Family Time in California

I'm now going back to document the past month, since I've been too busy soaking up time with Mike to blog. After flying into Travis AFB from Spain we spent a few days with the Johnson family before heading to Utah. After three weeks in Utah we came back to Cali for another week. Here's what we did in Nevada City:

Going on a walk in the beautiful Fall-like weather...
Jay's favorite part was holding Spanky's leash on the walk. He walked like this for over a mile and a half! He sure loves that old doggy.Jay also enjoyed walking through the leaves with his Nona. Nona is Jay's favorite person around these parts. He can't get enough of her!

Climbing up the big pile of rocks left by the contractor...
Playing on the swingset (newly refurbished by Papa)...

Making funny sounds with daddy...
Mike told us a story about a time he went to Lake Powell with his family. Every morning they would wake up very early to the crows crowing an annoying, "Caw! Caw! CAW!" One morning they woke up and heard, "Caw, Caw... POW POW!" One of his uncles had woken up earlier than the crows and scared them off with his shotgun. They didn't come back after that. After listeing to the story Jay started saying, "Caw, Caw... POW POW!" He thought it was hilarious! You never know what they'll pick up on.

Hanging out with Spanky the dog, Lana the cat, and Clark the cat/dog...

Eating cheerios in the morning...

Going to Victorian Christmas...
Jay liked the hot chocolate best.

Visiting with Uncle Cory... The guys had a great time juggling together. Cory tried to teach Mike how to "steal" the juggling balls. Jay thought it was pretty fun!

An early Christmas with the fam...
Christmas dinner. mmm... raviolis, tri-tip, salad, beans, rolls, veggies. You couldn't ask for more!Jay loves his Papa!
Isn't my husband hot? I miss him :(Cory helping Jay sneak a candy cane.

I love my family!!!!

Gone

Mike left yesterday. It is so strange to have him gone, especially after being together 24/7 this past month. It was very hard to say goodbye at the airport. It feels so surreal. I'm not depressed though, I'm not even really very sad. I think that speaks volumes about the wonderful man I'm married to. While I do miss him and I overwhelmingly wish we could be together I know he loves me and I know we'll stay connected even when we're hunderds of miles apart. I think the hardest part for Mike is being away from Jay. He's growing so quickly right now and it's hard for Mike so miss even the small milestones. We've planned many ways to keep Mike updated and to keep daddy in Jay's life. In the end, when Mike gets back I doubt Jay will even remember he was gone :) That's one good thing about him being so young. I'm so proud of my husband for the way he is serving our country. He is the very best man I know and I love him so much. I have to make a comment about my sweet little boy. I almost forgot to add it! After Mike left us for his airplane I, of course, was in tears. I leaned down to give Jay a kiss and he saw me crying. He took my face in his little hands and started stroking my cheek saying, "mommy, oh mommy." Then he kissed my forhead a few times and hugged me. Little children know just what you need, don't they? It was the sweetest experience. I sure love my little one.

Vegas!

I am slowly going to be posting about our trip to Utah. Since these posts aren't in the right chronological order, I'll be leaving them as is for a week then changing the post date so that they'll fall into the right place on our blog. I know no one really cares, but I felt I needed to clarify :)

