Moffat Party

Steve is a good friend from high school. Actually he and Brent have known each other since elementary school. He and his new wife, Kim, just got married in August and they live in Chicago. They are here for a few days so Steve's parents had people over last night to see them. It was fun. We got to talk a bit with Steve and catch up some.

Steve and Kim

Ryan and Heather are finally engaged! He asked her in October and they are planning a July wedding in Puerta Villarta, Mexico! Fun! It was great to see them.

The Scotts entertained Brent and I for over an hour. They are quite a pair. Scott Felix and Scott Moffat. Scott Felix is quite into politics it seems and was telling us all about the different candidates. It was interesting to listen to what he knows about them all since we really don't know much at this time. He had a lot of good things to say and think about.

Christmas Time...

The photos are in and there is no changing it now... but these events are in backward order. Oh well. First is Christmas Eve at the Zakaryan house. When we arrived we found that the "King of Display" and USC had done it again! This USC flag donned the front of the Zakaryan's house accompanied by nothing short of flashing red (cardinal) and yellow (gold) lights. We were truly amazed!

The house was beautiful on the inside, all decorated for Christmas!

Here is the train set mentioned in the last post... don't miss the black and white photos of Ted as a child playing with this very same train! Like I said..."King of Display!"

Also... don't miss the large Clifford on the fireplace. Ted thought putting a Santa hat on him would be festive. It was!

We enjoyed a lovely meal complete with Jill's cupcakes and peppermint ice cream!

And here is have the crowd favorite in the Zakaryan household... MOLLY!

Train conductor Ted tried on his hat for us all!

When left on his own this is how I find Brent most of the time these days... he loves that game.

Before Christmas eve we had the Barnes/Fullmers/Stromback's annual Christmas party! It was fun again this year. We played lots of Wii, ate a delicious meal, played Bocce, and of course, CATCH PHRASE!

Duncan and Aunt Gena

Aunt Mickey and Paige

Gma June and Brooke

Dad and Steph

B, Michele, Paige, Duncan and Brent

Self portrait of mom and me.

Chris Barnes... WOW!

Another self portrait... yes, that is chocolate on his mouth. I guess he was saving it for later!

Before that was the whole Zakaryan clan at Petrelli's in LA for dinner! It was a great night... we enjoyed seeing everyone and seeing Grandma Jo. She is always the highlight!

Happy Ted with his familia!

Gma Jo with her grandkids!

Brent's aunt Jeannine and her cousin, Val

Happy Grandma Jo... even with Gabe's hand in the way. She loved being all together with her beautiful family!


And to start it all off was the FIVE CROWNS... that started off our Christmas celebration on the Friday before. The carolers are always a highlight at this place. They are amazing!

Dad telling elaborate stories per usual!

We are all so happy to have Todd home for the holidays! It has been wonderful to spend some time with him!! We got to have him spend the night after this dinner. We spent Saturday just hanging out with him. It was a really good time to reconnect!

Sadly, I didn't take any pics on Christmas Day... I know, what was I thinking?? But it was an awesome day. We just relaxed and hung out all day. It was truly enjoyed by all. I hope everyone reading this long post had a blessed and wonderful Christmas!

Christmas...

No pictures yet but I just wanted to say that we had a most enjoyable Christmas this year! We spent Christmas eve with the Zakaryans at their house. We had a yummy dinner and opened gifts with them. I loved watching them open the gifts we had for them. And, as always, they were so generous to us. Brent loves his new crocs! He has worn them a TON already. And I got a beautiful new jacket from Banana Republic!! We watched some "Planet Earth" with them that night and just hung out around the Christmas tree. Ted had his childhood train set up around the tree this year. It was all decked out with photos of him playing with the train as a child. Photos are in black and white. It was a wonderful evening.

Christmas morning we spent with the Strombacks. We ate a yummy breakfast, all my favs... egg and sausage casserole and home made coffee cake. It was great. Then we sat in the living room and opened gifts with them. Todd received an iPhone which he was elated about. Brent and I got the fancy blender we wanted and Grandma June loved the tickets to see "Forever Plaid" that we got her. We are taking her to the Curtain Call theater in Tustin some time in January to see the show. She is looking forward to it already. :) That was a fun gift to give. We spent the afternoon playing with new toys and with the Wii. My dad and brother have gotten to the professional levels for bowling and now their characters have fancy bowling balls with stars on them. It's so funny!

All in all we truly enjoyed the times with our families. It is SO nice to slow down and just hang out together. I can't express how thankful I am for that this year. Christmas was once again really nice and slow for me, the way it used to be. And I loved it. Pics coming soon...

Love to all our friends and family that will be reading this. We are thankful for you.

Merry Christmas to all...

I have been getting some complaints from our fans because I have not posted a new blog in several weeks. I know, it's sad when this happens. But life has been busy and I've been trying to take it easy and enjoy Christmas time. I made a point of getting all my shopping done early this year so that I could really enjoy gift giving, spending time with people, really talking, and soaking it all in. And it has been great! Truly. I just love Christmas time. Our house is all decorated and I love that. Here is our tree...Funny story about the tree... Brent went by himself to get it this year. And, thinking that we spent about $40 last year he went to the 6'-7' trees that were selling for $40. He forgot that we have 10' ceilings and a 6' tree looks really silly in the room. We had a good laugh about it when he brought it in and it was shorter than him. So... we got a big bucket and put it on top so that it is a little taller! And it looks great and has been really fun to put gifts under!

We've gotten to see some friends over the holidays and enjoy our decorated house.
It has been really fun so far.

Another fun event was the Lindamood-Bell Christmas party! we had it at my parents house again this year. We ate Maggiano's, participated in a cookie decorating contest, tried to guess between two truths and a lie for each co-worker, and did a white elephant gift exchange. It was a blast and my parents house looked amazing for Christmas!

This is Katie and Peter, the just got engaged a couple of days before the party. We are all so excited for them!!

Dan, Brent and Josh were the judges for the cookie contest... it took them some time to deliberate!!

In the end it was Nursery Rhyme - Humpty Dumpty that won 1st prize! (Kim, Brittany and Matt)

The "Let it Snow" folks won 2nd place

"California Dreamin'" took 3rd

Then "Jingle Bells"

And bringing up the rear was "Cookie Monster", which all agreed was a bad theme and hard to do!

Shannon Cobb Miller, Matt Miller (her new husband), Sean and Shannon Viney

Alison and her fiance, Seth and Kellye (our new receptionist!!) and her husband Ronnie

The gift exchange was great, Sean won this beautiful patent leather bag from H&M. He and Shannon are now using it as a lunch bag. :) Sean is considering using it as his new man bag!

One of the highlights for me was getting to see the Korhonens!! I miss Cayce since she is on leave! And, they brought Lola who is just adorable. Look at her! She was really sweet, I got to hold her for a long long time while mommy and daddy ate their dinner. And then she slept for a while. She was so good! Those Korhonen's have the best kids.

All in all, Christmas time has been wonderful so far. I've gotten to spend quite a bit of time with my mom, shopping and hanging out. I will post some more pics of other Christmas time things once I download them from my camera. I hope all are enjoying the season as we reflect on the birth of Christ. What an amazing decision God made to send his only son for us. Merry Christmas everyone!