I love this photo of Phx with the snowman. They seem to have the same expression on their faces.
We've finally returned from our long journey through the southwest. We decided to spend our vacation in New Mexico so baby Phoenix could meet his cousin, Baby Amanda for the first time. We stopped in Phoenix, Arizona on the way to and from Albuquerque to visit with Daryl's sister Julie Roeloff & her family.
We had a wonderful drive enjoying the sights of the southwest. I especially enjoyed the large Saguarro cacti. They looked like alien knights marching across the scape.
We got to Albuquerque and made home base at my Mom's, Grandma Kim. She kept us well fed and spoiled us with lots of warm drinks, hot food and lots of treats. I requested that every meal include a salad to help me control my weight during the trip. It worked well. I didn't lose any, but I didn't gain either. Yeah. She made us a huge range of yummy meals each better than the previous. My favorites were the simple lunches she would whip up for herself like Pho' (Vietnamese soup) and lemongrass chicken. She did have one odd kitchen mistake--she tried to make oatmeal cookies and took the Cumin for the Cloves. We called them Mexican Oatmeal cookies. I ate 1. We also squeezed in some shopping, of course!
We spent the first part of the trip hanging at my Brother Jason's house with his wife, Heather and new baby Amanda. It was made extra special when Dad, Carl & Ryan decided to fly out, too. So, we had a great time catching up and learning together how to integrate these new babies into our usual shenanigans. Heather & Jas hosted a party and cooked some great meals including traditional New Mexican Posole' (hominy soup). Dad was great with the new babies. It was cute to see Carl and Ryan interacting with them. It seems like yesterday that I was babysitting them! We drew names this year to exchange presents. Daryl got a sweet external hard drive designed by Ferrari from Dad. Daryl gave Jason an ice cream maker and all the fixings to make chocolate peppermint ice cream. It was delicious. I drew Santos who could not be there this year. I got him some frames designed to hold record albums since he has some albums from the bands he has played with. One of the covers even features a picture of him. Little Toby drew me and supposedly my present's "in the mail" :) We really missed not having Santos, Eri & Toby at the party. Then, everyone surprised me by actually having their White Elephant gifts. I was so surprised that we didn't have ours! So Ry encouraged us to find something in our car. We dug up some worthy items and it turned out to be a great exchange! It was a very civil exchange until it got to me ;) I drew #1 and stole Jason's gift which started a small chain reaction of swapping. Anyway, everyone ended up with things they liked, with the exception of Ry who surely enjoyed her copy of Dragon's Lair II (yes, TWO!). Daryl was quite pleased with his frog in a Santa suit and I was excited about my mini first aid kit. How else to round out the night than with some gambling! We played a round of Texas Hold'Em with a $60 pot. Ryan surprised everyone with some excellent playing and some lucky cards. The best hand was when she went head to head with her Dad. He bets. She calls. Card turns. This continues until the last card is flipped. Dad shows his pair of Queens and Ryan says, "Oh, you won, Dad. All I have is a pair of 10's." But, her 10 completed a straight on the table and clinched her victory. Dad's face...anyway, I was really proud of her.
We took a day to drive to Santa Fe to visit with the baby's great grandma, Angelina. She cooked a grand meal including her perfect tamales. It was very touching to have so many generations of Younis' in the room.
Daryl & I also drove to SF to visit with big Sister Victoria (Grauntie V). It felt strange to be in the house I had been in so many times before, but now as a Mommy. We had a nice quiet lunch and talked about our new roles.
And then the snow started falling and falling and falling. The news casts called for 1-3 inches. 16 inches of snow later, we began to adjust our plans to include staying through my birthday and New Years. It turned out to be the biggest snowfall in the history of Albuquerque. It even made national news. Daryl made Phoenix a snowman. I wanted to throw snowballs at someone, but my choices were Daryl (who has no problem throwing snowballs at the motehr of his child) and Jim who used to be an award winning pitcher. He proved it by throwing one at a tree 20 or so feet away and hitting it square. I thrwe my ball at jason's car as he drove away. We celebrated my birthday quietly at Mom's house. I got a portable DVD player from Phoenix! Mom & Jim gave me some dough to take Daryl out to dinner. I argued about having to share my gift :)
Mom and Jim seemed to really enjoy having little Phoenix floating around. Mom was great helping me with Phoenix. It was surreal to see her lavishing my son with love and care. I told her I wouldn't have had a baby if I knew it would dethrone me from my Princess status :) Actually, I was very moved to see her care for my son the way she has always done for me. She would build giant forts of pillows and blankets to make sure Phoenix was cozy and warm. Oh, we spent Christmas at Jas & Heather's and rounded out the day with a cool game called WhoNu. It's made by the sdame people that make Cranium. It's cool because the emphasis is not competititve, but rather about getting to know one another. Also, you could play with a big age range, as long as the players can read. Each player has four cards and picks the card that would most describe the "Whozit". The Whozit rotates, of course. Then, the Whozit puts the cards in order from most liked to least liked. Players get more points for being closer to the favorite thing. Jim was the wild card and almost had a sure lock on victory in the second game, but lost his strong lead when his own wife selected his card as the least likable thing! I did the same thing to Daryl when I ranked his card, "Jewelry," in third place. It came after "Making Lists" and "Fizzy Water." I love water with bubbles. OK, sorry, I'm rambling about this game. Bottom line, it's fun & I recommend it.
Phoenix had lots of firsts during our two week visit. Mom discovered he likes to hold a blanket. It really calms him down. So, he's got a little Linus thing going on now. It's cute. He also found his thumb on New Years Eve and now sucks his thumb like a champ. He's also picking up some lessons from cousin Amanda. He has started reaching for objects dangled in front of him. He's not quite able to grasp them yet, but he'll bat them. He likes being serenaded and he talks a lot. He loves watching football on TV. He would cry when the announcers would come on or commercials would interrupt and then quiet down when the players were shown. It was weird. Luckily, Jim has direct TV and gets the NFL channel. We watched almost every bowl game thanks to Phoenix. I didn't hear any complaints from Jim.
We finally got out of Albuquerque on January 2 once an eerie fog lifted. I got some great shots as we headed south out of town. We saw some coyotes running across the desert. They stood out against the blanket of snow. We felt like we were driving through a martian landscape. We stopped in Phoenix and stayed over with The Roeloff's. Dave made us chocolate chip pancakes and Julie treated us to a half day at the zoo.
We had a wonderful holiday, but we are glad to be home. Our cat missed us severely. Her voice had gone hoarse I expect from crying. It was really sad, but we've made it up to her. Daryl has to leave for DC in a couple of weeks and we will take a trip up to Sunnyvale, too. Toby is coming out to visit soon and Daryl's mom Donna & her husband Ken plan to visit in February. That should be fun! Happy holidays to all of you and I hope this new year brings as many blessings as this past year for all of us!
Check out the photos "Holiday Highlight photos"
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