Our trip to Vegas took place December 7-9. We left Jay with grandma and grandpa and went down to have a little vacation of our own. We drove down with Cody and Alycia which was a blast. Cody is one of Mike's best friends and we are so happy he found such a cool girl to marry. They are so much fun to hang out with. On our trip down we played "what if" and I found out that the number one quality Mike looks for in a mate is the ability to roll with the punches. Well, I am trying ;) We also learned if we were to rename Mike or Cody, Pedro would be a good choice for either of them. Once we arrived in Vegas we met up with Jimmy, Jeremy, Bryce, Brant and Jordann at the Trump Tower, where we stayed.
The Trump was amazing! They upgraded one of our rooms to a suite because they ran out of regular rooms then Mike convinced them to upgrade our second room to a suite too (he's such a negotiator :) We loved staying at the Trump. There's no smoking or gambling in the hotel so it was a nice place to go back to at the end of the day.
We went do Old Vegas our first night in the city with the whole gang and we played roulette for about 2 1/2 hours. Mike and I only played with $20 (which we ended up loosing in the end). It was so fun just to sit around and play with all of our friends. Mike and I have realized that even if we were tempted to really be gamblers we now know that we're not lucky, so it's definitely not worth it. After playing we had a 4:30 am snack and went back to our hotel. Mike and I have not stayed up that late in years! It was amazing to be able to sleep in as long as we wanted the next morning. The Vegas weekend was definitely the longest amount of time I've been away from Jay. I missed him but it was so nice to have a break!
On Saturday we bought half-price show tickets to Ka, a Cirque de Sole show. We went out for a Brazilian lunch then toured the various hotels on the strip. I especially liked the Bellagio. It was so beautiful and so nicely decorated for Christmas. We even watched the famous Bellagio fountain dance. I loved it! One highlight of the trip was that Mike and I saved an old woman's life. We were about to get on an up escalator on the strip when the old woman in front of us, who had just gotten on, started falling backwards. I was standing right behind her and Mike to the side. Together we sort of caught her and slowly balanced her back upright. She was easily in her 80s and had we not been there she definitely would have broken something, if not died. She would have fallen straight back onto those sharp steps, then carried up until she was at the top at which point her hair probably would have gotten caught in the stairs. So we felt pretty good about helping. After the life-saving incedent we went to the Cirque de Sole show. It was amazing! I've never seen anything like it. I definitely reccomend Ka. It was a martial arts type of show and actually had a story line. All in all we had a great trip and we're excited about our new travel buddies.

Brant claims that he can guess where a man's nipples are with 60% accuracy.

Christmas with the Connellys

We had a fabulous pre-Christmas Christmas celebration with the Connellys. They went all out making it really feel like Christmas day for us. It was special because Mike couldn't spend the actual Christmas day with us so celebrating with the Connellys allowed Mike to see Jay's excitement as if it were the real deal.

For our Christmas Eve dinner we ate the traditional Connelly family Jerusalem meal. It was very tasty and we had fun eating on the floor. Jay was a little confused, but he seemed to like it too. The cheese squares were his favorite part, of course.

After dinner we made a gingerbread house. The men assembled it and the woman decorated. Jay helped by eating any extra candy that couldn't fit on the house.

Jay had fun wearing this handkerchief on his head. Grandpa really wanted him to stand up on the stair case pole but Jay just wanted to sit. He thought he was pretty funny.

We decorated the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve using all natural decorations, since we were in the cabin. Here's Jill and Lynn making homemade bows.

Megan strung cranberries on a string. It took her about an hour to do this one strand!

After decorating the tree we watched a Hallmark Christmas movie entitled, "Twice Upon a Christmas." Unfortunately we didn't consult imbd.com before watching it. How we sat through the first half is unknown and watching it through the fast forward button during part two was hardly bearable. Needless to say, you will be doing yourself a favor to never watch this movie! I can say that it was entertaining to make fun of it as a whole family :)

Here are the girls, ready for Christmas day to begin!
Christmas morning! Yes, Jill made us pose for this picture ;)
Ready to open our loot!
Jay checking out his cool new "twatoe" (tractor).

Awww, Grandpa... I love you. Kisses!
Come on Uncle Wobbie, help me out!

Daddy and baby bug.

Mike's cool gift to Melissa. It's an edge brownie pan and makes perfect brownies.
Megan and Reed received Texan Christmas trees. Aren't they fun?
Jay loves to help clean so we got him a broom for Christmas. He thought he was pretty cool helping daddy sweep up.

Check out Reed's mula! Too bad those are only one dollar bills ;)
Jay and grandma playing with his new remote control car. It was a big hit!
This is probably Jay's favorite present. So much so that he not only got one in Utah, but in California too. It's a cool marble maze and Jay can't get enough of it! This picture actually features two Christmas presents. The photo was taken by our new cannon camera that has a setting which will focus on one color and make the rest black and white. We love it!
Getting tired. It's been a long day! Jay actually didn't even open all his presents until a few days after Christmas. He would get so excited about one gift that he didn't want to be bothered opening another. I'm sure that will change soon!
Reading a story with grandpa.
Jay loves his Uncle Robbie!

So sleepy!!! Jay fell asleep in his favorite place - grandmas arms.