Grandpa is Coming to Town

Since my Dad won't be able to join us down in Mexico for Christmas he made a special trip out to Boise this weekend to celebrate an early Christmas with us. He didn't end up getting into Boise until Saturday afternoon due to weather and plane issues so we only got a short 24 hours with him. We thought it might take Isla awhile to warm up to her Grandpa since she hasn't seen him in a over a month, but she actually took to him right away (I think the plate of cheese my Dad had may have helped):

Ryan, Isla and Grandpa at dinner:

Isla got to help Grandpa open his Christmas gifts:

Grandpa spoiled Isla and got her a 4-wheeler, which she loves:
I think Isla stole her Grandpa's heart when she called him "Grandpa" for the first time while he was here. Although it was a short visit we all spent some quality time together and we were so happy that he came. We love you Grandpa!

Santa Claus & Holiday Pub Crawl

We had a weekend full of fun Christmas parties for the kids and parents! First, Isla was invited to Meredith & Delaney's gingerbread house party. The kids decorated their houses in all kinds of candy while the snow fell outside. After the decorating we had a very special guest . . . Santa Claus himself. It was a perfect day to get into the spirit of the Holidays.

All the kids sitting patiently on the sofa waiting for Santa:

Isla wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about when Santa came:

She slowly warmed up to him and waited patiently for her turn to sit on his lap:

When it was finally Isla's turn I put her up on Santa's lap expecting her to burst into tears. To my surprise she actually sat on his lap for a good minute before the tears came. I was so proud of my brave little girl!

All the younger kiddos playing with Eli's toy that he got from Santa:

After the kid party on Saturday, Ryan and I got all dressed up for the parent Christmas pub crawl that night. Grandma Connie came down to Boise to stay with Isla so her parents could party it up! And party it up we did.

Ryan and I pre-party:

So the invitation to the Christmas pub crawl said "dress to impress" and the Kearneys and Glavins took that to a whole new level. Their outfits had me laughing all night:

Here is the entire group at the first bar:

Second bar:

Third bar (you will notice that the group shots are starting to go down hill):

The fourth (and final) bar:
The pub crawl was a definite success!

Beans in a Box

In the past couple of weeks our Isla Bean has discovered that it is much more fun to play with her toys in the toy box. She is quite proud of herself when she crawls in:

Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving we headed up to Sun Valley to see Grandma Connie and Papa Randy. We were also lucky to have Ryan’s uncle Johnny join us as well. Isla was so excited to see the boxes of toys that Grandma Connie had for her when we got there:

She had so much fun playing with everyone on Thanksgiving day:

Isla enjoyed rocking in Papa Randy's childhood rocking chair:

On Friday, after a grueling workout with Connie’s trainer, we headed home so Ryan could freeze his booty off at the Boise State Game. The rest of the weekend was filled with the Holiday parade (Isla loved the bag pipers), an Apple Cup party at the Kearney’s (even though the cable company screwed up and didn’t show the game we still had a great time – thanks Kearney’s!), and a little bit of work for me.