Provo Christmas (i.e. Christmas 2009 Part 3)

We were able to arrive in Utah just in time for the Christmas festivities to begin. That night we all went caroling and delivering Christmas gifts to the neighbors. It was definitely a quick change from the sunny weather in So Cal to Utah. Mark and I had to borrow lots of outerwear and boots to make sure we didn't freeze and we were still really really cold. We had lots of fun though and who really needs to feel your toes anyways?


On Christmas Eve, we went sledding at Rock Canyon Park, also bundled up in many borrowed warm wear. It also turned out to be Mark's first time sledding! I had no idea that he hadn't been before so I had so much fun sharing that with him. He got really into it and we enjoyed hanging out with some of the Wadsworth family.



To continue our Christmas Eve celebrations, we participated in the Wadsworth family traditions of eating a yummy dinner, opening family Christmas presents (i.e. the presents we give to each other, not Santa presents), and watching the musical movie "Scrooge." Here are all the kids, with lots of new brother-in-laws (definitely a new thing for us). We were very excited to start opening presents.


All the kids stayed up late watching the movie and then ended up sleeping around the basement (except Heidi and Seth who went to their nearby home for the night). In the morning we slept in, waited for Heidi and Seth to come, and then had our annual march up the stairs (youngest to oldest) to check out the tree and the presents. Dad started with his typical checking out of the tree (i.e. turning the lights on). He naturally let us all down gently by telling us that at least there was some good news... we wouldn't get too cold this year because of all the coal we received. Never gets old. We marched up the stairs, situated ourselves and started digging through our stockings. We then went present by present as each person took a turn opening something and showing everyone what they received. As you can see, my mom's still getting used to buying presents for the brother-in-laws so they mostly got matching gifts. Aren't you jealous??


Mark and myself with our stockings and presents. What a wonderful first married Christmas!


I couldn't resist putting in this picture of my sisters, Holly and Amber. They were too cute with their matching furry coats.


Christmas morning presents of all the Wadsworth kids, complete with matching pajama pants we received the night before from Mom:



Mark and I had a great trip to Utah and loved spending lots of time with all of the Wadsworths. We don't get to see them as often as we would like, but enjoy every minute that we can get. We miss and love you guys!

Yorba Linda Christmas (i.e. Christmas 2009 Part 2)

Our Christmas break ended up being two weeks long, which we shared between Yorba Linda, CA and Provo, UT. We drove down to Yorba Linda and spent a few days there before flying out to Utah the day before Christmas Eve. We then spent a week in Utah and flew back to Yorba Linda to spend the rest of our time before driving home and back to real life. Lots of traveling and family and fun.

We walked around a neighborhood totally decked out for the holidays with the Abbotts. I was so impressed by the amazing decorations this entire neighborhood put together. About a million people were driving and walking around enjoying and the neighbors had even capitalized by selling hot chocolate and other treats. Mark and I were apparently on a snowman kick that night because we took a few pictures of us with snowmen. Here's my favorite... he's so happy!


The evening before we flew out to Utah we celebrated our second Christmas "morning" by giving our presents to Mom and Dad and opening up the last of our presents to each other. Mom and Dad also gave us some fabulous presents, which included this amazing Lakers book,


and a wedding photo book!! It's absolutely beautiful and was so appreciated. Thanks goes out to Brett as well for putting it together.


Mark, Tyler, and Sammy enjoying the Christmas festivities (i.e. being goofballs as usual).


As for after we came back to Yorba Linda after Christmas, apparently we didn't take any pictures. We had fun hanging out with lots of family, even though Mom and Dad actually left for the Grand Canyon the day after we got there. We hung out at home for New Years Eve. Mark and I went to our customary Bari Bari restaurant. We went the year before on New Years Eve before Mark proposed so we're going to try and continue the tradition every year.

One afternoon we all went over to Mike and Vicki's house to check out their place (absolutely gorgeous home!) and eat a yummy Mexican dinner (the seriously best fajitas I have ever eaten). We had fun chatting and hanging out. All in all, Mark and I weren't super excited to drive back to real life. We love hanging out with the Abbotts as often as we can and love having them close by.

San Jose Christmas (i.e. Christmas 2009 Part 1)

I have way too many Christmas pictures to put into just one post, so I'm actually splitting it into three. I've been a little intimidated by the greatness of our Christmas posts, which is why it's been so long since I last posted. And currently I'm getting more and more behind.

We decided to buy an artificial tree that was on sale and that would last for several years instead of having to buy a new one every year. We absolutely loved decorating our tree and purchasing a few new fun decorations for our first year married. Our apartment was so festive. I love the holiday season!!

Another part of the holiday I have always enjoyed is the Christmas lights. It's just so sweet and romantic to read or sit under the lights. So after we put up our tree with lights, Mark and I set up our air mattress right next to it in the front room and slept out there for a few weekends. Here we are enjoying the glow of the Christmas tree.


We attended a fabulous Christmas party thrown by the Walton family. We were able to eat yummy food and hang out with fabulous people. We also participated in a white elephant exchange and we ended up with these fabulous gifts (definitely a bit geared towards me rather than Mark... we were sad to lose the Seinfeld trivia game at the last turn).


Another view of our almost fully decorated Christmas tree (sans the upcoming tree-topper star that we purchased in Utah).


We attended the San Jose Christmas in the Park party.


Mark is the cutest Christmas tree ever!


They had the hugest tree!


We each picked our favorite exhibit. They are so awesome because they play songs and move around. I loved the cute elves at Santa's workshop, while Mark (surprise, surprise) liked the tropical warm scene best.



Fake snow?! These crazy Californians are so cute.


Umm, what kind of rides are these kids playing on at the Christmas in the Park??


Then we had our first Christmas "morning"! Or, we needed to open some presents before leaving on our many travels because we didn't have room to take everything. First of all, we opened our stockings that we had picked out for each other. Can you tell that we love our candy? Aren't the stockings I found for us this year so adorable?!



We then opened the first of our presents that we gave to each other. We had so much fun picking things out for one another.