Christmas Memories 2009

I know Christmas is old news by now, but I had to post about it for our family record. We spent a week at my house in California for Christmas. It was SO good to be home and as an extra treat my sister and her 4 kids were there as well. I finally got to meet the newest member of the family...Preston. My sister's youngest who was born the end of August. He looked like a 6 month old...way too cute, I couldn't get enough of him! We did a ton of stuff in one short week and had such a good time...

We headed down to the Americana for a night of lights, Santa, trolley rides, and The Cheesecake Factory.

The pictures below are us waiting in line to see Santa. Because my brother worked at the Americana he gave us special treatment and took us all to the front of the line to get our picture with Santa!

The Big Guy....This picture is priceless and puts a smile on my face every time I look at it! The only thing that would make it more perfect would be if Cody had his famous scowl on his face.

Of course Christmas wouldn't be Christmas with out my mom's Christmas cookies...and all the other classic holiday cookies from the neighbors that we've gotten for the past 21 years! We all took part in decorating the cookies and eating them. We even found Cody hidden under a blanket eating a cookie that he had sneaked!

The Christmas tree...it's huge, and every one of the ornaments has a story to tell.

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are below.

Victoria loved the park ( Wendy Park...the same park that I would spend hours at growing up...even as a teenager) and leaving was the last thing she wanted to do! Did I mention how beautiful the weather was while we were there?...I miss it so much!

We also spent some time at the Aquarium of the Pacific...totally expensive to get in and after 2 1/2 hours everyone was ready to go home ha ha. Victoria's favorite part was the bird forest. The birds would land right on you, fly right at you almost knocking you over, poop on you, and if you were too pushy they would bite. 

Our second week was spent in Logan Utah with Shawn's family, where Victoria opened a ton more gifts, Shawn went "bunny hunting" (gross, I know), I threw up a bunch, and we all welcomed in the new year.

Victoria opened this special gift from her Aunt Melissa and Uncle Justin. Apparently she hated it ha ha.

Victoria with her cousin Harlyn in Utah.

Trying to get a picture with Grandpa Waldron.

Maybe I Should Document At Least a Little Something

I hate getting behind on blogging...especially when I have a bunch of documenting to do from the holidays...still! I just have so many pictures from our trip that I am trying to narrow down for the blog, but it shouldn't matter how many pictures I put up...it's my blog my way, right? Right! Anyway, I've decided on a few new year resolutions, still working on resolving some from last year...been busy thinking about blogging, cleaning, cooking, making animal sounds, singing "If your happy and you know it...", laughing, crying, worrying, being grateful....and we've only finished just one month of the new year! Our biggest news? I am pregnant! Just over 11 weeks pregnant. I started feeling pretty sick while we were home in California, so I waited it out a little while and finally took a test when we were in Utah (our second part of Christmas vaca) and sure enough It was positive! So we will be blessed with yet another miracle on August 20th.....and Shawn's little sister, Melissa and her husband are also expecting their first...four days after us!

Well, Shawn will be home any minute so I better head upstairs and act like I've been productive all day. Maybe he'll take me to The Sweet Factory (candy shop), I've been craving sour belts, and chocolate covered gummy bears.

Pretty in Pixels...My Photography Blog

I decided to create an official photography blog!

You can take a little looksie by clicking the link below or clicking my Pretty in Pixels button located on the right sidebar of my blog!

http://prettyinpixelsphotography.blogspot.com/

Swine Fever

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The Feast and Festivities

We spent Thanksgiving day with the Palmer family this year (Shawn's cousins). We drove down to Alexandria, VA Thursday morning for a yummy feast and good company. Shawn's Aunt and Uncle were there from Idaho, Jeremy and Bridget came from New York, Stacey (Dave's fiance) came from Puerto Rico, and we all ate at Scott and Katie's house. Victoria had a blast playing with the five other kids there. The three youngest are all a month a part- Alex, 12 months, Magdalaina, 13 months, and Victoria, 14 months.
After we ate, all the girls left the kids and cleaning up to the Dads while we went to see New Moon. A few parts of the movie were a bit ridiculous as far as acting and Bella is just way too awkward to watch sometimes, but it was definitely enjoyable and entertaining, and so good to spend a few hours out to a movie with other women. I cant even remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater before then!
On Friday, we turned up some Christmas tunes, set up all the Christmas decorations, and hung the ornaments on our tree...then watched Victoria pull them all off!
{here I am helping Victoria hang her ornament on the tree}

{She decided she would rather hold on to it and play with it a while longer. Every morning she will go to the tree and pull off her ornament along with a few other bulbs...which she thinks are balls just for her to play with}

{Shawn hanging the Christmas lights outside around the door...once he was finished, I of course changed my mind and decided I didn't want them hung there after all ha ha}

Saturday evening we heard a couple fire trucks and police cars on our street so we peeked our heads out and saw SANTA riding on the back of the truck. So we bundled up and went outside to see him with all the other neighbors. Apparently Santa pays a little visit every year on the back of the fire truck. It was really sweet! Victoria just stared, she wasn't too sure what to think off all the loud sirens, honking, flashing lights, and Santa.