Our Christmas in California

Aaron and I just got back last night from our many travels over the break. We were lucky enough to spend Christmas in California with my brother, Stephen, and his family. We had so much fun and were busy the entire trip. Christmas Eve was filled with pajamas and hot chocolate, my mom made this amazing video with pictures of all of us growing up, and we even had a surprise visit from Santa. I even got caught kissing that Santa, he was just the hottest Santa I'd ever seen. I loved watching everyone open up gifts and the kids fly through their gifts. Aaron loved his gifts this year, which made me so happy. We shopped and saw Marley and Me, which we LOVED!! My family made a huge meal for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was just great to relax and be with my entire family. We haven't all been together since my wedding. And we enjoyed the wii, especially Mario Kart. The weather wasn't what we were hoping for but we did have 2 days of beautiful sunshine. I have some pictures but sadly my brother lost his camera with all the pictures on it at the mall so we don't have as many. :( I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday!

Lovin' the Season

I have been having so much fun this Christmas!! I had a blast shopping for gifts this year and after not doing such a hot job on Aaron's gift last year I wanted to get him something really great this year and I can't wait to give it to him. (And yes Aaron, I stayed within the budget) I love the Christmas tree and the lights outside and (secretly) I'm loving the cold weather we've been having lately. Which, of course, has lead to hot chocolate and well, more chocolate.

I've lovin that my little brother, Cory, is home. He is so much fun. We've already eaten out, gone shopping, gone to the movies, and are having so much fun. Big change with Cor Cor is he's working out! For those of you who know my brother, you know this is a big deal. He runs and lifts weights and everything. It is weird, but he still drinks like 5 cokes a day and lets me take complete and total care of him. I guess he's really making a marriage push...ha ha, just kidding. :) (sort of)

And we are also so much loving the Christmas cards we are getting. I love seeing your beautiful families. I look at them again and again. I can't believe I know so many good-looking people. I really wanted to send out a card this year just because I love getting them but I never know if people do that before they have kids.

Well I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays before we head off to sunny California for our Christmas. I hope it is as fabulous as all of you are!!
(And I love this picture Aaron took in Salt Lake :)

And I also need to congratulate my amazing brother-in-law, Spencer, who got into his first choice for medical school. We are so proud of him and know that they will love living in Arkansas. We can't wait to have them so close to us. Here's a pic of them celebrating.

Manliest of Men....well most of the time.

So my manliest of men husband finished building a fence in the backyard on Saturday. He worked so hard on it and it took a few weeks since he only had time to work on it on Saturdays. We are so happy to finally be able to put our puppy in the backyard, it has made life much easier on us. Aaron did this fence completely and totally by himself. The biggest help I gave was going to Home Depot and nodding when he pointed out stuff. I think I might've even fallen asleep waiting for him while he was asking lots of questions. So he still needs to make the gate and a few other things but he did such a great job!!
And of course wherever Aaron is little Jo isn't far behind. She kept trying to help. So just when you're thinking I have a super burly husband, I have to share the funniest story. So a little bit ago I fell asleep after work on the couch at like 6:30. When I woke up I could hear Aaron's voice but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I started listening closely and realized he was talking to our puppy. Just chatting with her and loving her. Smiling, I begin to follow the voice and realize he is in the bathroom and I can also hear some music going. I walk in and find my husband in the bath tub. It was so funny! Mind you my hubby is 6' 3" and our bathtub is not the large ones. He said he just felt like taking a bath. I have gotten so much entertainment from this event.

I don't want everyone to be totally jealous of me :) so I won't post of a picture of this, but here is one from when I walked in the room at night and found Aaron asleep on the floor with our Jo.

Spencer got married!! That means a trip to Utah, which means 26 people in one house...

Spencer and Kellie got married two days before Thanksgiving in Salt Lake. It was a fabulously simple day for us. They both looked fabulous and the girls just followed Kellie around wanting to be a part of everything. The sealing was beautiful and it so obvious how much they love each other. Aaron and I just couldn't get over seeing Spencer, little Spencer, getting married. It also caused us to reflect on how happy we are together and remember our own wedding and sealing. While we loved the glow of Spencer and Kellie, we wouldn't of traded places with them for anything, we couldn't be happier where we are now. The rest of the week was spent with family, family, family. We had sing-alongs (only with the Piersons), lots of walks and trips to the park, Aaron getting sick, lots of people getting sick, lots of games (mostly scum), food, food, food, a trip to Cafe Rio, shopping, and the lights at temple square. Here are a few pictures of the rest of the week. It was great to spend so much time with Aaron's family and so grateful to Jedd and Marcie for hosting everyone.

It's True

Yes it is true, while you would think Le-a is Leah it's actually La dash a. And Abcde is:

Ab (like the muscle in your belly) su (like sub) dee and her last name started with an F so she wrote it Abcde F.

I probably shouldn't be so amused by all of this but I can't help it. :)

What are some people thinking???

Please take a moment to answer this question. How would you pronounce the following names:

Le-a
Abcde

These are real names that we have come across, whose parents get very upset when the teachers pronounce it wrong on the first day of school...:)

To remember the good times

These pictures are from the end of the summer right before Aaron started working and coming home late night after night. We had heard about this famous water slide the Spitzers made but we had no idea how much fun it was going to be. Nor could we have predicted how much our little puppy was going to love it. She slid down again and again and then ran back up to do it all over again. She loved sliding down with us, it was too funny, she could have gone all night. Luckily Ambyr was there to snap some pictures for us.
Aaron and I recently had a little getaway to Brownwood, Texas. Yes, that's right, Brownwood, the hunting capital of Texas. Aaron had to go there for a night for work and so I went with him and Deer hunting season began the next day so the town was hopping. Its amazing to me how real all the small town stereotypes can be sometimes. All they could talk about was the high school football game and deer hunting, and everyone wore jeans and flannels to work. I was glad I got to go with him though.

And our exciting news is...Aaron's brother Adam and his family are moving to Dallas!! He's doing his second-year law internship with a firm in Dallas, which I guess is like the internship that will basically be the one you are going to work for. We couldn't be happier to have them closer. Aaron kept saying, "we'll be there for Abby's first day of school and when Drew learns to swim, etc. etc." We're in recruiting mode, trying to get as much family around us as possible. :)