Sunny CA!

Last week, James and I had the opportunity to travel out to California for a conference he attended.  When your hubby has business in sunny CA...you make sure you get to come along!  Neither of us have spent a lot of time out there so it was fun to be a tourist and enjoy being on the coast!!  I was on celebrity watch the whole time, I just knew we would run into a famous movie star, singer, night show host...SOMEONE!  Like if anyone was wearing a ball cap with big sunglasses, I just knew we were seeing someone famous...James thought I was just crazy and he kept reminding me that even "normal people" wear caps and sunglasses, whatever!
We didn't see anyone, only their names on the walk of stars!  Ha!  Pretty typical of the luck I have.  Anyway, we had a blast together and it's always fun to travel to a new place!

We arrived at our hotel Thursday night and found this view out from our balcony, hello LA!!

By the way, right below us in those big building are the stages for Paramount Studios.  So.cool.

Then it was off to dinner and to explore the city at night.

This is Rodeo Drive at night, so pretty all lit up!

LOTS of fun shopping!!

Here we are up and at 'em Saturday morning ready to take on LA!

There are no pics of Friday...James was in a meeting all day and I was in the spa! ;)

The Chinese Theater

In front of the theater are dozens of cement blocks with hand prints, foot prints and autographs of celebs.

This is where the Oscar's are held and where they film American Idol among many other things!  

In just a few weeks these stairs will be lined with red carpet and stunning celebrities!! So fun to see it up close and personal!

There ya go, the famous sign!

I took this for my kids...this is Walt Disney's star! ;)

We cruised around Beverly Hills and took in the sights.

A neighborhood in BH, we couldn't get over the palm trees lining the streets!

My favorite part of the day was driving down Highway 1 and going through Santa Monica and into Malibu!  Absolutely gorgeous!!

Hello Santa Monica!

Malibu!

I didn't get pics, but further down the beach there were surfers everywhere, just a different life than the one we have here in Texas!  

Until next time California!!  

2015 in review

God was good in 2015.  We had our challenges as well as blessings and we grew from each one.  For seven out of the twelve months, we lived with my in-laws.  Memories were made, we learned a lot and in the end...moved into our new home in July!

January

January was cold, cold and more cold.  Let's move on...not my favorite month, ha!

February

Valentine's day brought fun cards and treats in the mail and progress on our house.

Cabinets were in!!

March

We went on a Disney Cruise with our cousins and it was deemed the best vacay ever!!!

It was so good, we are doing it again over Spring break!

April

My beautiful sister got married in April.

It was a special weekend and an honor to be a part of!

And on April 18th, this little bit turned 2 years old.  We celebrated with a Minnie Mouse party!

Lots of progress on the master bath!

May

May brought LOTS of rain, Parker's 6th birthday AND baseball season!

He is a baseball loving' kiddo!  Good thing I'm a baseball loving' mama!

Oh yes, Sydney got a cast in May...can't forget that memory.

June

June was beautiful...sweet days of summer!

We also traveled up to Table Rock Lake for our annual Big Cedar trip in June.

I'm hoping this year we will not have a cast to contend with at the lake...gross and gross.

Parker won his junior golf camp tournament in June and it was a proud moment for sure.

July

Whew!  This is the month we never thought we'd make it to.  We moved and unpacked for days and days and then it was off to Nevis and St. Barths for our trip!  We could not have moved and unpacked without the help of sweet friends and my mom who came and kept the kids!!

Finally!!

10 days with this guy and no kids was something special!!

August

Before summer ended, we hopped down to Dallas for one last hurrah with family!

All too soon summer ends and the first days of school begin.

Baby girl holding her sign before day one of MDO...it took about 2 months before she was ok with me leaving.  Love her so!

Sweet first grader.

I still miss him during the day!

September was fun because we drove down to Baylor for a football game!

We got our new puppy in the same weekend.

October

Flag football took front and center and we discovered that Parker excelled in this sport too!

Halloween

November

We put our cowboy/cowgirl gear on and enjoy all the sights of the rodeo!

We also got our family portraits back this month...love them.  

December

It's just my favorite picture of the month! ;)  Love that boy!

Playing catch up!

It is a new year which makes me realize how BEHIND I have gotten on this little blog of mine.  I want to make sure and complete 2015 so I can move on to the present!

The holidays were so fun!  We were in Dallas for Thanksgiving, we went back the week before Christmas and then just enjoyed Christmas break at home!  Christmas was extra special this year because we celebrated it in our new house for the first time!  Memories are being made which makes it feel more and more like home.

Thanksgiving at Nessie and Grandad's

Right after Thanksgiving, Sydney "graduated" from her little mommy and me gymnastics class.

Mrs. Brandi was an amazing teacher and had the patience of Job with two year olds. ;)

She would NOT look at the camera.  All she's talked about since it ended is gymnastics.  We are all signed up to start again next week!

Being festive is just fun!

There is a little boutique in Amarillo that brings Santa in every year and one of our professional photographers comes and takes pics.  You will not find a picture of sister and Santa because she wouldn't go near him if her life depended on it...maybe next year! ;)

Our church has an amazing preschool and children's ministry.  Every year they put on PJs and Pancakes and it never disappoints!  Look at the whipped cream, can we say sugar high??

Photo booth!!

One night we bathed the kids, put them in their pjs, got hot chocolate and drove around and looked at lights.  A tradition for sure!!

Here we are at the widows dinner, this year it was at James's aunt and uncle's house.  We love serving the sweet widows of First Baptist.  It's such a highlight of the season and I love that the kids get involved too.

Sydney's little 2 year old mother's day out class had pj day on the last day.

Back in Dallas!!  These two boys dominated the cookie decorating!

And the girls climbed trees out front!

It was such a WARM week while we were there and we took advantage!  

Enjoying a warm day at the Arboretum.

Presents before driving back to freezing Amarillo the next day.

Christmas morning waiting to go downstairs to see what Santa brought!

They were good this year!

All dressed and headed to Nana's house for Christmas Day with James's parents and brother's fam!

We lived up Christmas break, we played in the snow...

Saw Star Wars in 3D...

And soaked in the frozen beauty of the ranch!

Happy New Year!  

I'm on a roll....more posts to come! ;)