Christmas 2008 in Arizona

Christmas is a time of year that Katie and I have always really enjoyed, so we wanted to make sure we took time out to enjoy it as much as we could, and continued to do our traditions like going to the Christmas tree farm, which helped bring a sense of normalcy and continuity to this time of year.

Another tradition for us is that we spend several days around Christmastime with Katie's family. This year we all decided to go to Arizona to Loren and Sally's house, and schedules worked out so that we could be in Arizona the entire week between Christmas and New Years. It turned out to be a fun and relaxing trip, and the right way for us to close 2008.

Soon after we all arrived, we did our gift exchange. Everyone gave great gifts... nice clothes, cooking related stuff (everyone in this family loves cooking!), books, games and toys, all sorts of fun and thoughtful stuff.

The girls' cowgirl outfits were definitely one of the big hits of the day. Here they are modeling them:


And Ben's radio controlled helicopter captivated all of us...


Lynnette and Ross joined us for a great Christmas dinner.


And afterwards, Lynnette taught us some Western dance moves!


Later in the week we took a day trip over to Sedona. It was our first time visiting the area. The scenery did not disappoint!


At one of our stops, we had a lot of fun making silly shapes with our shadows.



Back in Prescott, we visited our friends, the burros, at the rescue shelter.



The weather was really nice towards the end of the week so we got outdoors as much as possible. We went to the local playground, and also did quite a bit of geocaching. Here is a cache that the girls found near a creek running through downtown Prescott.


Plenty of time for games, as usual. Here we are playing one of Katie's new games, Wits and Wagers, with family friends.



We capped off the week with a fabulous New Years Eve dinner at one of our favorite Prescott restaurants, El Gato Azul, a tapas place downtown.


And with that, 2008 came to a close.

For us, the holidays this year were certainly a challenge without Claire and Sarah here. But in times like these, we are so thankful to have such a wonderful family around us, and were grateful that we were able to spend this week with them and relax and have fun for a while.


With 2009 comes renewed hope and energy, and we are excited about moving forward and seeing what life brings us this year! Happy New Year everyone, and wishes of health and happiness to each of you.