Christmas 2012

christmas was spent in beautiful, sunny, san diego. jeff and i decided we really wanted to make this a vacation. especially after jeff's crazy busy schedule last semester. we packed in a ton of things that jeff has never done in my home town...

we started out going to the poinsettia bowl where BYU played SDSU. i mean where BYU crushed SDSU. it felt so good to sing our fight song so many times. thanks to our good friends, james and rachel lark, we got amazing tickets. shot out to james for being a great football player and for being our friend.

it had been a million years since i've been to the zoo. they say it's the best one in the nation. sofia went crazy, especially over the elefantes. my sister hooked us up with free tickets. i heart free stuff. thank mel!

sofia and alec are like peanut butter and jelly. they just loved each other so much. you wouldn't guess it, but in the Mexican culture, he is her uncle. weird huh?

my sister, candice, is having a baby in march. i am soooo excited, beyond words. i only wish i lived near her so i could help her! anyway, we had a surprise baby shower, planned by my other sister, Melody, and my mama. it was beyond beautiful...

the theme was a tea party...whimsical and classy.

this is my sister, sarah. she's the one right below me.

we wish we could've had ariel and ceecee in this sister picture :(

we just can't wait to meet baby eli.

we took my mama out for a girls day. started with mani/pedi, then went to dinner, out shopping to buy her a few outfits, and then saw les miserables. we went to a restaurant called slater 50/50 and it was amazing. i dream about the food. they have burgers that have bacon in them. not as part of the toppings, actually grilled IN the middle of the meat. you heard me. here are pics at the restaurant...

we sure do love our mom.

when i was in high school, a special memory i have is cooking every sunday with my grandma. i wanted to learn everything from her. how to make beans, rice, and most importantly, home-made tortillas. the image below seriously brought tears to my eyes...in fact, my grandma started crying after i took these pictures.

doesn't that just make you smile? well, let me make you smile again. here is my son, eating bacon. yep, my husband gave our 6 month old a piece of bacon to suck on...

sofia and lucas were spoiled beyond spoiled this christmas. they got everything from clothes, to shoes, to toys, to movies, to absolutely everything.

we had quite a few people for christmas dinner. lucky my mama's house fit everyone...

sofia chose tio joe as her favorite person in the house. she was obsessed with him. and now she demands to skype with them on the computer before going to bed. it makes both me and candice super jealous.

outside my tia mary's house she had a bunch of these plastic candy canes. sofia, of course, couldn't stop licking all of them. embarrassing, but funny.

we loved spending some time over at my tio joe and tia mary's house.

jeff had never been to sea world, so, again, melody got the hook up and we went for free! what is better than going to a place like sea world and knowing you did not spend 80 bucks (each) to get in.

isn't this adorable?

i think sea world should buy this picture from us. it's perfect...

sofia always makes friends...

towards the end of the day, mel saw our sis-in-law porcia instagram a picture of her and her kids at sea world. we immediately called her to tell her we were at sea world too! we were bummed we only spent a few hours together, and not the whole day.

i love diego's face in this one...

Christmas 2012 was memorable. thank you, mom, for so much thought you put in to our stay at your home. we love vacationing in sunny san diego and look forward to visiting again soon!