christmas visit pics

I didn't get to take as many photos on our trip as I wanted. I barely got my real camera out with the exception of a couple photoshoots with friends. Anyways, this post is basically a photo dump from our trip. Enjoy!

george and I right after landing in california. we were very tired...

kiera passed out in the car after we first got her

meli being goofy

kiera passed out again... right before she puked everywhere

kiera cuddles <3 i="">

christmas morning

cuddles with jamie's dog, molly

sunset in oregon house

meli

auntie ardry

kiera finally getting to bounce at the galleria

kiera

meli

the engleheart ladies on our way to six flags

kiera, freezing, at six flags

awwww

meli is sad she's too short for the ride

we fixed it! now she can ride!

kiera is waaaaay too short

george and I on the couch, ringing in the new year

roasting marshmallows

roasting marshmallows with daddy

date night with our bff, casey

they both love their bun buns!

a very engleheart christmas

This year was our year to have the girls for Christmas. Instead of having them travel all the way out here for just 2 weeks, George and I decided to travel to California to spend the holidays with them. Not only is the travel a lot for the kids, it's always crazy expensive to bring them out. We left Guam a few days before Christmas and just got back home last night. We stayed at my mom and dad's house to save money on a hotel and the girls had their own room, and so did we. It was a whirlwind 2 weeks! Both girls were sick, then we got sick too! We also had to fit it time with all our family and friends. We already miss the girls like crazy, but are so so happy to be home. 

We spent Christmas morning with my parents opening stockings, presents and eating the infamous Christmas breakfast my dad cooks every year. We then headed up to George's mom and step-dad's house to open more gifts and have Christmas dinner. The girls got clothes, toys and lots of fun science-y type kits/toys. George and I got donations for our paddle board fund! 

The rest of the trip was spent hanging out with the girls and a few friends. I did some photography sessions, George got to snowboard with his Bay Area friends, we took the girls to Six Flags with George's sister, Ardry, to celebrate her birthday. We did a family date night in Old Sacramento on the 3rd anniversary of mine and George's first date at the same restaurant we went to! The girls thought it was so cool that we went to the same place as a family. We took another family date to the movies and saw Into the Woods which was pretty good! New Years Eve was spent with my friends, where we let all the kids run around while us adults caught up. No one made it til midnight of course, but it was a fun night.

There were lots of other fun things we did, but in the fog of jet lag, I can't remember every detail! We had such a fun time with the girls and can't wait to bring them to Guam again this summer!

12 days of christmas part 2

Here's the second half of the 12 days of Christmas gift ideas.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 7 swans a swimming... I got a pair of swim trunks!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 8 maids a milking... I went really cheap on this one and got a set of ball markers for golfing that came in a pack of 8.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 9 ladies dancing... George packs a lunch every day for work and in it he packs a little bag of nut mix. He was about out and it just so happens the can comes in 9 ounces, so that's what I got for day 9.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 10 lords-a-leaping... I made George a little coupon for a 10 minute back massage.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 11 pipers piping... George drinks a chai tea latte every morning so I got him a pack of chai tea K-cups and packaged up 11 of them so he could enjoy 11 cups of piping hot chai tea!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 12 drummers drumming... I already used beer for day 6, so I couldn't get him a 12-pack of beer. I did find that golf balls come in a pack of 12, so that's what I got!

So these were my ideas, but there are plenty more ideas out there, or you could always come up with your own!

12 days of christmas part 1

I've never been huge on exchanging presents for Christmas. I feel like a lot of the season is spent running here and there and spending money on things your friends and family may or may not want or need. It all seems impersonal to me. I would much rather have a night together with friends drinking wine and playing games. Take the time to slow down and spend time with one another, instead of racing around to the packed stores just to check off your list of presents to buy. Don't get me wrong, I am not unappreciative of gifts by any means, I just would rather spend time together. Years ago my sister and I decided we wouldn't exchange gifts and when George and I first started dating, we decided the same. 

This year, my friend Hailee wanted to do something cute for our husbands. She had read about the gift giving idea that follows the 12 days of Christmas. She wanted me to go along with her and we could spend time together shopping and planning out the 12 days of gifts. I told her we don't do gifts, but I would go along with it because it meant her and I got to spend time together planning something sweet for our husbands. It also meant a little surprise for George, which didn't require spending a lot of time or money on gifts.

There were tons of websites that had ideas on what to get for each day but I kind of decided to wing it and just let ideas come to me! I also decided to start on December 1st because we will be traveling mid December and I didn't want to lug the gifts with me. Not to mention the time change would mess with which actual "day of Christmas" it was. Here are the gifts I did:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree... I got a shirt from a local clothing company. Nothing too creative (1) shirt for the 1st day.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 2 turtle doves... I got 2 chocolate turtle candies.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 3 french hens... I got wine and fancy cheese to tie in with the "french" theme.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 4 calling birds... I got a DVD with 4 movies on it.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 5 golden rings... I got a tunu gift set. Tunu means BBQ in Chamorro and George loves to BBQ. The kit came with 5 different spices/seasonings.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 6 geese a laying... I got a 6 pack of beer!

These are the first 6 days, tomorrow I'll post about the last 6 days of Christmas!