There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

"Bryce was still practice-less to begin with"

If our life were the Christmas Carol it would begin like this.  Bryce got a part-time job associating at an office in Carlsbad twice a week.  However we are still searching to find a practice to buy or join for a long-term basis.  Everyday Bryce or I will turn to the other and say "What are we going to do with our life.?"  Oh well. Despite the unknown future we have been enjoying the Christmas season in California.

Dallin is going through a REALLY frustrating phase in which he is always trying to escape out the front door and sit in the middle of the street outside my parents house.  This is really scary for me because when you live in a house in which 7 adults are in constant states of coming and going it is hard to keep track of the door being shut.  We have had a few scares in which the door hasn't been shut entirely and Dallin has been sitting in the middle of the road.  Ahhhhh!

Our big welcome to the "overpriced-ness" in Cali was going to the mall.  We wanted to get the boys' picture with Santa (thus the matching outfits).  However we were informed the instant I snapped this picture that phones and camera's were not allowed in the North Pole premises and if we wanted pictures we could buy a package for $29.99.  Bah Humbug.

 Bryce was happy because he got to go the Poinsettia Bowl with the Donaldson clan.  The boys and I stayed home but we did proudly sport our BYU attire.  I think this contributed to the Coug's triumph.

 Dallin and Quin loved the Christmas tree.  In fact they loved everything about this season.  It was really fun with Quin this year because he was so caught up in the magic of everything.  In fact we are still singing "We wish you a Merry Christmas" before bed every night and are already talking about Santa's next visit on Jesus's birthday next year.

 Above is a picture of Dallin when he successfully sneaked out of the house and sat himself on the sewer in the middle of the street on Christmas Eve.  Luckily he did not suffer the same fate as many deer who find themselves in the middle road during the winter....

 Christmas morning was fun.  I think the picture above sum's up Dallin and Quin's morning.  Dallin was just happy exploring the ripped paper and fun toys while Quin was focused on opening each of his gifts as fast as possible.

This year the boys and I did "12 Days of Christmas crafting" and gave our crafts away to family members on Christmas morning.  It was fun to see how proud Quin was of each of the creations he gave away.  I liked this pic of Grammie with her Santa.  It was a good way of encouraging the spirit of giving rather than just receiving.

The Last Consecutive Date Date of My Life

I really wanted to do a post on 12-12-12 because the man at Budget Truck rental told me it would be the last consecutive date of my life.  So for this eventful date I will tell you the recent events of our life.

We moved to California.  The move down was awful!  It took 2 trucks and 2 cars filled to the brim to get us and our stuff down here.  If I were to do it again, I think I would just sell everything.  It is a pain to move that much stuff.  Especially since we moved it 4 more times since getting to California.

Move 1:  To a storage unit
Move 2:  Into a guesthouse of the dentist we were going to be partnering with
Move 3:  Back to the storage unit.  The job opportunity we came down for didn't end up working out.  Some changes were made to the final contract and we didn't feel comfortable signing it anymore.  Now we are back to looking for a job, which leads us to...
Move 4:  Into my parents house.  We selected a few articles of clothing and toys and have moved in with my parents.  So glad they were there for us with open arms!

Sometimes when I start feeling sad that things didn't work out with the job and that I moved away from a house that I love, I pinch myself and say "You are in Southern California!  There is no snow outside" or I think "At least there are palm trees outside your storage unit" and I start feeling a little better.

Hopefully we will know what we will be doing in the future, but until then we will just put our faith in Heavenly Father and His plan for us and enjoy the last consecutive date of our life.