California Christmas.

Instead of going to Colorado for Christmas like we were planning, we ended up going to California!  My mom made the drive with my step dad Ralph, Mitchell and Marissa.  Our plans changed a few times, but I ended up flying with Cora Sunday night and Chuck drive Tuesday morning.

Sunday morning I got to hang out with my best childhhood friend Haylan and she finally got to meet Cora!  It was so good to see her!  It was also able to go to sacrament meetin and see her family!

 Sunday night after we flew in (Cora was perfect on the plane, by the way!)  All of my mom's brother's and sister's (she is one of seven!) came to San Diego to spend some time together before Christmas!  I got to see some of my cousins that I haven't seen in forever!

On Monday we were to Coronado and spent the day there!  Since Cora was under a year old, the bike shop wouldn't let me get one with a seat for her, so she and I walked around by ourselves.

Cora in Coronado.

After the bike ride/walk we had lunch at a pizza place that served giant pizzas!  It was delicious!  After pizza we headed to Old Town San Diego. There are tons of fun little old-timey shops.  We got candy, and cream soda and my mom bought me one of those great Baja blankets.

The next day we headed to La Jolla so my family could go to the temple.  Cora and I went to a few stores across the street.  Once they were done we had lunch at Daphne's Greek Cafe.  We hung out at the hotel for a little while before heading to Oceanside harbor.

After the beach all the family that was still in town went to Olive Garden for dinner.  This is when Chuck finally got to town!  We missed him so much!

Christmas day we went to the San Diego Safari Park! This is the second time Cora has been to the zoo.  She loves riding in the stroller, even though she's not super into the animals yet.  

After the zoo we went to my grandparents house and Skyped with Maddy!  Can't wait for her to come home in May!  After we Skype we started our drive home.  Luckily it was late enough Cora slept the whole time.  Unitl next time California!

Cora - 21 weeks!

This last week for Cora has been a major developing stepping stone.  In two days she'll be 21 weeks old, and officially five months!  I can't believe have much she has changed and grown!  But we love her more and more every day.

About a week ago, Cora started rolling over from back to stomach!  It is so cute watching her bring her knees up and then just pushing herself over.  She is more smiley than ever.  Whenever someone greets her, she greets them back with the biggest smile!  She is so friendly!  Also, we saw a lady who's been taking lessons at the store for a while who was back in town for the winter, and when she started talking to Cora, she started laughing so hard!  Normally I can only get a little giggle out of her, but seriously it was the most adorable thing, but she hasn't done it since...  Cora has also started holding her bottle all by herself!  She can also put it back in if it falls out!  Okay, one last thing!  She can sit up all by herself!  (A little.)  She has to pretty far forward and she uses her hands to keep herself up, but she is balancing!  And!  She can finally reach her toes.  The best is when she has both feet in both hands.

Sorry, I just feel like I have to write this all down so I don't forget!

Other recent events though, our friends Caitlin and Tim and baby Olivia came down to Mesa to visit!  I wish we had been able to hang out with them more before they move to Idaho this week! :(  They stopped by our house for a little and then we headed down to the Mesa Temple to see the temple lights!  It seemed like they had way more than last year, it was amazing!  This is Chuck and my fifth December seeing the temple lights together!

Last night, we also got our first Christmas tree!  We've been married three and a half years and we've never had one before!  We got a 5" Noble Fir.  We love the spaced out branches.  It something totally different than the trees we both had growing up.  We've also never really had decorations before, so we (I) got to go to Target and get a few.  We both love how festive our house is now!  Clovis LOVES the tree.  Its fun watching him circle and smell it and try to rub his face against the branches.

I have been checking flights every other day, waiting for them to go down so we can try to go to Colorado for Christmas.  We've spent it with Chuck's family the last two years and I really wanted to try to fly there Christmas day since Chuck's family celebrates the 24th.  But, my mom said they might go to California this year!  So fingers crossed we get a Cali-Christmas with my family!

Cora - 20 Weeks Old!