Fun in Sacramento

We had a really fun time in Sacramento for the Christmas break. We were there for 10 days!

As a Zavoral family, the gang did a lot together including playing basketball, playing racquetball, going to the movies to see Les Miserables (half of us hated it, some liked it, and I was the only one that LOVED it), and then the boys played more basketball. We went to several of Matt's high school basketball games and watched his team win a tournament.

 Tanner loved cheering and hollering for the team. He would clap at random times, and cover his mouth to yell (trying to cup his hands around his mouth). He also became a low rider watching on Daddy's shoulders.

At the end of one of the games, Jeremy took Tanner down to the court. Here's Tanner practicing his dunk. He hangs onto bars and rims really well now! Since this trip, Tanner has been obsessed with basketball.

As a Zavoral bunch, we also enjoyed lots of yummy meals together. This one is New Year's Day food, including several family recipes from the Zavoral ancestry cook book and Melissa's famous artisan bread. We also had a morning where I made apple cinnamon waffles and veggie scrambled eggs. Can't forget how I poured vanilla all over my waffle thinking it was syrup!

 We spent a lot of time hanging out with the fam and enjoying our twin nieces!

 Tanner fell in love with this car at Gma Davidson's house. He would let us push him fast down the driveway, completely fearless. (Jeremy, Tanner and I also spent some one-on-one time with our Great-Grandma June at her house).

 One of my favorite nights of the trip was our family Murder Mystery Party that Melissa put together using a kit from her in-laws. We all dressed up as our assigned characters and managed to find all these costume pieces in the house! The theme was "Hawaiian Cruise to Disaster." 

From left to right- Momz as the Polynesian Cabin Maid; Katie as the Boat Activities Director; Katrina as the 2nd in charge; Steve as the Cruise Butler; Zach as the reporter who was the victim and then became the hilarious cross-eyed detective; Melissa as a Hawaiian Dancer; Matt as the boy Hawaiian Dancer and Musician; Dadz as a rich guest from Texas; Jon as a Surfer Dude; Jeremy as the Captain and actual killer; me as the Snobby Cruise line Owner.

 Zach and Dad won best performers, Jeremy and I won as best dressed!

 For New Years Eve, we joined most of the Davidson clan for Chinese. We all loved the shrimp with a sauce that had something like sweetened condensed milk and walnuts on it. Never had it before. YUM!!

 Then we went home to play lots of games. Tanner was mesmerized by everyone playing Rock Band. He really wanted to play the drums, and luckily there was an extra set just for him! At 9:00pm, we banged on pots and pans for him, but he didn't seem to impressed. He zonked out right after. Then, we engaged in several games of Dominion! And to go along with family tradition- we pigged out on banana splits!

 During the entire visit, Jeremy, Tanner and I stayed at Gma Davidson's house, which is really close to the Zavoral house. It worked out perfectly and Tanner got to spend lots of one-on-one time with them. We're so grateful they let us use their home and that they were so patient with Tanner making messes everywhere!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve, we went over to the church to set-up for the Davidson family party. The family is too big to have dinner at anyone's house, so we use the Relief Society room at our church to eat, sing songs and play games. After we decorated the room, everyone played basketball. Tanner really wanted to join in, too.

The Christmas Eve party was really nice. (But we didn't get any pictures). Highlights of the party were 1) Surprising Zach (our brother) and Katrina (his new wife) with a wedding cake and pretending it was their wedding luncheon (they eloped last month), 2) I played the piano while the cousins performed the Nativity, of which Tanner wanted to have NO part in. Instead, he whined and cried most of the night because all he wanted to do was play basketball in the gym and drive Gma's Flinstone car. I think he had a fever, too, because he was really sick that night. And 3) Singing with all the married cousins "On The 12 days of Christmas, my Drive-Through gave to me" while Gpa Davidson conducted us with a giant candy-cane as his music baton. I've never seen him so happy!!

Later that night, we had our traditional gift exchange with immediate siblings. We each draw a name to get someone a nice gift, and then we get gifts for everyone else from the dollar store. We started doing this last year when more people were added to the family, and it is awesome. You really get to use your creativity. Jon splurged a little on his gifts. For $3 and with Gma Davidson's help, he made these shirts for all the in-laws of the Zavoral family. Notice that to be a Zavoral in-law you must be tall, brunette and good looking. The shirts have our initials on them with the words "In-Law Club" embroidered on them!

