Well, we’re a few weeks into 2008 and so far it’s been… busy! Back when I worked for eBay, November and December were the crazy time of year because everyone was trying to sell their crap for Christmas. At Omniture though, I’m finding that January is the busy time. Everyone has fresh budgets to throw at new projects and as a result, I’ve been freakin’ slammed the last couple weeks. I’m working with several large name clients (you’d know a few of them) and I’m enjoying the challenges of my job, but when I have to go in early to accommodate my European clients, and stay late to finish up projects that I don’t have time for during the day, it can start to take a toll. And by that I mean that Emily is getting tired of me not being home. She works so hard keeping everything running at home but our four little angles have a way of making difficult to accomplish much. The twins just demand a lot of time and the girls tend to find ways to destroy things that they have no business being anywhere near. Sometimes I just have to stare at their destruction in awe and wonder to myself… what the heck?

Hopefully things will slow to a more manageable pace soon, but until then… life goes on.

For new years this year we decided to head up to the cabin at Bear Lake. The weather was supposed to be kinda crappy, but we figured the highway would be plowed well enough to make it. It was… on the way up. We went up on Friday afternoon and planned to just hang out for the weekend. We played with puzzles and games and watched some football and some movies. We went outside to go sledding for a bit (although the girls didn’t last too long at that). We had a nice warm fire and and a nice relaxing weekend. But when we were ready to head home, the wind decided to try and blow the cabin away. The road was all overblown with snow and even the highway was pretty slick. It was an adventurous ride home, but it was a fun weekend at the cabin as always.

In the past I’ve always had to return to work the day after Christmas, but not this year. Luckily this year I had enough vacation days left to take the entire week off. So we figured, as long as Jessie and Dell were in town, we thought we’d head up town and visit the Discovery Children’s museum at the Gateway. Emily and the girls had been there before, but that’s one of those places that it’s always fun to go back to.

For those who live in Utah who haven’t been, it’s a fun diversion for a Saturday afternoon, but be careful as it gets a bit crowded. There are lots of things to see and do and the girls had a blast. They have a kid sized supermarket, a climbing wall, a farm where you can collect eggs and ride a stationary horse. You can be a postman, a news anchor (in front of a real green screen), a construction worker, an animator, a radio dj, homemaker… the list goes on. There’s lots of fun stuff to do and Wally could have stayed and played in the “water” area all day I think.

We had some quick lunch afterwards and then came home, but we got a bunch of good pictures of our adventurous day out.

Well, Christmas has come and gone once again. Since I’m writing this in the middle of January it’s easy to reflect on how, after all the anticipation that began sometime back in October, Christmas has been totally forgotten already. I guess it’s easy to just put last year behind you with the beginning of the new year.

Anyway… we had a great Christmas this year. We began our Christmas festivities with what is quickly becoming our own little yearly tradition. For the past couple years we’ve had both Emily’s and my parents out for dinner on Christmas eve to visit with the girls. Uncle Scott came too this year. We cooked up some yummy sweet’n’sour chicken and had some cheesecake and egg nog. The girls got to open a few presents and fun was had by all (I assume).

The next morning, after a quick check to make sure that Santa had eaten his cookies, the girls came out to tear into piles of presents. Hailey got some Hanna Montana stuff, Mallory got some High School Musical dolls, Annie got her very own rattle doll and Jack got some cars and trucks and his first Nerf football. Collectively they got some legos, a few games and a cool new picnic table from Grandma and Grandpa (which will be fun once the back yard is done). There was a lot more stuff, but those seemed to be the “important” items. Hailey was a little bummed that she didn’t get a Hanna Montana guitar but personally, I was rather relieved that Santa had decided not to bring that particular item.

After we opened presents we headed out for the regular round of Christmas visiting. We started at the Laursens for Christmas morning eggs. We usually eat breakfast around 9 or so, but I always feel guilty about eating anything that will take up precious stomach space for Hawaiian pancakes. The eggs are good which makes it hard to keep from eating too much before we head out to Momo and Papa’s house.

After visiting with the Laursens for a bit, we headed up to the east side for a stop at Momo and Papa’s. This has been a regular Christmas day stop for me every year since I can remember and the reason it’s such an important part of Christmas (besides seeing all the Haymond clan) is the pancakes. Now, I’ll try to describe the phenomenon that is “Hawaiian Pancakes”, but until you’ve had one, you really can’t understand. Papa starts by adding crushed pineapple and marshmallows to the pancake batter. Then once the pancake is cooked and the marshmallows are all melted, you then continue by smothering the pancake with powdered sugar, sliced bananas, melted butter and cinnamon. It sounds strange, I know… but once you’ve had one you’ll wonder why IHOP doesn’t have it on the menu. They’re freakin AWESOME!!!

After the pancake pitstop we ventured over to my Grandma Smith’s house for some afternoon snacks and some more presents. It’s always fun to watch the Smith clan get all excited about presents because they tend to “squeal” a bit. We hung out there for a bit then it was time to head home. It was late by the time we arrived and we all wanted to go straight to be. But everyone agreed that it was a good Christmas.

You’ll have to excuse me for my complete lack of posts over the last few weeks. I could make excuses like “I’m just too busy!” or “My carpel tunnel has been flaring up!”, but they would all be lies. When it comes right down to it, I’ve just been lazy. So now that I have a day off and a few free minutes to catch up, I will. I realize the next few posts are a bit delayed, but… better late than never, right?