December in AZ

We were lucky enough to get to spend 5 weeks with our families in the month of December.  Cody didn't have classes that semester and he finished working toward the end of October.  So we had nothing tying us down.  My parents moved to Arizona in November so now we are both of set of parents with in 45 minutes of each other.  It's so nice to be able to get to see all of our family now when we make a trip not just half of them.

We set our Christmas tree up the day after Halloween so we could enjoy it for a couple weeks before we left.  I decided that putting on anything more than just the lights would result in me cleaning up glass balls for weeks.  But when we got to Arizona and she got a hold of both Grandmas trees it was even worse than I expected.

Yes, there were broken balls.
Yes, the ornaments were completely rearranged.
Yes, there were ornaments missing and the only evidence of them was the hook still hanging on the tree.

And Yes, she completely knocked a tree over on the ground causing half of the ornaments to fall off. 

My Mom and I had been upstairs and I hadn't seen Brylinn for about 15 minutes or so.  So I asked Logan to go find her and a few seconds later I hear Logan yell up the stairs "oh no the tree fell over". All I could imagine was that she pulled it down on top of herself and was trapped underneath.  I had no idea how long she had been missing either.  So I fell down the stairs and found her standing behind the tree with a smirk little grin on her face. She is such a silly little girl and she knows it.

This year we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the Eddington's, and Christmas night at the Taylor's.  Christmas Eve morning Cody's Dad got up early and made us a dutch oven breakfast.  Then of course there was last minute shopping and wrapping, Christmas Eve dinner and then a little Christmas Program. 

 (We obviously were not very good at taking pictures this Christmas because I don't have any of Christmas day)


My dad took family pictures of us and I love them. They are my favorite pictures we have ever taken together.
(These are just pictures I took on my phone of the prints, so the quality is not the best. But they will do for now)

A few days after Christmas we went on to California for an Eddington Family Reunion.

We rode a ferry to Balboa Island, hung out on the beach, had a bonfire and spent a lot of time playing games.  Brylinn loved playing with Zoey, every time she walked into a room Brylinn would scream with excitement. We had so much fun and it was a perfect relaxing weekend to end our vacation. 

When we got home we had one more present to give to Brylinn.  It was her kitchen, which was just too big to travel with.  She loves it and has given up real food in lieu of her fake food.  When ever I say lets get some lunch or a snack she runs to her kitchen to make me something and then insists that I taste it.  Her favorite thing to make is hot chocolate.  She walks around the house saying coco and carrying her cup around.