Vay-cay

A month ago Mike and I headed west to celebrate Christmas California style with my ENTIRE family. Since my brother, Nathan (see Exhibit A) recently got home from his 2 year LDS mission to Philly, everyone made the effort to all be together.

Exhibit A

Christmas was great and all, and we did a lot of fun things, but the real highlight was just being together. We're usually spread out all over the country, so I enjoyed the proximity while it lasted. Here are a few pics from the all-too-quick trip home:

Apparently I missed the Make-A-Funny-Face memo. I can't decide if I like Mike's or Soph's face more here. Sporting our nerdy glasses after seeing Avatar in 3D:

It's not a trip to Cali without good Mexican food (pictured below) and In-N-Out (consumed too quickly to get the camera).

What really happened all week: LOTS and LOTS of card playing. We headed to the beach and explored the tide pools one day.

Favorite conversation of that day:

Undisclosed Person A: "What do hermit crabs eat?"

Undisclosed Person B: "Extroverts."

I think I was trying to smile like Soph here. She wins. Nothing tops that face. Or those leggings. Work it, Soph.

Apparently my family doesn't do "normal" pictures (in case you couldn't tell from the above display.) We Moorheads are way too quirky for that. Good thing too- everyone needs a little crazy in their lives. Luckily for us, we have crazy in abundance:

And my personal favorite:

Who wouldn't want to spend a week with this little person???

All the nipotini:

The rents

We managed to keep it together long enough to take ONE normal picture: We did more stuff (Newport Coast, jigsaw puzzles, kid parties, ping pong, Nintendo 64 (yes, seriously), embarked on the quest for the perfect rice cooker, movies, TTR, etc.) but these are all the pics I have. It was great to be home, and I was sad to leave.

We didn't have to resume life right away though. We made a pit stop in Utah to see the Wildes before returning to the Bend. Although it only lasted a couple days, we managed to fit quite a lot in: Bang, Thai food, opening MORE wedding presents, Market Street, Wii Mariokart, shoe shopping, humongous family photo shoots, and 24 marathons made for a great end to our Christmas break.

The results of said massive photo shoot:

(No other photos of said adventures. Sorry.)

All in all, it was a great trip, and it ended way too soon. Mike and I were pretty lucky that we got to see EVERYONE in BOTH our families in the same week. Christmastime is the most wonderful time of the year, indeed. Can't wait to see you all again!