Christmas Eve in LA

After a very fun morning opening presents we headed off to LA!  The first place we stopped was the Griffith Observatory which has amazing views of Hollywood. 

I would love to say that this was a PERFECT trip, but I felt like this...

miserable!

Luckily, Brent was good at having fun despite me not feeling great!You can barely make it out but there is the Hollywood sign in the background.  We found this as we were walking to the Griffith Observatory.

A gorgeous sky from the observatory.

You can actually see the Hollywood sign a little bit better here!

The views from the top of the observatory was really amazing!  What a great man who will plan a whole vacation in less than a week to make sure we have an amazing Christmas.

After the Observatory we went to the Holocaust museum.  Since we have actually been to a concentration camp this was a little more lack luster for us than it might be for others. Although it wasn't quite as impacting as Auschwitz we were both surprised at the fact that the US made legislation to keep Jewish immigrants out. 

After that we went to the Tar Pits.  Yes, there are actual tar pits in the middle of LA. You can see the tar pit behind Brent.

Aren't these trees amazing?!

Who knew my tracks were so big?  No wonder I have a hard time finding shoes!

Bamboo was everywhere.  I am pretty sure Brent would take some of this home in a heart beat!

At the art museum there were statues of all the chinese zodiacs. Since I was born in the year of the rabbit!  

Brent was born in the year of the rat!  There were some other ones!

There were also lamp lights.  This place was really fun!

Brent took a lot of pictures.

While I played a fun game that involved swing from one light lamp to the other.  It was really fun.

At the end of the day we went down to the walk of fame.  Can I just say that I wasn't that impressed.  Brent and I just aren't that into celebrities!  I do enjoy Matt Damon though, and we were able to find his footprints and hand prints.

Brent with Jay Leno's star.  We walked almost the whole thing and this is the only one that interested him in the least.

We were really excited to be there and see everything.  I wish I would have felt a little better but it was a great Christmas Eve anyway!  Thank you Brent for planning such a wonderful day!

Christmas (EVE) Morning

We were suppose to go to Oregon for Christmas but sometimes the airlines just don't like to have affordable tickets.  So instead of going home for the holiday we decided to go to LA for the three day weekend!

This made Brent super excited to move Christmas morning one day!

Here is our haul!

Can you believe it?

Brent is the king of wrapping items! He wrapped up a gift card with a old school video game so I wouldn't figure it out!  Isn't he the most amazing?

Brent opening his favorite present!  

STARCH!  Just kidding, well it is starch but not his favorite present

Brents mom sent us Stockings!  There is always fun stuff in the stockings!  She gave me a scented eye mask that is so amazing, it makes your eyes tingle forever.  I opened that and then I was content to just sit there!

Brent got: A NEW COMPUTER! 3 white shirts, work socks, world travelers map, bike, griddle, starch, bread pans, spatula's and a huge stocking from his mom!

Mallory got: 2 pairs of pants, shirt, eyebrow waxing set up, really nice shampoo and conditioner, 60 gift card  for shoes (thank you for the puma's Brent!), 2 other pair of shoes, and a BOW AND ARROWS!!!!

It was an amazing Christmas and I think Brent and I both ignored the budget this year.  After a big breakfast we were off to LA!

Our First Christmas Tree!

Four years.

That is how long Brent and I have been married and I am now willing to admit, we have NEVER had our own Christmas tree.  This year was different though.  We saw and artificial one at Lowes, but it way a little to expensive for us :(  So I took to the web and found one that was considerably cheaper but also considerably "dinkier."

Either way we set to decorating our tree. 

A big thanks to Christi and Mama Huntley for getting up the "Standard" Ornaments.  Since, we haven't had a tree before we hard to buy enough to make look luminous 

I thought all the kids visiting would want to help decorate but my nephew Micheal was the only one who could feel the magical Christmas.  Everything was pretty "Glitter" filled so Micheal and I were covered  by the end of it!

 As you can tell, we may have had more ornaments than tree! (Don't you LOVE my Spoon collection in the background.  I actually have another 14 spoons and need to get another case!)

 The final product. 

I really like having a tree.  It is small and overwhelmed with ornaments but I love the feeling and warmth it brings!

Great Start to a Wonderful Holiday SEASON!