We have a ton of pictures in this update! Most are ours, but many come courtesy of Gary. More on that later.

After our final papers were due and grades were in we had a week break before flying out to CA. Anna spent the vast majority of that time sewing like a woman possessed. Here you see her cutting so fast that the camera couldn't capture the image correctly. Damn.
And here are the fruits of her labors: three shirts for me (four including the remade "Haiku Cats" not pictured), two commissioned shirts, and a commissioned set of pajamas (far right). Mind you, the sewing machine came alive Sunday, December 15th, and this picture was taken the following Friday at just after 11pm when the machine finally went dark.

Home at last! We were hoping to have some cool shots of us on the plane, but we don't. Sorry. You can imagine it, though.

Here Gary shows off the remote which now controls all of Jordy's functions. At the moment Gary is enjoying the "Smirk" and "Mute" features of the modified Jordy. (notice the new slugshirt!).
At Anna's parent's household, Anna and Lana went into a baking frenzy. Anna's peanut butter kiss cookies spread a little more than we expected (we blame the altitude, damn sea-level dwellers!), but now instead of peanut butter kisses you have perky peanut butter breasts.

Christmas Eve for Jordy's fam (or at least the largest gathering of the clan) was held at Jay and Denise's place. Here Jay cautiously carves a smoked chicken while Denise's co-worker shows her this great move he learned from the Three Stooges.

After the respective Christmas Eve dinners, we all convened at Anna's parent's home where a "dynasty" photo was snapped.

It's Jordy, Anna, and Misha Christmas morning!

Gary snaps a candid shot on the digital camera. We are very much indebted to his photography skills as we were able to use a number of his shots in this update ("for a small fee").

"Is this thing on?"

Gary tends to the fire. It's Christmas morning with a warm fire roaring. How awesome is that?!

Much to Jordy's surprise, Lana and Gary gave him a much desired Mexican Cookbook.

In case anyone doesn't know, Anna is convinced that Jordy is turning into a Lesbian Latina Poetess who now makes his own tortillas. Frankly, it's getting out of hand; Anna refuses to call Jordy Frida and will absolutely not allow the flamenco music in the apartment.

Later on Christmas Day, Jordy and Anna made their way to San Remote for Jordy's family's annual"Tree Tackling Extravaganza." Here we see Britt rising out of a three point stance to make a perfect open-field tree-tackle.

Denise, Jenny, Larry (I mean Lenny), and Jill gather with Christmas cheer for a photo.

"Caitlin, go ask Nana for a dollar"

Ah, the Christmas spirit!

After Jenny and Torben's house, Jordy and Anna crossed the Bay Area again to make it to John's for Christmas dinner. Here you see the table set festively, with the tree seated at the head enjoying a nice glass of wine.

John demonstrates how he pours wine for the angel on his tree.

Afro-Twins...

Afro-Twin Powers ACTIVATE!

Whenever there is a gathering at John's house where photography is involved, there is always the obligatory"John Dishwashing" shot.

This year was no exception.

Anna and Jordy hug shortly before being attacked by the angry jealous Christmas tree. Trees need love, too!

Here Matt and Lisa demonstrate the Heimlich maneuver of Looooove.

Alex Salazar's "Still Life With Antlers."

"If I put these on," he wonders, "will people think I'm gay?"

"I don't care who says what, Lisa, You need breast implants like Anna needs fro extensions!" says Gail.

One of about seventy shots of the Christmas dinner crowd at John's. Unfortunately, due to the time involved in shooting most of the people in the photographed died of hunger.

Along with the obligatory "John Washing Dishes" shot, we also have to have the "Anna and her desert" shot. Here we see Anna posed seductively with a tantalizing strawberry cheesecake.

After Christmas Morning at Anna's parent's homestead, then Christmas afternoon at the Mann place, and finally Christmas dinner at John's home, Jordy suffers from a Christmas Overdose.

Once Jordy and Anna recovered from their Christmas festivities, they ventured over the hill to their beloved Santa Cruz. Here we see Pacific Avenue.

In Santa Cruz we went to Lulu's coffee shop where we relaxed and imbibed in "coffee-shop atmosphere," something sorely lacking in the anti-coffee state of Utah.

We met up with Anna's advisor from UCSC, Forrest.

"Cat. It's what's for dinner."

We stayed over at our friends Sce and Owen's place, where Anna made us all her famous Fried Chicken and Macaroni and Cheese. Mmm good!

Unfortunately there was just enough chicken and 'cheese for us humans. Annie didn't get any.

