McIntosh Family Christmas Party

We had a wonderful time at the home of Jim and Irene Ellis for the McIntosh family Christmas party. We visited with family while sipping on hot chocolate. Things got a little out of hand during the gift exchange, but I think everyone left happy and still friends. Always a great time.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Little Bear Tree Farm

Every other year Jim and I get our Christmas tree from a little family owned tree farm in Alta just up the road. This place is awesome and we always have so much fun. Irene, Jim's mom has been coming here since she was a child. The farm recently celebrated there 50 year anniversary. We love it because of the personal touch and the fact that we can let our dogs run off leash to there hearts desire. We only go every other year because they only grow silver tip trees and I can only stomach them every other Christmas. We were lucky this year and not only were the crowds low, but the weather cooperated as well. Our tree is "beautiful" and, although we haven't had time to decorate it yet, sits beautifully in our living room.

They never cooperate with the camera...

The gift shop and the trucks they take you to the top of the hill in.

We had the place to ourselves.

Connor, soooo happy!

Abbie too!

December 6th, 2008

While in San Diego visiting mom and Doug we went to Sea World. For Jim, it had been about 25 years since his last visit, and for me about 16 years. Such an awesome place, and so close to us. The place was nothing like I had remembered. We had so much fun playing with the animals and feeding sting rays and seals. We watched the Shamu show and somehow managed to stay dry. We were not so lucky during the Seal show. Sea World does a wonderful job letting you be as hands on as possible. We cannot wait for our next return.

we didn't know we were not supposed to do that...

mom feeding the sting rays

Back to Second Grade

December 5th

On our trip to visit mom in San Diego we made a stop and visited her classroom. She teaches the second grade and we had a blast hanging out with the kids. They loved "Mr. Jim," and loved that our visit prompted an additional PE session. We got them all excited and crazy and left them for mom to deal with for the rest of the day. We even stayed for story time.

Disneyland

December 4th, 2008

Jim and I try to go to Disneyland about once a year, and have been doing so since 2005. We thought we were going to have to break our tradition this year, but a last minute trip to San Diego to visit mom gave us the opportunity to drop in along the way. We conquered both parks in one day and with low crowds we were able to hit up our favorites. We have so much fun there and look forward to many more years of Disney fun.

All decked out for the Christmas holiday. They did a wonderful job.

California Adventures under a little construction.

Playing on Tom Sawyers Island (now pirates island). Still fun as an adult.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year for the first time in 4 years, Jim and I had Thanksgiving off of work together. Two days of spending time with each other and family. On Thursday we visited with Jim's side of the family, spending time with both the Ellis and McIntosh side. Jim and Irene cooked a turkey feast and sent us home with some yummy leftovers. We failed to take any photos on Thursday.
On Friday we had and early morning driving to Mariposa to spend the day with the Whitson/Huber/Foxworthy side of the family. Although the day went all too quickly, we had a wonderful time visiting with one another and catching up. Kathi cooked quite a spread. Here are some pictures of the family and the day. Of course, above is Jim enjoying the wonderful food.

Holiday Chaos... Such fun

Me, Sherae and Jen

Derek and Sherae. They set the date for August 22nd, 09 in Tahoe!

Dad, Alley, Izzy and Rigel

Dan ready to eat.

Izzy

Rigel

Jim with Rigel and Izzy

We set up a game of Cranium and it was the turkeys vs. the Pilgrims. The teams were set Turkeys: Phil, Kathi, Jen, David an Alley (with some help from Izzy) and the Pilgrims: Derek, Sherae, Jim, Dan and Cortleigh. It was heated and went about 50 rounds. Pilgrims might have won if certain people could sculpt a sandcastle. The game wasn't easy and most everything that we sculpted, as Izzy reminded us, looked like "pooh."

A quick nap before getting ready for Christmas...