New Year's in San Diego!

We decided to spend New Years with friends in San Diego this year. We usually just stay home, but I'm so glad we didn't! New Year's Eve is my birthday and on that morning, everyone was being super secretive about something. And then they surprised me with a ticket to see Cavalia and I LOVED it!!! So me and my friend and her daughter went to see the show and enjoyed every minute. And then when we got home, the guys surprised me with decorations and cake and pizza! I never expect anything on my birthday. I really just enjoy time with family and friends, but it was really a nice surprise! Other than seeing the show, we played ping pong for HOURS. And hours. And....hours. And we played board games until 2 in the morning. Sooo much FUN!

 I think she's ready for the party!

 Our pizza for dinner

 Goofing around

 To a game well-played!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Christmas 2012

Christmas is always here before we know it and it seems like the year has just flown by! We got our tree in the first week of December, which is our tradition. We decorated it together and I think it was Emma's year to put the star on top. Mario put lights outside and a lit wreath on our house. We always get a live balsam wreath from Costco and put that on our front door. It was amazing! We love the Christmas season. It is absolutely one of our favorites. The kids and I usually make snow flakes and we make lots of hot cocoa and sit in front of the fire. It's just such a nice time to cherish family and be together. As Christmas got closer, Mario noticed he wasn't feeling so good. I didn't realize how bad he felt until....I got it. And then both kids got it too. It was probably one of the sickest times in my life! Mario was down for a few days and I didn't get off the couch or bed for SIX days. The kids were the same as me. So....that's how we spent Christmas - on the couch, doing the best we could to enjoy the day!

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving at our house and our good friends, the Irwins, came up to spend it with us. On Thanksgiving, we had the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. And on the second day, we decided to change it up a bit. So we had lobster! We had so much fun cooking together and it ended up being so good! We went to an English pub over the holiday for lunch and got some fun photos in an English phone booth. We took them to see Griffith Observatory on the last day and that was a lot of fun. The views were spectacular from up there! All in all, we had an awesome holiday together.