Christmas Trip...and eventful three weeks

We have been home now for over two weeks but I have been avoiding this first post for a few reasons. First, I am getting over vacation mode, second, we did so much over this break that I knew it was going to be a rather large post, and third, I chopped all my hair off when I came home and went through a few days of shock/depression. We had a very awesome three weeks off in California and realized that we miss our families very much. It is funny how we miss things and people more after just being with them. This trip also made us realize that we could never, ever live with my mother!! I think she has been an empty nester for too long because we got on her last nerve, sorry mom, thanks for everything though.

JJ wanted to go for a brand new look and surprise his family (promise it wasn't my idea) so he decided to dye his hair red. I loved it but maybe I'm just a little partial like President Thomas S. Monson.

The plane ride there was absolutely awful and you can see that Riah was not a happy camper.

My mom took us to a cute little zoo light show that Dominic just loved. It had all the animals (fake animals) lit up and they flashed to different songs.

During the holiday season, JJ's family, every year, acts out the nativity as part of their Christmas eve traditions. Every year I think that they want it to be a spiritual thing, but it always turns into a comedy routine, because someone is always dressed in drag. The rules are, you pull a name out of a hat and that is your part (so you have men playing women's parts and vice versa) and then you have 5 minutes to run through the house and grab your costume. Hint for next year: If you want it to be a spiritual thing, assign roles. But I kinda like it how it is personally.

So last year my brother-in-law Teddy dressed in drag as a wise man. He must have always wanted to see himself in Merry's dress.

Last Year:But this year JJ took on the role as Mary with his big ole' pregnant belly.
This Year:

One of my favorite parts of the trip was going to see my aunt, uncle and cousins in Sacramento. I hadn't seen them in close to two years, so it was a nice treat and I had missed them a lot. Dominic had fun playing with his cousins (2nd cousins) Issac and Avery.

Aunt Kris made all the kids matching ponchos for Christmas even down to new born baby Bella and they were just the cutest things on them. The cutest part was on the inside had a picture of each one of the kids that it belonged to so we wouldn't get them confused. I wish I had some of her creativity.
It was so cute to see Angie (JJ's sister) prego for the first time, and I was happy that I got to go to her baby shower. We know that she will be just the best little mommy and we will try to make it up to Idaho for the blessing.

With every visit back home, we try to get in to see our very favorite dentist Dr. Schwartz because we are usually due for a cleaning anyways. So this time Dominic had his very first visit to the dentist. Lets just say, all doctor Schwartz was able to do was count his teeth, but he was so great with him at getting on his level and making sure he wasn't scared for future visits. Dominic left happy after raiding the toy bin and getting a new tooth brush.
Needless to say, we had a very wonderful, eventful trip. On the plane ride home, Dominic even managed to throw up all over JJ's lap (sorry no pics of that), but besides that I would say the ride home was much better than there. Dominic keeps saying Talia, Lina, Bella, it was so cute to see him play with his cousins and follow Talia around everywhere...he loved it. Although we miss everyone, it always feels rather good to be home.