Christmas in California

Well, I can't believe it's been a week since we were in California, celebrating the holidays with all of our family. We had such a blast, and it was truly so hard to leave. It was almost as hard to say goodbye to the sunshine as it was our families! (Not quite, but I still can't stand the freezing weather). I don't know what happened with the pictures in this post, but I don't have time to go back and fix them, so enjoy the randomness, k?

I don't have any picture of Christmas Eve or morning with my family cuz I didn't have my camera, but it was wonderful. We sang Christmas songs and listened to the beautiful story of Christ's birth. I was struggling to hold back tears as my sister sang
"Breath of Heaven." Having a sweet baby inside gave me a whole new perspective about how Mary must have felt about her own very special little one. My parents spoiled us as usual, and I loved just being together with my whole family.

Christmas afternoon we went over to the White's and were spoiled again. We are so lucky to have our families live so close. Who else gets to celebrate Christmas as much as we do? We opened presents, ate an amazing meal, and performed in our "Lack of Talent" show. JD and I made the family suffer through our version of "The Little Drummer Boy." I hate to say it but Angela and Dwight kicked our trash.

Of course we played plenty of tennis. The boys played a very competitive doubles match, and my hubby surprised me with his skills. He and Bryce ended up with the win and with very sore muscles. I attempted to play, but didn't realize how much this watermelon in my belly affects my balance. (Luckily I was able to catch myself on the fence before going over!)

We had party after party, and got to see so many good friends. My sister helped throw me a baby shower with a few of my friends from back home. It was so fun to get together with everyone, and they were so generous and sweet about this baby on the way. I can't wait for her to be here so she can be loved on by all her "Aunties."

Juli, my mother-in-law's birthday is the 23rd of December, so every year we get to celebrate that too. This year we went to The Summit House. It was delicious as always!

We were also introduced to the fabulous game of Rock Band, and spent many hours making sweet music. (Maybe more like loud noise, but it was still fun.) Eric and Marky became pros on the drums. I on the other hand could only play base (barely). Oh ya, and my little sis got engaged to this cute guy, and will be getting married in April!! Congrats Jessie and Mike!!

My cute niece and nephew.

Finally, here are some pictures at the Wild Animal Park. It was pretty chilly, so alot of the animals weren't out, but my family manages to find ways to entertain ourselves. Poor Sarah had a baby's head sinking into her pelvis, but she was a trooper waddling around all day, and at least she made it back to CO without going into labor. Any day now!

So, all in all, we had an amazing 10 days and can't wait to see everyone again! Good thing we have babies and weddings to bring us together again soon.