Christmas in California!

Christmas this year was especially awesome. My ENTIRE family was together in California at my parents house. And when my entire family gets together...it's a mad house, in a good way. It's safe to say we are all better friends than we were growing up and certain aspects of our personalities come out when we are together. Like how hilarious we are. The teasing is just about the same but the comebacks are waaaay better than they were when we were little. :) We all had so much fun together and we love each other to pieces. We don't get to get together like this ever because we all live so far away from each other. Being with my faimly is what inspires me to have a large family some day. It's so much fun having so many brothers and sisters! Here are the highlights. I know its picture overload but I had to get them all in. And the best mustache pictures  ever are at the end. To begin, this is us at a cupcake store in Santa Barbara called Whodiddily, it was darling and the cupcakes were to die for!

And here we are after a morning run at the beach. A workout doesn't get much better than that!!

We of course had to go see Breaking Dawn again. Still cheesy. Still love it.

Day at the playground. Yes, my sister and I are riding the springy horses and we almost made them touch the ground. Check me out.

 Swinging with Pop Pop

                                                             Buddy the Elf highlights.

 Above is me and my best friend from high school, Breanne. Her and I were inseparable. We've been through alot, including lots of boyfriends and breakups..... I'm pretty sure we've kissed a lot of the same boys too. Awkie!! :) She was there with me on a double date with my best friend Jordan when Michael and I hit it off. And was there through our whole dating life. I love her forever. It's been years since we've seen each other and yet it was as if no time had passed at all. We are such different people than we used to be yet totally the same?? If that makes sense. Friendships like that are rare.

 And this is my nephew James. He is my oldest brother Scotts baby so he's my first blood related nephew and he is to die for cute!

A day at the beach. This day was absolutely perfect! We went and set up chairs and the kids played in the sand and we hung out and talked the whole afternoon. Perfection!

Playing the dancing game on the Kennect. So fun. "Everyone has there own dance face."

The family talent show. Rylie played her Christmas songs on the piano.

                                                                    Dad juggled

 Scott, JeNae, Paul, and Christine busted out with a pre rehearsed dance they learned the week before we got together. Pretty clever!

Yet another perfect day at the beach. We were pretty much there every chance we could get. I miss it so much and I want my kids to appreciate it as well. I'm sure Liv's diaper appreciated all the sand that went down it. We watcher her pour an entire cup of sand into her mouth as well. Yum!

                                                                      Liv and James

My mom got Santa to come to her house and surprise the kids. They were totally shocked! He came and brought the jammies for that night, they were so excited!

 Rylie picked her outfit that day, just had to throw that out there. And Davis really was excited to see Santa, despite his special facial expressions in pretty much all the pictures with him.

Here is out ginger bread house we made. There was a competition between all the siblings and we didn't win but the kids don't know that. :)

Christmas morning. Trying to get the kids dressed for church when all they want to do is play with the toys Santa brought them was quite the task. I'm surprised we made it on time. These pictures required a lot of bribing for smiles and cooperation.

And this is what the family room looked like after all the presents were open. Love it.

Riding their new scooters

My sister Katie, me and sister-in-law Christine

                                                         Sooo, it's mustache Sunday. Didn't you get the memo?

 Trying to be as creepy as possible. My dads is obviously fake, Johns is flesh colored, but the rest is legitimate creepy facial hair.

Christmas dinner at the Tao house.

My little sister Jamie is going on a mission in February to Cleveland Ohio so we all got to go through the Temple with her. It was so awesome to all get to go through together. The first time ever this has happened. What a proud day for my parents! Holy Cow! It was so special and I'm so proud of my sister.

And that's the end of our Christmas adventure! It was so fun and went by way to fast. We also got some professional family pictures done, when I get those I'll post them. Here's to an awesome family and such a fun week with everyone!!

Nativity

 Found this darling little popsicle stick nativitys on Pintrest and did it with my kids today. They loved getting to play with paint!!

Haircut!

 I took Liv to Cookie Cutters today to get rid of the Mullet. I liked having it long to do piggies but the mullet was driving me crazy. I decided it was time to even things out. She looks darling!

I believe in Santa Claus

 This is one of my favorite Christmas books. I wanted to share it. It's called I believe in Santa Claus. It compares Santa to Christ, which is what Christmas is all about. It's a good way to help children understand what is important at Christmas. So scroll down and read the simple story. It's okay if you cry, I always do. :)