12.25.08

We had a great Christmas this year with our families. Christmas eve and Christmas morning was spent with the Andersons, and Christmas afternoon and evening was spent with my parents, Aunt and Grandma. I realized about noon on Christmas morning that all my photos were pretty much of Raegan. Babies really are so much more fun to get pictures of than anyone else!!

Now it's time to get on with things. Going back to work after 5 days off is kind of a bummer.

It's Christmas Eve-Eve

Last Saturday we went to Dave's neighbor Lynda's home to be a part of an annual tradition: cookie decorating! Since the kids were little they have gone next door every year to decorate cookies. So this year with Mike being home they kept up the tradition. We decorated ALOT of cookies, and Raegan got giggling with Lynda's dogs.

Sunday we spent the evening having dinner with the family and the Lundquists.

Dave and Mike really like "baby" or "boo".

(And having her around is good practice for 'someday'!)

Tis the season! I am so excited for the Holiday Season this year! It's finally cooling down, and even rained a few days this week, and my Josh Groban holiday CD is in my player. Last night I could see my breath outside. Ah, cool weather is so nice! Dave and I drove thru a few neighborhoods today on our way over to his parents house. While we were driving around admiring all the houses we really liked, there were Dads out mowing lawns and husbands hanging decorations and lights. I REALLY want our own house so i can spend a Saturday baking and decorating while Dave puts up lights and works in the yard. It's the simple things folks!

A recap on Thanksgiving. We spent the day with Dave's family eating and relaxing. I plopped down on the couches for a nap after the turkey and pretty much stayed there all evening. Friday my mother-in-law and sis-in-law's Rachel and Leslie along with baby Raegan went to South Coast. As we got off the freeway I sat there re-thinking why we were there. But it was fun! Jill got a head start on some of our Christmas shopping so it was a productive morning. Later Dave and I went to my parents for a post Thanksgiving dinner. Once again I plopped on their couches (new and AMAZINGLY COMFY by the way!) and I was gone. Dinner was yum, and we had fun playing a little game my Aunt Chrissy brought called Tell Me. It started some fun conversations. Tomorrow is Mikey's homecoming and then a lunch with friends and family. Should be a fun filled Sunday! Well people, i hope your Holidays got off to a good start and that your feeling just as excited about the Christmas Season as me!

xoxo

quick update

So i've been pretty bad about blogging lately. There hasn't been much to photograph, and life really has been pretty casual around our place. BUT, I'm totally looking forward to the Holidays approaching. I LOVE this time of year! A neighbor was putting up Christmas lights on their balcony last night, and as the Dad turned on the lights, his little kids clapped. It was so cute! So naturally, now I want to have lights on our balcony! (But, I hope that maybe we can have a house by Christmas time!) Hopefully Dave will feel the spirit of Christmas and put them up for us!

I bought some gingerbread mix at Traders, and last night while I was at the mall, I stopped in Williams Sonoma and bought Mulling Spices. I've heard everyone rave about it, so I thought who am I to pass up a good thing?!

I'm looking forward to next week. Aside from having Thursday & Friday off, Dave's brother Mike is coming home from his mission in Guatemala on Tuesday which will be awesome! (and I have a root canal scheduled for Monday, but thats not something to get hyped about...)

So here's to the Holidays! Now bring on the cool weather please.

Like the leaves change color in the fall, so did I!

I decided, (after toying with the thought to my fabulous hairdresser Coco many times) to make the "change". I mean, the country is all about "change" right now, so I thought, hey, why not embrace some "change" and change up my color! Besides, I'd been blonde for a few years, and wanted to switch it up a little!

Been a while

Shawnelle commented on my last post (making it my first "update your blog" reprimand). SO...I thought, what better to post about like the here and now! Today was a long day at work, consisting of spending two hours+ straight tallying, counting, and correcting our fundraiser information. I didn't get a lunch break, and the kids got out early, which = wild children. BUT, tonight after I got off I was in a good mood. Probably because the weather is awesome, and i went to Traders to grab some random items for dinner. I actually went to get only mozzarella cheese for pizza....BUT, who are we kidding! It's Traders! Anywho, Dave and I made homemade pizzas, mine was pretty crispy (note to self, do not set my oven at the direction temp of 450 degrees next time). Dave's turned out great! Now we're eating it while watching dancing with the stars. Ooh, and my fall smelling candles are burning and it just feels like fall! FINALLY.

I picked up some flowers at Traders.

Mine. Eh.

Daves. Wow.

My semi-impromptu, and totally-worth-every-minute-of-it weekend

I took friday off, as posted earlier. boy, i am glad i did!

friday morning i spent sleeping in and reading a book. when i finally got myself up and ready i drove into whittier and met katie and the girls at costco. we had lunch & i picked up a great o'neil hoodie for dave. later that evening, katie and i hit up target. ahhhh, i love that place! katie got alot of cute kid clothes on sale. then we headed to shawnelle's baby shower! it was great to see alot of people i grew up around, and the baked potato bar totally hit the spot on a cool fall evening.

sidenote: i'm SO happy that its finally fall weather!!

ok, then after the shower we decided that to ring in the fabulous weather, we needed to shop for katies house and decorate it for fall. we went to marshalls, then over to target, and finally hit up ralphs on the way home for some gourds, pumpkins, and tall wheat in fall colors to go in vases. like true whittier style, i ran into an old friend at ralphs and had a nice chat.

while we were out and about i decided that since dave wasn't even going to be around on saturday (taking the jeep up to big bear to rock crawl) that i shouldn't even bother going home! he was on board, and katie and i were SO excited!

we picked up contact solution and i slept in maddie's bottom bunk. it was so unexpected and totally fun! i'll spare you all the details of saturday, but staying over was so worth it! i got to...

- go out to breakfast with katie, randy and kids

- get a pedi

- browse cost plus world market

- see Shawnelle randomly one more time

- visit with isaac and see the house he bought

- grab a delish caramel apple cider

- meet up with gladys

- go back and get a sweater katie got and i wanted

- talk to juddy

- just be in whittier! it's nice to come "home".

like i told isaac, being back in town made me totally miss it! he looked at me, laughed, and said "you probably only like it so much once your back to visit because it's not where you live anymore". i think he's right. after living somewhere a while it can loose it's magic. but there's nothing better than the feeling of coming back to your old stomping ground and feeling totally at home.