Jeremy kept our brand new twin nieces happy during the gift exchange. What a good uncle!

On Christmas morning, we did the traditional line-up to see our gifts. Tanner technically shouldn't have been first because the twins are shorter than him, but they obviously can't walk, so he got bumped in front!

Here's Tanner finding his gifts and stocking from us (Santa plays a very different roll in our family. Maybe I'll devote a blog post to explain this later, as it is something I'm really passionate about).

The electric toy drill and tool set was a hit. He played with it most of the morning!

 Jon was the all-star at gift giving this year. In addition to the in-law shirts, he crocheted all the guys these bearded beanies.

 After Christmas morning gifts, we enjoyed our brunch with the Zavoral extended family at Aunt Judy's house. Tanner LOVED all the food, scarfing down pancakes, eggs, pineapple, watermelon, roasted potatoes, and sausage. It was great to be with Grandma Ginny again, who turned 90 this past summer.

 Grandma Ginny with all 5 of her great-grandchildren!

 After the brunch, we all went home and took naps. Then, keeping with tradition, we enjoyed snacks and games with the Davidson family at Gma's house. 

This year was me and Jeremy's 7th Christmas together as a married couple. That's pretty crazy! And with little Tanner around as a toddler--fascinated at every Christmas tree, nativity scene, and nutcracker around--I'd say it was the best one yet.

Holiday Happenings

Tanner loves the Nutcrackers. He says "cawkuh, cawkuh!" for "cracker" every time he sees a nutcracker. He likes touching their noses and beards and making the mouth open and close.

We attempted to decorate the tree. Most of our ornaments are the glass balls/bulbs, so naturally Tanner kept braking them. We decided the tree would just have a star this year.

 Tanner is trying to blow up the ornament in this picture.

 Tanner is really good about sitting still through 10-15 minutes of Baby Einstein. It allows us to get ready for work or do a bunch of cleaning without him in the way.

 He is getting really good at using a fork. He calls the utensils "poo" for "spoon."

 The big day for me this December was directing the winter assembly at school. It is a tradition that I started 4 years ago, and it involves the entire student body- preschool to 8th grade. This year I decided to make it a really big deal by having the assembly themed after How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Everyone dressed up to look like whos from Who-ville. I wish I could show you pictures of the students- they looked amazing!! I made this costume and did my own hair. 

The assembly was more like a full-on musical and it turned out to be a real HIT! I got a couple teachers to narrate the story as if they were real whos from Who-ville. We also had a teacher act as the Grinch and another act as Cindy Lou Who. Every grade level sang a holiday song that flowed with the story. I also had the JH Art class design the sets for the show, which turned out to be awesome. The art teacher and I worked really closely together! And a group of 7th graders rewrote the song "You're a mean one Mr. Grinch" to be about the teachers. It was by far the best winter assembly yet. And to top it all off, we had an article published in the local newspaper about the event!!

Thanksgiving in Colorado

Highlights of the visit included: 

Discovering new toys to play with like legos, a play house made by Papa and Gramma, and the rocking horse...

 exploring with Papa...

 playing with Gramma...

 reading stories with Auntie...

 our big feast where Tanner ate literally nothing...

 going to Grandma Robertson's house...

 being with Grandpa (Tanner gazed a lot at him and tried getting Grandpa to talk to him)...

 bonding with each other...

shooting on the property with sisters and cousins... and bowling... 

 (Tanner LOVED the bowling balls and rolled them down the ally. He hated waiting his turn)

giggling till our stomach's ached talking "over pot"...

 And enjoying another amazing Thanksgiving sunset. Last year we witnessed the amazing one on the beach. Now this!! The camera barely does it justice. The clouds were totally bizarre, I'd never seen anything like it!

I'm so grateful we took the opportunity to go to Colorado last minute. It turned out to be our last time to see my Grandpa Jerold Robertson. He passed away two weeks later. (3rd grandparent to pass this year). I flew back last weekend for his funeral where all of my cousins sang at the service. It was a very solemn and special time. Grandpa is an amazing man and Tanner is very blessed to have been with him several times in this life. Grandpa left a legacy of many things, but for me the attributes that impress me the most are his loving generosity, his physical and mental endurance, and his ever-present positivity.

 (These were both taken at our visit in August)