California Christmas Part One

Zac's parents spoiled us all rotten this year by renting a beach house in Oceanside, CA. It was an absolute dream! We have had several really bad inversions in Utah this winter and it was so nice to escape the yucky air and cold. We spent a whole week there and it was pretty amazing. The house was only a block away from the beach and had beautiful views of the ocean.

Our first full day there was the Saturday before Christmas. We spent the day finishing up last minute Christmas shopping and ended the day at the Oceanside Pier. The last time John was at the ocean he was only 6 months old. It was so much fun watching him discover the waves. He LOVED the waves. In fact, he wanted to crawl right into the ocean. He got so upset when we wouldn't let him sit down in the water. He would scream with excitement and stomp his feet everytime a wave came in. He cried so hard when it was time to go.

On Christmas Eve, we attended a local ward, then came back to the house, made a delicious dinner, built gingerbread houses, watched a Mormon Message about Christ's birth, got our Christmas jammies and went to bed.
It was definitely a little different waking up Christmas morning to a palm tree instead of a Christmas tree. Christmas morning is so magical no matter where you are. I loved watching the little kids open their gifts from Santa Claus. Later Christmas day we headed down to the beach, because why not! The house we rented had tons of beach toys and boogie boards. It was awesome!
This time at the beach, as soon as Dad set John down on the sand, he took off for the water. Zac thought John would stop before he got to the waves. Nope, John went head first into the water. I think the cold of water shocked him! He wasn't quite as excited about the ocean after that. Haha.

December!

I love December! There are always so many fun festive things to do and never enough time to do them all. 

Christkindlmarkt 

We made the trek to This is the Place Heritage Park to visit this German Christmas Market. It was sooooo packed. But it was still a lot of fun. Everything was decorated like the real Christmas Markets in Germany. I think John had more fun people watching than anything else. Haha.

Christmas Parties 

We had several Christmas parties this year. I love parties so I was pretty excited about that. We had our ward party first. They put on this Shadow Box Nativity with different scenes in each room. It was really quite neat. 

Our good friends from our old neighborhood threw a White Elephant/Ugly Sweater party. Zac and I won the best White Elephant gift as I gave away a exercise ball unicorn (see picture) Hahahaha. 

Last, Zac's work had their company party at Top Golf. Let it be known that I beat Zac at one game. I love Zac's coworkers. They are all so friendly and easy to get along with. It is always a good time. 

Family 

Kristin and her family stopped and visited us on their way down to St. Johns for Christmas. It is always a special treat when I get to see her as we live so far away these days. We made the most of their visit by taking them to Cubby's and then over to Draper to check out the Tree of Life. Elise, Eric and Porter came too! 

I am also so glad that I kept my Legos as they are the only toy I have that entertains the older cousins. 

Other Fun Stuff

John loved playing with the gifts under the tree and also loved taking the Christmas ornaments off. So I decided I should make some non-breakable ornaments just for John. I made a little felt nativity and they turned out so cute! 

Thanksgiving 2018

We spent Thanksgiving in St. Johns this year! I always love going home. No matter how long I am gone, whenever I drive into that town I feel home.
The weather was so nice! We spent a lot of time outside. Dad didn't fail to put us to work moving the food storage from under the house to their new sellar. John loved it and was able to convince Grandpa and Uncle Marc to give him lots of wheelbarrow rides. :)
On Thanksgiving morning, we headed out to the old ice plant to run in the Annual Isaacson Turkey Trot. Zac placed third and I did pretty well while pushing John in the stroller. I ran into my good childhood friend, Kelly (Badger) Eastham. I haven't seen her in forever! She may be moving to Utah soon and I sure hope so, so we can see each other more often. Micah (Lindsey's boyfriend) was so sweet to stay and walk with Michelle. (Edit: As you can see, I am rather behind on my blogging as Lindsey and Micah are no longer dating).
The rest of our Thanksgiving vacation was spent playing games and going out to Patterson's Pond. They have really fixed up the pond and now have a trail that goes around each pond.
I hope I get to go home again soon!