We wish you a merry Christmas... and a happy New Year!

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Did you all have a cozy Christmas? We did. As you can see, Clark loves to cozy up on the couch on cold evenings. He's so cute that I can never resist taking tons of pictures. We had some very cold nights and mornings in the week before Christmas. One morning we went outside at 8am and there was still tons of frost on the deck. The little frost crystals were so pretty on the table:
Dog paws on a frosty deck:
Even in the rain and cold, Clark and I have kept up our running routine. A few days before Christmas, Logan and I decided to go see a double feature of "A Christmas Story" and "White Christmas" at the California Theatre, which is a restored 1920s movie house in San Jose. Clark needed some exercise before we left, so despite the rain we went for a jog. Here we are at the end of our run- damp and tired:
As usual, we had a very busy Christmas this year. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner at Logan's Aunt Jyl's house before attending the 11pm service at our church. On Christmas morning we woke up and headed straight over to my parents' house for breakfast and to open presents with them. Of course we took Clark with us, and he had a great time opening his presents. This is our first Christmas with him, and it has been so much fun to include him in our celebrations. We came back to our house for a few hours to open our presents to one another before leaving again to go to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner. In the evening we were happy to come home and relax, and we enjoyed watching a movie together.

Here's our tree with presents and the train underneath:

Logan was excited to receive a tent heater from my parents- now we can do some cold-weather camping:
And the excitement continues...Logan always loves to get toys:
Okay, so Clark doesn't look so excited here- but he had a great time playing with his new soccer ball:
The day after Christmas we had a group of our friends over for dinner. It was so nice to see everyone. All of us girls went to high school together:
On the Saturday after Christmas the weather was so beautiful that we decided to take a hike at Fremont Older Open Space Preserve, which is near my parents' house in Cupertino. We had clear sunny skies and fresh air- so nice! My parents came along and we had a really nice hike.
Clark is very photogenic...
...except for when I want to pose for a picture with him. Look at that stink face! (I think he was licking his lips.) And here he is in one of his favorite spots- in my dad's chair on his lap:
Just before New Year's Eve we drove down to visit my in-laws near San Luis Obispo. We had a nice few days with them, including a relaxing New Year's Eve night watching "Mamma Mia!" On New Year's morning we drove down south to Disneyland to spend a few days taking in the decorations and special holiday entertainment. We had never been there at Christmas time before, and the park was so pretty all lit up:
They had wreaths on every light pole throughout the park. I especially liked this nutcracker wreath near "It's a Small World":
Although our first afternoon there was warm and sunny, the rest of the trip was cold and overcast. So cold that no one wanted to go on Splash Mountain. There is always at least an hour wait for this ride. But while we were there, the wait was FIVE minutes!:
No trip to Disneyland is complete without taking in a showing of Fantasmic, which is the "night-time spectacular" (Disney's words). It really is spectacular, though. Waterworks, pyrotechnics, costumed characters, the whole shebang. But to get a good seat you have to arrive early- it's first-come, first-served. We had a cold 45 minute wait for the show. Brr!:
Although we much prefer Disneyland to the newer park across the way- California Adventure- we ventured over there on Saturday to ride the newest attraction- Toy Story Midway Mania. We really enjoyed the ride, and then stopped at the "Corn Dog Castle" for lunch. Logan loved his hot link corn dog:
Decorating is what Disney does best. Throughout our trip I kept wondering- where do they store all of those decorations the rest of the year?!
The Christmas tree on Main Street must have been at least 50 feet tall. Logan took this shot looking up at it- a "Clark's eye view"- we imagine this is what our tree at home looks like to Clark!
One of the interesting parts of our trip was getting stuck on the Jungle Cruise when it broke down. It's never happened to us before. I wondered if they were going to bring ramps out so we could cross to dry land to leave the ride. But instead the boat ended up going backwards through the ride to get us back to the dock. It was strange to see the animals all sitting completely still- rather eerie, in fact!
We enjoyed seeing the Christmas parade, despite being packed like sardines next to thousands of our closest friends.
I have seen the toy soldiers in the Disney parade on TV for years and always wanted to see them in person. Very cute! I wonder how they march without tripping over those big feet?
Logan's favorites, Chip and Dale, were being silly as usual in their little toy car:
A really unique part of the trip was getting to see real reindeer. We watched them eat dinner on Saturday night. They look so soft:
I've been to Disneyland many times now, and have never had a pair of the original Mickey Mouse ears. So I decided this was the time to do it. They say my name of the back too! But it was so cold at night that I had to wear the ears over my fleece hat. Not a bad look, according to Logan:

