I can't believe its over...finished...thats it. Weren't we just counting down the days to when school would be getting out? Now Christmas is already over! Time flies when you're as busy as we have been in the past week or so!
We got out of school for the break on the 19th...which I didn't even really get to enjoy because I had to rush home to finish packing for our flight which left that very night. We got to California about 9:00pm--11:00pm on my Texas preggo watch. We were greeted by Dusty's mom, Chuck, and Anna--two of Dusty's very best friends. Love them! We all went to a nice steak dinner at a place called Flemings. It was the best steak I think I have ever had. By the time dinner was finished, it was about 11:00--1:00am for me. For those of you who don't know, since becoming pregnant, I'm in the bed by 9 or 9:30--hell, I get up at 5am everyday for work. I'm a tired mama to be! As you can guess, I was ready for the bed. By the time we got back to Toni's house and unpacked enough for bedtime, it was 3:30am Texas time. Ouch! I had been up almost 24 hours people! It was brutal!! But well worth it!
Saturday we hung out at Toni's house with Dusty's brother's family: Chad, Dawn, Courtney, Casey, and Corey. That was a fun day. We literally played Rock Band on the Wii all day long.
That night, we had good California BBQ--yes they do have BBQ and its not so shabby! We had tri-tip, twice baked potatoes, yummy bread, and salad. It was delish. :) I'm not biased or anything though, my hubby did make the tri-tip. :) We had a great day with everyone; lots of laughter and fun!
Sunday we went up to the mountains to see Dusty's Aunt Pam and Uncle Walt. They have a cabin in a little mountain community called Camp Nelson. It is unbelievable, beautiful, breathtaking--you can't help but feel closer to God when you're in the midst of something so gorgeous. We couldn't actually get to her cabin--
her's is pretty high up and the roads were too snowy and icy for us to make it up. Don't think we didn't try though--3 times to be exact. Dusty drove up this little narrow, winding, road up hill and
everytime--stuck. I was pretty nervous; all I could focus on was the cliff directly out my passenger seat window. It was an adventure! We ended up backing down and going to someone
else's cabin where Pam and Walt met us. We met some of the nicest people there; let us join on their little happy hour--too bad I couldn't partake! It was a great time! Here are some pics of the scenery:
Sunday night, we came down the hill and back to Toni's house where we met up with some more of Dusty's old friends; Derek and Kathy. They have two kids now; Ramsey and Dayton with another one on the way. She is about 3 weeks ahead of me. The last time we saw them they were just newly married and had one little tiny baby--Dayton. Crazy how much time had gone by. It was great seeing them. And can you believe that I took no pictures of their cute kids?!
Monday was our last full day, so we went to see Dusty's Uncle Allan and Aunt Janelle. We spent the morning at their house just catching up; it was good to see them. After that, we headed out to Visalia where Chuck and Anna live. We spent the day just hanging out with them and their two precious kids. We went to lunch, drove around town, played some Wii, and had some pizza for dinner. We have so much fun with them; I hate that we don't get to see them on a regular basis. Chuck and Anna are great friends; I'm glad I can call them friends of mine now too! Everytime Dusty and I leave from spending time with them, we're always a little bummed because we know it will be awhile before we can do it again. Again--can you believe I took no pictures of our day with them?! I really should have at least taken some of their kids; too cute for words.
Tuesday morning was our last morning. We packed, jumped in the car, and headed to the airport. Parts of us were ready to come home, but parts of us wished we could have stayed longer. Its something that will always be a part of our life no matter where we live, we will always be saying by to someone. When you have family in California and family in Texas, there's no easy solution.
Wednesday was Christmas Eve and Dusty had to return to work. Poor guy. That evening, we went to Church with my folks and saw my mama performing in the choir. She did amazing! Her choir is pretty good. Nothing puts you in the Christmas spirit quite like those Christmas hymns. The next day we went to Muenster for Christmas. Yay! We spent the morning and lunch at my Mom's side of the family. It was good fun and even better food. It was a bit somber at times though; the first Christmas since Calvin passed away. We had bunches of pictures of Christmases past with him and did lots of reminiscing. We finished out the day by going out to my Aunt's house on my Dad's side. We did some skeet shooting, played some Texas hold em, and ate more food! It was a great day and we had lots of fun. I can't believe its come and gone already. I love my family--the Cali fam and the Texas fam! We can't wait for next Christmas though, when we have a little baby to share it with!!
