Mele Kalikimaka

Now that we're halfway through February we thought it was time to upload the Christmas pictures. We know we have been slacking but we have been very busy of late. We had a busy holiday season. We made some New Year's resolutions. Rainy moved out of our home. And Jason got a job, a real job. But before we get to that we need to begin with our Christmas trip.

This being our first Christmas together presented the always interesting challenge of whose family you get to spend the holiday with. Initially we planned to fly to Virginia because Leah will be two shortly and then we would be forced to buy a third plane ticket. But Carissa really wanted to see her family, particularly her grandparents. Fortunately, Jason's parents decided to fly to Boise to spend Christmas with the Coburns. This turn of events enabled us to spend time with both of our families. So a week before Christmas we loaded up the car and set out on the road.

The drive up was uneventful except that we stopped in Boise on the way and dropped Rainy off with her belongings. After spending the night and visiting with Nana who flew in earlier that day we left for McMinnville.

Spending Christmas in McMinnville was a blast. We were able to visit with family and friends that we hadn't seen since our wedding. We visited with Carissa's parents, grandparents, and of course Aunt Pat . We were also able to visit with Adam and Ashley before they headed north to Seattle. And we also got to visit with Egan and Kiser families.

One of the highlights was going up to Mt. Hood to ski/board. Randy treated Jason to a day of fresh powder at Timberline. It was storming on the mountain pretty good so Carissa stayed inthe lodge with Leah.

Christmas was beautiful. There were lots of laughs, gift giving, and love. We even had a touch of snow to make it a white Christmas. It was hilarious to watch Leah open her presents. We think she may have a touch of OCD. She kept tearing off a piece of wrapping paper and then running it to one of us to throw away. Leah was tuckered out by the end of the day and crashed on the floor in front of the tree.

The day after Christmas we stuffed our car full of Christmas gifts and journeyed back to Boise for the second leg of our Christmas vacation. We ran into a bit of snow on the way back through the Blue Mountains. Carissa was a white knuckled passenger but Jason steered the family safely to our destination: a 50+ acre farm outside of Middleton, ID.

It was nice to see all of Jason's family. Leah and Mikaela ran around giggling and laughing, expending all of her restlessness from being strapped into her car seat for 9 hours. After a nice barbecue dinner we settled in for the night to await the visit of Old St. Nick again.

We were certainly spoiled this Christmas. We also certainly hope Leah doesn't think that every Christmas is like this. For Christmas dinner Papa Chong decided to try this redneck way of cooking a turkey. It appears that he graduated from deep frying turkeys to smoking turkeys in a trash can. That's right folks, trash can turkey.

You place a turkey on the foil lined lid and then place the inverted aluminum trash can over it. 20 lbs. worth of coals go around the bottom and top.

45 minutes we lifted the trash can off and the smell was amazing. See how proud Jason's dad is.

And if you're wondering, the trash can turkey was the best turkey ever.

Visiting family on a big farm has its perks. Leah was able to ride her first horse ever. And with all the acreage and the horses nearby, she never tired of running around outside though we had to bundle her up.

That about wraps up our Christmas. We spent a few days in Idaho and then spent the New Year back in our little place in Utah. This holiday season we give thanks for family and friends and of course the birth of our Savior. We hope and pray that your holiday season was as joyous as ours. Mele Kalikimaka.