Our Christmas...

I know, I know.... way past due. But I thought I should at least put them on here. I wrote about our Christmas a few posts back. I could put a link here to direct you to that post, but I'm not that blog savvy... so you'll have to do the scrolling if you want to read about it. But since I only really look at pictures anyway, here are a few fun ones from Christmas. I didn't take a whole lot while we were there, I wish I had. We had so much fun though and loved spending time with our family!

Our Christmas 2009! We got awesome Utah shirts!

Can you tell how excited Eeyore, I mean Texas, is for his first Christmas?

The Spencer Girls on Christmas morning.

Christmas night at Grandpa Jack's house

Gabe made Arepas... So delish!

My husband is an awesome cook, I got so lucky!

My new career goal is to be the face of PAN... what do you think?

My love

After a night of dancing, Grandpa Jack made us fried Halibut and potatoes, SO YUMMY!

To the people of Haiti...

May God bless you and be with you in this time of disaster and devastation. Our hearts and prayers are with you.

Rain, Rain Go Away....

Come Again.... Never!

Wow! What a week it has been! Most of you have probably heard about the storms we've been hit by in Southern California. It has been crazy! I have never seen rain like this! Granted, I've been caught in a few crazy snow storms, but this rain was out of this world! It started to rain on Tuesday morning and by mid afternoon, it was hitting hard. Gabe called me at work that afternoon and told me that they had issued a tornado warning along the coast, from Laguna Beach heading towards Dana Point and we were right in its path. Obviously I wasn't swept away and lived to tell the story of my first tornado warning, Thank Heavens. But the tornado did do damage to a lot of cars and boats swept up in its path and dumped on harbors and roads. Meanwhile, the rain never stopped and in La Canada it began destroying hillsides causing major mud slides. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes and still waiting to go home. Cars have been stuck in roads that have now become rivers and crews are working around the clock to clean up the mess. Up in the Mountains, Big Bear has gotten a ton of snow, making me wish I had my skiis! (I never thought I needed them living so close to the beach!) We took Texas to the park yesterday during a small calm in the storm, and he ran and ran in what used to be a soccer field and is now a muddy lake of water. He came home covered in mud and happy to not be cooped up anymore.
And here I sit, Friday Morning, looking out the window at somewhat blue skies, and clouds waiting for the next storm to roll through. I'm not sure if it will be storm #5 or #6. On the radio and news they've been keeping count. It just seems like one big mother rain storm to me. All I know is that I'm ready for this rain to be over and get back out into the sunshine. For now, my goal for today is the Laundry Mat and Grocery shopping, be it rain or no rain.... (i'm crossing my fingers for no rain). But i just watched the morning news... Today's Forecast... RAIN!

Trying to maneuver through the streets of Long Beach

After the tornado hit Huntington Beach

This is how it's felt for the last four days.

Trying to stay dry. "Trying" being the key word here.

Crews working around the clock to get the mud out and people back in their houses.

A calm in the storm, for a little while anyway, at Huntington.

This is the dog beach where he take Texas at Huntington. It is so beautiful, and we're ready to go back!

A little reminder of God's love.

Happy New Years 2010

Happy New Year's 2010! We had a great New Year's weekend! Here's our New Year's check list:

-New Year's eve: NO WORK! Went on a run. (much needed after a Holiday binge in Utah!) Went into work anyway to finish some unfinished business. Went to the gym for 20 minutes... who knew they closed early? Got all showered and dressed up for an early night out on the town. By early I mean we were dining with old people. We ate at an awesome Mexican restaurant in which we had bought a coupon for at restaurants.com. Good food, great deal. Bought tickets for a stupid movie. We were the only people in the theater under age 50, and the only ones not laughing. I'm sure it was a funny movie... we'll try it again in 25 years. Twenty minutes into the movie, snuck into a different theater room to see Sherlock Holmes... awesome! Went to Albertson's for some Martinelli's and rootbeer floats. It's not as easy to find non-alcoholic bubbly in Cali as it is in Utah...found it in the kid's juice department. Cuddled up with Rootbeer floats in our sweats and flipped through channels until we watched the ball drop. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1... HAPPY NEW YEAR! New Year's kiss, sip of kid's bubbly, off to bed. Asleep by 12:08.

