Christmas in California

Berkeley and I decided to drive just the 2 of us to my parents this year and not wait for Todd. I happened to pick the WORST day of the year to drive at night. It rained 4 of the 6 hours and SNOWED for 10 minutes of that as well. I was freaking out when it started snowing, part in excited shock that it was snowing so close to my childhood home, and part because I was fearful for my life! We arrived safely about a week before Christmas. We had lots of time to play in my parents amazing back yard, and hang out with my sisters and Berkeley's cousins. My sister threw a Christmas Poker party with members from her ward, I went to dinner with my friend of 11 years, went Christmas shopping, had a HORRIBLE cold, helped my mom wrap gifts, and then finally Monday night picked up Todd from the airport.

My parents have had this train since I was a little girl and have always gotten it out at Christmas time. Berkeley was in love with it, and always made a bridge for the train to go under.

Berkeley in front of my parents real life barn that is probably about 60 years old.

On December 23rd, we had our big family get together. Our family is so big now my mom decided to have it at a church building in the Relief Society room. My Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, and cousins came, as well as my whole family. We started off with a ham dinner, then each family showed us some of their talents.

Here is one family doing a song for their talent.

My niece singing a church song.

My niece signing to a song.

This is my nephew Braden, who Berkeley took a weird obsession to. She always wanted to sit with him, and she would caress him and hug him constantly. He kept saying "She wont stop hugging me!" It was a crack up.

Then on Christmas Eve we went to my sister Danielle's house. Because we had the traditional ham dinner the night before we decided to have a Mexican dinner with home made Tamales. My aunt brought the delicious tamales, and they were SO good.

My sister Ashley, my sister Danielle, me, and my cousin Katie.

After her house we went back to my parents and did our own little mini Christmas Eve. We opened our Christmas Jammies from Todd's parents, and then read the night before Christmas and a Nativity book to Berkeley.

Then on Christmas day, Todd, Berkeley, and I , along with my parents and my sister enjoyed a low key, sweet Christmas day.Berkeley got a scooter from Santa.

That was followed by my moms traditional Eggs Benedict Breakfast that is probably my favorite thing about Christmas. She has been doing it my whole life, and if you ask any of my 6 siblings what their favorite thing about Christmas is, they would say the same thing.

Besides all the Christmas festivities we really got to spend a lot of time with all my family which was the best part of the trip. Berkeley really had fun hanging out with her grandpa and helping him play his banjo, and helping him feed his cat.

It was a bitter sweet drive home, but Berkeley picked up a souvenir from grandma and grandpas house, so she was ok!

Berkeley's Up Coming Surgery

After 3 separate doctor appointments and one dreadful x-ray, Berkeley is finally going to get tubes put in her ears and her Adenoids removed. If you have ever been around her you would see that she is a mouth breather and cannot breathe through her nose. I never thought anything of it, until recently when I decided to take her to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. Her Adenoids are enlarged which is blocking the airway in her nose, thus forcing her to be a mouth breather. She also always has had fluid in her ears, which inhibits her hearing and also makes her have multiple ear infections and colds. So my sweet 2 year old is going to be going in for surgery in the next couple of weeks. I am SO glad she will be cured of her constant congestion, but I am so scared that she will have to go through this somewhat of a painful procedure. Thank goodness for modern day medicine!

Today it rained all day. Usually I love the rain....but today....I slipped and fell.....TWICE on the concrete. I'm not so much for the rain right now. My knees are feeling the consequence.

Our Christmas Party

Last night my sister in law Brooke and I co-threw the "1st Annual Friends Christmas Party" last night. We have been talking and planning it for a couple of months, and it was so exciting that it finally came. We started off with appetizers and desserts, with hot chocolate, water, punch, and soda. Then after about an hour we played probably one of the best party games EVER! You divide people up in groups of 4- 6 and each team has to try to accomplish the most tasks possible. Some of their tasks included....

Make a human pyramid....

Bring up a department store credit card....

Touch your tongue to your nose.....

Have one guy get on all fours and have another guy get on his back....

Link 2 belts together....

Do a handstand for 5 seconds....

The winning team with their $5 gift cards to Sonic
Some other funny ones that we did was put lipstick on a guy, take a picture of your group and show us the picture, say a phrase in another language, do the splits, break dance, do the worm, show us a contact lens, show us some form of $100 cash, show us some medication, and 2 guys skip around holding hands. It was seriously one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. I loved that everyone automatically let loose, and didn't care what other people thought of them. We enjoyed the party so much....I think we have already decided we are for sure going to do it next year!

What Does This Mean Exactly?

For the last 3 or 4 months Berkeley has really started to enjoy lining things up. It was pretty funny the first couple of times, but now, she has gotten very creative with it. She has enjoyed lining up kitchen chairs, hand alarms, kitchen utensils, puzzle pieces, toys, and crayons. She was doing it so much I realized I have to take pictures because of the peculiar things she has put together.

Anasazi Dinner

Last night we had the chance for our family to go to the Anasazi Dinner. Anasazi is an organization for troubled teens to go out into the wilderness and go on a trail for 7 weeks with nothing but a sleeping bag, a cup, and some essentials. Every year they have a dinner to acknowledge some of their participants, and to raise money. Each year they also have a celebrity come and perform. In the past they have had Marie Osmond, and Winona Judd, and last night they had Brooke White. It was a really neat experience and we got to hear from very respectable people.