California Christmas

On December 21st we left the -36 degree weather behind and set off for California where it was a full 100 degrees warmer. Of course all the "Californians" were freezing. I remember when 60 degrees was coat weather for me too but not anymore. Alyssa kept regretting that she left her swimsuit at home. We were in heaven.

The next two weeks were full of fun and craziness. We spent most of our time just sitting around the kitchen table, playing games and laughing way too loud, oh...and eating of course! But we did manage to squeeze in a few other activities, so here are some highlights.

On Christmas Eve we had our traditional party at my dad's house.

On Christmas morning we were at my mom's house. The kids got way too many presents and we ate our traditional donut breakfast and then sat around so bored for the rest of the day. Have you ever noticed how long Christmas day seems to last after the initial excitement?

After Christmas we went out to my sister Val's house. They just bought their first home so we went to stay with them and check out the new pad. They live in a cute little town and we had fun hanging out and pigging out.

On the morning of the 27th we left Val's place and went up to Newport Beach for my brother Michael's sealing. He baptized his wife a year ago and it was awesome to be there for their sealing. They have a baby coming any time now so we were excited to share in this start to their eternal family.

Of course the 28th was Miss Chloe's first birthday. She will get her own post about that, maybe even tonight if I am feeling ambitious.

The rest of the trip is a bit of a blur. Almost everyone got the flu. I was lucky enough to get a cold first and then add the flu on top of it. I could barely move on New Year's Eve. Seth was lucky enough to stay well until 4 AM yesterday morning so he had the privilege of puking through the two flights home, while I wrestled the 3 little monkeys.

Speaking of being sick, we spent much of our trip text messaging Seth's family because his little sis, Emily has been in the hospital almost constantly for over two weeks now. She got viral meningitis and there were lots of scary moments but she seems to be improving now. She is still in the hospital until this Wednesday so your continued prayers are definitely much appreciated.

Back to Cali now...We rounded out our trip with a visit to Disneyland on New Year's Day. Don't ever do that!!!! I have been in love with Disneyland my whole life and I was so frustrated that day that I vowed to NEVER go back again. We stood in line for over an hour just to buy tickets (for $70 a pop) and when we got inside all I saw was a sea of people. We only rode about 5 rides and Alex is not the "stand in line patiently" type so he was making everyone NUTS! Disneyland still had traces of magic but it is not quite the "happiest place on earth" anymore. :(

On January 2nd the craziest thing ever happened. The home of my childhood became an empty nest. My three youngest siblings moved out all on the same day. Kelly and Steven are off to Utah and Kristen moved to an apartment near Valerie's house. You would think this wouldn't bother me very much since I moved out 15+ years ago but it was very strange. It just feels so bizarre to think of that big, crazy home as just grandma and grandpa's place now. Seth and I figured this would be a tough day for my mom too so we had big plans to distract her with breakfast at a place we saw on Food Network and then in the evening we'd go out to Balboa Island and walk around and hit Crab Cooker for dinner. But unfortunately my mom got the flu and was stuck in bed all day! Instead we spent our last day of vacation packing, although we did take a break to go to lunch with my dad and Linda.

Okay, so that is a jumbled mess of a review, but it at least gets me closer to catching up on my blog.





























I was planning to do captions but it took so long to upload pics that I think I will skip it. As for Chloe's birthday post, I am pretty sure that will get bumped to tomorrow. I have to get back in the blogging mood...