Those pajamas Anna made? They were made for Sce (at the behest of Owen). Here she shows off her "Windmill Of Sleepiness" bedtime workout.

As a light emerges from Owen's head, he shows off a commissioned slugshirt, "Erte Ladies."

"I am trying to look relaxed and ghetto-fabulous, but this light emerging from my head kills my street cred'."

Owen shows off another commissioned slugshirt, "Dysfunctional Family" (which Jordy has as well).

We were going for a nice, romantic photo of the two of us fireside at Anna's folk's house. We title this one, "Patrician Holiday."

The last day of 2002, and the last time for the year that Gary and John get to be livin' Big Pimpin' style.

"She's finally passed out! Now we can finally get rid of those 80's style glasses!!"

Later that night Steve and Carol came over. Here Lana cuts her savory crab cheesecake, but Carol was more interested in devouring Lana's ear.

"Hey, you'd better not be lookin' at my cards!"

As midnight approached on New Years Eve, we gathered for our traditional cut-throat Tripoli card game. Shortly after this shot was taken Carol accused John of cheating and shot him dead with her six shooter. It was quite a game.

Then, after the ball dropped on Times Square, we all greeted the new year looking as stupid as we possibly could.

"Umm, what's this thing do?"

As cool as you'd like to look, Jordy, you still look stupid in that crown.

"I'd like to raise my glass to getting this damn crown off my head!"

"They're taking a picture, aren't they?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, well, look natural."

"My crown hurts."

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown, Steve."

"For biting my ear, I'll get you back with this New Year's Eve Blowy Thing Torture!" Lana declares.
Anna Thinks, "Hmm, this champagne tastes strange... "Egads, this stuff is rank!"

"Ha! Jordy's drinking it now!"

On New Year's Day, Lana, Gary, Anna, and Jordy packed up in John's truck and headed out to Big Sur for a vacation within a vacation.

Here, Gary gives the universal symbol for "Ultra Super Bitchin'" as we head for the freeway.

First stop was Point Lobos State Reserve.

With all that majestic scenery, we couldn't figure out why John insisted on photographing other tourist's asses.

Here Jordy and John make their way down to some of the recently exposed tide pools. Jordy was interested partly because he saw those other two people down there. Shortly after this picture was taken, one of them slipped and fell into the water. Jordy and John tried not to laugh.

Anna and Lana pose for a lovely "Mother and Daughter on the rocks" picture. No one noticed the people in the background preparing to push the plastic-wrapped body off the cliff.

After Point Lobos, we checked into the Big Sur Lodge (wonderful!!), where we had a scrumptious dinner.

The following day we headed out to Pfeiffer beach, which you get to only by locating an unmarked, single-track road which passes through twelve counties (and Oz), before finally depositing you at this fantastically deserted beach.

Here Gary takes another wonderful digital camera shot. We would like to thank him again for giving us access to his shots like...

...this!

Also thanks to Gary's pictures we have several of Jordy and Anna together (instead of one of them with the camera).

Here we see the Slug Pals walking serenely along the waterline.

Did I mention it's 23 degrees outside in Logan right now?!

Jordy needs to thank Lana for the beautiful sweatshirt you see him modeling here. "Thanks Momthra!!!"

The "Arch of the Covenant."

Hear no evil.

See no evil.

Speak no evil.

Just sit on the damn log.

"Anna! Momthra's trying to push me in the water!"

"Jordy! You're fired!"

And a final shot before getting back on the road.

And we didn't have to go too far down the road to reach Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where we posed for yet another group photo.

The jewel of this particular park is a waterfall which falls into the ocean. The tide's out, so here it's not quite hitting the ocean, but you get the idea.

And in the other direction you get another stunning view of the Big Sur coastline.

One unexpected gift we received for the holidays was a cold. Here Anna leans on her Jordalope as the worst of the cold hits her. I suppose that if you have to get a cold, there's nowhere better to get it than paradise.

That night, and the following morning, we had the privilege of dining at Nepenthe restaurant which featured this view from their breakfast deck.

Does it look like January to you?!

John and Jordy prepare for a wonderful breakfast at Nepenthe.

After breakfast, we headed down to "The Phoenix," still at Nepenthe, to buy cool stuff. Here we caught Gary in a rare candid moment in his ceremonial dress of fez hat and royal coffee cup.

"We don't want to go home!"

For our parting shot we have Jordy and Anna on the breakfast deck at Nepenthe contemplating the fact that in 24 hours, they will be on an airplane bound for Salt Lake City, then they will drive back to Logan and start their second semester teaching.

We've already started taking shots on a new roll of film which we'll have up in a couple weeks! Happy New Year, everyone!