Merry Christmas (2015)

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was simple and full of friends, family, fun, and food! What could be better?!

Our Christmas Eve started with a trip to IHOP with our good friends the W's! They are such a cute family and we really enjoy their company and hanging out with them!

After IHOP we watched Return of the Jedi so that we could be prepared to watch the new Star Wars movie when the moment arrived. Jake has seen all the movies, but I hadn't finished the series yet. Now I am caught up and we can go see the new one! That evening we headed over to J and K's for a traditional Bethlehem dinner for Christmas Eve. 

K did a beautiful job with the table! We had pita bread, chicken, grapes, dried fruit, nuts, and cheese and crackers. It was yummy! We read the Christmas story from the scriptures and spent the rest of the night chatting and relaxing. M and K made cookies for Santa which was absolutely hysterical. M has a funny little personality and it is fun to watch him grow!

Christmas started early for us at 6:30am so we could open presents with my family in Utah via Skype. We had fun with that and it made it feel like we were with family opening presents. I got a bundt pan from my parents and so Jake requested monkey bread for Christmas breakfast and luckily we had all the ingredients! We ate a delicious breakfast and then "played" with all our new things!

Jake got: some clothes, google play gift cards, remember the titans (we quote this movie continually and we haven't owned it ever and now we do! exciting!) The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit set - leather bound, a couple of games, applebee's gift card, some money, emergency filtered water bottles, and an amazon gift card.

I got: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Illustrated edition, a Hogsmede poster, the Harry Potter coloring book, a shirt, slippers, a new calendar and planner, a Barnes and Noble gift card, a baby scrapbooking kit, a bundt pan, and a nativity set (which is kid friendly so when baby gets here it won't break!) 

We were really blessed to receive such wonderful gifts from our family! Later in the day we went over to our friends the V's house to check out what their kids got for Christmas. They were so excited and wanted to show off all their toys. It was fun. After that we went back over to J and K's house to hang out and have dinner. We played with M and S and they showed us their toys! 

Cute baby S! 

Jake does not have lots of Christmas spirit and so I got him this "Bah Humbug" shirt and he was a good sport to wear it! I also made him take a picture - he doesn't like to be in pictures, but he obliged. 

Nephew M

We had dinner and chatted with family and watched tv! K and J made quite a delicious dinner and dessert! We are so grateful for their generosity and hospitality on our behalf. We are blessed to be close to family. Needless to say, this year's Christmas was perfect, but we are excited for next Christmas already because Baby Girl will be here and it will be a WAY different experience. Merry Christmas everyone!

Then and Now

Today I have been doing some reflecting as we have recently returned from a fabulous trip to UT to visit family for Thanksgiving. So much has happened since last Thanksgiving and Jake and I have grown so much. This time last year we were going through our second miscarriage (after having gone through one the month before) and feeling really discouraged. I didn't feel like my life was going the way I wanted it to at all. I was lost and wasn't sure what to do next. After pondering through the options Jake and I decided that I would go back to school to get my masters degree - something I had not planned on doing after deciding to start a family. Since starting school in March, I have learned so much and been able to get a promotion at work. Going back to school has been such a blessing in my life. After a few months of being in school and some emotional healing for both Jake and I we decided that we were ready to try again for a baby. We found out we were expecting in early June and were more nervous than excited. Today I sit here, one year from back to back miscarriages, pregnant with a healthy baby girl. SO much changes in a year. We feel so happy and so blessed. We are apprehensive and ecstatic for this baby to come! Timing is in the Lord's hands and we have to trust He knows what He is doing. I am grateful for this perspective that I have been given.

With that being said! My mom and sister through a baby shower for me while we were in UT. It was a blast and turned out adorably! The theme was children's books so each snack was based on a book. I will post some pictures:

This is the "Grinch Punch" based on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

A fruit salad for "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

Mini Quiche for "Green Eggs and Ham"

This is the dessert table:

Acorn cookies for "Pooh's Leaf Pile"

Blueberry muffins for "Blueberries for Sal"

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"

Moon shaped cookies for "Goodnight Moon"

This is M. She and I were roommates during college for a couple of years. M is pregnant with a baby boy and is one month behind Baby Girl. It was so fun to catch up and to see each other as we are pregnant.

