Now Christmas Can Officially Start!

It's been over a month since an update. I guess I better put up pictures and talk about stuff. If you're into that kind of thing.

There have been two major holidays since my last update, which necessarily requires recaps.

We had almost all the Gibbs family in Houston for Halloween. John was supposed to get a Star Trek outfit, but shipping delays brought us to a last-resort: Superman.

Grandma Debby's ward had a little Trunk or Treat party, with the Ninja Turtles in attendance.

And other assorted princesses, of course.

Of course, on the day of Halloween, all of our Star Trek outfits arrive. Apparently, our outfits were big hits with our neighbors and coworkers. One of my coworkers dresses his house to the nines with a graveyard, ghosts, a Halloween village, spooky projections, and other myriad decorations. It looked straight up like Haunted Mansion level stuff. I don't have any pictures unfortunately, because it was awfully dark and I was too busy holding John.

We had one last opportunity to have Johnny hang out with his Brown cousins on the first cold night of the season.

Ignore the weird pano haxes

We made the decision to attack a grossly understaffed Starbucks in Market Street for Mormon Drinks (anything but coffee). John just wanted a bottle. Andrew took a long time to warm up to his hot chocolate, by which time it was warm chocolate.

Section 2 is nearly complete in our subdivision. Surprisingly swift progress! I found this odd strip of trees between two rows of houses interesting...

John likes baths, and doesn't even mind getting his head wet.

He also enjoys smearing food on himself.

Dual wielding elf LFG

He looks a lot more grown up now that he can stand. Still doesn't have the walking thing figured out yet, but it's not far away...

A sad reminder of our 2nd anniversary excursion. We went to a trendy restaurant downtown, and after spending 15 minutes look for parking, we had a deliciously Houston meal (BBQ, Korean, Cajun influences all in one). Unfortunately, the following morning, we both woke up feeling sick. I'm not positive that we got food poisoning, but I can't entirely rule it out... :-/

We were happy then. Little did we know that our happiness would not last...

We had a reasonably pleasant time staying home that next day. With many trips to the bathroom.

Suddenly, it was Thanksgiving time! Johnny kicked off the trip to Tucson with a blowout diaper in the security line. He was dripping as we walked through the metal detector. He didn't seem to mind though.

Once home, my parents took us to El Guero Canelo, home of the Sonoran hot dog. Bacon, peppers, hot dog...mmm...

Then it was on to the house to remind us how loud Kirby can be. John didn't really seem to mind one bit--in fact, he got a bit of a kick out of provoking him into a howling session. Christie seemed less uptight about the whole thing.

The hotel we were staying at suddenly got its Christmas on while we were staying, and the desk staff thought that we should get a picture taken.

Dad bought a backpack to tote John around the washes where strollers dare not tread. We forgot to take it home with us though...

You don't start to appreciate all the playthings you have at home until you have a kid...

John tried to see what the world of Grandpa looked like

Just before Thanksgiving, my siblings finally decided to come down from Rexburg. Eric was kind of a hit.

Despite what you may think, he actually liked this

Haley of course, provided the music lessons.

Our big outing after Thanksgiving was to go out to Tombstone, AZ. Home of the OK Corral. Boot Hill Cemetery was the first stop.

We weren't exactly prepared for how crowded a tourist location could be on Black Friday. I guess they all got their shopping done on Thanksgiving evening, now that it's a thing...

John couldn't quite abide the gunfight reenactment however. One sample shot was enough to set him off. It took him about 5 seconds of pout-face after the first gunshot to work his way up to a wail. Alison whisked him away before I could offer to swap to let her see the show...

Don't let your brother grow up to be a cowboy

Because I'm not as ambitious a video editor as I thought, here's a Google summary of the Tombstone trip...

Here Haley learns how to baby

Kirby looks like he'll miss the extra attention

Eric showing off his indie spirit at Beyond Bread

A special Grandma-grandson-granddog moment

Our family portrait...sans family

They usually only look this cute when someone has food

All good things come to an end, meaning it was time to go home and end our first and only week of complete vacation thus far this year.

This was the cutest he was the whole flight. The rest of the time he cried. It was not a good time.

When we got home to Houston, it wasn't very cold any more. The neighbors were starting to put up Christmas lights though, so that was fun to walk around and see.

Johnny also started picking up the habit of feeding us for a change...

Here's the classic Johnny spin

John didn't do much to help put up the tree, but he sometimes finds it interesting

In recent days, it seems like the Houston winter has finally set in, with temperatures in the teens (Centigrade). Is Johnny excited for Christmas?