Other Christmas stuff

And now for some miscellaneous photos. Here we go.

The Zinho helped decorate the tree.

And undecorate it. And undecorate it again.

And undecorate it again.

We went to Temple Square on the last Monday before Christmas.

It's an incredible thing they do there, but, hey, don't go on the last Monday before Christmas.

Needless to say, Leo wanted to undecorate this tree as well.

We went to an annual Christmas party that requires dedicated costumery.

I don't want to say it's hardcore. But, um, it's hardcore.

I figured shaving my beard and flatironing my hair would show the hardness of my core.

Then the gingerbread man and his wife showed up.

Who are we? Answer at the *.

Another Christmas party.

Popularity may seem glamorous, but let me tell you, it is TAXING.

Here's Leo with our friend Amy, a huge smile, and a golden pig.

Christmas Eve at the Bowers.

Leo got a cool matching game and way too many bites of dessert.

* Jim & Pam from The Office. We wanted to do something that involved Holly's prego belly. I made a lot of knowing glances at the camera.

Christmas Day

A little glimpse of Christmas morning at our house. Notice Holly's cool homemade star with a light inside. Fire hazard? Or helping us all feel just a little more of the warmth of Christmas?

Leo got a kitchen set signed by Bobby Flay. OK. No Bobby Flay. But A KITCHEN SET!!!

We thought it might keep him from emptying all the drawers in the actual kitchen,

but- like Mike Ness- we were wroooooong.

Yes. He was, in fact, pretty stoked.

No. We don't take pictures of ourselves anymore.

We did go to breakfast at my parents for

the traditional ableskivers & baked grapefruit breakfast however.

And it was, as is tradition, amazing.

Here's the kid with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Andy

Once upon a time in Hawai'i

So, for the time being, we've left the password-protected, retinal scan, voiceprint verification era of our blog. (Insert politically-infused comment about chaperoning out an era of paranoia, fear, & blah blah blah, and ushering in an era of hope, change, and beep bop boop HERE.)

Seems like we'll never get around to a bona fide post about Hawaii, so I figured I'd just throw some photos up at random. Maybe toss some captions in. Of course, I've said that before and still somehow managed to eclipse the 1000-word mark. We're around 100 already.

These are nonsequential.

Holly and my mom learn to hula at the PCC.

Holly rocks the ukelele.

The Zinho is close to crawling. We thought he might break it out for Christmas, but- even at this early age- he understands the importance of "the moment" and appears to be ramping up for his debut during The Annual Lull In Awesomeness that takes place in January and February.

Oahu. Leo sees, and feels the ocean for the first time. His dad's grizzled ivory chest (not pictured) sees the sun for the first time in ages, only to be shut down when the makers of the Hubble telescope call and tell him he's casting a cosmic glare.

Why crawl when you can boogie board? Holly and cousin Caitlin help Leo get his sea legs. Not pictured: the family of whales wondering how the humans got such a blubberous baby.

We went sea kayaking, so Leo got to hang out with grandma, who took maybe my favorite picture of the trip. The island's healing properties helped Leo kick RSV, which was a nice little Christmas gift.

More later. Maybe.

Leo's First Christmas

As some of you may know, Paul's parents were kind (and awesome) enough to take us to Hawaii for Christmas this year. So, we don't have the traditional First Christmas photos of Leo in the snow or in front of the tree on Christmas morning. Nonetheless, it was an amazing First Christmas for all of us. It's hard to beat balmy 80 degree weather, the beach, the ocean and fresh papaya...

We finally got to see our friend Scott Wiley's favorite Mormon cultural idiosyncracy (people opening their talks by saying, "ALOHA, BROTHERS & SISTERS" even though they're either a] in Utah or b] not Hawaiian) in its proper context. ALOHA, BROTHERS & SISTERS! (no picture, sorry.)

We have a lot of pictures from Hawaii, so maybe we should just stick to Christmas Day for now.

Christmas morning

Since we decided to pack light, we only brought stockings for each other. It was nice keeping it simple. Here, Leo enjoys his stocking's spoils- gingerbread cookies, a Christmas (I think) monkey, and some other snacks.

Leo going to town on his stocking stuffer. Not pictured: Holly totally letting go.

Best big toe ever. Look at that thing. The only thing keeping it from being a thumb is opposability. And maybe the fact that it's a toe.

We went to the beach for some snorkeling. Leo got to try out his new watergear.

Leo's love of the ocean is still in its infancy.

There's more on Christmas, but I figured I'd just get something up here and maybe add a little on later.