Nipped!

Our Milo loves his catnip, this is hours of fun for all ; ) 

 

 

 

 

 

Chillin' Tahoe Style

warm drinks, warm hearts

Majestic mountains of Tahoe

 Ba and Jay

 Chillaxin' at the Village

 Chris enjoying his Bloody Mary Meal;
with shrimp, olives, horseradish, green bean, celery, and it did not scrimp on spice either

While we were in Tahoe we were lucky enough to meet up with Jayden's friends; Stella and Alaya & their families.  It was nice to catch up for both kids and adults alike.  The kids were giddy to be with one another - there were lots of stories, jokes, and laughter (I guess the same as the adults, except we did less crawling around on our hands and knees - chasing one another).  It was so nice to see J.J. with his ol'buddies.  We miss everyone at YCIS (Jayden's former school).  It is endearing to know that he has made friends for life : )

 Alaya, Jayden, Adrien, and Stella:

Merry Christmas from the top of the World...

Feliz navidad from the slopes of Tahoe!

For the holidays our family decided to go to snow and so to Lake Tahoe we go!  

Well, no one told us that Jack Frost had apparently gone on vacation - there was no snow to be found in Lake Tahoe (unheard of - especially for late December).  At least the spring-like conditions made the usually treacherous drive very safe and enjoyable but grew our skepticism about our skiing holiday.  Plan B - a hiking Christmas holiday?  

Luckily, Northstar ski resort had heard our cries for a white Christmas and made enough man-made snow to fulfill our holiday plans.  It was great, normally Christmas gets very busy at Northstar but I guess the "no-snow" was a deterrent for many as we felt like we had the hill to ourselves.

 

Proof that my husband only has eyes (in this case - goggles) for me!

(This also highlights the shenanigans I have to pull to get myself in our "family pictures" - sad but true.  Being the photographer of the family seems to showcase Chris as "father of the year" and then myself as the "absentee mother".  Every once in a while I have to remind everyone of the woman behind the camera and the blog - "here I am!".)

My Stylish lil'Snow-Bunny:

Mental preparation for skiing a difficult run

On Christmas Day, J.J. was in ski school, so I had a date with my sweetie-pie husband.  It was great day, we spent a lot of quality time exploring the slopes together and even more quality time experiencing drinks at Zephyr Lodge ; ) 

I had a wonderful ski-date with my husby and Jayden had a fantastic time with his ski group.  How do we know that J.J. had a fun time?  Besides Jayden debriefing us at pickup - talking a mile a minute about his "totally awesome day", Chris and I took some time to spy on him and snap some pics and vids.  Click on the picture below to watch some video of J-Surveillance:

Hoping your Christmas was as fun as ours!

Dear Jayden...

Look what came in the post!

 A reply letter from Santa

 Post marked from the North Pole!

Signed by Mr.S himself

This letter was in response to Jayden's letter to Santa:

Holiday Greetings

Should I feel guilty that I've spent more time on working on our family holiday card than working on...well, work?  [Oh, I've used the word, "work" way too many times, it has lost all meaning to me now.]  Anyways, the answer is "no", I'm quite proud of how it turned out.  I had cut my cousin out of the picture (sorry cuzzy, didn't think you wanted to be included in the Marriott family holiday card) and I had to give Chris an arm.

 Here is the original pic...Jeff, it's a good pic, maybe I'll crop Angel in and you guys can send it out as your Christmas card ; )

Originally, we were going with something like this...true Marriott style but thought we should class it up a little more "cuz' we's classy like that!"

Anyways, wishing you all a hap, hap, happy holidays!  Love ya - peace out!

Dear Santa...

Happy December!  The countdown to Christmas has begun.  

Day one:  Open the first day of Jayden's Lego Advent Calender and perform the first Advent Activity (or Secret Santa Mission as we like to call it).

Today's mission  - Write a letter to Santa Claus:

Some great questions posed to Santa - wonder what he will answer?!