Roth Randoms - December

As the year draws to a close, I think we've all finally settled into our new routines and surroundings! Both girls love living in Arizona and being so close to family. They play with their cousins here at least once a week if not two or three times and have averaged seeing Nana and Papa every two weeks in the last four months!! Jordan had a really good experience at his externship site this semester and got to see a lot of patients, which was a welcome change after spending the summer at SCO :) And I'm finally starting to feel like myself again after so many months of being sick!!! We did a lot more projects in December and started going on outings like the library and Children's Museum again like we used to do in Memphis. Reagan continues to grow and progress nicely. All in all, we had a great month and a great year!

Not many pictures this month since there were so many other posts with pictures, but here you go!

 I came out to the living room one Saturday morning to find our two cute girls sitting on Daddy watching cartoons while he caught a little more sleep :)

Wearing Mommy's boots (and like 14 shirts)

Jordan is always begging the girls to snuggle with him! I'm not much of a cuddler but he totally is - he says it's why he wants another baby so bad because the girls don't really snuggle with him anymore. McKinley willingly took a nap with him one day though. 

Side Note: You can see McKinley's bink in this picture but she actually stopped using it in December. We were going to take it away from her after Christmas, but our very first day in California, she bit through the only one we had left so she had to go without it earlier than planned. I was worried she'd be a mess the whole week since she's very attached to it for naps and bedtime, but thankfully, we were so busy, she was exhausted every night and went to sleep fine without it! It did mean the end of naptime though. Now, she'll only sleep during the day if she falls asleep in the car or sometimes she'll randomly fall asleep on the couch around 5 pm, which is always fun. But she won't willingly lay down for a nap anymore :( Just another sign that she's not my baby anymore!

We went to a really cool cul-de-sac to look at Christmas lights one evening. EVERY house was insanely decorated and one even let you walk through their backyard, which was set up like Bethlehem. We were also very impressed at all the light displays in the neighborhood around our house. We enjoyed going out to look at lights several nights.

Papa and two cute girls after Church

Just because she's cute :)

California Randoms

Just a few random shots from our California trip ...

Snuggling with Grandpa

Hot tub time! Good thing I'm not the jealous type ;)

We went to the beach almost every day we were there. The day after Christmas, we found this sand snowman, which the girls thought was pretty awesome!

We also drove up to the Los Angeles temple one night to look at the lights. My family was sealed here over 20 years ago so it's a special place for me. The lights were beautiful, and the Visitors Center had a lot of fun exhibits!

One day, I was out with Madison while she rode her scooter and we ended up down at the beach. We stayed there for about two hours, just the two of us. It was fun to spend time with just her! It doesn't happen very often. After a while, I started to feel bad that I hadn't told Jordan where we were and didn't have my phone with me. We turned around to leave and found Jordan and McKinley sitting on a bench right behind us! They had set out looking for us and eventually McKinley fell asleep so Jordan was just sitting there letting her nap on his shoulder waiting for us to come over :) We stayed for the rest of the afternoon as a family and had a lot of fun!!

We went back the next morning before we left, and they were having a little youth surfing competition. That alone was entertaining to watch, but it was made even more fun by a harbor seal that decided to show off his surfing skills just a few feet off shore! It was kind of magical and a perfect end to the week! It was definitely hard to leave and head back to reality!

Beach Babes

We had the fantastic opportunity to spend the week of Christmas with my Dad in California!! It's been a long long time since I've been with my Dad on Christmas Day, and he was so excited to have us and get to share the fun with the grandkids! We drove out there on Sunday afternoon (just a nice little six-hour trip from Phoenix) and then hit the beach on Monday! Obviously, it was too cold to swim but the girls (and their mom) love the ocean and had fun running around on the beach and putting their feet in the water. The weather was beautiful!

This picture was taken at the end of the Huntington Beach pier, outside Ruby's, which is a must when we visit! We have several pictures in this exact spot spanning the 6+ years of our marriage, from when it was just Jordan and I to when Madison was only a couple months old and so on until now, 24 weeks pregnant with our third baby! It's fun to look at all of them and see how much we've changed and our family has grown!

The Main Event aka Christmas

Christmas was had. It was wonderful! The girls were thrilled with all their presents and so happy that Santa found them at Grandpa's house! They spent the afternoon going in circles around the block on their new bike and scooter! It was a fun full day with family!

'Twas the night before Christmas

Looks like Santa got it right!

The girls both got Frozen nightgowns ... when Madison opened hers, she said "Yes! It's just what I've always wanted!"

The girls made cards for Grandpa, and we gave him picture magnets that I made

Helping Mom with my big present - a new body pillow!!

McKinley insisted on wearing everything that she got, including her new pants and sweatshirt from Grandpa, her Frozen nightgown, her backpack and even her bike helmet at one point

The girls got a Frozen castle from Grandpa!

Jordan and Stephanie hard at work putting together the castle!