Christmas in California

We were lucky to get to go home for Christmas this year...and not just for a few days...for two weeks! It was such a fun, relaxing, and MUCH-NEEDED vacation for both of us! We did so much and had so much fun! To make things simple, I'll post about the whole vacation here in one post. Be prepared for lots of words and LOTS of pictures!

Here is a list of all the things we did/experienced.

*Road Trip! I think I have made this round trip 9 times now and Thomas about 6 times. I hope we only have to do it a few more times! There was SO much fog that we could hardly see ten feet in front of us! And it was so cold outside that the fog actually froze to our car. The Evidence:

*Reunion with the dogs (Strider and Rosie). I think all three of us were pretty happy to be reunited.

*Sunday night dinner at Kristen's house. So much fun to be with everyone! I can't wait until we move back to California and get to do this on a more regular basis!
*Hair accessories party! I hosted one at my parents' house the Monday before Christmas and it went amazingly well! I think I can safely say all my start-up costs have finally been covered! :] Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who bought things!
*Fun with the sisters

*CHRISTMAS!

My favorite gift: a t-shirt blanket custom-made for me with all my high school/soccer team/efy/etc t-shirts. I LOVE IT!!!!

Thomas's favorite present: GPS :] (or at least this is what I'd like to believe since it's the one I got him!)

This is the cute present I made for my niece, Emma. Tutu and matching hairbow! She's so adorable!

Chris got a motorized scooter and we all had a lot of fun riding it!

*Temple!...to seal my great-grandmother to her husband :]

*STREP THROAT! Yes, I started have symptoms Christmas night and called my doctor a few days later to ask for antibiotics. They kicked in enough by my birthday to have an enjoyable day/night but the strep sure did stink for those few AWFUL days!

*KINGS GAME!!!!! Kings vs Denver Nuggets...KINGS WON!!! Yeah!!! Go Kings!!! The strep was pretty bad this night so I, unfortunately, didn't get to scream and cheer but I did CLAP a lot!!!

*Interview with Grandma. I'm going to write a historical fiction/biography of sorts about her so I asked her all sorts of questions about her childhood and learned a lot! I also learned I'll need to spend another good five hours with her to get enough information! :]
*BIRTHDAY!
We saw The Blind Side (where I lost my cell phone and where I also luckily found it 10 hours later) and went to dinner at On the Border (yummy)! Later we went to Lisa's house and partied with the Wallace's for NEW YEARS! :]












My mom & dad and Kelli, Jamie, and Chris all chipped in some money for me to get a swedish massage!!! YEAHHH. So excited!!

My gorgeous new Steve Madden boots from my wonderful husband (he picked them out all by himself)!

hahah our shoes!

*Lots of love from Emma-boo. She suddenly became really attached to me in California (maybe due to all the new people and I was someone familiar)! So cute...she followed me whenever I left the room and would ask for me constantly "marci? marci?" i hope she never grows out of it!
*LOTS of shopping!
*Golfing for Thomas!
*"Friends" & cookie dough with my sisters
*Dinner at Cory and Alyson's! mmm :]
*Leatherby's!....something we dearly miss here in Utah
*Sherlock Holmes and Avatar for Thomas
*In N Out (even though we have it here it's still exciting to go at home!)

We had such a fun vacation spending time with family and friends! We can't wait to be home for good (hopefully!) and have the chance to spend lots more time with everyone!