A few dozen photos from the past 3 weeks:
Grant's project for his engineering class - he added a strip of LED lights to his scooter.
The controller and battery pack went into the seat.
He mounted a switch just below the handle bars.
It has a couple of different settings:
Red and green, just in time for Christmas.
School got out on Friday, December 19th, and we flew to the US on Saturday.
We spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday in Sandy - enough time for Grant to receive his patriarchal blessing, to see grandparents and cousins, and...
a few Christmas lights. Then on Monday morning we flew to Kansas City.
It was great to see so many family members in Overland Park.
Mallory had a great time with all of the girl cousins.
It was great to be able to see my siblings (Nigel, Emily, and Clark) and their families.
Everyone took turns helping get meals ready -- when it was Grant's & Luke's turn, they (with Trevon's help) made the meal preparation into an art project.
We went to Arthur Bryant's to get some real BBQ, then to see an excellent production of "A Christmas Carol".
Mallory and her cousins made a rice krispy Christmas tree.
Grant and Luke had a great time with the younger cousins.
On Christmas Eve, Mallory got the almond in her pudding and won the prize.
The cousins re-enacted the nativity story, complete with costumes, music, and all.
Traditional photo of the line-up in the kitchen on Christmas morning, waiting for the OK to go see what Santa brought.
We took a break from opening presents to talk with Nash - it was great to see him and to hear how he is doing in Russia.
Santa brought Mallory a Chinese jump rope - I guess he has a sense of humor.
Grant received a couple of presents that only he would want -- ownership certificate for one square foot of land in a park in Scotland, enabling him to use the title Lord Grant Miller....
and a lovely Christmas sweater.
This is what a bedroom looks like after 3 teenage boys (plus one almost-teenager) inhabit it for 3 nights. We packed it all up on Christmas evening in order to get ready for our 6 AM flight back from Kansas City to Salt Lake City on Friday morning. We arrived in Salt Lake City early enough to unpack and then repack for the drive up to Idaho Falls that afternoon for the Thomas Family Christmas Party on Saturday in Menan.
Of course, on Friday night all the kids enjoyed swimming in the pool at the hotel. The boys proved their manhood by running around outside in the snow (it was about 15 degrees Fahrenheit), and then running back inside and jumping in the pool.
The kids had a great time with their cousins.
The highlight, of course, is the greedy game.
.
With the large crowd of people looking on, Elaine reminded everyone of the rules.
Everyone had a chance to look over their gifts at the end of the first round.
Some of the gifts were really....choice.
The traditional walk-around to scope out the other gifts in the circle.
Grant ended up with a fantastic shirt.
The most exciting part of the pinata for our boys is the head, and the chance to try it on.
We were glad to have the opportunity to see some snow.
A few days after Christmas, we had a Christmas dinner with the Thomas family.
The kids always have a great time together.
Grant used the holiday break as an opportunity to grow out his beard.
We had raclette and chocolate fondue on New Years Eve. Mallory helped stuff the Olaf pinata with candy.
Around midnight the kids went a little crazy....with sparklers (well, as crazy as you can get with sparklers).
Mallory attempting to pull the string on the popper.
Luke got gooped by Jeff with silly string.
We celebrated my birthday again when we returned home to Shanghai.
Normally we get at least one decent family photo.
Last New Year's Eve we did a time capsule. It survived the move from Budapest to Shanghai, so we opened it up at the beginning of this year.
