Newborn bed head

Never in my life have I seen a newborn with this level of bed head

Lyla

Our little Lyla has been starting to give us intentional smiles lately instead of just the accidental newborn ones. This morning in bed, she started crying so I pulled her in close to snuggle her and when she saw my face she immediately stopped crying and smiled at me. It was the most rewarding moment of my life. It was the first time I felt like she definitely recognized my face and voice. That i meant something to her, that I meant comfort, is beyond words. A moment so powerful I can only feel it, not describe it. 

Little One, I pray to always be a safety from sadness and a reason for happiness for you.

Christmas

We absolutely loved our Christmas this year. It was so relaxing and low key. Last year,  Christmas  was kind of hectic. We spent the week before  Christmas  hurriedly packing for China, while cramming in  Christmas  shopping. On  Christmas  Day, we spent half of it with my family and half of it with the McArthurs. And while I would never have wanted to not see either side of our families, it felt like we were everywhere & no where all at the same time.
This year, Mom McArthur decided she'd rather have her whole family together than have  Christmas  on the 25th. So, we held the McArthur  Christmas  Day on  Christmas  Eve. The boys got up early to go play racquetball. When they got home, the rest of us woke up, made our way downstairs and opened presents. My favorite part (besides being with the McArthurs, of course)? The fact that they let us sleep in! We didn't open presents until around noon! Woohoo! After eating our brains out, watching Christmas movies, and hanging out for the day, we made our way to my Nana and Papa's house for my family's  Christmas  Eve open house party. We did the typical: eat, tease one another, and play. Oh, and we conned the little kids into giving us back massages and playing with my hair.

As per tradition, the adults stayed up late to wrap all the presents.

 Lindsay and I stayed up until an insane hour wrapping presents, but it was so good to have that time to talk to her. I really felt like I bonded with her.

Jesse somehow got the BEST JOB EVER. While I was up until 5am wrapping, he was "putting the little girls (aka Mallory and Peyton) to sleep". I'm not jealous at all. Whom am I kidding? I'm insanely jealous.

Snuggle Bunnies

Isn't this the most precious thing you've seen?

When I attempted to get him up to help me wrap presents, this is what I got:

Santa Came!

Christmas morning came quickly. At 7am, we awoke to many little bodies jumping on us telling us to wake up so that we could all take the annual "cousins on the stairs" picture and go downstairs to open up the presents.

Annual picture of all the cousins on the stairs Christmas morning.

Papa being silly. I love this man!

We both got new snow gear. We're so excited to use it!

Jesse got books on CD for his long, rush-hour, traffic-ridden commute.  

After Jesse opened his iPhone, we never got to interact with him again:

After presents, we lounged around for a while.

Then we showered and headed to church at Nana & Papa's ward. 

My Kenzie K and me after Church

It was a GREAT Christmas and we are so grateful to be blessed to have two wonderful, loving families to spend it with. Their love makes Christmas the magical holiday that it is.

The 12 days of Christmas

Every year growing up, in honor of our German heritage, St. Nick would come to our house on the twelve nights before Christmas and leave me a little toy or something in my shoe. I loved the tradition growing, and honestly, still get excited for it (I refuse to completely grow up). Putting my shoes outside my bedroom door the 12 days before Christmas always heightened the anticipation and excitement for Christmas to come. It was so fun to share this tradition with Jesse this year. Yes, even though I'm 24 and married, my super awesome St. Nick still carries on the tradition. Here are a few of the things St. Nick brought us this year.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, ST. NICK! We loved our gifts and the excitement of putting our shoes out every night.

Fall Semester is over!

Finals week ended on Friday, December 16th and I couldn't have been a happier girl! This semester was pretty stressful. I looove all of the things I learn every semester, but, dang, BioOrganic Chemistry was hard! All I wanted to do after my last final on Friday was go home and sleep, but as life would have it, I ended up getting sucked into a never-ending Christmas Errands Tornado. So, while I was at Costco, I decided that if I couldn't get a nap, I was going to at least eat a celebratory dinner and picked-up some filet mignon. However, it may be a while before Jesse forgives me for spending $50 on steak! Oops. So glad this semester is OVER and I'm looking forward to a relaxing 2 week break.

PS ~ I may never stop teasing Jesse about ruining a beautiful cut of marbled filet mignon with A-1 Sauce. :)

Snowy winter wonderland in LA

We went to Disneyland on Thursday night (even though I had my last final and Jesse had work in the morning), but it was the last night our passes were good before all the Christmas festivities stopped.

We got there just barely in time for the fireworks and - the best part - the snow. I just love it when the snow (read bubbles) falls down from the sky (read lampposts) with the beautiful Christmas songs playing. It's so magical!

The castle is just beautiful in Christmas lights!

Christmas Celebrations

Our Christmas celebrations have been minimal (school = the grinch), but we have managed to sneak in a few things.

Two Saturdays ago we went to see Arthur Christmas, got Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate and walked around the Palos Verdes mall with all the Christmas decorations out and an adorable middle school orchestra playing Christmas music. The next day, Sunday, we had a Christmas dinner with one of my very favorite people, my mom's friend, Aunt Rynna. She cooked a lovely meal and afterward we went down to see the beach where our reception was held. It was the first time we'd been back down to that beach and it was crazy to think how quickly time flies by. It doesn't feel like it's been 16 months!

What's more Christmas-y than standing in a long line for a toy and fighting others to get in the door first to score the best one? On Friday, my mom and I got up early to stand in line at Tuesday Morning to score Max, Ava and Charlie's Christmas present: a massive blow-up slide they can use for their pool! Color me jealous.

Best of all, Jesse and I made it to Disneyland last Friday to see the beautiful Christmas tree all lit up and the wonderful decorations. I'm hoping we make it this Thursday (last day our passes are good before Christmas) so that we can see the Christmas Parade and "snow", too. Then on Sunday we had a massive feast accompanied by our annual tradition of watching Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation. !

As soon as finals are over (on Friday! Hip hip hooray!) I am so excited to start celebrating Christmas properly! Christmas lights viewing, ice skating, hot chocolate, and all the corny Christmas movies our eyes can handle...so excited!