Christmas in Disneyland

Christmas night Nate, Brooklyn and I drove to LA and met up with my family. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas - getting to see both Nate and my family. I LOVED that Brooklyn's aunts, uncles, and grandparents were able to see her, 6 months old and so different than when they saw her last (brand-new baby). It tears my heart up that we live so far away from our families. I feel like Brooklyn is growing up and they don't get to see her!

I feel like I need to savor every opportunity that we have to see our families. So being with my family in California was especially sweet. We made such fantastic memories this trip! Mom and Dad gushed over Brooklyn, we rode "It's a Small World" (Brooklyn loved it! Her eyes were so big and she just kept looking back and forth...), went back in time with my siblings (the last time I was at Disneyland was when I was in fourth grade) and rode the Star Wars ride, Mr. Toads Crazy Ride, the race car ride (not nearly as fast as I remembered), that scary Snow White ride, the Materhorn etc.

Brooklyn was such a trooper, running around all day, catching naps in the stroller when she could and remaining pleasant and happy all day. We all paid for her lack of schedule that night however when she kept waking up all night long... We told Spenc and Hannah B. we were just getting them ready for kids! Spenc would lean over and cover Hannah's ears every time Brooklyn started wailing. Hahaha!

Seriously, we had SUCH a wonderful time with everyone, I was heart broken to leave everyone the next day when we kissed them goodbye at the airport. I can't wait to see them all again!

Outside Sleeping Beauty's castle

Wild Jungle Ride!

The siblings (minus Things Mommy and Ruthie)

Las Vegas Christmas

This was our first Christmas in Las Vegas since we've been married and we were excited to spend time with the Ringer side. It all kind of happened last minute because my married siblings ended up planning to go to their in-laws/stay home last minute so we figured this was a good time to do in-laws Christmas (and we'd go home to Kansas the Christmas after) so we quickly switched our plane tickets. But when my parents decided to take the remaining children to Disneyland for Christmas (again last minute) Nate and I figured out we could meet up with them for a few days after Christmas in Los Angeles...meaning we got to see BOTH families for Christmas! How lucky is that?!! (I mean with our parents living 18 hours apart, it's not something you'd normally get to do.)

The only bummer ended up being the weather. Brooklyn and I flew out Dec. 15 to Las Vegas to spend time with family (Nate's family, my sister, aunt, uncle and cousins) while Nate finished up finals. But after we left, that HUGE snowstorm hit (yes, that enormous record breaking storm that was all over the news) and Nate's flight, which was scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 19, got canceled TWICE. I tried to keep it together but I was really missing Nate by then and when he called the second time to tell me they rescheduled his flight, not for Sunday and not even for Monday but for TUESDAY...I burst into tears!! Right in front of my in-laws. Holy cow I was so embarrassed.

Could have been worse of course. Nate got to hang out at home instead of being stranded at some random airport and he was safe and warm which was the most important thing. And I was with family which of course was great. But needless to say, I was relieved and so excited to see Nate again (he ended up canceling his flight completely and rescheduling a new flight for Monday not Tuesday).

So once Nate was back, life was good again and the rest of our break was fantastic. We celebrated Nate's dad's birthday, got to spend time with my darling sister Hilary, went Christmas caroling with the James gang, experienced Uncle Syd's magic "hot and naughty" drink, went to "The Lion King" on the Strip with the Ringers (it was awesome!) and did spin and yoga classes with Michele and Hilary (love my gym buddies!).

Christmas Eve, Nate's mom gave us all matching pajamas. So fun!
My mom gave Brooklyn the cutest little "My First Christmas" hat with antlers and matching reindeer socks. This is Christmas morning - it's so funny because she totally has Nate's tired eyes. Nate's mom had this decorative basket with red balls that Brooklyn LOVED to play with. Brooklyn's first bike ride! So fun! This is one of the beautiful things about Christmas in Las Vegas - it's warm enough to wear a light jacket and go on a bike ride in the middle of the winter!

Family Home Christmas

I know, I know, I'm posting these pictures from Christmas and it's April... Too cute not to post though, even if it's late! In my defense, my computer crashed in February and I lost ALL my pictures off my computer. Luckily I had most of them saved in other places but it's been a huge process and a pain to transfer them back over to my computer (I'm actually still working on it...:( So sad!).
Anyhow, here's a few pics of our little family Christmas - we exchanged gifts before flying out to Las Vegas for Christmas.

Our cute little family Christmas

Okay I had to put these pictures in here because they crack me up. Brooklyn was just learning to sit up without support when these pictures were taken. So here is Nate getting her into position...

And here she is about to do a face plant!


Our "new" nativity set (I bought it at a thrift store for $5, yeah!)!

This is the sad aftermath, after Brooklyn and her lighting-fast hands got a hold of the shepherd!


Brooklyn's first picture with Santa; apparently she's too young to recognize him as a stranger yet - no tears! This was at our ward Christmas party - there is a guy in our ward who is the PERFECT Santa (how lucky are we?)! It's hilarious too because for the Sundays following the Christmas party, some of our friends' kids would turn to them and say excitedly, "Santa is at church!" And their parents explained that yes, Santa goes to church also...