Christmas in Kilarney (okay California)

Christmas Eve my parents and I went to the beach! It was like 74 degrees and GORGEOUS! We walked out on the pier and went to Ruby's which is like this little diner. Very fun - and quite tasty!

Here are a few pictures from the pier:

Also, saw this guy just sitting on the pier, and THESE GUYS - had to go in for closer inspection!

(let's face it - 2 holidays in a row w/ surfers...*sigh*...2007 rocked! haha)

Then my dad and I went to walk on the beach. We saw this girl. Which he seemed stuck, so we picked her up - but she was totally pregnant and burying herself to lay some babies! Very cute.

And then there were THESE GUYS! Probably straight over the boarder (thanks boarder patrol!) looking for some fresh fish for Christmas Dinner! haha. All I know is I love that I could sneak in a few shots! (Kristi, I'll train you better on how to be a spy!)

California for Christmas

I flew in late last night - after an hour long delay in Salt Lake ....BLEH. I think my parents think they won the GOLDEN TICKET because I didn't throw a huge fit about going to church with them this morning. I too can be a Christmas and Easter Mormon! haha. Just kidding (kind of). I told them I'm taking their gifts back and they can consider that their present. Which oddly enough, they were fine with! haha.

We were going to go to the Wild Animal Park and drive through to see the lights, but I let (okay begged) my dad and mom to open their gifts from me - so we've been watching Season One of The Office all afternoon <-----dad's gift! Which of course is great for me because then we can just hang out and not have any major plans.

Hope you're all having a very Merry Christmas! Thanks to everyone for the gorgeous photo holiday cards. Your families are gorgeous! Love to you all.

Movie Mania!

I love movies...I swear - they're so great. Even the bad ones, sometimes I still like just for the entertainment value and the memorable quotes you can re-use.
This weekend we saw a couple of movies that were actually quite great!

First up...

This movie was cute! At first when it started I was like, "OH NO!!! What've I done?" And Matt leaned over and was like, "Uh...did you know this was a cartoon?" Like I had just hoodwinked him. I warned him it was a chick-flick and he let me pick....so he'd been warned! After I realized it was a joke and supposed to be over the top cheesy...I REALLY liked it. It was QUITE CUTE!




Then Saturday night after shopping at the Gateway, we saw
Dan In Real Life. I REALLY liked this movie. I think I liked
it mostly because Matt things Steve Carrell is probably the
funniest person in the world. His laugh sometimes, just when
Steve is making a face - is probably the funniest part! haha.
If you haven't seen this either, it was cute! The middle
daughter was probably my favourite character.

Anyway, another very fun weekend. I got a lot of cleaning done on Saturday but didn't make it to the grocery store like I should've. Oh well.

Hairy Legs and Pink Shoes

Last night after a long day of work Matt decided that we should go hot tubbing at my place. Fantastic Idea! I got home and thought he'd be there shortly after. I get a text that asks where I'm at - I tell him home. He says he's already in the hot tub waiting for me! Apparently he was pretty excited to get in there. I look out my window that overlooks the pool and there he is waving up. Silly man.
So I head down there. It was fun! The whole time he was asking if I wanted to get out and make snow angels (he did!) or get in the non-heated swimming pool (he did!). It was already snowing lightly out, which made it pretty, but I'm under the school of thought that if I'm warm...why would I make myself cold on purpose!?! I wish I had pictures of the snow angel or pool jump because it was pretty great.
We call it a night in the hot tub and we go back to my house. I come out of the bathroom after getting out of my swimsuit and into warm PJ's and there's Matt wearing this:

A towel over his surf shorts and my Pink Roxy flip flops with pearls and jewels and doodads on them. They're my outside shoes and are usually on the deck, but last week setting up Christmas lights I wore them in. They've been by my coffee table for like a week since and he's been obsessed with them! Constant comments. I seriously thinks he loves them. They don't quite fit...haha. Of course I took a picture and told him it was going on the blog. He said he's not lovin' the blog...Well then sir, please don't wear my shoes (pink or otherwise) around the house!

In the air there's a feeling of Christmas

Alright, so yesterday we braved the freezing cold weather and went downtown to see the lights. It was actually really fun even though it was SOOO cold, and slick, and I swear we almost fell down like 100 times. That just made it more fun I guess! The lights were very pretty! The little square just outside temple square had a big "pond" with these lights on them. I think that was my favourite part.

Although there was one tree that I really loved too. I don't know who has the patience to put up those tiny lights so perfecty, but well - God Bless 'em. All in all a very festive evening. Oh and some good snugglin'. The pictures are crap because my camera was having issues until the very end. haha. Sorry! But proof I was there.

My weekend!

Wow - sometimes when I put my mind to something...I can really get a lot done!! Who would've thought?
Saturday night I met up with Melissa at Target to knock out some serious Christmas shopping at the Target. I really didn't have a list of anything (which is really unlike me) and so I just started throwing stuff in my cart. Seriously $200+ later I really didn't buy for anyone. Hmmm...Houston we may have a problem! I put up Christmas lights at my house, that looked cuter in my head, but it was a pain in the arse so they're staying up UGLY this year.
I did laundry, wrapped presents, listened to my Martina McBride Christmas CD. I'm not THAT loving it - but my mom has an extra Josh Groban and she was going to mail it....and I'm FORBIDDEN to buy it...it NEARLY went in the cart at Target because I wanted it THEN! I'm so impatient sometimes.....okay all the time!

Today I did some more laundry, and hung up clothes that have been on top of my dryer for a week. I'm really good at doing the laundry, I just hate putting it away.

Tomorrow I have work, a meeting after work, and then Matt and I are going to check the lights downtown. Very fun! I'm finally feeling FESTIVE! (no Santa's hats or jingle bells around the neck anytime soon - I'm still Jamie) but I love that now I'm feeling Christmasy. Although I'll be in California for Christmas where it'll be like 80 degrees and I could probably surf. What the H kinda Christmas is that?!?!
ps - the H is because I've vowed to give up swearing. I dropped the F bomb like 3 times driving 2 miles...clearly outta hand!

I'll take pictures of the pretty lights tomorrow! God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen!

A Thanksgiving post in December?

Yep! That's about how bloggish I am these days!

Anyway, for those of you that don't know - I'm from OREGON! My parents have since relocated to Southern California, but my 3 brothers (Matt, Jacob, and Blake) and nephew Trent still live up there. My parents rented this house that we love and have stayed in before. It's up on this cliff with this gorgeous view of the ocean. It's big enough to sleep everyone comfortably and plenty of room so you're not stepping all over each other. The trip was fun and relaxing and the weather was absolutely fantastic! Here are some pictures:

First of all, a few reasons I LOVE OREGON....the scenery.

this is Mt St. Helens out the airplane window



This is Mt Hood from the I-205 freeway on the way back to the airport. And the Columbia River.


This is out back of this place called Camp 18 on the way to the beach that we stopped at for some food.


A view of the beach, complete with surfers (YUM!) out the back porch of the house!


Ahhh, the beach. Can't ask for better views.


These little rascals came to the back door on the last night in the house. So cute! We fed them rolls leftover from Thanksgiving Dinner.


And of course...the brothers (and family)