Second Half of So Cal Visit

Christmas morning I prepared pancakes (thanks to the Kings, our neighbors in Logan, for the gift of pancake mix) for the group. Gayle scrambled some eggs to accompany the pancakes.
Fixin' to mix the batter.
Jesse doing some last minute wrapping (check out the stylish wrapping paper - the ad section from the newspaper!). Notice his T-shirt. It was a gift from the family of one of his BLC clients (he and Alicia work with autistic children).
Pre-breakfast hugs on Christmas day.
Front view of the Maxons' home (where Alicia and Jesse live). It is the exact floor plan of our former Saugus home, which is located one street away. Alicia and Jesse live in what would have been Jared's room at our old house.
It was an overcast day, with some scattered showers, but we wanted to show the contrasting colors of red roofs, trees with changing leaves, and greenery too. Note the back of our old van (1990), which we purchased used while living in Saugus in 1994 (down in Encino, after the Northridge earthquake). It still works great for hauling stuff, even though it now has over 219,000 miles on it.
"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how lovely are thy branches!" Thanks to Sandy for putting this tree up for us in advance so we could enjoy it while she and Richard were up in Cache Valley (we swapped locations) with some of their family.
Three ornaments Jesse and Alicia gave us. The first one has a photo of Jesse in it, the second a picture of Alicia, and the third...an ultrasound print of Avrille (due in February).
Alicia beaming at the gift Adrian and Arleen gave her for her birthday (Dec. 21st).
Adrian opening one of his Christmas presents, while Brittney anticipates her next one.
"These boots (and shoes) are made for walking"...(for those who don't get the inside meaning, this is from a Nancy Sinatra song - Frank's daughter)
Roast beast anyone (Dr. Seuss)? Anxious to begin devouring the Christmas spread.
The meal included: broccoli, red potato "funeral potatoes" (made from scratch), Hawaiian wheat rolls, petite corn, cranberry sauce, molded jello salad, and a Honey Baked Ham (gift from grandpa and grandma Parkinson). The whole thing was very yummy.
We have to show off the jello salad with grapes inside. My mouth is watering just remembering.
It contained whole cranberries, pineapple, and apples, added into raspberry flavored jello, and set on Romain lettuce leaves. Gayle had found a jello mold in Sandy's cupboard and got the idea to make the salad look like a Christmas wreath. Turned out great!

Here are Gayle and Brit goofing around to a David Archuleta tune (My Hands) from his recent album. The great grandparents (my parents) gave this to Adrian's family. Earlier we read the Christmas story in Luke, did a puzzle game about Christmas carols, and even sang some carols while I accompanied on a small guitar Gayle bought at Deseret Industries (for $7 - so we could have one to carry around on trips like this). It worked fine.
That evening we had to do several rounds of the "Apples to Apples" game. It's always good for multiple laughs.
Before Gayle and I headed back to Logan with the van filled (back seats had been removed) with Jesse and Alicia's stuff (they're moving back) we absolutely had to stop in and visit the Larges, our best friends in Saugus. We were lucky to catch the whole extended clan.
We have now stayed at the Super 8 in Cedar City several times and have gotten to know (a bit) the Indian family that runs it (I learned a few Hindi words - about three - from a colleague at work years ago and used some of them with them, so they remember us now from previous visits - although they are actually Gujarati). Mike Patel gave us one of their large suites for our same low rate this last time since we are "frequent" guests. It even included a Jacuzzi bathtub!