New Year's Day: Sleep in! By sleep in I mean 8 am. Take the dog on a hike in the huge canyon behind our house. Try our Texas' new cool doggie back pack that he got for Christmas. Get all sorts of scratched up trying to find the river. Mission accomplished. Texas braved the running water, a long time goal for Gabe and I. Took a few New Year's pics. Never mind the just woken up look. Made our way home for left over Mexican food. New Year's nap time. Much needed from our "CRAZY" night out.... Hit the mall for some New Year's deals. I of course found many things that I absolutley "NEEDED", while Gabe was there for good support. Came home with a watch that fits, a bracelet with a "G" on it to stand for my one and only, and a cheetah shirt. (the much needed item.) Took back the red boxes we had forgotten about for a week and rented a new one. A dollar, you can't beat it! Then headed off to an ASIA BUFFET. That's right an Asia Buffet! Gabe was determined to get his money's worth so we sat and ate until we couldn't eat any more sushi, any more wontons, egg rolls, orange chicken, kung pao chicken, coco nut shrimp, and everything else Asian you can imagine. Came home with our redbox and cuddled up ice cream.

Jan. 2: The weekend continues: Only today we decided to start with part one of our New Year's Resolution: get organized. We spent the whole day pulling everything out of our closets, hampers, bins, corners, and drawers and organized, organized, organized. We gathered two huge black garbage sacks full of clothes for the D.I. It felt so good to actually know where things are stored in our little apartment. Got ready and made our way into Newport. Went to the beautiful Newport temple, followed by Pizza and Dateline:48 hours, a special on a kidnapping in Mexico. Decided that our plan to drive my little beat up Corolla as far into Mexico as we can until it blows up and ride a bus back to the U.S. is now a NO GO. I prefer not to be kidnapped by the Mexican Cartel. Fell asleep early with Texas at the foot of our bed. Last night he graduated from the crate to the carpet. A big step for our American bull dog puppy.

Jan. 3-Woke up early due to the change in time for church. 9 am. Yawned through all our meetings. Home for nap time, had to catch up from the early wake up call. Left over Pizza, reading and blogging. Hopefully we'll be in bed early.

Tomorrow- Back to reality!

Hope your New Years was Fantastic! We have so much to look forward to in the year 2010! Best wishes for your 2010!

Our Christmas run down

We hope you had a Merry Christmas! Its crazy how we spend all of December preparing for this one day and it is all over so quickly! I especially loved the Christmas season this year. All the lights around the city went up, we decorated our little apartment, listened to Christmas music and I truly felt the spirit of Christmas. I am so grateful for the the reason of Christmas, the birth of our Savior. I hope you all felt his love this Christmas as we did.
We spent our Christmas in Utah with our family... here's a little run down of the trip... (pictures to come later)

-Packed our car to the roof of presents and luggage for a 3 day trip to Utah
-Piled Gabe and I, the dog Texas, Gabe's cousin Chelsey, and her dog buster into the car wiggled in between the presents.
-Left 70 degree weather for 7 degree weather.
-Had awesome Cafe Rio for Christmas eve lunch with Gabe's mom and brothers and spent the day with the other last minute crazy shoppers.
-Enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Turkey dinner with my fam and grandparents.
-Woke up to a crazy Christmas day. Ping ponging from one family to the next. Presents at Gabe's parents house, breakfast and presents with Grandparents Yates at my parents house, lunch with the Spencer Clan, Lunch at Grandma Janet's with the Valenzuela crew, followed by turkey and dessert with the Hendricksen's with Grandpa Jack! It was so good to see everybody and spend the day together! Thank you to all for all the gifts! Our car was more full on the way home!!!
-Post Christmas day: Shopping with mom, lunch with friends, a trip to the Mexican grocery store for some good Venezuelan cooking! (Thank you Gabe! The arepas were DELISH!)
-Dancing with Grandpa Jack at the Murray Arts center with the rest of the retired community of Salt Lake. SO FUN! Grandpa Jack taught me how to waltz and Gabe got to dance with some nice old ladies! Not to mention dancing with my husband is my favorite.
-Dancing was followed by a late night dinner at Grandpa Jack's! Can't beat fried Halibut and potatoes!
-next day: SLEEP IN!!! We needed it for the 10 hour car ride home! Made sure to stop for our last chance for Cafe Rio! Arrived back home to warm weather and a much needed sleep recovery!

Our Christmas was wonderful! WE loved spending it with the people that we love!