Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! I can't believe I have managed to keep this blog going consistently for an entire year.  It's that time where I get to reflect back on this past year.  2012 was one of the most challenging years I've had so far financially (and therefore emotionally).  Husband-face and I both faced long stretches of unemployment and if it weren't for our savings account we may have lost our home. While this was definitely one of the most stressful things I have had to go through this challenge taught me a lot and gave me some much needed down time.  I learned to live on a very frugal budget (this coming from a person with a severe addiction to shoe shopping). I also was able to take two amazing trips and spend some quality time with my nieces and nephew (who I obviously adore).  I look forward to 2013: the travel I have planned, the new job challenges and my continued quest towards living a healthier, greener and more compassionate life (hippie). 

Tonight I look forward to indulging and celebrating with some of my closest friends.  I'm ready for tomorrow's hangover, bring it on!  From me and mine to you and yours, cheers!

And here are some photos of my holiday season so far (there's still one night left!).  I guarantee these won't get scrapped until June 2013.

Happy Birthday husband face!

The Festival of Lights at the Del Mar Racetrack

Christmas Eve antics, the double salmon

Christmas Day with our nephew

Could she be any cuter?

MJ got her own bear

Oh  Jeffrey Campbell how I love you, especially when you adorn my feet

Kid Wine!

Yep, the cutest

Emmett & Milo - The best part of this photo is my sister chugging wine in the background

Lake Arrowhead Camping

Back in September (my last month of unemployment) husband-face and I took one last summer camping trip up near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernadino Mountains.  We stayed at Dogwood Campground.  The setting was beautiful and the campground was huge but all of the sites were very close together so you didn't have much privacy.  We ended up hanging out with our neighbors and playing drinking games both nights. When we go back up we'll probably try to find a campground that's a little quieter as this place had screaming kids everywhere.  The neighbors to our other side had so many people and were so incredibly loud that it made for a not particularly peaceful camping experience.  But I guess that's what you get when you car camp, and I am not the backpacking type.

We did a couple of hikes in an attempt to find water to swim in (it was HOT). Our first attempt to find the waterfall at Heart Rock was fruitless as there was no water running (though we did find Heart Rock).  So we too a drive and found our way to Aztec Falls.  The water was low but it was running.  When it is rushing and the water levels are higher it's apparently a great cliff jump. We will definitely go back here and make a day of it with a picnic at the swimming hole next year.

A Summer Visit

When you're lucky enough to live by the beach people tend to want to come visit you.  That includes my parents who make it out to visit 2 or 3 times every year.  Their visits usually include a lot of beach time, eating at all their favorite San Diego restaurants and my father teaching his grandchildren to say and do inappropriate things. We had an added bonus this year, my brother quit his job to travel (JEALOUS) so he was able to bring his new girlfriend out to meet everybody.

A Road Trip (that I wasn't on)

This past summer my sister and her beautiful family took a 3 week long road trip up the west coast.  They drove from San Diego all the way up to Washington and back.  And because her kids are so disgustingly cute and they were in gorgeous scenic places a lot of awesome photos came from the trip.  Seriously, they're the most photogenic family on earth...just look.

My favorite little goof

What kid sleeps in a bathtub?

My beautiful sister and brother-in-law