Reunion with my California friends in UT. B and E worked in the Young Women's Program with me. E moved away over the summer and B was in town for Thanksgiving and dropping her son off at the MTC. They both stopped by and it made me so happy to have part of home with me in UT.

The book banners that my cute mom made!

My parent's house lit with pink lights in honor of Baby Girl

Cheese and crackers for "The Stinky Cheese Man" and a veggie tray for "The Tale of Peter Rabbit"

Pasta Salad for "Strega Nona"

Rolls and jam for "Bread and Jam for Frances"

Meatballs for "The Story of Ferdinand the Bull"

All the food was so yummy! It was so great to see my family and friends that I hadn't seen in so long! I am so grateful for my mom and sister for putting on such a fun party. I am truly blessed. Jacob and I are feeling extremely grateful for all the gifts that we were given. 

Better Late Than Never

So.... This is REALLY late, but necessary all the same! We had a FABULOUS September full of family, fun, food, and BABY!!!!! Be prepared for a picture OOOOVVERRRRLOAADD.

Our September started with the wedding of my brother J to his lovely bride A. We zipped over to Utah for 24 hours for the occasion and packed in as much fun as we possibly could!

T and I in the car on our way to Manti for the wedding

The beautiful Manti Temple which was the perfect backdrop to a fabulous ceremony

J and A getting married!!

Jake and I waiting to get pictures taken

My brand new cousin AR - so adorable right?! And B and I at the temple. He was on his way to car undressing himself in this photo. We had to stop him before stripping all the way!

My cute family! I love them so darn much!

After the ceremony and pictures we headed to a cute little restaurant in Manti and had a delicious lunch.

J and A's entrance to the luncheon

J performed a song for A and it was so sweet!

With the happy couple!

After the luncheon we headed back home and hung out for a bit before grabbing dinner and heading off to the airport for our next adventure.

B and I at Cafe Rio (one of the things I miss most about UT since moving to CA) making silly faces!

Cafe Rio group shot - Love this family!

After our quick stop in UT we headed down to Las Vegas to see Jake's family and spend some time there! We filled up our time chatting, playing with the nieces and nephews, eating delicious food, and relaxing. It was fun to be together with everyone. One of the highlights from our trip was going to the temple with all of Jake's siblings and doing temple work together for family names. It was so cool to be there with family and to participate all together. The temple is a very special place. 

Nephew B

We went to the park for Niece B's birthday and had a little party! It was tons of fun!

We played wiffle ball one day at the church and had a fun time. This is C and Nephew B up to bat!

Niece B, Nephew B, and E riding scooters

The whole family!!

All the girls with the nieces and nephews! Niece B is getting so big! I love that our family is growing!

The siblings all went out to dinner at a Brazilian Buffet and a variety show downtown. It was a lot of fun. We ate delicious food and laughed lots. 

This was our picture from our little family picture session that we had. I like this one!

September ended with the best news of all!! We went in for our anatomy scan and after a long 1.25 hour appointment we found out we are expecting a sweet, beautiful BABY GIRL!! We feel so blessed and are so excited to be her parents. We can't wait to meet her! 18 weeks left until her arrival!

The Future Mr. and Mrs. Wade

My awesome brother J got ENGAGED to his sweet, beautiful, funny, amazing, lovely, and perfect for him girlfriend A! Jake and I are thrilled for them and can't wait to come up for their wedding! Jake is excited to have another in-law around to roll his eyes at when us "original Wades" get a little carried away! I am excited to have another sister! Mostly, Jake and I are so glad to see J so happy and in love. He deserves the happiness he feels! Welcome to our crazy clan A!! Can't wait until it is official!

The night they got engaged!

Seriously... they are so cute!

The beautiful ring

See you in Manti in 3 months!

Memorial Day!

We got to go to Utah for Memorial Day and spend time with my family! It was a blast! our whole trip was planned around the food we were going to eat. Enough said!

