{A Magical Christmas}

Is there a better way to spend our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. then in NYC the week before the holidays, followed by an AMAZING week spent at home in Utah with my incredible family and friends? I think not. Nope. Heck no. Negativo.

It was such a great opportunity for Cam and I to be able to meet my parents out in NYC to watch them appear on the Today Show, for 4Life's wonderful donation to Toys-for-Tots. Cam and I were able to head out there a few days earlier than them, and enjoy the beautiful city that never sleeps! We had so much fun, and honestly.. we could easily move there! If.. we had the money, and a reason.. I guess those are 2 pretty important factors! It's just such a different, amazing feeling being in that city- like no other city. We were on our feet all day everyday, trying not to let a minute go to waste while we were there! We explored the island of Manhattan from uptown to downtown.

We saw Wicked on Broadway, as well as Phantom of the Opera. They were both absolutely incredible! I think our favorite was going to the Radio City Rockettes show, with my parents. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, on the verge of tears! I hope one day our whole family will be able to go back and see that amazing show- the kids would absolutely LOVE it! We had the opportunity to go onto the set of the Today Show, and meet Kathie Lee and Hoda, as my parents appeared on the show. My parents did an exceptional job on the show, I was so proud! It was so fun watching the whole thing behind the scenes! It's crazy how the set is SO much smaller than it looks on TV. What an amazing trip that will forever be cherished!

Cam posing for all to see :)

It had officially been 3 months (yeah well- it seems like a long time to me) since I had been home in Utah- and let's just say it felt SO good to see all of my family! I went a week earlier than Cam, so he could finish working for the week- and I could spend more time with the fam. It was so great to see the little kiddies, and my family and friends. What a wonderful Christmas- spent up at the cabin. Who would've thought Santa would even come THERE?! He sure did.. pulled up on a snowmobile! Dang straight, we don't mess around! I miss mom's Italian sodas, and Tanya and Jon's music, and chaos with so many people and kids, and riding the snowmobiles through those beautiful aspens, and riding in the toboggan, and having precious Norah following me around, and seeing the kids priceless faces as Santa came in, and sledding for hours at a time, making human trains! YOU know WHO you ARE!
                                              

                                             

                                                

 Nev made for such a beautiful baby Jesus!

 Cam couldn't get over how awesome Norah looked in her snow suit!

 Tis the season!

 Nothing like mom and dad tipping the snowmobile with all of us in the toboggan! haha awesome.

 Norah was outside for hours throwing snow for Dolce.

 We tried our big long train... sometimes we failed, ha!

 Best part is.. we ALL made it safely and in one piece down the hill this time!

We missed Cam's family during Christmas too! I just wish we could all live in the same place, and everyone could be 5 minutes from each other! We feel so blessed to have such incredible, fun, adventurous, nerdy, amazing people in our lives. Let's be honest- we have the best families IN the world! Cam and I wish all the blessings in the world and beyond- to you and your families this new year!

{"It's Not Christmas if The Snow Don't Fall".. or is it?}

I have to take a moment to say how grateful I am to have been a part of this amazing project. It was a life changing experience gong to audition in Italy, and meeting such amazing people and lifetime friends. What is even better, is that all of the videos are FREE for all to see (I'm a poet.. yes) on Lds.org! It was so fun filming, and more than anything- I was able to gain a better knowledge of the New Testament, and of our Savior.

As Colbie Caillat says in her Christmas song, "It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall.." it has been extremely strange having it be December, and beachy as ever! I'll admit, it's been a little home..sickness-y.. (That's definitely not grammatically correct) not being in Utah during this time, but we will be there so soon for Christmas! It has been SO much fun having our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, and making memories of this incredible experience. We have had so much fun decorating our home for Christmas! Halloween has always been my holiday, but I can't deny how I will just sit and stare at our AWESOME Christmas Tree.. (A REAL one, I might add). I try to write down and take pictures of everything, because I know we will look back at this time, as we create traditions and make mistakes on the way. I'm so thankful for this wonderful time of the year, and for all of Y•O•U who show Cam and me LOVE!

This was at our Thanksgiving dinner with Cam's family, and Uncle Johns dog Rippie! HA! no no no..

