Christmas in San Diego

We arrived in San Diego on Monday, December 22nd, so on Tuesday the 23rd we went for a hike at Torrey Pines.  It was beautiful 70 degree weather!

 The shoreline was crazy due to storms and high surf...about 10 feet of sand had disappeared and the beach was very rocky.

On Christmas Eve, we spent time getting some last minute shopping done and later that night we did luminarias with my parents (lost those pictures) and then had Pasta Fagole and Wedding Soup at Sue's house.

 Christmas morning was awesome!

This year we took some time before gifts to pray and give thanks for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  My mom read a wonderful talk by President Uchtdorf that really set the mood for the day of gratitude and thanks.  I was really glad we did that before the kids started to open presents.

        

CJ was very excited about his new golf clubs,

and Gracie LOVED her new Lego friends,

and Allie was excited for her new camera.

I love my sweet family!

  We were so happy to have another Christmas with my parents!

Sabrina with all her goodies

and Allie

and Gracie

My mom with Sabrina

After we opened presents we went to Scott's moms house to be with his sisters and their families.
We ate breakfast and opened presents.

 CJ and Alex.

Sabrina made this charger blanket for Alex,

and CJ made this blanket for Richie

Scott and his mom with the roast that she bought!

It was huge!

 On Saturday, December 27th we had a fun day with my parents.

We went to see "Into the Woods", then out to dinner at Su Casa in La Jolla, went shopping at Deseret Book and went to see the lights at the temple.

On Monday, December 29th we decided to hike to potato chip rock.
It was quite the hike, about 6 miles around trip, but was well worth it.

Allie worked on her moves as we hiked up the mountain,

We made it!
We had to get up on this big rock to get out to the potato chip.
It was a little more treacherous that I thought...

Then we had to get from the one big rock to the other, there is about a 6 foot drop in between the two rocks.

Allie on the rock!
It was crazy!

The whole group!

We were so grateful for my mom's friend Mary Tabar.
She was our guide and she is an amazing hiker and friend!

Fifteen years ago my mom tried and failed to make it to the top!
This time she did! :) 

On our way down the mountain,

 It was hard to believe we had such a beautiful day on Monday and then Tuesday the crazy storm came...so we went out for lunch at Souplantation and then went to see Big Hero 6 with Scott's mom.

On Wednesday, December 31st we have a New Year's eve tradition of going bowling with Scott's family and then out to lunch afterward.  This year we went to the bowling alley in Mira Mesa and then lunch at Fuddruckers.

Later that night for our New Year's Eve celebration, we had "Soupapalooza" with my family and a cousin sleepover.

The next morning (January 1st) we woke up and watched the parade, the cousins played and then we went to Cabrillo National Monument.  It was closed but we had a picnic lunch overlooking the water and saw a lot of whales.  The kids loved it!

 Onto Sunset Cliffs where we hiked around, looked in the tidepools, took some pics!

Next up, we went and got Ice Cream (even though it was freezing) and went to Ocean Beach to watch the sunset.

We all worked on our "Selfies"

On Friday, January 2nd, Scott and my Dad went golfing and we helped my mom un-decorate her house.
Later that night we took my parents out to claim jumper.
On Saturday, January 3rd we went to Richie's basketball game and then Sue took us out of Pizza at Filippi's.
Sunday, January 4th, Scott headed back to Visalia and Sabrina flew home from Texas.
Monday, January 5th was great and hot!
We went to the beach!

 Tuesday, January 6th was just as awesome!
We hiked Torrey Pines with the Casalegnos and had a picnic lunch on the beach after.
The kids were very excited because we saw a rattlesnake, dolphins jumping out of the ocean, seals and lots of cool sea shells.

Wednesday, we went to Ikea, did laundry, packed up and get ready to drive home on Thursday!
What a great trip, now back to reality :(

December Festivities

December was JAM PACKED! but so, so GREAT!
We started December off with a field trip with CJ's Preschool to Mooney's Grove.
I feel sad because I had some great pictures on my good camera but unfortunately they were destroyed.  Thankfully, I also had some iPhone pics too.

 On December 3rd we were invited to go with some friends to their church's Jingle Jam and Elsa and Ana were there!

 On December 5th we wrote and delivered letters to Santa's mail box in Macy's!

 Later that night at the girls school we went to Christmas Craft Night.
The Abbott's were there too, so we crafted and took pictures with them.

 This is the camel costume I made for CJ to wear in our live nativity at the ward party.

 On Saturday, December 13th we decorated for the ward party,

 The kids waiting in line to visit Santa!

  It was such a beautiful night and the kids did an amazing job on the live nativity.
Gracie was Mary and Jackson Haubert was Joseph.

We finally got some snow in our mountains

 On Monday, December 15th we made and decorated gingerbread houses and cookies.
The Behan's hosted and the Hawke's and McElmoyl's were there!

 On Tuesday, December 16th and Thursday, December 18th the girls had their dance recitals.

 The girls got Christmas haircuts

 and Allie's hair was finally long enough to donate (and still have long hair)

On Thursday, December 18th we went caroling with our Joy School Group.
We made cookies to take to those we caroled to and then we had a party and gift exchange back at our house afterward.

 On Friday, December 19th Gracie had her 1st Grade Christmas Singing Performance.
She was so cute!

 On Sunday, December 21st we (the Behans and McElmoyl's) went to the Grinch house to see the amazing light show!