Gumbo

Doug is so thrilled because last night Kathryn made her famous gumbo for us. She made the gumbo with wild duck, oysters, sausage, and shrimp. It was only my second time having the specialty but we both enjoyed getting to have some of Kathryn's gumbo. We also enjoyed an evening of exchanging gifts with the McKenzie family and Mema and Papa. Thank you for many wonderful gifts and a great dinner!

Addison Eve Riley Gallagher

Congratulations to my cousin Kari and husband Jason. They just welcomed baby girl Addison Eve to their family at 2:00am on December 23, 2009. Addison Eve is joining big sisters Emily (age 6), Piper (age 5) and brother Owen (age 2.5). We are so excited to have a new baby in the family and she is such a blessing at Christmas. Doug and I are really looking forward to meeting the lovely little girl when we are visiting family later this week.

Holiday Open House

Last evening the McKenzie's hosted a Christmas Open House. It was very fun to meet many of their long-time friends. I enjoyed hearing stories about when Douglas was "this tall." It was also great to put faces with names that I have heard about. All of the people were so friendly and very kind, it was wonderful to meet great family friends. Additionally, I was very excited that Noelle was able to make the drive up from Modesto for the evening. It was great to see her and get to visit for awhile. It was a wonderful evening and I am sure that fun was had by all.

Travelling Home

Well, we made it to Oroville!! Our trip was long to say the least. Saturday we had a long day that was full of adventure. We had gone over to Long Island for a Hummer/Toys for Tots event and didn't get home until after 8:00 in the evening. At that point we began our packing process and getting the house straightened away for us to leave for two weeks (last minute, yes). Around 9:00 the blizzard hit and snow started coming down. In no time we had several inches on the ground so we decided we would need to leave for the airport at 2:00am. Unbeknownst to us, our flights had already been cancelled at that point. So, realizing we would only sleep for an hour at best we decided to stay up for the night. When we left our house at 2:00am we already had a foot of snow on the ground. This storm was unusual because normally we don't get much snow since we are on the coast. However, the coast was hit very badly and the more inland we got the less snow there was. We drove the hummer to the airport which was nice because we were safe and able to get there just fine. The worst part of the drive was getting stuck behind snow plows going 10 mph. We arrived at the airport in Hartford at 5am still thinking we would be leaving at 6. Unfortunately, we found out our flight was cancelled as were all of the other morning flights. Although there wasn't a ton of snow in Hartford, all of the other east coast cities were badly hit so planes were delayed all over the place. Initially we were told we couldn't get on a flight until the 23rd at the earliest. However, we some how ended up with seats on a 3:00 flight. We were so excited when our plane finally left the airport at 6:30 pm. After a day of sitting in the airport and sleeping for a few minutes here and there, it was nice to finally know we would make it home. Although our day was long and tiring we are so glad to have finally made it and to be here in Oroville with family.

Holiday Pops!

Last evening was our trip to Boston to see the Boston Pops Holiday Concert. It was incredible! The concert hall was beautifully decorated for Christmas with many wreathes, bows, and lanterns. The music was beautiful and very festive - just what we needed to really get us in the holiday spirit. One of the best parts of the evening was the conductor. He was very lively and interacted with the audience a lot. He was 'conducting' our clapping etc. Halfway through the show they slipped an extra piece in which was the '12 Days of Christmas' but each verse was performed to a different classical tune. The last piece of the evening was a sing-a-long of about 6 different Christmas songs. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed our evening out in Boston.

General Update

Things have been pretty busy over here! The blog has gotten a little neglected so I thought I would post a general update. I have been sick for the past few weeks and am just now starting to get back to normal. It is nice to be feeling better - just in time for the holidays and lots of fun visiting our families. We are all done with Christmas shopping which feels great. With just a week left of work until we head to California both Doug and I are very excited. Additionally, the weather has turned here and we are starting to get snow and very cold days. So far we haven't had a whole lot of snow but it has been fun to see our yard blanketed in white. In other news - we are excited because our litter of puppies was born this week. There were seven puppies - all girls! Although it is too early to know for sure - we should be bringing a puppy home in February. The pictures we have seen so far are adorable and we are excited to be parents to a beautiful Tibetan Mastiff. Tonight we are heading in to Boston to go see the Boston Pops Holiday concert. We have had tickets since September so we are very excited to get in the holiday spirit. I will be sure to post more updates soon.