Wednesday was Christmas Eve! Nate & I went to the beach in La Jolla and it was soooo nice! It was perfectly sunny and so nice to relax and take a nap on the beach! We got lunch at Phil's BBQ, always delicious!






Nate's family does the same Christmas Eve dinner that my family does, so that was really nice. We had ham, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, brussel sprouts, sparkling cider and pie. Everything was delicious! We had a big group with all of Nate's family, the sister missionaries, Nate's uncle and cousins, Zane & Tasha. Afterwards we played games and then read the nativity story from the Bible. Then we each opened one present (a tradition that my family has). Nate's family was really sweet to do some of the traditions that my family does so that I would feel at home.

Christmas morning we woke up and made a big breakfast. I didn't wake Nate up at 4am this year (like last year) and actually slept in until 7. We had ham, eggs, hashbrowns, rolls, and I made my mom's hot chocolate on the stove. Then we went to a nursing home to sing carols w/ Nate's parents ward. We got there right as they had just finished.. but we visited with some people there and then headed back to open presents! Nate gave me lots of cute clothes that I had picked out :) and I gave him a drill and skill saw and some other little things. His parents gave me a gift card to a spa which I am sooo excited about!




Friday I went out for a surf at Swamis. I usually go to Pipes but it was sooo crowded I could not find any parking!! It was fun and felt sooo nice just to be paddling around and laying on my board! The water was pretty cold, but I was pretty warm in my wetsuit. After surfing, I laid out and relaxed on the beach and then grabbed some taquitos from Juanitas. Then I got to jump in the hot tub at Nate's parents' which was the best! It is really my favorite thing ever to relax in a hot tub after surfing!! Best thing ever!!!



That afternoon we went to the temple because Nicole was getting endowed! It was so nice to be able to go through a session and be there for Nicole's first time! Afterwards we got to go up in the room that Nate & I were sealed in! Afterwards we got mexican food and desserts at extraordinary desserts!!!



Saturday we mostly relaxed! Nate's mom & i went on a bike ride around the lake by there house. It felt so nice to be outside in the perfect weather! Then at night, Nate and I went on a date to Coronado Island to look at the lights at the Del. Coronado Island will always be so special to me because we went there on our first date and then 9 months later, Nate proposed on the ferry ride to Coronado! It is fun having Nate's family live in San Diego because whenever we visited, we get to go to all of the fun places we went to when we were dating!





Sunday we had breakfast and then headed back to AZ!! That is another post!!

We spent this Christmas in warm, beautiful San Diego! We were there for 7 days and were able to spend a lot of time with family and do so many fun things! Nate's brother and 2 sisters were all home, so it was fun being able to hang out with everyone! Our first night, we went to the San Diego temple to look at the lights and have hot chocolate. It was our first time being back to the temple since we were married there and was fun to reminisce on our wedding day there! I still remember being at the temple the day before I was married to be endowed. Nate and I took a picture to remember it by and I remember thinking "this is so crazy that we will be married here tomorrow!" It was such a surreal feeling! After temple lights we drove through Christmas Card Lane, a neighborhood where every house has a Disney or character theme. Nate & I had gone there when we were dating and have gone through every year since.




On Monday Ryan, Nate, & I went to L.A. to visit Nate's grandma. We had a nice visit with her and then stopped at Cafe Rio on the way back.

Tuesday we went to Disneyland and California Adventure! Nate hadn't been to Disneyland for over 10 years and neither of us had been there around Christmas time! It was so much fun and all of the decorations were amazing! My new favorite ride is Tower of Terror at California Adventure, I loved it!!! We also loved The Haunted Mansion because it was decorated with Nightmare Before Christmas decorations and was awesome!!! It was pretty crowded, so we used a lot of fast passes! One funny thing, we had been there about 4 hours and Nicole asked Ryan what his favorite ride was. Then we realized we had all only been on 2 rides so far.. haha! It was still so fun though! I somehow was the only person ever that got completely soaked on the Matterhorn! And then we went on Splash Mountain and all got soaked and freezing! It was such a fun day!


My new favorite ride!!

