Julian Trip

This week, Douglas and I and my family took a trip up past Julian and stayed in the family cabin for a night. It had rained quite a bit here so when we drove up to the mountains, there was SNOW! Being born and raised in San Diego, I have very little experience with snow. At least I didn't have to drive in it. But it was so pretty! In Julian where there is heavy foot traffic, the snow was quite dirty. But once we passed through Julian and into the mountains and the cabin, the snow was white and untouched. Surprisingly, it wasn't that cold. We had a great time.

We passed a bunch of random chunks of snow


It was very bright so I am squinting


This is what we could see out the cabin window


It's hard to see, but here is Lake Cuyamaca and the snowy mountains in the background (this was taken from the car so that's why there are random trees in the front)


The blankets of snow were so pretty!

First Pregnancy Pics!

Douglas' brother Brian and his wife Heidi were in town for Christmas. Heidi is pregnant and due in April and I'm only a few weeks but we thought it would be fun to take pregnancy pictures anyway.

Here we are by the Christmas tree

It looks like I have a bit of a belly - it's just fat :)

And since the wives were taking belly shots, the husbands decided to also! I think they are farther along than we are

Guess what..........

I have a bun in the oven! (This is how I told Douglas)

We told my parents on Christmas morning by giving them t-shirts to unwrap

We are due in the middle of August and we are SO EXCITED!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! We spent the night at my family's house last night and will again tonight. We had so much fun!

Christmas Eve - getting ready to eat finger foods for dinner, drink wassil and watch A Christmas Carol: The Musical and It's A Wonderful Life

Christmas morning - the presents are begging to be opened


Stockings stuffed to the brim (Jordan's had to be taped because Jadis chewed a hole in the toe)


Getting ready to open presents


Douglas got a big comfy robe


All ready for Christmas dinner. After the amazing meal, we watched Elf!

Nursing Home Performance

Remember how "The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen" was cut from the program? Well, last night we went to a nursing home and sang a bunch of Christmas carols. They loved it! One of the numbers was "Restroom Door." Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Welcome Home, Maryvonne and Trevor!

Last night we had a welcome home party for two of our good friends. Maryvonne is back from school on a break and Trevor is home from his mission! It was a surprise for Trevor because it really was for him. We ate some great food including homemade guacamole, yummy lasagna and plenty of sweets. We also played Twister, Taboo, Last Word and the Wii and sang Christmas carols around the piano. We had a blast!

Beautiful Maryvonne

Good ol' Trevor

Trevor's cake. The thing at the bottom is a glass ship that broke out of a bottle so we decided to place it on the water. The owners were trying to get rid of it anyway.

"Left hand red" - and this is what he did


Douglas doesn't last very long in Twister


I'm not sure if I should comment


Um... yeah.

Happy 75th Birthday, Grandpa Button!

Today was my Grandpa's 75th birthday and we had a 1933-themed party.

When you walked into the house, you could hear Benny Goodman playing in the background and there was a "1933" poster along with a book about the 1930s.

We had lasagna for dinner...

...and then watched part of the 1933 blockbuster, "King Kong!"

Grandpa and Grandma on the left and Carol, Grandma's cousin and her husband Jim on the right visiting after dessert (coconut cream and chocolate pies)

My Grandpa is a "Three Stooges" fan. That's all I'm going to say. This was the best part of the evening...

Jared time

Last night I got to babysit Jared and it was so much fun! We went to his school to shop at "Santa's Workshop" for little gifts for the family, sang the entire "Twelve Days of Christmas" while he held up the poster for each number and then we watched The Polar Express. It got me in the mood for Christmas!

Dec 5, 1992

Today marks the 16th anniversary of my baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Happy baptism day!

P.S. I cannot for the life of me find my baptism picture, so I'll just have to post this without it. As soon as I find it, I'll post it.

Escondido South Stake Christmas Concert

Tonight was our 6th annual Escondido South Stake Christmas concert at the California Center for the Arts Escondido. This year we invited the Escondido Stake to join us. It was a big success! We worked really hard and our hard work paid off. I've been participating all 6 years and I've loved them all! This year I played violin in two numbers and sang in the choir in three numbers (one of them I got to play a chime!) As much fun as it was, I'm so glad it's over. It's always so stressful and it takes up a lot of time. But so worth it!

Douglas singing in a barbershop quartet at the dress rehearsal on Sunday. "The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen" was cut because of questionable lyrics (yep, that's right.)


My dressing room


My choir outfit


My hair was done by a professional stylist in the show

"Wizards in Winter"

"The World Was Waiting" with the children's choir

"Christmas Bells Are Ringing" with chimes

"What Child Is This" - Celtic version

"O Holy Night" with soloists

Yay, production team!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Every year, the Monday after Thanksgiving is when my family goes out and buys a Christmas tree. This year it happened to be the first day of December. We brought the tree home, ate Filippi's pizza, decorated the tree and watched Shrek the Halls and the Grinch!

This is what it looked like outside on December 1st.
It was a lot brighter than you can see and it was hot.
I would say somewhere around high 70s to low 80s.
Totally didn't feel like December.

All tied down and ready to go


Of course we had to get a Douglas fir


Dragging it in


Setting it up


Jared got to untangle the lights


All ready to be decorated


Pretty white lights!


Now the colored lights


Dad helping Jared put the angel on top


Now the ornaments


Jared was a big helper


The final product


The view from the street