December was a great month. On December 6th, Connor was blessed. And we are grateful that so many of our friends and family were able come share the day with us! My grandparents from Idaho, Brad's parents from Utah, my entire family from O.C. and some of our friends from work and the O.C. We blessed Connor in Sacrament meeting at 9:30 a.m. and then everyone went back to our apartment for lunch. It was a wonderful day!
(You can click on the collages to make them bigger.)
Then there was Christmas. We did an early Christmas on Sunday, December 20th with my family (Carvers) before heading to Utah on the 23rd for Christmas and New Year's with Brad's family (Jeppsons). I just love the Christmas season and it was so fun to spend it with both families. And, of course, it was Connor's first Christmas so that made it even more fun (probably more for me than for him).
Connor slept through most of the gift opening, but he got a lot of great stuff for his first Christmas! Dr. Suess and other books, clothes, toys, socks, burp cloths, and money to start his college/mission fund. What more could a baby want?! Grandma and Grandpa Carver definitely spoiled him!
We left for Utah at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 23rd. This picture was taken while waiting in the security line at LAX. Poor guy was exhausted from the early morning start.
He did great on his first plane ride, with a little help from Dad!
Christmas Day was spent with Brad's immediate family and the Gotberg and Jeppson extended families. We opened presents on Christmas morning at Brad's parents' house before going to the Gotberg party to eat lunch and do a white elephant gift exchange. Then later we headed to the Jeppson party for Christmas dinner, music, and games.
Brad and I had our first date without baby! Brad's parents gave us, and Brad's brother and sister-in-law (Brandon and Jen) tickets to a play and babysat Connor for us for a night. We had a great time at the show (Nutcrackers in Tights) and enjoyed Dairy Queen cookie dough blizzards in the car on the way home - while it was snowing outside.
All of Brad's family really enjoyed visiting with Connor, many of them meeting Connor for the first time. There was certainly no shortage of attention! Brad says Connor got passed around more times than a crack pipe at a hippie party:
Brad's youngest brother Jordan just recently became engaged and we met his fiance Jenika for the first time over the Christmas holiday. She is so fun and we're excited for her to join the Jeppson family in May!
While in Utah, we took the opportunity to do some sight seeing. We really miss Utah's beautiful mountains, so we drove up to Wallsburg (up Provo Canyon) early one morning to see deer. On the way, we also saw some wild turkeys! On our way back to Salt Lake, we stopped by the BYU book store and Connor experienced snow for the first time.
Later in the week we visited Temple Square with Brad's family to see the spectacular lights. To add to the beauty, it snowed! (Thanks Auntie Claire for the warm Pooh Bear bunting outfit that kept Connor toasty warm!)
With all of Brad's grandparents living so close to his parents' house, we were able to take the infamous 4 generation pictures.
4 generations of Jeppson:
4 generations of Gotberg:
New Year's was fairly uneventful. We watched a few movies with the Jeppsons on New Year's Eve before watching the ball drop and ringing in the new year. HAPPY 2010!!! Shortly after, we all went to bed. New Year's Day was similarly relaxing.
On January 2nd, Brad and I were able to meet up with some of my roommates from BYU and their families. It was a great party! Christine and I (from Cali), and Heidi and Mallory (from West Jordan) met at Heidi's house in West Jordan for lunch and games. How I've missed these lovely ladies!
We flew home early Monday morning, Jan. 4th. Connor couldn't have been better during the flight - he slept through everything, including takeoff and landing! That allowed us to get a little sleep also. Brad had to go back to work that day.
We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Here's to another great year ahead of us!