Of course, Clark was very happy to have us home when we returned. He was lucky enough to get to stay with my parents and sister while we were gone. They took excellent care of him, of course! His weird new habit is licking the top of Logan's head while he lays on the back of the couch. I swear- he's got more than a little bit of cat in him! He looks like he's laughing at some joke, huh?

That's all for now. Until next time...

Our Christmas Top 10 Countdown!

Hi! Welcome to those of you who are new to the blog. If you're interested in receiving an e-mail each time I update the blog, just enter your e-mail address in the box to the right.
Logan and I thought we'd save a little paper this year and post our Christmas letter on the blog.
So, without further ado...
LOGAN & MELISSA'S TOP 10 MOST EXCITING EXPERIENCES OF 2008:
10- Needing to dig the truck out of the snow in Tahoe: We were pleasantly surprised to have a few feet of snow dump on us the weekend we went to Tahoe in February. This was our first trip up there with the Tacoma, and we made good use of the four-wheel-drive and snow tires.9- Holding a flower from the Enchanted Tiki Room: In April we took a trip to Disneyland and enjoyed a special behind the scenes tour, on which we got to hold one of the original flowers from the Enchanted Tiki Room.8- Making it through Thanksgiving without Clark nibbling anyone's fingers: Our dog, Clark, has some problems with being afraid of strangers, so we were a little nervous about having a dozen people over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. But he did really well and made some new friends.7- Experiencing the joy of having grass in our backyard again: On a lovely day in March we were thrilled to lay sod in our backyard. I can't say much more than that- it's just nice to have grass.6- Hosting a party for 50 friends in our backyard: In June my parents celebrated 35 years of marriage. We threw a surprise anniversary for them in our backyard. It was a big success and lots of fun.5- Attending a Colorado Rockies game with a rain delay: In August we flew to Colorado to attend my cousin's wedding. After the rehearsal dinner we went to see the Rockies play, but the game was delayed for almost an hour because of heavy rain. There was some lightning too!4- Becoming the cannonball king: We had a great time at our church's annual Labor Day weekend family camp. Logan and our friend Geoffrey spent their afternoons having cannonball dive contests with the kids in the swimming pool.3- Braving the July forest fires: We decided to take a road trip/camping trip in July, but unfortunately there were forest fires all over California that month. We dealt with detours due to closed roads, incredibly smoky air, and traffic delays. But we had a great time anyway.2- Going clubbing in Reno: In June our friends Matt and Bonnie tied the knot. Logan served as a groomsman in the wedding, and attended Matt's bachelor party prior to the wedding. He and the guys had fun at a club in Reno, dancing the night away.1- Bringing home our new bundle of joy: Our biggest life-changing event of the year was adopting our dog Clark from the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. He's so silly and sweet, and makes us laugh all the time. He's really part of the family.
We hope this Christmas finds you all happy and healthy. We're so thankful for all of the blessings in our life, and our friends and family figure prominently in those blessings.
Don't be a stranger- feel free to comment on the blog so we know someone is reading it!
Love,
Melissa, Logan and Clark

