A California Christmas

We spent Christmas in California with the Couch family and loved every second. We kicked off the festivities by celebrating my amazing mother-in-law's birthday with a tasting party. We are so grateful for her and all she does for our family. We love you, Gale! 

We loved spending time with our family especially cute Tate & Bailey and Ben & Ella. They are so cute together. We packed it all in... "Snowball fights", Christmas caroling, Christmas lights, Christmas cookie decorating, gingerbread house making, arcade games, card games, and hot tubbing. Such a fun Christmas together! 

Christmas morning is so much more fun with these little guys! 

A grown-up briefcase for Kevin! 

Kevin is always full of surprises! 

And then there was the post-Christmas morning bb-gun shooting contest. 

We also got to see the Cameron Park gang. We love getting together with this group. Wish we saw each other more! Thanks for hosting Kirstin and Russell! 

We love being home in California. It never disappoints! Thanks for all the fun! 

TWO.

We just celebrated our second anniversary! Where has the time gone? I couldn't be more happier that I married this incredible man. It's been the best two years of my life and I can't wait for all that's to come in the years ahead. I love you, Kevin! 

 We ate at the Spindletop Restaurant downtown with the very best view of the city. (My iPhone pics just don't do it justice.)

Flashback to that one time I was a bride...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We are well past the Christmas festivities, but before we ran off for our holiday vacations, we enjoyed all things Christmas in Houston. 

Our little Charlie Brown tree.

Decorating sugar cookies! 

Christmas lights in River Oaks with the Clarks! 

Our a adorable primary did a little Christmas program at a retirement home. 

Thanksgiving

My sweet grandmother passed away a few days before Thanksgiving, so we flew out to Utah for the funeral. It was such a nice time being reunited with all of my family and remembering the life of this incredible woman. I am grateful for her and the time we got to spend together, especially within the last few years. She is such a great example to me and though I know I will be reunited with her again, I will miss her dearly.  

Though it was under such sad circumstances that we were gathered, it was nice to have Thanksgiving all together. It was Jason's 30th birthday as well, so we did double the eating. I'm so grateful for this family of mine (and the one I married into), the happiness they bring into my life, and that I can be with them forever. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude as I think of all that I've been blessed with. So much to be thankful for.

Halloween 2013

This Halloween, we had a fun night with friends enjoying delicious chili, scary treats, and games. Thanks for planning it Mariah and Emily! I loved being a "Kevin" for the night, and the real Kevin loved that his scout uniform and backpack were all that was required for him this year. ;) We were pretty surprised to win the costume contest, though it did come out later that someone thought we were going with a bald eagle theme? :)  Either way, I still loved being Russell and Kevin from UP. October has been so busy, so we were happy to end the month in true Halloween spirit. We love Halloween, but we have moved on quickly because Christmas is already arriving in this town! Yay! 

Thanks for all the fun Holdens, Rogers, Youngs, Porters, and Mackays! 

Happy Halloween from Russell and Kevin! 

First Visitors

This past weekend, Kevin's parents came to visit us. We have been looking forward to this for a while and were so happy to spend time with them. We got to show them around our new city and even do some new things we haven't done yet. We loved having you, Bill and Gale! Come again soon! 

If you've ever flown into George Bush, you know you're a nobody until you get a sign with your name on it as you come down into baggage claim... so we welcomed Bill and Gale with their very own sign... And chips, apparently :) 

NASA for the day. So incredible!

Dinner on the Kemah boardwalk.

Remote control airplane park. This may be a new weekend tradition. The tiniest little jets in the sky! 

Blue Bell Factory