Bubba and I both win!

When I was pregnant with Gigi, Stephen and I made a bet over her gender. She was sure she was a girl and I was sure she was a boy. In the bet we agreed that if I was right I would get a Coach diaper bag and if Stephen was right he would get a new big screen t.v.. Well this Christmas season I got the bag for Christmas and Stephen and I agreed there may be no better time for our family than now to buy a new t.v.. So it took us two years longer than we thought it would and we now have one of each children but we finally both won!

Christmas in Las Vegas

Daddy and Gigi on a camp out in the downstairs living room. They needed camp out food so we went and got Wendy's. They played and watched movies for awhile and I wrapped presents upstairs. Then Gigi missed her momma and came home early from the camp out and we all ended up having a sleepover in mommy's bed.
I could not have been more thrilled to stay home this Christmas. I was worn out and the thought of celebrating the holidays at my own home sounded lovely. Of course it is never Christmas without our families to share it with and 75-80 degree weather. It looks like Christmas on t.v. when I watch movies in snowy places but if I want that really Christmas feeling it needs to be warms and sunny with palm trees wrapped in lights. So we put up our tree and decorated the house and played Christmas with out little family. Gigi's favorite things this year include the choo choo on our tree. She loves trains and so she watches Polar Express daily, we took her to the Magical Forest so that she could ride a train, she wants to watch her train on the tree (luckily we found one that mounts into the tree so I got to determine how often it is turned on, it is a little loud.). She also learned how to say Santa and recognizes him and his hat. She kept saying "tanta hurry!" It was too cute. She also will put on Santa hats and then say "ho ho ho!" I figured out that came from the Polar Express. These babies are so impressionable. Well Santa did hurry and brought her a great kitchen and a stocking full of candy that she loved emptying out and putting in her kitchen. She also received very nice gifts from her relatives and by the time we were almost finishing opening gifts she had met her limit. So it was good that Stephen and I decided not to over do the whole gift thing. She acts like such a big girl that I have to remind myself that she is still a baby. Stephen and I did pretty good this year too. :) It was a great Christmas and we were very blessed this year. What a different year 2010 was compared to 2009. We have truly seen miracles in our life.

Thanksgiving in Florida.

In November we decided to fly back to Florida to join with the rest of Stephen's family as they welcomed home David. David had been serving faithfully in the Monterrey Mexico Mission. We knew that with my pregnancy it would be pushing it to fly during Christmas so this seemed like a great opportunity to visit family and be a part of David's homecoming. We flew in on Tuesday before Thanksgiving and then spent the night with my parents. The next day we drove the big van that had been rented up to Stephen's parents and helped them get ready for the drive to Orlando. The only real problem we faced at this point in the trip was my swelling feet and ankles. Gigi did great on the flight out and the drive up. We had a seat for her on the plane and we brought her carseat with us. That was the best decision EVER! After Gigi and I took a trip to New Jersey in the summer I vowed I would never fly with her again unless...she had her own seat and another adult was with me. We met David at the airport and then we went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Orlando. It is kinda a family tradition to go to eat Vietnamese whenever we are in Orlando. It is delicious so I don't mind. We spent all day on Thursday at the Polk's helping put together our Thanksgiving feast. Stephen's mom is a great cook and she teaches me knew things about cooking every time we visit. This trip I learned about cloves and ham and how to catch carrots from the pot so they don't get too mushy. Beside all the great food and company my biggest highlight from this day was having good blood sugar and getting to go to the movies with my sweet husband. Stephen's mom got a babysitter for Quy and Gigi. I was very Thankful for that. Then on Friday we drove back down to my parents for the day. We had a big dinner with them and just kinda hung out. Stephen and I took advantage of babysitters again and went and saw Harry Potter that night. It was the 10:30 showing so granted I was exhausted but I took a nap during the first 15 minutes of the movie and apparently didn't miss too much. We stayed with my parents until Saturday afternoon and then drove back up to Vero Beach. David's homecoming was the next day and as it turned out we all played a part. David did very well with his talk as did Stephen, Myhoa and Big Stephen. It was really a blessing to be able to share in this special family time. It was also neat to hear David talk of his mission and watch as he struggled to speak English. After church we headed back down to my parents where we spent the next couple hours before we had to head to the airport. The flight home was not as good as the ones out but Gigi was such a trooper. She had a great time and though her schedule was off she stayed relatively pleasant the whole trip. Once we were back in Vegas it only took a couple days for my feet to go back to near the right size.