December Decadence

We had a really wonderful Christmas holiday. We were crazy enough to attempt to split our time between Utah, South Carolina, Virginia and a few airports in between! Whew!

Steve and I loved being able to spend time with our family, and Eliza did too! I can tell because now instead of being scared of absolute strangers at the store, she laughs, smiles and WAVES at them from her seat in the front of the shopping cart.

So she now loves ALL strangers and thinks they all should be overwhelmingly interested in every little sniffle, giggle, and sigh she might let out... that's her luck for being the first grandchild on both sides! She drew quite the crowd at both the Morrison and Meldau homes.

Utah Christmas

Eliza's favorite napping buddy, Grandpa Morrison!

We flew out to Utah on Dec. 19th, Steve's mom's bday! Steve and I were really worried about being stuck on an airplane with Eliza for 5 hours, but she was AMAZING. Quite the pro at flying! Even our seat-mate and one of the flight attendants commented on how well she did. As we were de-boarding the stewardess said, "Wow, she was great! I didn't hear her make even one peep." Way to go, Baby!Tim and Davey (Steve's father and brother) met us at the airport and drove us straight to a little elementary school in Springville (I think it was Springville-- I was zonked out in the backseat- we had to wake up at 4am) where Mrs. Morrison's fourth grade class ooo'd and aww'd over Mrs. Morrison's grandbaby.

That evening we got to celebrate Carol's bday. We were all very exhausted but Eliza just sat really solemnly on Grandma Morrison's lap taking it all in.
Eliza's sleep schedule was CRAZY and erratic basically the whole vacation. But she was so fun and well-behaved when she was awake that it evened things out. She did still stay on her regular schedule in one way-- she woke up every morning at 6 am eastern time. Unfortunately that was 4am Utah time, though. She's slept through the night every single day since we've come home, though! Yay!

We had a lot of fun in good 'ole Provo going out to eat at great spots like Tucano's, Los Hermanos, Cafe Rio, Noodles and Co., and of course getting plenty of great Morrison "gourmet" cuisine too! Yum! (pick up on our theme of favorite activities??)

It was also great fun to have Eliza's first Christmas be a white one! There was all kinds of snow while we were there, ranging from scary hail-like snow to beautiful big fluffy snowflakes. We made Eliza a baby snowman friend.Here's a sleepy Eliza in the Morrison's living room.

Crazy, funny Uncle Davey was such a blast to play with!

While we were near a JCPenny's with a portrait studio (Charlottesville's doesn't have one) and a great coupon, we decided to try to get some updated shots of Eliza. However, after waiting for hours and hours at the mall and then having to be set down on the ground in front of a crazy over-stimulating stranger, Eliza was NOT interested in smiling.

So we didn't buy too many to say the least. Let us know if you want a wallet picture of her! Thanks to Carol for the cute outfit!

South Carolina Christmas

We visited SC before and after Utah. Mom (and Dad and Abby) were nice enough to watch the dog for us while we were gone, so they had quite a pack to look after!

We had a blast in the warm SC weather. Gosh, how I miss it! So we had a blast taking long walks with the dogs and baby backpack on the lion's trail, seeing the Golden Compass with Abby, going to Books-A-Million with Abby and Mom, buying several pounds of boiled pnuts, playing games, eating mom's AWESOME baking, and OF COURSE, eating some of the best BBQ EVER!!!!!
So then we had to get another shot of Eliza on the pig...
Here she is just4 mnths ago in August the last time we visited.
Amazing to see how much she's grown!!....
Here's Eliza in toy heaven at her "second Christmas" on the 26th at the Meldau's. She was so exhausted but SO didn't want to stop playing!!
Virginia Anniversary and New Year

We drove all night on the 28th and got back to Charlottesville around 6am on the 29th. I had to work that weekend and on our anniversary, but I still bought Steve flowers and made him breakfast in bed on Sunday. Then we played some games after I got back from work and stayed up late talking about our dreams and goals for this 2008 year.

So we took it easy on New Years eve and New years day. We made some collards so we can have "cash in our pocket this year" and also made the fancy lil' smokeys in grape jelly and mustard sauce like I always had at the Marsh's southern fireworks New Years extravaganza. Delicious!We also tried out my new Creme brulee set that Steve gave me for Christmas! I only burnt myself once... but it was so tasty!

Can you believe Steve and I have been married for 2 years now?

I think it's really funny how creepy mika looks peering into the side of this picture! Also note the black book resting on the couch behind Steve's head-- It's Eclipse, the 3rd book of Stephanie Meyer's vampire sequels that Mom and Abby got me addicted to over the holiday. But the fact that I'm playing with Steve instead of avidly devouring it is a mark of my real love for Steve!

Our family is all sporting new hair-do's. Steve grew a beard over vacation, I got my hair cut, and Eliza has awesome hat hair:

Peace out, yo!

Eliza LOVES these puzzles that my mom got for her for Christmas. Apparently she's able to derive great joy from just pulling all the pieces out and then chewing on them. Consequently, Steve and I now LOVE putting the puzzle pieces together.

Here are some images that haunt Mika's dreams... Eliza's SO close to crawling!
Have a great week! We love you!