Learning to Make Nice

Oh, how the weeks fly by. I can't believe it's already been almost a month since my last post. I was doing really well posting fairly often, but if the last few weeks have been as busy for you all as they have been for us you know why I haven't posted.
I'll pick up where I left off...
First of all, I've been working a lot of weekend days recently, so that's a major factor in how often I blog. The weekend of November 15 & 16 I attended the California Library Association Annual Conference in San Jose. It was nice to have the conference so close. I just took the bus downtown in the morning and back in the evening. I went to several really good workshops and was able to reconnect with some colleagues I hadn't seen in a few years, including JoAnn Bauer, the librarian I worked with at the Humboldt County Library. However, it did consume my whole weekend!
The next weekend was busy too. Since I was working on Sunday I had to squeeze all of my weekend errands (and some fun) into Saturday. We started out the morning by having a training session at our house with Clark's trainer Amelia. We wanted her to come demonstrate for us how to introduce Clark to visitors coming to our house since we would be having 12 people coming for Thanksgiving dinner. For those of you who don't know, Clark has some problems with strangers, not just in our house but in general. We're not sure if it's because he was a stray when he was a puppy or if it's just his personality. But he's scared of strangers and shows his fear with aggression- barking loudly and generally looking scary. Amelia showed us some good techniques for introducing him to strangers, and he actually did a really good job on Thanksgiving. It will take a lot more work to get him to the point where he's comfortable with strangers, but I think we'll get there. Clark is a really smart dog and a fast learner. Here's a recent picture of him with his best buddy Logan: The day before Thanksgiving Logan's dad and stepmom arrived to spend the holiday with us. Clark had met them in July when they visited and he took to them well. He really enjoyed having them stay with us again- to the point that he wanted to sit in their laps all weekend! (He has a habit of yawning with excitement often when I snap pictures.)

Logan cooked another perfect turkey this year (or so I am told, since I don't eat turkey!) Since 13 people would be eating the turkey we had a 22 pounder. Here's our friend Heather making friends with Clark. Cooked chicken works wonders! (In case you're wondering, Clark is wearing a muzzle. Amelia suggested it so that we won't be worried that Clark will snap at someone if he gets really stressed during training. He doesn't seem to mind it much since wearing it means he gets chicken- a very special treat.) It always gets crowded in the kitchen just before dinner is served, with the last-minute preparations. Here my mom and Katie help me finish the cooking: Clark finally relaxed enough to lay down in the kitchen before dinner (I think he was waiting for some turkey to fall on the floor.) Despite the fact that we have a small house we're able to fit 14 people comfortably for dinner. We just push the sofa forward and add another long folding table. Dinner was yummy! Clark was a really good boy during dinner. I took his muzzle off and gave him a big treat to chew on. The next day we relaxed. We took Clark to the dog park to play for a while and then spent the afternoon and evening at home. Clark took his favorite spot perched on the back of the sofa and enjoyed a nap while Richard and Sue watched TV.

I had to work on Saturday but on Sunday we drove up into the Santa Cruz mountains with my parents and Katie to cut down our Christmas tree. This will be Clark's first Christmas with us, and he had a fantastic time running up and down the hill at the tree farm. He is so fast! Here he runs up the hill toward Katie:
Whew! He was tired out after all that running around, and his long tongue proves it:

After the trees were tied to the top of my dad's new XTerra we tried to get a family photo for our Christmas cards. "Tried" being the operative word. It took a while for us to get Clark to sit still! Here is take one:
And take two:
He finally did sit still, and we got a really nice, very professional-looking photo. (Thanks, Katie!) But you'll have to wait to see the winning photo until you receive our Christmas card.
Dad was kind enough to deliver our tree to our house later in the afternoon. He really enjoys driving his XTerra around:
While Logan and Dad unloaded our tree I took this photo looking up at the tree in our front yard. The sky was so blue in the background behind the red leaves of the tree:
We put the tree up that evening and decorated it the next night after I got home from work. We always put our tree in front of the living room window, which means that we have to move our green armchair into the corner. Which means that Clark can't sit in the chair to look out the window for the whole month. But I suppose he'll live...
Here are Clark and Logan looking cute...again:
Clark wasn't quite sure about the tree at first. He kept staring at it. He stares at it even more when Logan starts up the train that runs around the base of the tree!
Clark cautiously leaned out to smell the tree when he finally got brave enough. Luckily he hasn't decided to pee on the tree, drink the tree water, or steal/eat any ornaments. He's really a very good boy.
That's all for this time. I plan to update again soon since there should be some exciting holiday events happening in the next few weeks.