As always, I brought my camera along with me as we headed out to California for the holidays. I am so incredibly thankful to have such wonderful family to go visit, and I’m also very thankful to get to visit in such a gorgeous place!! I really do leave a big part of my heart there each time I come back home.

I could write for days and days about my family and about the things we do while we are out there, but I figured I’ll keep it brief and show just a few highlights. I also realized there are a lot of moments missing from my camera memory – not because of any glitch or camera failure, but because I was 100% in the moment with my family. Some of the time I’m sure I was chasing Peanut around, but other times I intentionally just kept the camera down. (Also, in case you’re curious, I explained some more of these events in more detail last Tuesday.)

Our first night we went to another one of our favorite restaurants with Tutu & Papa. It was Max’s first time to The Fisherman, and even after a long day of travel, Peanut did pretty well during dinner.

As always, the view from the outside seating area was wonderful!!!! 

It was a lot of fun this year to get to go to the Poinsettia Bowl. Some of my mom’s family have been going for a few years, but it’s always iffy whether we will be out there in time to go. We lucked out this year and my dad, Max and I all got to go, plus we had an extra ticket for one of Max’s buddies from back home. It was so fun to get to finally meet him! On top of all that, we got to watch Navy vs. San Diego State – both teams that mean a lot to our family.

Next up, of of my favorite nights of the year, Christmas Eve Dinner.

I learned this year that this rocking chair is the one that my mom used to play with… so sweet to have Max’s mom’s rocking chair in our house, and now have pictures in this one too! 

Christmas morning was extra fun this year with Peanut helping everyone open gifts – such joy in a little one’s eyes on Christmas morning!! 

Then a few short days later, it was back to Qualcomm Stadium for the Holiday Bowl… Which of course included more tailgating, more family, and more fun.

Words can’t describe my love for this woman!! So blessed to have such great relationships with cousins on both sides of the family, despite the distance between us growing up.  Seriously, always the BEST pre-game show!! And soooooo fun to get to see it through Peanut’s eyes this year during her first Holiday Bowl!!  Always a highlight every year: seeing my mom’s family listed on the Scoreboard!! 

So since there’s a lot going on each year, I’ve decided to break this up into two posts… See you tomorrow for Part 2 of our trip!