Christmas in Pasco, New Years, etc.

We spent Christmas with the Wilson clan this year in Washington and we got tons of new toys!!! I finally got my golf clubs and my snowboard, and Crystal got . . . clothes and stuff. Probably the most exciting gifts given were the NERF foam swords given to our nephews and the red welts that they gave us in return! ;) Apparently everyone over 3 feet tall is considered an enemy after Christmas morning.

If Chris, Crystals brother in law, has his way, we'll be starting a new Christmas Eve tradition, going to the church and playing basketball til one in the morning. We did have a great time though, welts and brother-in-law abuse aside.

We got to meet our new niece and nephew, Emily and Liam. You would have thought someone glued Crystal and those babies together! Crystal wants to have babies, she has just decided that she doesn't want to have to do the whole labor part of it. She's consulting the law books right now to see if it is considered kidnapping if we "borrow"Liam or Emily for a few decades.

After I saw all the toys that the kids were getting, I realized how much cooler toys have become since we were kids. I gotta say, I was a little upset that it's taken toy makers this long to start getting things right! I LOVED my G.I. Joes when I was a kid, but it wasn't til I saw the ones that Tyler received for Christmas that I realized how lame mine actually were. Let me break it down for you a little to make my point. When I was a kid, the G.I. Joes did not have a vital thing for a U.S. soldier. . . . a trigger finger! That's right, when I was a kid, I was trying to put their weapons in a hand that was shaped like an oven mitt. There's no shooting the bad guys when it looks like your hand is prepared to take muffins out of the oven!!! All of Tyler's G.I. Joes that were given to him could not only hold their weapons like soldiers, they could also put their index finger where it's going to rain bullets on their foes, the trigger!!

This may not seem like it's a big deal to you, but little boys think about these kinds of things. If the G.I. Joes from my early years went to battle with the G.I. Joes that today's kids have, we would not stand a chance! It would be a massacre, and trust me, I have a lot more imaginary battlefield experience than kids today.

There was also some great male bonding on our visit. I already talked about the basketball, but we also went to see the 3D version of "Avatar" together and Dave took me to the driving range so we could try out my new clubs and experience what golfing is like in freezing conditions. :)

The Saturday after Christmas Crystals sisters had their baby blessings at her parents house while everyone was in town, so we were glad we were able to be apart of that since we're never up there for everything else.

Sadly, we had to leave Pasco the Monday after Christmas so that we could get back to Utah and go to "meet the Jazz" night in Salt Lake. I must say that I was very proud of Crystal. She stood in lines with me for two hours collecting autographs from the Jazz players. We got to everyone on the team that I like, and yes, that meant skipping Carlos Boozer, and we'll continue to skip your line Boozer until you make a little attitude adjustment!!! I mean, sure you stayed in Utah, but you don't have to act so mopey about it!

New Years came in with a bang. We played Settlers of Catan with Bryan and Brittney May, then me and Bryan played Wii golf right through the ball drop and didn't get our New Year's kisses til 12:05. . . . from our wives. . . . did I mention that?

Well, school's back in session for me and Crystal is busy with her career in insurance. That's about all for now. . .hoepfully life will slow down since all the holidays are over!