 Here are some pictures of Christmas time at the Harris home .. ha!

 

                             

I totally copied my sister in law on this banister idea! Thanks Carly ;)

{Halloween and Things}

Well, I have quite the update of what's been going on out here. We have been so pleased to have several guests this past couple of weeks. First, Matt and Kaylynne (my brother and his wife) came and spent the weekend with us. It was so good to see them, and to have our first official visitors! We had a lot of fun together. Cam and I made them crepes on Saturday morning, of course. We are addicted to our new crepe maker. Later, we all went to the San Diego Zoo. It was so much fun! The only Zoo I've ever been to is the Hogal Zoo, which- don't get me wrong, is pretty SWEET! HOWEVER, this zoo is incredible! I saw things I seriously didn't even know existed! HA. My favorite was the panda bear. It truly was Jack Black in real life! KUNG FU PANDA. I am completely convinced that movie is real life, after watching this panda.

We had a lot of fun with Matt and K, but the goodbyes are always not so fun :( This last weekend, my sister Jenna came to visit. Let me just say- Every Halloween, we always dominate in costumes, right?..right?! Well, last year we (surprisingly) pulled off Barbie & Ken. This year, well- we went a different direction.. with Jen added into the mix! Us 3 went up to Disneyland for "Mickey's Halloween Party." First off, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is awesome! So much fun- and since they only give out a certain amount of tickets for each night, there are literally, ZERO lines! Best part, you get free candy(trick or treating) and you get to dress up! We, 3 fully grown adults (who knows how true that is) had WAY too much fun dressing up at Disneyland and PARTYING WITH MICKEY and friends! This is a must needed tradition from now on. WHO'S IN?

What a fun Halloween! right? Well we had so much while Jen was in town. The night before she flew in, Cam set up a "wall shelf" that I got from IKEA in the guest bedroom. I was so excited to put some books and decorations in it so it'd look nice when Jen came! So I did.. and Jen thought it looked so good (at least I think she did.) So, the first night she slept in our guest room, she took an ambien to help her get to sleep. So, she comes up to my room the next morning with a puzzled look on her face. She says, "So, I don't know what happened.. I mean I must have done it during the night, you know I sometimes do crazy things when I take ambien.." I'm thinking WHAT THE HECK did you do? ".. I completely re-arranged your shelf." What the? Seriously? "..Everything is moved around and the "LOVE" letters are rearranged. I somehow nailed the 'L' and the 'O' up on the wall." OK, I'm seriously thinking 2 things- either, our house is haunted! Or somebody came into our house last night. So we go downstairs, and when I see it.. I start laughing my head off, I couldn't even tell her why I was laughing, I was laughing so hard. She didn't realize that it was a "Wall" shelf, and it had fallen off of the wall onto the floor, so everything moved around. We were laughing so hard. Good times, good times.

Again, we made lots of yummy crepes and had a great time at the beach 3 days in a row. Every day we were there, the dolphins were feeding on the sardines right on the shore, and so we got to watch them swim up and down the shoreline! It was truly magical.. I've never seen anything like it.

So.. if any of you want to come and visit- We promise you CREPES.. Lots and lots of yummy, fresh fruit filled CREPES :) How could you resist?


HALLOWEEN NIGHT.

Well, it was a Halloween I've never experienced before! HA. Cam and I dressed up in our skeleton morphsuits, and I totally decked the house out- hoping we would have trick or treaters. At least one or two, right? WELL.. we didn't get any, but we definitely made it a night to remember, by screaming off the balcony telling kids to come, smoking the whole house up with the smoke machine until the fire alarm went off.. (literally, we had to rip it off the wall to stop.) Happy Halloween :)

Cam ordered some new Allen Edmonds shoes about a month or so ago, and has been so excited to get them in the mail! They finally came yesterday, and while he was at work he probably texted me at least 4 or 5 times through out the day asking about them and wanting a picture of them. I told him he can see them when he gets home! So, I had the Box they came in on the couch, so he could see it right when he walked in. Of course he went straight for the box, only to see it was empty! There was a little note inside that read, "Clue #1".. I had about 5 or 6 clues around the house that finally lead up to his precious shoes.

I thought it was funny :)

Sorry so long! I need to post more often.