Spoil Fest '07-08!

Geesh. I said in our family Christmas letter that one of my new years resolutions would be to blog more often. And it has taken me five days into the new year to actually do something about it.

But I do have an excuse. Probably not a good one, but one nevertheless. Thursday night we returned from our two week "A.J. Spoil Fest 07-08." We left in the very wee hours of Saturday December 22 and drove to Reno to meet Grandma Lori and Grandpa Richard for breakfast. LET THE SPOILING BEGIN!

Grandma Lori is my very good friend Tara's mother. She has always treated me like another daughter and has always treated A.J. like one of her grandchildren. We love Grandma Lori -- especially when her and Grandpa Richard treat us to breakfast at the Black Bear AND get A.J. a much desired Optimus Prime Transformer for Christmas. Whoo Hoo!

Then we drove three more hours to Grandma's and Grandpa's in Yuba City. Time for some more spoiling! James' mom has A.J.'s favorite treats and there in even a fun cousin (Danielle) to play with! And Grandma even camped out with the kids on the living room floor. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas morning there too. Did I mention that Grandma bought an 18 lbs ham for us to eat? A.J. was thoroughly spoiled Christmas morning from Santa, mom and dad and of course Grandma and Grandpa. More transformers, lots of movies, a new Leapster and lots of other stuff.

On to the other Grandparents on Christmas day for more presents and more treats. Christmas day also found us going to my Aunt Mary's and Uncle Mark's in San Francisco where they and my brother Eric and his family join in on the spoiling. Mary and Mark's daughter Carol is also one of A.J.'s favorite people and he had been talking about seeing her again for weeks. I tell you what, A.J. is well loved and well gifted.

My parents also spoiled A.J. over the next several days with lots of stories and indulged his endless desire to play Sorry! over and over again. (Can't believe how fast he picked up on that game.) Grandpa even took him to a really cool park to play in Concord.

We finally came home on late Thursday night. But not before another stop by Grandma Lori's and Grandpa Richard's for a little more spoiling. She let A.J. watch whatever he wanted to even when he changed his mind about five hundred times. And let him have all the treats he wanted.

Fortunately for us, A.J. is finally starting to understand that things are different at Grandmas' houses then they are at home. Last time we indulged him like this for several days, he was impossible to deal with when it was over. This time he seems to be taking it in stride. We do appreciate all the spoiling that was done by everyone. Thanks Grandmas and Grandpas.

But the trip wasn't all about spoiling. James' grandmother passed away the day before we left to go out there. She had been very ill for the past couple of months and had gone down hill fast in the last week. She was such a wonderful woman who was so generous with her time, resources and talents. We miss her tons and our trip wasn't the same without Grandma Great there too. But it was a blessing that we were able to be there for the services without having to plan a special trip from Utah.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your kids were just as spoiled as mine. And I hope your 2008 is off to a great start!