Holiday Festivities and Happy New Year Too

My favorite subjects: my boys - all bundled up and ready to go!

The month of December is definitely the most wonderful time of the year, and it came and went before I could blink my eyes. At the beginning of the month, I browsed through a local newspaper that listed all the holiday activities that were going on in the surrounding area, i.e., carriage rides, light shows, home tours, etc. I was excited to think we would attempt to attend most of these events including the Escuderos' annual Christmas get-together. WRONG. Due to Sam's busy schedule, the cold/rainy weather and a few other circumstances, things did not go as planned. Do I sound a little disappointed? Yes! However, there's always next year. It was not like we had nothing to do. We were chock full of places to go, loves ones to visit with, etc. etc. Of course, I didn't always have my camera on hand for every little thing, but I thought it would be fun to post some pics of what did take place. I hope you had the most wonderful Christmas. Enjoy!

For our young marrieds event, we decided to meet at Christmas in the Park with kiddies too. We froze our tootsies off, but enjoyed the fellowship anyhow.

Jason, Melissa and Tiny Girl Kidwell

The Hubbs and I being silly, of course. Is he ever serious?!

Kevin, Alicia and Jacob - such a sweet family!

The newlyweds: James and Jessica Wang and Joe and Chelsea Maes. Congratulations!

Some of us gals attempting to keep warm. Brrrrrrrrrr

Happy Birthday, Leah West! (12/19)

Since we knew Mr. West would be planning a romantic dinner for two for Leah's birthday, Kelle and I decided to take her out the week before at a place of her choice. She chose PF Chang's.- Palo Alto! The ironic thing is we have three locations that are much closer, but what in the world is more fun that good food, good friends and good shopping. So you already know Leah and I love to shop, and it's rare that we ever really get to do it together, and it's even MORE rare that we get to drag Kellee along. She HATES to shop. You can see the excitement on her face in the pics below. Sorry, Kell. Happy Birthday, Leah! I pray the Lord bless you with the desires of your heart this coming year. You are so deserving and then some.

I think we ought to make this a yearly birthday celebration, don't you? I was a little giddy being absolutely alone for a few hours without the Hubbs and the kids (RARE). Hot diggidy dog, I felt like it was MY birthday! LOL Really, I have so much fun with these two gals, and I can tell them anything.

Poor Kellee, Leah and I were admiring her from a distance making her purchase. You would never know she hates shopping the most, because she bought the most. She outdid the two of us put together! Also rare.

She caught on to us giggling at her expense. Boy, if looks could kill, we would be dead. mwhaaaaaaaaa (This is my evil laugh.)

Over the week of Christmas, we visited with my dad's family on Christmas Eve, my mom's on Christmas, and then hosted get-togethers at my house up until the day after New Year's. Boy, was I exhausted, but thrilled we got to have Steve and Kelle here for a few days, the Wests came over for dinner THREE times (we don't get a chance to have them for dinner three times during the year because of busy schedules) and we got a chance to visit with Ryan, Annette, Luke and Ellie Herras. Here's a few pics of our time together:

Jon-Paul's first Christmas. I just had to post this picture.

Jason, Steve and Sam hanging out at the table with their laptops. I'm not sure if they go anywhere without them! Notice the Hubbs being his silly self AGAIN.

Leah and Kelly having a girly conversation. I promise I could not hear a word they were saying - must have been juicy. LOL

My dear friend Annette and her precious Luke. I did snap a pic of Ryan and Ellie, but sadly it did not come out so well. I think the Hubbs would be double embarrased if I posted it. Seriously, we had such a good time with them. We haven't seen them in over six months!

This was a very late night picture. By then, Frank and Chasity Herman joined us for a late night dessert time. They are also dear friends of ours that we rarely get to visit with. Don't they all just look like they are having a blast! Trust me, it was late, but we were having fun.

Sadly, I did not get pics from Christmas/Christmas Eve with my family. It was just too busy to bring the camera out. After all the madness died down, the kids and I took an overnight trip to visit my mom in Fresno. What a great way to wind down from the holidays. I was able to caputure a few post holiday sales while I was there. (Love you, Mom.)

I hope your holidays were filled with much love, much laughter and of course, lots of good food! Oh yeah, and a Happy New Year too!