Saturday:

We woke up at 3:00 AM to head over to the airport to make it on time to our 6:00 AM flight.

We look pretty good (and cheery!) for getting only 4 hours of sleep!

We arrived in Salt Lake City at about 8:30 AM where we were promptly picked up and swept away to Kneaders to eat breakfast. We ordered their DELICIOUS chunky cinnamon french toast!

We also met my brother J's girlfriend A (and we LOVE her!) at Kneaders which was a fun time! We all went back to the house and chatted and caught up with each other. Later I went with my Dad to take B to get a haircut. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because I was able to talk to my Dad just him and me and we don't get to do that very much, but we got a few minutes to ourselves and it was great! After B's haircut we met up with everyone at Hokulia (Hokulia of the snow cone as Brandon calls it) and got snow cones. This is a picture of me last year when we got a snow cone:

So big. So delicious. So perfect! Afterwards we just hung out at the house and played games until we had BE (my college roommate) ad her new husband AE and our other friend BB (Jake's college roommate) over for a BBQ and s'mores. I am mad that we didn't get a picture, but it was awesome. It was so nice to see BE and meet her husband, and Jake loved seeing BB. It is always nice to see friends and to catch up.

Can't forget Soda and Harlee! Such cute and fun dogs! Love them :)

B and I on Saturday! He was so cute and would call out "Kinny" or "Jake" just to make sure we were still there! It is so nice to be loved and to be missed!

Sunday:

Sunday was glorious because we got to sleep in and mom and T made a tasty breakfast of orange rolls, coconut lime blossoms, and breakfast casserole. So delicious. We stuffed ourselves to the brim! Then we went to church and were spiritually fed in many ways! It was awesome to go to my parent's ward and see the people they work with and serve with. After church Grandma and Grandpa W came up to the house to see us and eat dinner. It was good to see them and chat. Mom made my favorite dinner, chalupas, so I was in heaven. Grandma and Grandpa brought gifts for everyone:

I got a BYU hat and a travel make up hanging bag, and Jake got a car wash kit.

After dinner our friends E and J with their cute daughters C and M came over. It had been a year since we had seen them last and it was so wonderful to get together again. We miss them so much and wish we could see them more often. They are hopefully planning a trip to come see us in August! Fingers crossed!

This is J holding C (M stayed in the car), E, Jake and I

The rest of the night we just hung around and played games together. It is always a fun time playing games and laughing our heads off. We'll leave it at mom attempting to dance the "stanky leg" :) Love you mommy!

T and I and A and J hanging out Sunday night

Monday:

Monday was Memorial Day. We went to the graves of Grandma and Grandpa C and Uncle M. It was nice to go to the graves and see them. I hadn't been in over a year since we had last visited. We shared stories and looked at pictures. Mom "introduced" her parents and brother to A and it was really sweet!

This is the hat the B got from Grandma and Grandpa W and he was loving it. He put it on crooked and KNEW he looked good! So precious!

After we visited the graves we stopped at Cafe Rio for lunch because we don't have those here in California and I had been CRAVING their tomatillo dressing. I got a pork quesadilla and Jake got a pork burrito (enchilada style, which is the only way to get it) and we shared an horchata. Delicious! After you eat something savory you definitely need a treat so we stopped at a bakery close by and tried all sorts of goodies. Jake and I had a black and white cookie with coconut frosting. YUMMY!! Dad and I shared a carmel cheesecake thing that was unbelievably delicious. I couldn't stop eating it. After we finished eating everything we could see we drove through mom's old neighborhood and reminisced on visiting Grandma and Grandpa C's house when we were kids.

.............Then we had to go to the airport............ :(

It is always sad to go. I usually cry for about 2 minutes and Jake always chuckles at me! Then we were off. Our flight home was delayed about 2 hours due to a broken brake accumulator, but we were grateful that the flight crew was taking every precaution to keep us safe! We made it home and went to J and K's to see them, M, and S, and J made some yummy pasta for dinner!

We had a great trip and we are so blessed to have the family that we have! We are hoping to come back to Utah soon so we can visit all our friends and family that we were not able to see during our quick, quick trip!