Christmas in California

Are we ever home? After a quick two weeks of MORE unpacking back in Tucson we left it all behind for a break in California. We had a wonderful time and saw plenty of friends and family. A few days before Christmas Cory and Brandy drove up from LA. It was SO much fun to spend time with them. Their cute dog Rocco came too, which the kids loved.

The best Christmas eve's eve surprise was finding out that Cory and Brandy are having a baby girl!!!! We are so excited! Another cousin for Jay and Amaya. We loved watching the ultra sound video and seeing Brandy's cute little baby bump. Hooray for babies! We're so happy for them and can't wait to meet their tiny baby girl - who of course is going to be unbelievably gorgeous. Just look at the couple!

Before Christmas day Jay helped Nonna put up some candy canes on the tree.

Mostly he wanted to eat them, but hanging them up was good too.

Christmas was so fun this year. Jay was SUPER excited for it. He is really into the whole Santa, Reindeer, presents thing. We definitely encouraged it with plenty of Christmas movies and music. On Christmas Eve we watched the Santa NORAD tracker all night - Jay was glued to it and thoroughly enjoyed updating everyone on Santa's status. It was fun being able to tell him, "Hey, Santa's in Germany now. We used to live there!"... or Spain, Chile etc. So fun :) We all opened one gift that night, a Christmas eve tradition. The adult "kids" seriously scored. Both Cory and Brandy and Mike and I received a brand new Cannon Rebel camera!!! I was thrilled! Thanks mom and dad. I've been wanting one for a long time. My parents are so thoughtful and generous! After the gift opening followed by leaving cookies and milk out for Santa (and a carrot for Ruldolph), Jay snuggled up in bed to try to fall asleep when suddenly he heard sleigh bells jingling outside his window! What in the 'mazing?? It was all rather exciting. Jay couldn't even believe it. Eventually he willed himself to sleep, knowing he had to be asleep before Santa would come down the chimney, and the rest of us watched our traditional Johnson Christmas movie, Scrooged. I sure love 4 year olds!!!

Christmas morning we woke up to a tree BURSTING with presents underneath. We all had a stocking waiting for us too. Next to Jay's was a brand new Big Wheel!

He also got a tractor from Santa (he's been asking Santa for one since talk of Christmas began) and plenty of candy and goodies too. Amaya wasn't forgotten by Santa either. She was pretty excited about her stocking... mostly just the eating the candy wrappings part, but for her it was a pretty good deal.

Once all the adults woke up we all opened the rest of our presents. Besides the camera, my favorite was a popcorn popper from Santa and cool popcorn tins from Cory and Brandy. Here are some more pictures from the morning (taken with my NEW camera!!!).

After opening presents we all went to a movie (minus Nonna Great, Nonna and Amaya). Then we went home for an amazing Christmas dinner made by the non-movie goers. Yes, we definitely owe them big time! It was a wonderful Christmas and we're so happy we were able to spend it with our family whom we LOVE. We are so grateful for them all!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! (I know... it's a little late)

We spent another wonderful Thanksgiving in Utah this year. This time Jay actually had a cousin to play with. Melissa, Reed and Brooklyn came up from Texas and it was so fun to see them. All the kids loved seeing their Uncle Robbie and of course Grandma and Grandpa too. Megan couldn't be with us because she was in JERUSALEM!!! Seriously, how lucky is she? So although we missed her greatly we were so happy she could be living it up in the holy land. As usual, we packed as much as we could into our time there. On Thanksgiving day we celebrated with the Connelly side of the family. We had quite a crew (also less than we expected since the Idaho Connellys couldn't make it through the storm). It was so fun to see everyone.

Jay especially loved playing with his little second cousin Mason. It's so fun to have little kids in the family!

As the newest member of the Connelly family, everyone loved seeing My My too.

Daddy has a picture when he was a baby in this exact same bowl!

After dinner we sat around playing Jill's traditional Thanksgiving game. Every year everyone writes down one thing for every person in their family that is unusual or special. Then we put all the cards together (from the current and previous years) and read the facts out loud and try to guess who they're about. Such a fun tradition :)

Another night we had the traditional Connelly family Jerusalem meal. We always do it before Christmas. We can't wait until next year when Megan can make it even better with her new knowledge of Jerusalem. We also exchanged Christmas gifts - as usual, the kids scored big time!

It was so fun to see the kids interacting the whole time. They sure love each other! Each year seems to bring a new one. Who will bring a new addition for 2011?

I think they are the cutest 3 yittle ones around...

We had fun watching the BYU vs. Utah game together too... until the final SECOND of the game :(

We played outside in the snow with Jay. It was F.R.E.E.Z.I.N.G. in Utah! I realized after we had been there a week that we hadn't actually taken Amaya out of the house once. Someone was always home and we didn't want to have to take her out in that weather!

Jay and daddy had a snow ball fight. It was all fun and games until daddy smacked Jay RIGHT in the face with a snowball. He "claims" he thought Jay would move! It was actually pretty hilarious. Of course, Jay didn't think so. That ended our romp in the snow.

All the kids got plenty of Grandma and Grandpa time. Of course, they can never get enough. Mom and dad don't even exist when Grandma and Grandpa are around!

 Grandpa's famous "stiffy baby."

Mike and I were able to see some friends while we were in town too. One night we got together with the High School buddies who could make it. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up. Life is sure changing fast for everyone!

One day we all went to Chuck-E-Cheese. The kids loved it there!

I was also able to get together with my wonderful friends Mikaela and Jessie. I LOVE these girls. Our kids all played so well together. It was a dream come true. Jay and Kelsey even played with the doll house together... a prediction for things to come?

So we made a little mess together... at least the moms could talk while the kids played!

All and all it was a wonderful time. Too fast, but so much fun! To sum it up, all I can say is I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They must be related...

She is such a good sport :)