Happy New Year!

So I know I've been slacking. After a couple weeks of solid daily and nightly activity, I needed a break, so I've been catching up on some reality tv (Beauty and the Geek is one my new favs...is that bad?), reading Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope," playing soccer with Indy in the snow and seeing some good movies. I guess it sounds like I'm still busy. Oh well....

Anyway, I hope everyone had fabulous Christmas and New Year celebrations. Although you might have already heard about my crazy Christmas surprise (or perhaps you were in on it), I'll share a little recap of what happened.

Well, my brother-in-law, Taylor, invited me and some cousins to join him and Stacy for dinner a couple nights before Christmas at a Greek restaurant that is located in the old train depot downtown St. Paul (really cool old building). I thought, "How nice! Taylor is such a thoughtful fellow." So we show up for dinner and are just about to order drinks, when suddenly we hear, "We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!" My first thought was "Oh cute, carolers." Stacy's first thought was, "Stupid carolers interrupting our dinner." Then we look up at the balcony where all the music is coming from and .................... it's the rest of our displaced family members from Texas! After staring at them for about a minute, I finally screamed, and Stacy and I both jumped up from the table as everyone ran down the stairs to greet us with hugs and funny stories from their month and a half of secret-keeping. Apparently, they had planned this whole surprise for that long -- I'm shocked that no one let it slip.

Anyway, after the surprise, it was just a great weekend. Very busy and so fun to have everyone together for the holidays. I love being able to watch people open their gifts, too. It's way better than mailing the gifts and then just hearing about the opening later.

So everyone was in town this year -- Jason and Felipe from London; Dad, Beth, Kate, Alyse and Jeff from Texas; me (cause I live here now); John and Chris from California; Bill and Sue from up north; and then all the rest of the crazy St. Paul/Mpls. crew.

Here are some videos from Christmas Eve:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpzk3Z0SZi8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmJW_MMk07E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNPDzXKUYQ8

Below are a few pics from the holidays. View all the pics here.

The Brady Bunch















My hot mom wearing the sweater I got her



















Fun at the Tiffs-mas party