Ballard: January 2009

i know...a little late, but considering we only took the tree down last sunday, and we are just now de-decking the halls, it is only fitting that christmas pictures are now making their way to the blog. besides, despite retailers' all-too-successful ways of convincing us that christmas is sooo last year and easter is just a few weeks away, christmas was only 3 weeks ago. so i guess in the end...i'm not doing too bad here! For christmas, we stayed here in az and spent a great time with kevin's family. as always, whether in az or in fl, we enjoyed a nice, mild, 70*, brown/green christmas (i personally feel that is the way to go).

every year the lds and catholic church choirs get together at the mesa temple and put on a christmas program. you can't really tell, but the lights at the temple are amazing!

me (obviously), leanne (sister-in-law), and erin (cousin) at our christmas eve dinner

kevin's youngest brother, david, works at a grocery store and had to work on christmas eve. the grocery store scheduled all of the teenage boys to work--because, you know, teenage boys don't have family to be with during christmas--so dave was not with us. at about 9:30 all of kevin's family and his aunt and uncle's family went down to the store to stage a friendly protest. we first went in and found dave at his cashier post, gathered all around and dazzled the shoppers with our best and loudest version of "we wish you a merry christmas". we then found the manager and asked if dave could leave (who could deny us after our little musical gift to the store?) our complaints and pleas fell short of the manager's heart, so we went to work. we figured if we helped out, dave would get out sooner. we collected shopping carts, bagged groceries, re-stocked shelves, stood in as bouncers to not let anyone else come in the store, cleaned the counters and floors, and kev and i even got to speak on the intercom speaker (clean up on isle 9). the managers loved it! we had everyone whistling a happy tune and we got them (and dave) out sooner. it was a blast. i'm still waiting for my paycheck.

when kevin and his brothers were younger, their dad created a "ballard boy's rap". the rap resurfaced for the christmas eve party, but with new and improved lyrics (i made it into a line!) we're true playas!

a little 'nog and cider for the nightcap!

christmas morning! kevin's family wraps EVERYTHING!!!!

i think it took 2-3 hours to unwrap it all.

thanks for the super-sized bag of double-bubble santa! i now have 4 cavities and tmj.

for new years, we travelled to grandma rosell's house in california for the infamous (you know...more than famous) new year's bash. kevin has 50 cousins on his mom's side, and while not all were there, the house was still packed and jammin'. tradition dictates that we form a conga-line, dance around the house as we sing and dance to "enjoy yourself". When the chorus hits, we all run to the living room and jump around.

tradition continues...the eggnog fizzies! similar to the gallon-challenge (but with eggnog, and you don't have to consume as much), the person who chugs the most (and keeps it down)...wins. kevin and his brother, daniel, were the 2 contestants. fortunately daniel bailed out after 4 cups because he looked like he was going to blow. kevin kept going to beat the standing record of 15 cups. we decided people could tag-team if they wanted, so kev tapped out, i jumped in and topped it off with 6 cups (total of 17 cups for the ballard team...and the new record).

eggnog fizzy winners!