Christmas in California

We spent Christmas for the 2nd time in California and it was soooo FUN! Since the majority of his Immediate family lives in California it is very hard for us to get to spend time with them however the past 2 Christmas' we have been able to spend in California. Kip's mom and dad are leaving for a mission on Monday January 12th to the Mexico City, Mexico temple mission and we got to spend their last week with them at home. We packed up and left Tuesday December 23rd with his 87 year old grandma and drove what should have been a 12 hour trip in 16 hours. The roads were horrible and very icy, we saw around 15 car accidents some of which happened right in front of us. It was crazy but we finally arrived safely there. His brother and his wife, Aaron and Kristy were kind enough to let us stay with them the week and 1/2 we were there in California (Thank you, Christensen family!!!) We had so much fun with them and they treated so well! We spent Christmas morning with them and enjoyed watching the little ones open up their Christmas gifts. Although we were there 1 and 1/2 weeks we didn't spend as much time with everyone as we would have liked. Time seems to go by so fast and before you know it, it's time to go home. We enjoyed family parties, movies, games, tennis, basketball, moving, cleaning, warm weather, yummy food and good company. I loved getting to know his family a little better and seeing how much the kids had all grown up! We are excited for our new little California neice or nephew who will be coming soon!

We had the opportunity to go to the Fresno temple with his parents one last time before they left and it was so neat to be able to do that! We will really miss his parents but know they are off to do bigger and better things!