Happy (Belated) New Years 2008!!!

In a strange, yet pleasurable, turn of events, my dear husband Matthew firmly took hold of the blog-writing reigns for the past few weeks. Mind you, it took an entire College Bowl Championship Series and a few more small acts of God for him to write, but I must admit that he has proven himself as the true lyricist (write-icist??) of the family. That said, you are all now stuck with me once again as the main contributor to our simple Family Updates.
And what an update this will be! We have seen the holiday season pass us by and have entered an entire New YEAR and there have been no updates from the Woodland Family of Greater San Diego! So now, relish in it:

Christmas for the Woodland's was fairly anticlimactic, which was exactly as we planned it!

We forwent all travel hassles, the time-off requests at our respective occupations, and the ridiculously high gas prices and instead partook in a few of life's finer pleasures. Kelly represented at her job by being the ONLY person in the office the week of Christmas (which helped her to get LOTS of work out of the way in preparation of the coming year). Matt, meanwhile, was firmly planted in the Accounting Pit at his bank with the rest of the bean-counters. Apparently it is not in the tradition of bankers to take a Christmas Break, or a New Years Break, or ANY break to speak of. Kelly won in the "fun" department on this one.


Christmas Eve brought the baking fairy out of Dear Kelly. Which would be great if she ever baked anything edible, but alas, it was not to be. Instead, Matt arrived home from a hard day's work in The Pit on Christmas Eve Afternoon to the sight of:
Which soon turned into:

ORANGE ROLLS!!! 'Cause Citrus fruits are so Christmas-y, right?? Except that these little beauties were far from edible...and this time Dearest Matt even admitted so. What were the Woodland's to do??

Armed with only some rock-hard Orange Rolls and a few other fixin's Matt got down to work and soon emerged from a cloud of Cumin with his Saving Grace...heretofore referred to as "Christmas Eve Nachos" and they were DELICIOUS...a yearly tradition in the making!!

Once the Christmas-Eve-Nacho-Coma subsided we could bring ourselves to open the Annual Woodland PJ package from "Grandpa and Marge Woodland" who picked just the right styles for both Matt and Kelly to snuggle up and engage in a viewing of the greatest movie of all time, Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille for the remainder of the evening.

The weekend following Christmas found us in Sacramento visiting Family and Friends and awaiting the New Year. Some VERY high highlights of the trip included sitting in with Philip as he briefed the High Council on his recent return from a Mission in Fiji. We got to witness him bear his testimony in Fijian (??) and the spirit was very strong in the room...so great!

Next, we finally met our newest nephew, Dallin Stimpson, who is the greatest! He takes after Mom AND Dad, and thus rivals all others as the cutest baby of all time. Seriously!

We spent lots of time with each of our extended families and Matt finally made the acquaintance of Kelly's Great-Aunt Pauline who hails from Peachtree City, Georgia. She is a witty and wiley 92-year old Southern Belle and firmly fits the "Debutante-esque" qualities that accompany that lifestyle. For a more accurate portrayal of Aunt Pauline and her constant hilarious antics (Exhibit A: she ONLY drinks out of a teacup WITH a saucer to accompany it..."it would be beneath a lady to do otherwise!") please read "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" at your leisure!

After WAAAY too much indulgence in Kelly's Mom's DELICIOUS Fudge, her Dad's Peppernuts, Cindy's "Smooshy-Road" and Joyce's patented dinner rolls, the Woodland's serenely (in fact MISSED) the New Year's Commencement while they were wrapped up in conversation with Dave and his gracious wife, Mindy as well as a surprise appearance by the Salow Family...

All in all it's great to be in 2008!!!

Hope everyone was safe and happy during their vacations this year! We love you guys...