New Year. Same Me.

Happy 2013! Apologies for my absence. I have been soaking up a lot of quality time with St. Louis family and friends and catching up on 14 months of lost sleep. I was feeling pretty caught up until Noah decided that 5am was the right time to start rising for the day. I even open the blinds to show him it is still dark...he doesn't care. ANYWAY....

I haven't really made any ground breaking resolutions this year. At least, nothing of interest for you, I'm sure. Mostly just the usual...get back on track on eating/working out after my holiday slump. The only other one is to take better care of our house. Things like, re-sanding between the flagstone, pulling out the big appliances and cleaning all the grit and grime. You know, really fun things to read about.

I am looking forward to 2013 and all that lies ahead. Weddings, vacations, exploring more of the Bay Area with Noah and Scott (maybe that's a resolution...get off our fannies and GO places). First up is a trip back to one of my favorite places on earth. Colorado. Sigh. We are meeting my parents for a family ski trip and I am extending a few days to visit my old stomping grounds in Boulder.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. How did we wrap up 2012? Well, with lots of eating, drinking, and being merry of course. Shall we take the lazy way and just wrap this up with pictures? I'll resume to some sort of regular blogging once we get settled back into real life in CA.

Grandma and Grandpa's tub is SO fun!

Noah is obsessed with his Grandpa. Computing is a daily affair.

The annual Smith Family bus trip. This year the surprise destination was the Scott Joplin house...complete with our own private evening at the Speakeasy next door. Of course, it culminated in a trip to Crown Candy.

Sharing a sundae.

Christmas in St. Louis holds a lot of annuals for us. Every 23rd, we get together with the Shattos. Love these girls.

Our little plaid family on Christmas Eve.

When Noah gets fussy, sometimes the answer is just to start taking his clothes off (hopefully we get a new solution by school age!). He loves his Grams' new robe.

Santa found us in St. Louis. Phew!

Our family Christmas morning.

Can we just take a moment to admire how cute those PJs are?!

The aftermath of present opening.

It wasn't a white Christmas, but the day after sure was fun!

Can't remember where we were going...but there was more plaid involved.

New Year's Eve was a blast. I took Scott on a surprise STL date to Steinberg skating rink and The Hill for dinner. Such a wonderful date night.

I made Scott buy a hat, but I showed up in tights for skating. Brilliant. I did have mittens though!

Last picture of 2012. It was a tremendous year.

Blurry back seat picture of me and my favorite. This was before a wild night of Just Dance 4.

It is cold in St. Louis so we spend a lot of time running around the mall. Noah thinks it is amazing...I am ready to get back to some airplane watching in California (much better on the wallet!).

I think that about does it. It has been quite a trip! A wonderful, busy, and perfect one.

Cheers to happy 2013!