Our big Christmas present this year was a Boxer puppy-

Meet little miss ZEETA

I feel like I’ve just had another baby that I have to raise and train {*doh} 

The kids love her though- and she loves to play with them!  

 Ellie is obsessed with the cage– {I have to keep rescuing her when she gets to this part }

 She’s definitely been a lot of work– {and tiki hates her- not sure how were gonna overcome that} but she sure is cute and sweet!

So in December we got to go on our first Cruise! {which also marks one off of my 30 before 30 list!}

We went for 10 days to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo Mexico- It was tons of fun!

 The first day we were able to spend in California– {it was nice to have nothing to do for once!}

I loved being on the ship- It was so so nice to not have to worry about where we were gonna stay or what we were gonna eat– just relax and do whatever we pleased {also the no kids to keep track of was sweet!–I will admit we missed them terribly though– life would not be the same without them and I would always choose a life with them!}

We went to Cabo first and {holy cow all the people– both me and Dave don’t do well with big crowds especially vendors saying -”Hey mister hey mister I make you a sweet deal”– kinda felt a little stressful– I guess we’re not to adventurous :) 

I loved all the boats though they were kinda cool 

 We were in search of a Mnt. Dew and do you know what– it is very hard -almost impossible- to find Mountain Dew in Mexico?! I mean who knew Dave definitely had a bit of Mt. Dew withdrawals.

 My parents went with us– and they made it lots of fun!

 We of course had the towel animals– but I’ll admit I didn’t know what they were half the time {any guesses on this one?}

 Puerto Vallarta was beautiful too! I loved the greenery!

 We definitely did not introduce the fingers- I’m sure they’d be gone if ya did

 The ship had a Water-slide which was tons of fun to play on!

  *I love my sexy man

 And we had the formal nights- which was fun to get to actually wear my heels! 

 Dave would always try the crazy stuff { these are Frog Legs} 

I stuck with the good stuff {Steak every night- yes please!}

and chocolate melting cake {ohhhhhhhhh yyyuuuuuuummmmmmm!}

I loved just relaxing feeling the sun and chilling on the deck– The sunsets were always great to watch 

 I won’t lie though– we were very homesick for our kids by the time we got back to California

 I think they missed us too, they had a made a cute banner for us!

Hopefully we’ll get to go on a cruise again sometime– I’m hoping for the Caribbean next time

Yay! Yay! Yay! It literally took me a year to get my family pictures scheduled–

I scheduled with a photographer in the spring and whatever could go wrong went wrong after two reschedules the last one because Ellie got Roseola she gave up on me and I never heard back :( 

Dave was pushing the idea of using a tripod {ugh- they never seem to turn out very good} and I was looking for another photographer to possibly do trades with {I take her family- she takes mine} Found one and the timing was not working out So than I scheduled with another photographer who seemed eager and I hoped would do a good job! And than guess what happens- I get contacted by the other photographer willing to trade pics and this time it’s gonna work- So I had to get back to other photographer and cancel {felt very bad about that} So now you understand the Yay! We finally took some Family’s Pics! what a hassle!

We had the wonderful Andy with {andykayphotography}take our pictures!

I really wanted some of Me and Dave considering we only really have a very small few of us together- and what can I say I love the man

 
I’m excited to hang some of these in our bedroom when our house is finally finished.
I was also very glad for a nice picture for our Christmas Card this year