Christmas 2015

Christmas should be pretty fun this year. We are heading to Arizona for the Holiday, and although Liam and I will only be there for 4 days, Tadd will be able to stay for over a week to spend some additional time with his siblings. We got Liam a teepee this year for Liam. It is for his toddler room which should be pretty exciting as he will be two in February.

We celebrated an early Christmas with my family before heading to Arizona for the actual day of Christmas. We opened our presents on Saturday morning and Liam was so adorable. He grabbed the gifts and was wondering if they were for him and if he could open them. One present in, he was stoked to play with the one gift and we conned him in to opening the other ones but he was much more into the first present.

We then headed to my parents house for some more present opening and celebrating. We ate a yummy breakfast and then exchanged gifts. We all got lots of fun goodies. I got a few pairs of shoes and some makeup. Tadd got a pair of shoes, his classic hair gel supply for the year as well as cologne and a nice shirt. Liam got the most loot including wood puzzles, an easel, stickers, a coloring book, cars, books, clothes, and some toys. He was happy with it all!

We then headed to Arizona on Christmas Eve. We ate out that evening and then back to bed so Santa could come. Friday morning we opened more presents. Liam only had a few since we didn't want to bring many from California. He definitely wanted more cars than he got, luckily his cousin Andy was willing to share with him.

We then enjoyed a delicious breakfast with Tadd's family. After breakfast we got ready and headed over to the grandparents house so we could open MORE presents with all the grandkids. Liam fell asleep while the unwrapping was happening so we opened presents later. He got some pretty cool trucks and cars. We then prepared Christmas dinner of fried turkey, ham, green beans, cranberries, mashed potatoes, stuffing and sweet potato casserole. It was delicious.

Saturday we were able to get up and head over to ASU for a nostalgic walk around our alma mater. It was eerily quiet as the students and faculty are on break currently, but it was still fun to see where our classes used to be and our old dorm rooms and hangouts were. We then ate lunch with some friends of ours at one of our favorite restaurants in AZ, Pita Jungle.

Later that day, all the moms headed to the salon for a pedicure. It was nice and relaxing and a good way to wrap up the weekend before Liam and I headed back on Sunday. Sunday we attended church and then hung out with friends and family before heading to the airport. Liam and I arrived home safely but now we both have a little bit of a cold.

Luckily, Tadd is still in Arizona having a good time with his family for another week. We miss him, but had a very Merry Christmas in Arizona.

Ice. Custard. Happiness.

Rita's 2015. What an adventure Rita's Italian Ice and Frozen Custard has been thus far. The Grand Opening just happened on December 5, 2015 and it was a pretty good turnout. Steady all day with some busy times...hopefully lots of people will be enjoying Ritas from now on and especially as the weather warms up in the spring and summer. We will be opening two more stores in the next two years also. Hopefully we will have locations in Roseville and Granite Bay by 2017. This way more people can enjoy ice and custard and add some happiness to their life!

Hawaii 2015

Family Vacation 2015...Take 1

Our family decided to plan a family trip every two years which would then coincide with the year that we were not going to be together for Christmas. This way, we are still able to get together for a family gathering but instead of at Christmas time would would pick a different place each time. This first trip we picked Hawaii. It was the perfect first location. We have a time share. We are familiar with the location. We could plan it accordingly. And we haven't been in Hawaii together since 2007 and that was before any of us were married.

We all headed to Hawaii from November 14-November 22. We were all very excited to be celebrating my mom's 60th birthday in Hawaii on the 15th. We had big plans for her. Jill had emailed and collected thoughts and memories of my mom from her friends and family! That Sunday morning, we all hung out, we did head to church for an hour and then headed back to spend time with the family. That day we all went to The Wailea Resort to swim and go on their awesome slides. We rented a cabana and had the best day playing in the water and enjoying the sun and the company. It was such a fun day. We then got home and mom read some of her notes before we all got ready to go to dinner at Ruth's Chris. We enjoyed a nice dinner and then headed back home for some more family time! We got to hear mom and dad's history of their childhood as well as other advice and memories that they had been writing down over the last year or so.

Other events in Hawaii included...

The Polynesian Cultural Center
The Pearl Harbor Memorial
Whirlwind trip to Oahu
Kihei cafe for breakfast (a few times)
Running in the rain
Snorkeling Boat Trip to Molokini
Beach and Pool Days
Hiking and Exploring Day

Overall, it was a great vacation. We all had such a fun time together. We were able to do things together, separately, and individually. We did new things and old things and we will definitely do it again. Although next time, we plan to visit Boston, New York and Cape Cod.

#oddowannaleave #pinacoloddo

Thanksgiving 2015

This Thanksgiving was quiet and great. It was just my parents and the three of us. It was a casual day, my mom had already prepped most of the food when we got to their house. I attempted to help with whatever she had left and it seemed that everything would come together nicely. Once the turkey was in and we snacked on some appetizers, we took a brisk walk around the neighborhood. We played with leaves and Liam loved it! Once we got back, Liam "climbed" a tree and loved it. We threw leaves around he hung from branches with the biggest smile on his face. We then headed back inside and just played a little while until dinner was ready around 3pm. Liam fell asleep just a few minutes before dinner so he missed out on the official dinner, but got leftovers after. Everything turned out great and it was a calm and relaxing day of yummy food and good company. The rest of the weekend went about the same. Nice and relaxing. We made some cookies, ran a few errands, got some Christmas shopping done and enjoyed a long weekend. It was so nice, almost too good to go back to work the following week. Now, we are looking forward to the Christmas Holiday. This month we are just getting in the Christmas Spirit by putting up all of our decorations, putting up lights and making cookies to share!

20 months...21 and 22

My Liam is already 20 months!!! He is saying so many words and running everywhere! He is so interactive and loves playing with other kids as well as adults! He loves trains, trucks, buses and garbage trucks. He points to them and says, "Ohhhh!" and "WOW." It is so adorable! He has started to watch a few different shows now too. He knows how to make the monkey noise and so he loves to watch Curious George. He also watches Chugginton which is trains, and if he wants to watch that, he simply says Choo Choo. He also still loves Tinkerbell and especially Neverbeast because it is scary and he does his scary face with his hand up...it is so incredibly adorable I cannot contain myself!

He is now 21 months. And now 22 months in a few short days. The time is simply flying by! Liam has been into stickers like crazy lately. He places them all over his crib and all over our face. Especially on our foreheads! It is adorable. He loves lollipops and says "num num num" when he sees them at a store. He also knows how to ask for his pacifier now by puckering his lips and doing the sucking motion, it is too much! He is getting smarter and smarter every day! I cannot believe he is going to be 2 years old in February. We are very lucky to have him in our family, he makes everything better!