Our Week (12/26 - 01/01)

One of our family Christmas gifts was a trip to San Antonio. We stayed in the Drury Plaza Hotel, a historic hotel in Downtown that's 24 stories tall. We stayed on the 18th floor, and our room overlooked the Riverwalk, San Fernando Cathedral, and Main Plaza. We also went swimming in the rooftop pool one night. Since it's one of the tallest buildings in the city, you get a great 360-degree view of the Downtown area.

Other stuff we did: Went for a walk at Eisenhower Park, had takeout from Torchy's, checked out dinosaurs and a body exhibit at the Witte, had a picnic at Brackenridge Park, saw the Riverwalk lights (and heard the OU marching band perform), saw lots of sea life and other animals at the aquarium, played monster laser tag, and had lunch at Buc-ee's.

This is the view of the city from the roof of the hotel (we snapped a photo with the mural, on display in the basement):

The fancy lobby:

The hotel was formerly the Alamo National Bank, built in 1929; the lobby has 50-foot ceilings, travertine flooring, and stained glass windows. The whole building is trimmed with granite and marble, terra cotta embellishments, molded plaster, and decorative bronze. Pretty snazzy!

From the San Fernando Terrace:

Torchy's Tacos:

The Witte:

The kids loved digging for dinosaur bones:

Whataburger at the park. Four of the kids didn't want their pickles, so Heidi took them all:

Riverwalk lights. The OU marching band took over two of the riverboats and played some songs while they sailed by. They were in town for the Alamo Bowl:

Bathroom break at the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum:

Alamo Plaza:

Emma's "baseball card." (Scott let her hold the room key, and she became very possessive of it. We swapped her out for this one.)

The sign says, "Do not feed your children to the alligators!"

Laser tag at Monster Mini Golf and Laser Tag:

(Scott won handily.)

Buc-ee's!

Emma is a big fan of straws these days:

Emma the Hairstylist

Emma likes to style hair. Here are some of her instructions to me today in her barber chair:

Hold still.
It won’t hurt.
I’m brushing.
I need to get the tanglies out.
[When I started to giggle because of the cuteness of it:] It’s not funny!
[When she was all done:] You look like a buffalo! [And she giggles.]

Our Week (12/19 - 12/25)

William got this hot chocolate bomb from his Primary teacher. He was pretty excited about it:

We spent a lot of time at parks over the winter break. It's been surprisingly warm, so we've been enjoying some outdoor time:

We came across this cool house while making some Christmas deliveries:

Christmas Eve soccer game with friends:

Rudolph cupcakes:

He lost his first tooth on Christmas Eve (and then lost it down the drain):

Christmas morning:

Christmases Past

I've been trying to figure out what our family Christmas traditions are, so I've been reflecting back on past Christmases over the last decade. (Before that, we were living in Mesa, and we floated to the different grandparents' houses for Christmas.)

• 2012 - Christmas in Palmyra with the Bakers
• 2013 - Christmas in Palmyra with the Bakers
• 2014 - Christmas in Mesa (just graduated from law school and moved back to condo temporarily): saw the temple lights in short sleeves on Christmas Eve and went to dinner at Waffle House
• 2015 - Sarah Baker stayed with us, visited Houston: Galleria Mall with giant tree (several stories tall), Hermann Park, etc.
• 2016 - Howells visited, went to SATX (Riverwalk Lights, Market Square, etc.)
• 2017 - dinner with Farleys, Hill Country Christmas (Fredericksburg, LBJ, New Braunfels, SATX)
• 2018 - Dallas with Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth (on their mission), spent 6 hr in the ER with Emma because she was only 2 months old and had a fever
• 2019 - service, soccer with friends, dinner with Farleys
• 2020 - pizza party, cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for breakfast, brawts for dinner
• 2021 - soccer with friends, pizza party, charcuterie, SATX trip (Riverwalk, Witte, aquarium, laser tag, Buc-ee's)

It's hard to identify traditions, because most years are different. We do like to travel though; we take a trip most years. When we stay home, we keep it simple so that I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen. 

Our Week (12/12 - 12/18)

 Heidi and her school friend Jillian:

Mother-son date at McDonald's. He's imitating Olaf from Olaf Presents, who was imitating Flynn Ryder's smolder:

Liz and friends at an escape room for Ellie's birthday:

Heidi and her partner Tyce with their school project:

Emma being silly:

All dressed up like Fancy Nancy:

Learning how to tie a tie:

Our Week (11/29 - 12/11)

Emily's birthday: 

Heidi went to the movies with Rose as one of her birthday presents:

At Heidi and Attalyn's last-ever Primary activity:

At the nativity open house that our building puts on for the community:

At Liz's winter piano recital (her friend EJ stayed with us for the weekend):

Watch Owen in his virtual winter concert (the first song, back row on the far left):