them, courtesy of Brent's dad. At first I was mad that Brent had booked us a flight for 6 in the morning (traveling with a newborn for the first time was already daunting enough), but it's a good thing he did, because right after we took off, a huge snowstorm hit Utah and about 80 flights were cancelled. My sweet sister-in-law, Katie, who was in on the secret, picked us up from the airport and we hung out at her house until the rest of the family showed up unsuspectingly. We sat under the Christmas tree with bows on our heads and a sign that said "To: Mops, From: Pops." The reactions of each person was great as they walked through the door, especially his mom, who got quite teary. Brent's brother Josh came later, and so Brent hid under a giant box with Caleb, who Josh had yet to meet, and Katie asked Josh to help her move the box. Surprise! Josh didn't even give Brent a hug before reaching his arms out to hold his first nephew.

our sleepy little traveler

De-icing our plane for 45 minutes before takeoff

We celebrated our first year anniversary while in Colorado, so Brent's parents made us go out and celebrate while they watched our baby. We ate at a yummy Italian restaurant and then finished our holiday shopping. There was much singing, board-game playing, laughing, Wii-playing and movie watching for the rest of our time there, and my first Christmas in Colorado was great.

Meeting Grandpa Owen

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!!

Santa Waffle. I can't help myself.

The day after Christmas we flew back to Utah, and spent the rest of the break at Snowbird, where I skied my first black diamond! I only fell once. It was terrifying. We spent the New Year's watching very drunk Snowbird employees attempt to ski down the mountain for their annual light parade. It was quite amusing.

Take that Black Diamond!!

The light parade! This part of the group must have been more sober than the rest.

After we returned, we had a couple weeks of normalcy before we decided to be crazy and take a road trip to California to visit my parents for the MLK holiday. My California bones needed to smell the ocean air. We drove to Primm on Friday, spent the night on some very uncomfortable beds, then drove the rest of the way on Saturday. My mom was busy with a trunk show with Kitty Chen, who happened to make my wedding dress! So we went and introduced ourselves and our baby to her. She is lovely person! Then my dad went with us to the glorious beach. That night we met up with my dear friend Alessandra and ate some yummy ice cream. Mmmmm.

Sleepy traveler again. So glad he sleeps so much in the car. Also, he kinda looks like a frog with his legs like that.

Caleb's first trip to the beach! Too bad it was just a tad chilly. But for January, I can't complain!

Alessandra!

Sunday was stake conference for Camarillo and all of the Ventura area, which was broadcast from Salt Lake. It was all about missionary work and the speakers, which included Elder Anderson and Elder Eyring, were great. Then my grandparents came over for dinner and we played some Shanghai. Aaah I love that game.

Like grandfather like grandson

Monday we ate at the Lure, where my family once spotted Julia Roberts. She was sadly not there this time, but the food was great. Then we took off again, spent the night in Mesquite, then made it to Provo the next day. This leg of the trip marked Caleb's first in-car diaper explosion, which required cleaning out the carseat. Yummy.

In other news, Caleb turned 2 months old over the weekend! I can hardly believe it. He looks more and more like his daddy every day--I love it!

Here is a little bit about our sweet boy:

Likes: bath time, laying on his changing table, sitting in his bouncer or swing, eating. So much eating. I'm sore just thinking about it. He also seems to enjoy our jogs in his stroller.

His "perplexed" look that he often has

Dislikes: Tummy time. Nothing will put him in a bad mood like that. Sorry kiddo. Also--bedtime. Getting this little guy to bed is already like pulling teeth. (Except that he doesn't have any of those). This is my curse, since I was the worst bedtime stall-er growing up. He generally sleeps pretty well once he is down though.

We are so in love with our little Caleb. We had a very busy last few months and we are glad to take it easy for awhile and *hopefully* get some kind of routine going.

I'll end this post with some more pictures.