It was a well over due trip back to San Diego and Arizona, and we were so excited to go and sad now that it's over.
We flew into LA on December 17th and went straight to San Diego. We had an action packed week of catching up with friends. We kicked off the trip with a quick snack a drink at one of our favorite places, The Regal Beagle, before heading to Fred's for Taco Tuesday. The we spent Wednesday during the day with the Naimo's at Irvine Park and spent the evening with Kelly and Mauricio taking in all Riverside had to offer with their insane Christmas light display and eating AMAZING Mexican food right in the old Riverside Mission.
Quick stop at the Regal Beagle
Dan was back in Craft Brew heaven!
And I was in heaven as well!!!
All the lights at the Mission in downtown Riverside were amazing. Highly recommend it.
Margaritas with Mauricio!
So good to finally see Kelly again! #roomies
After our nice evening with Kelly and Mauricio at their house, we went back down to stay in Carlsbad at the Carlsbad Inn and reminisce on the great times we had there for our wedding.
The Carlsbad Inn actually gave us a free nights stay as a gift for having our wedding there, which was more then generous. But minutes after checked into our room there was a knock on the door to delivery a bottle of champagne, chocolates and a note. What service! They're such nice people there, and we loved returning to such a special place to us.
Our view from our room. Had to take the token 'glass of champagne with view' shot
Thursday night we went to dinner in Encinitas and met up with some good friends and then Friday morning we feasted at our favorite breakfast diner in Carlsbad, Don's Country Kitchen.
Dan goes crazy for the 'Oklahoma' (don't worry- there's no way we could eat all the food they serve)
I LOVE their chorizo and eggs. (Note- please look past my poorly
painted nails and overall tired appearance, I feel as though I'm still
catching up on sleep. And i have no excuse for my nails..)
We love and miss our old stomping grounds
Friday night we went back downtown for Justin's birthday which we celebrated in Ugly Sweaters at the old favorite, Shout House.
We had such a good week of catching up with friends, and are so thankful we got to see everyone we did.
We're always planning when we can come back to visit again, and look forward to seeing the people coming out to visit us this year!
No comment on Chris. This actually isn't strange at all, very normal for him this time of year.
Thanks Cori for letting Dan borrow your sweater :)
_________
After our whirlwind week in California, we were off to Arizona to catch up with the fam!
My mom has recently moved back to Arizona, but she did that after Christmas, so this Christmas we were in the rental house we've been renting each year for the last time.
To make it feel more like him we decided to bring our Christmas decorations from home and set them up in the house. We brought out all the favorites and managed to find the last Christmas tree in Phoenix to decorate and rig up in the house.
This has been my favorite Christmas decoration for my whole life
My Great Grandma used to have an ice skating set like this and I always remember that being my favorite decoration at her house and now my mom has one.
Every Christmas Eve we get matching PJs. Dan didn't get any this year, he got a stocking instead, and I thought I'd spare you all a photo of him in just his new stocking :)
Over on the other side of town the rest of the family was in town. Logan, Daniel, Samuel and Willa came in town so it was great to see them and hang out with the kids.
We spent the week doing activities with the kids which was awesome. We went to a trampoline gym, went out to lunch, taught Samuel how to ride his new Rip Stick that Taylor got him, built box forts, took pictures... we did it all. They are awesome kids and it was so good to hang out with them as much as we could.
Please forgive me for the barrage of photos- but I never take photos with the fam, and this time I did- so I'm forcing you to look at them :)
Samuel got a Swiss Army knife for Christmas, so there's actually 3 people in this photo. Dan, Samuel, and his knife.
Heidi put flowers in Willa's hair. Dan and I got her that outfit for Christmas, cute huh!
Samuel geared up to test out his Rip-Stick. I think this was before he then 'willed' it to Willa.. but then unwilled it later in the day.
Samuel really loves photos... and his aunts...
I don't think my dad and I have taken a photo together since I got married. Much overdue.
Now to bombard you with photos from the other side of the family. I just want to give you all a chance to experience what it's like being in a split family. Twice as much photos, twice as much family, twice as much fun!
Christmas at Uncle Guy and Aunt Jill's
Dan and Uncle Guy having their traditional Dark and Stormy with Bundy Rum
Cousins!
Madre
The O'Brien's :) (yes, i do realize I'm standing the same in every photo in this series. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit)
After all the busyness of Christmas and just before we left AZ, us sisters did something we've really never done before- went out for a few late night drinks.
Daniel, Logan, Taylor, Heidi, Dan and I went down to our local (which actually isn't our local at all as we've never been there- but now is officially our local thanks to Logan), and had a couple of fancy cocktails. It was a great way to wrap up our time in AZ and a tradition we'll look to carry on for years to come.
Dan and Daniel.. the only boys in the family and they share a name...
Well that pretty much sums up California and Arizona... so many good times and yet so many ahead before we had to finally head home and back to work.
My next post will be about our adventures in Europe, but before crossing the pond we made a stop in New York to check out Taylor's new apartment and life over there. She moved to New York early last year, so it was really nice to be able to go over and check out the city through her eyes.
We had a great time checking out her favorite spots as well as discovering new ones.
Not to mention, Dan and I got tickets to the Rockette's from Logan and Daniel- so that was a great experience that I've been wanting to do since a kid watching them in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Photos don't really do it justice. It's more just proof we were actually there.
Taylor introduced us to a place where you can get ice cream that taste like cereal milk, and you can get corn cereal on top. so good- and within walking distance!
Standard Central Park photo. This bridge technically was supposed to be a view point for something.. but apparently that was on top of the bridge, so whatever.
Sister photo. Out to eat a good American burger before leaving the land of cheap food, cheap beer, and ambiance.
California- Check!
Arizona- Check!
New York- Check!
Off to Europe for NYE in Paris and more Italian food than we could handle.
until next time...
(PS- Sorry if this post was all over the place... multi-tasking and blogging probably don't go together, but if all fails just look at the pictures)
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