Christmas 2008

Wow, I can't believe it's already December 31st and tomorrow starts 2009. This year has gone by so fast. Last week was a busy one and I've got lots of posting to do... so let's get started.

The Monday before Christmas we headed up to Ryan's parent's house for the week. There was really no good location for us to be in to make the week easier for Westin. No matter where we stayed (Santa Monica, Agoura or Valencia), we'd have to drive all over to see everyone. Really, last week was full of driving. Tuesday I had to come back down to SM for Westin's doctor's appointment. Then on Wednesday, we started the family Christmas tour...


Wednesday afternoon we joined my dad, Loni, Kenzie, Chris, Trevor C. and Trevor M. for a Christmas Eve get together in Agoura. Loni put together some great appetizers and the spread was gorgeous.

So we munched on the yummies and then started our cookie decorating contest. Westin woke up in the middle of our fun, so I didn't get to decorate as many cookies as I would have liked... and because I didn't get to decorate as many cookies as everyone else, my chances to win in the cookie decorating contest were much lower than everyone else.

Chris and Trevor C.

Loni, dad, Trevor M.

Ryan decided he would be the judge of the contest - I guess since he's not blood related to anyone in the group, he decided he would be the most objective. We had several categories: best cookie overall, most edible cookie, most creative cookie, the ugliest cookie, and the most holiday-ish cookie.

These are only a third of the cookies decorated...
Surprisingly enough... Loni and I were the only ones NOT to win one of the categories. How does the wife of the judge not win???

Kenzie, Chris and Westin

Westin with mom and dad Trevor C. and Westin

After our afternoon in Agoura, we headed back to Valencia for Christmas Eve with Ryan's family. Because this was the first year the family has had a little newborn at Christmas, we reenacted the Nativity with Westin playing baby Jesus.

The three little kids played the shepherds: Grant, Lily, and Delaney The three big guys played the wisemen: Doug, Trevor and Adam.

And Ryan and I were Mary and Joseph. (Westin of course slept through the whole production).

The program was really fun and I think it was a good learning opportunities for the kids.

Christmas morning is always fun at the Richs. The kids are usually up before 7. However, thanks to Westin's feeding schedule, Ryan and I were up before the kids. We actually had to wait a little while for them to wake up. But once they were up, the energy in the house skyrocketed. They were so excited to see what Santa brought them.

Here's the gang running in to see all the gifts

Santa left Westin some goodies too... and I'm sure this will be the smallest his Santa pile will ever be.Two hours later, we finally finished opening gifts and were ready for the traditional Christmas morning breakfast: ham, hash browns, chocolate chip scones, eggs, and fresh squeezed orange juice.

After the morning at Ryan's, we headed back to Agoura to my mom's house and then the Philpott Christmas party.

Mandy, Kirsten, and me

Trevor took this picture in the dark - hence the cropped heads

Over the weekend we went bowling with the entire Rich clan. Westin came along and did great - slept the whole time!

How great is this picture? I seriously couldn't have timed it better. Look at his form! Ryan killed it at bowling - strike after strike after strike. Guess that bowling class at BYU really did pay off.

We've had a great break so far. Ryan's been off work since Westin was born. It's been so nice to have him around and it's going to be so hard for him (and Westin and me) to go back to work on Monday. The good news is we're still having fun this week: Ryan went golfing, we've had friends over, we went downtown to the new LA Live with Ryan's family today, went to lunch in Westwood with my mom and Trev yesterday... all good times!