New Year's Fun 2013

We like to visit my family in northern California over Christmas break every year and this year the timing meant we were able to be together for New Year's Eve. We drove up Saturday morning and arrived shortly before dinner.
Sunday we all headed to church at 9am, which was a big change for us since our ward didn't start until 1pm in 2012. Somehow I managed to get everyone up, showered and fed by 8:45am. Hard to pry these little bodies out of bed on "vacation."

Sunday afternoon after church. Grandpa had a roaring fire going and the ladies were busy cooking in the kitchen.

Sunday evening was the annual Baer family Christmas party. Everyone brought something to share so there was LOTS and LOTS of food. It's always good to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Grandpa Baer has a gym membership, so I got up bright and early to run on the treadmill while Grandpa did an hour of cardio. It was nice to get a little exercise in after devouring way too many cake balls the night before. Also nice to spend some time with dad.
After the gym Grandpa suggested we head to Mel's Diner for breakfast. Perfect! The boys stayed the night with Uncle Bobby and Aunt Lindsay, so with two less kids, it was a fabulous idea! :)

After breakfast, Mom and I did some shopping at the Rack and the Galleria mall.... but it was slim pickings. Didn't find much. Wiggy and Holden were home with cousin Bekky, while Luke and Grandpa took everyone else to see a movie. 
For New Year's dinner we picked up pizza from papa Murphy's and I cooked up some blond brownies that we found at Williams and Sonoma earlier in the day. They are the infamous $16.95 brownies.....that are pretty darn scrumptious. Probably the 1.75 sticks of butter. 

Cooper challenged Luke to a game of "Risk." I have honestly never played the board game, but playing any game with Luke, is not something I recommend. He is out for blood. Too bad he is also a longtime Risk lover, because that's also not a good sign.

(Bekky and Lindsay after losing their land in RISK)

We were all in bed by 10:30....because I care much more about sleep then staying up to usher in a new year. More sleep is one of my resolutions for 2013!! 
Tuesday morning Wiggy and cousin Natty played American Girls paper dolls together. It was the cutest thing because I didn't even know they still made paper dolls. I can remember playing with them for hours on end as a kid. (Maybe I'm not that old after all)

After cleaning ourselves up for the day, I headed out shopping with Wiggy, Bekky and my mom. I paid $5 for Wiggy to do this jumping contraption for 3-4 minutes. She LOVED it! 

Later in the afternoon we all met up at Splashland to race cars a few times and play some arcade games. It was a lot of fun. (Lots of crashes.) I wish we could see the smiles on our faces as we ripped around the track, with 10 Baer race cars out there. Priceless. It was so cold out there, it probably looked like that scene from the movie "Dumb and Dumber" where Jim Carrey has frozen snot under his nose from riding his scooter in the cold. Haha.

After playing lots of different games in the huge arcade we were starving and headed to Chick-Fil-A. Little did we know it was family night too, so the kids each received balloon animals. The kids were happy and the food was tasty. I was a little sad because the seasonal chocolate peppermint shake was removed from the menu the day before. :(

Cozy fire to warm up after a fun night out!!

We left early Wednesday morning before breakfast and we had a little girl in the car who was absolutely fed up with being so close to her brothers. To her credit, she was riding in a booster seat, so it wasn't as comfy for long drives as the carseat she normally cruises in. BUT...we made great time getting home, just in time to get Bubba to a doctor appt. Turns out he has an ear infection. Another barrel of fun.

Nevertheless, another fun family adventure on the books! I love my family!