Thanksgiving trip!

Our Thanksgiving trip back home was wonderful! Brandon and I left the Saturday before Thanksgiving and flew into Long Beach. John had to work so he came out the following Wednesday. We had the best time with Nana and Papa John! This is Brandon by the huge Christmas tree at Fashion Island.

This is how excited he is for Christmas!

We love taking the Balboa ferry every chance we get! Grammy Judy invited Brandon and her other grand kids (and Lily) to go see Santa a few days before Thanksgiving. It was a terrific idea! We were the only ones there and Brandon got to talk to Santa for a few minutes and not feel rushed like we usually do. Going early is the best!!

Here is Brandon and all of his "new" cousins from John's side of the family. It is so fun for Brandon to have more cousins!

Cousin Lily and Brandon.

As if seeing Santa wasn't enough fun, Judy took us all out to eat and then to Pump-It-Up! The kids had such a blast! It was a fun day for the kids and the grown-ups too!

On Wednesday we were invited by Brandon's former kindergarten teacher, the amazingly wonderful Mrs. K, to visit Sumner Elementary (the school Brandon attended before we moved.) He was so excited! He could not wait to see all of his old friends and teachers! I was excited too!

Brandon and Sarah.

Jacob and Brandon. Jacob is Mrs. K's son and he and Brandon were great buds. They were ecstatic to see each other again!

David and Dylan. More "old" friends. :)

Cousin London and Brandon at lunch.

Brandon's buddy Kiernan.

Later that day we went with Greg, Angie and Lily to see Tangled in 3D.

Our FIRST Thanksgiving together!

Brandon enjoying our family's traditional "fruit cocktail."

Greg and John had an arm wrestling match. John won...but Greg might of let him. Guess we will never know! :)

Dad, Mary and the family.

The four brother-in-laws. We all found such great men!

After dinner at my dad's we went over to John's parents house to enjoy yet another yummy turkey feast! I am sad that I did not get a picture while I was there! :( I wont forget at Christmas, that is for sure!



Thanksgiving at my mom's house.

I was in charge of making my mom's delicious homemade rolls. Due to the fact that this was my first time, I was very apprehensive!

Besides having a ton of flour on them, they turned out edible. ;)

Brandon loves his Uncle Scott.

Last year on this exact day (black Friday) John and I met for the first time. Newport beach is very significant to us because we ended our first date there and we got engaged there. We love our special place!

The three John's just sitting around enjoying the holiday weekend.

To finish off our trip we had a blast with the family at Becca's surprise 17th birthday party- Harry Potter style! My sister Wendy did an AMAZING job decorating the house with the HP theme. Candles "floated" in the air, Pumpkin Juice and Butter Beer were served and she even made a Quidditch ball cake!! It was truly unbelievable.

The little cuties hanging out before Becca's arrival.

Brandon and the birthday girl! We cannot believe that she is 17! I mean 7, right Becca?! ;)

We had a great and very memorable trip. Our families mean everything to us. Having our own little family now is such a blessing, and just so much fun.

so thankful...

I am so thankful for many things. I love this time of year because it really helps me focus on what I have and how very blessed I am. This Thanksgiving I am EXTRA thankful because I now have an incredible husband to share life and all it's blessings with. Because of him, I do not need to have a full-time job, and I have time to bake pumpkin bread for Brandon's teacher and principal. ;) I have time to help out in Brandon's class and find amazing notes like this one on his desk. It was such a great feeling to walk in and read that sweet note and be there to help with the Thanksgiving celebration. They are all such cute kids and I LOVE being there! I asked Brandon to give me a smile and not be silly...this is what I got. Ah! (I am still thankful for him though!)

Brandon and Logan. (Oh and Jared!) Cute kiddos!

I could never sit down and write all the things that I am thankful for...it would take way too long, but I can say that I have truly been abundantly blessed. Happy Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yosemite!

Three of the biggest blessings in my life are named Angie, Wendy and Julie. My sisters are amazing women and I am very lucky to call them my best friends. Julie came to visit us for a week and it was nothing short of a total blast. Brandon thinks that his Aunt Julie is one of the very coolest people in the world! So do I. Due to the fact that we live only three hours away and my sister is very adventurous, we decided to take a quick trip to Yosemite while she was here!

This picture makes me giggle every single time I look at it! Julie is so petite that she looks like a child compared to me! So here I am with my two kids! ;) Half Dome is very tiny in the background. Wow!

A closer shot of amazing Half Dome.

Here we are at Bridalveil Falls.

Huge leaf!

We saw lots of wildlife including two bucks. They were so close!

It was extremely cold but we tried to say warm by bundling up! Brandon wore my scarf. :)

Mama and baby raccoon were so neat to see! Brandon was LOVING the little baby cooney!

We decided not to camp in a tent (it was WAY too cold!), so we got a canvas "cabin" in Camp Curry. It was still very cold but at least we were up off the ground on beds and had a propane heater (which we brought) to help take the edge off. Bears are all over Yosemite so signs are posted everywhere about keeping your food (and anything else with a scent- including toothpaste!) locked up in a bear-proof container outside your cabin. I was starting to get worried that we might wake up to an unwanted guest! Luckily we had a decent nights rest and did not see any bears.

Cute little squirrel!

The next day we made our way to lower Yosemite Falls. There were lots of BIG rocks to climb on and Brandon was having a ton of fun! We met a nice family with four kids who loved to climb as well so Brandon enjoyed having some buddies to explore with.

We almost could not believe our eyes when we saw snow!

What an awesome trip! We love you Julie!