Nothin' could be finer than to be in Carolina

And that's the derned truth! Kurt and I were lucky enough to be able to spend Christmas with my family, in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. In case you didn't know, it's my favorite city in the entire world. And in case you also didn't know, my family are my favorite people in the entire world!

We had a great time! We flew in on Christmas Eve, ate some Christmas Eve dinner, opened one present each, and played games. The next morning, we had apple pancakes, which I think we will eat in heaven because they are the perfect food. Mmm mmm good! Next it was time to open presents, but first...


The traditional Christmas morning stairs shot! See, we usually eat breakfast after opening presents, but we're all (mostly) grown-ups, so we naturally decided to be mature and stuff our faces first thing on Christmas morning. But my dad always makes all of us kids sit on the stairs right after we wake up on Christmas morning. Literally, we've just rolled out of bed and onto the stairs, and before we can see the presents, he takes pictures of us. These pictures are traditionally blackmail-material, but this year was no so bad. Chris is the only one who looks sleepy. Now it's time for presents!


Collin got something cool... and such a pretty face he's making.


Steph got one of them new-fangled iPod Nanos. Oooooooo.


Chris got a chocolate face! Bears love chocolate face kids.


Kurt and I got .... something. Can't tell what in this picture.


And as always, I was happy to see my beloved Chou chou. I love this little dog.

The next couple of days we did lots of fun stuff that I didn't get pictures of. :( Mostly though, we played games. A lot of games. All kinds of games. Well, mostly Guitar Hero, Wii, and various board games. My family really enjoys playing games together. The best part of playing games was the various Wii boxing matches. And I think I just might have to post some of those videos... mwahaha. :D

One day we went out to my grandparents lot. They have a huge lot on the outskirts of town and my parents are going to buy half of it from them to build on. My parents wanted to show us where they were going to put the house of the lot and a day out in nature just sounded good. Not to mention that it was a beautiful 50-something degree day. I love Charleston weather.


Chris was excited to be outside. He had a great time figuring out how to walk under branches and over logs. He is the cutest little kid. And dang smart too.


Kurt, for some reason, does not look happy in this pic. Maybe his stomach hurt?


Chris found a log that had fallen on the ground. It had rotted partially so that the exposed side was flat enough to walk on. He thought this would be a very fun log to walk on.


The day we left hit Kurt hard. He was really sad to leave. Can't you tell by his expression in this pic? We went to beautiful Hampton Park on the Charleston peninsula to take family pictures. It was a beautiful day! Sixty five degrees, sunny, it was the perfect day to be outside.


We took some couples' (and individual pics, for Caroline, Steph, and Collin). Kurt and I kinda botched ours up by acting stupid. Typical.


Kurt and Chris raced around the park a few times. I also raced with Chris. He loves it when you race him. He'll be just walking around and you come up to him and say, "Ready... Set..." and he stands absolutely still until you say, "Go!" and then he takes off running and he laughs the whole way. He is so cute!


Here's the family picture. :) We had a great time in Charleston and I actually cried the whole way to our apartment from the Salt Lake airport. I can't wait till the next time I see my family. :)