Happy New Year . . . Chinese I mean

So tonight Danny and I enjoyed a tasty Chinese celebration with Chartrands and Swansons. Poor Matt was still at work. However, I didn't take any pictures of the lanterns, homemade wontons, fried rice, or Benjamin's lesson tying together the Year of the Ox to the gospel. I thought I could finally post pictures from our December 31 New Year's celebration instead.

Matt's cousin Evonne and her family came to visit from Dallas. Though they've been up there a few years it wasn't until Hurricane Ike that we finally met up. We have been able to get together with the Wallaces several times since and always have such a fun time! Even though Matt is really Kelsie, Jackson, and Chloe's 2nd cousin, they call him Uncle Matt. Mostly he just acts like a little kid when he hangs out with them. :)

Here Danny, Kelsie, and Jackson having fun with Matt's Ipod Touch.

On New Year's Even we had a delicious steak dinner followed by fireworks with Billings and some other friends. Sadly, I missed out on most of the show because Danny was scared of how loud it was. We were surprised because he loved the fireworks on the 4th of July. I heard it was a pretty awesome show though. After fireworks we invited Billings over for S'mores and hot cocoa. Kelsie and Leah are both 8, and Jackson and Alex are both 5, so the pairs had lots of fun playing together. Danny and Chloe are fairly close in age, but Chloe was far more interested in the dogs than Danny. Everyone was having so much fun that we invited Leah and Alex to spend the night.

It's funny to me how as I've gotten older, the excitement of staying up 'til midnight has lessened. The younger kids went to bed, but Kelsie and Leah were going strong. I remember how fun it was in high school to stay up really late - well past midnight. Wally, Evonne, Matt, and I had to work hard to stay awake. Luckily they taught us a pretty cool card game called Golf that kept us up. I don't think any of us were awake past 12:15 (though little ones woke us up shortly thereafter).

New Year's Day was a georgeous sunny day, so after breakfast we headed over to the park. Billings again joined us for some of Matt's tasty grilled wings, smoked ribs, and football. We stuffed ourselves with all sorts of tasty appetizers . . . maybe our New Year's resolutions can start a week after the feast is over. Wallaces had to head home in the afternoon. It was a short visit, but we had a great time. Hooray for 2009!

Alex & Kelsie
Alex, Jackson, Brenna, Kelsie, and Leah