I haven't been home for Thanksgiving in 9 years, and I have missed it so much! Every year that I was in Hawaii, my friends and I would go to our ward Thanksgiving lunch (they would usually dig a pit and roast an entire pig or two!) Then we would always go surfing. (We named a place spot at Kawela Bay "Thanksgivings" because we always went there on Thanksgiving.) It was always so much fun, but I always missed my family, being home, and our traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Thanksgiving 2011


Thanksgiving 2012


Thanksgiving 2013


Thanksgiving 2014!!!


This year my sisters and I are all having Christmas with our in-laws, so Thanksgiving was kind of like our Christmas celebration too. Everyone was here except Brittany & Matt. We missed them and can't wait to see them in a few weeks!!!

Wednesday evening we all met at my Mom and Dad's to make homeade donuts and put up the Christmas tree, one of our Christmas traditions. My mom makes the best donuts, the secret ingredient is mashed potatoes! They are soooo good!!! It was so much fun putting up the tree and being with my sisters! We are all really close and I love being able to spend time with them!



Jenna wore my old Halloween costume all week!


Thursday was Thanksgiving! In the morning, my Mom, Melissa, and I went and cheered Nate, Cody, & the boys on at our ward Turkey Bowl. My favorite part was just laughing at all of the old men playing so seriously. Oh, and also Nate got depantsed on accident and we all saw it.... haha so funny!!!



Brooke was working at the hospital that day, so we had decided to postpone our Thanksgiving until Friday. We met her at the hospital and had the Thanksgiving lunch there. We took up an entire huge table!! It was fun to have lunch all together and to see where she works, it is such a nice hospital!! I felt bad for some of the nurses that were missing their Thanksgiving and didn't have family there.



After lunch we went to the park and played tennis and kickball. We always play until one of the boys has a meltdown.. haha! Melis & I played a few tennis games with just the two of us, which was fun! We used to play together in college!!

On Friday, Nate and I slept in a little and then started cooking!! I was in charge of making a German chocolate pie, pumpkin pie, and a green bean casserole and Nate was making his delicious mashed potatoes. I had decided to make homeade pie crust and right as I was baking it in the oven, my mom and sisters all texted pictures of the amazing food they were making. I pulled my pie crust out of the oven, ready to snap a picture and realized it wasn't quite picture worthy.. haha! So much for trying to be a good homemaker! In the end, it worked out though and still tasted good!



Melis, Sam, and Ally came over and it was fun to show them our new house! Then we headed to Brooke's for dinner. She always decorates everything so pretty! I wish I would have taken a picture before we started eating!

We had the best thanksgiving dinner! Smoked turkey, rolls, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, homeade cranberry sauce, and sweet potato casserole. It was really the best Thanksgiving meal I've ever had!! To top it off, we had 6 pies!!!



On Saturday, all us girls met up to go shopping at Last Chance. We left early in the morning and got there a few minutes before the doors opened. I love how there is always a huge crowd there and everyone is so crazy running around in there! My sisters and I usually go there in December so this year we just switched up a month. I got such good deals!!!

Nate was so sweet and gave me a big budget, I didn't even end up spending all of it! It's funny because I am really strict on how much I/we spend on things. I am always stressing about spending to much on an item. Nate doesn't buy a ton of stuff, be he doesn't stress and is always having to tell me that I should buy something. We are the opposites with spending money traveling though. I looove traveling, big trips or little, and Nate likes to think about things a lot before deciding to buy tickets for a trip, while I am like, "Let's just buy the tickets already so I can start planning everything!!"

Anyways, I got 2 really cute pairs of boots, one black pair and one brown. Only $18 each and they are usually over $150 each! I also got a shirt, necklace,a really soft robe, and some Christmas presents for family. After shopping a few hours, we met up at Oregano's with the guys. I love that place! It took forever but was amazing, as usual, and it was fun to visit with everyone. At night, we went to a Snowflake football game that our cousin, Travis, was playing in. He did an awesome job and it was fun to watch!!

The weekend ended to soon, but we had so much fun! We did a lot in just a few days and had so much fun!!