Christmas in California


oh christmas time, my favorite!! this time of year flew by faster than usual i swear. it's so hard for me to not get caught up in the craziness of the season. i think i'm going to start preparing for christmas in the summer this year so i can really relax, enjoy, and focus on the true meaning of christmas this year. it was such a fun time getting to see friends and family and i'm so grateful for the memories!
this was harley's first christmas with us and i may have gone a little overboard with the presents haha.   let's just say harley is definitely a fan of christmas haha. after kenneth finished finals, we headed up to georgia and spent a few days with my mom before we went to california. 
it was so great to see kenneth's family. last time we saw them was over a year ago! kenneth's school schedule is basically the odd ball out when it comes to breaks. so we didn't get to see any of his family last year. 

of course i was dying to see snow! all week long it was saying that it was going to snow on christmas eve and i tried to not get my hopes up but i was so so so hoping it would! well... it didn't. sad day. but the nice thing about my inlaws house is that they live in the mountains so you can just drive up a bit and find yourself some snow. which is exactly what we did :)
on the drive up, my niece quincy was saying how it looked like a snow globe and i couldn't agree more! pretty sure everyone thinks i'm crazy with my love for the snow. but when you grow up in georgia, snow is the most magical thing! we would be lucky if we got snow and when we did, it would probably be an inch. school and the entire town shut down (awesome!) and it was always an epic snow day. we would go sledding until all the snow had melted and we were just sledding in mud haha. i have the best memories of it. so seeing more than an inch of snow is amazing!! 
we went to top golf one day (and then the boys went like 3 more times during our trip haha)
christmas eve in our matching pajamas with my sister-in-laws! just missing cherice (who lives in africa)



since christmas was on a sunday this year, we opened our stockings and then we went to church for a special program. it was a really great program with wonderful talks and music, but it was supposed to be an hour and ended up being almost 2 hours. my nephew weston's expressions towards the end cracks me up because all the kids wanted was to go home and open presents haha (can't say i wasn't feeling somewhat the same towards the end haha!)

afterwards we had a big breakfast and opened gifts!





all in all, it was a great time spent with family! we spent our last day in san fransisco with jesse & lydia. they are the best tour guides ever! we drove all around the city, ate the best food, and had a great day! wish we could have stayed longer in SF because it was so fun! i've never been to new york and it's my dream to go watch the macy's day parade on thanksgiving and then stay for a week and soak up all the christmas decorations. i felt like san fransisco gave me a little dose of what it would feel like and i loved it. 

california, you're always a treat! until next time!
xo
lo


2016 Our Year in Review

yikes... 2 posts for 2016. how my blogging skills have gone down hill fast.

as much as i'd like to say i'll blog more this year, realistically, i'm not sure if that's going to happen. setting my goals low haha.

2016 was a really good year. it was the first year in a long time where i felt like i could take a minute to actually breathe. i don't want to say i'm unlucky, but i definitely feel like i got hit with hardship after hardship for a solid few years. and just as i would start to heal and recover, bam, i got hit with another hardship. 2016 still had it's tough times, but i could manage it. i'm so grateful for that year. kenneth and i call it a good healing year. i hope 2017 is just as great if not better!

so since i blogged a whole 2 times in 2016, here's a quick recap!

january
-new years eve on the beach in st. augustine (definitely one of my favorites!)
-WE ADOPTED OUR PUPPY HARLEY!!!! (january 2nd, 2016) best day ever! i think he is why 2016 was so great!
-my birthday (i turned 24!)
-took a quick trip to washington dc to see my nephew hayden get baptized

february
-celebrated valentines day and being together for 5 years <3
-had some old friends visit
-enjoyed lots of walks on the beach with harley
-i decided i wanted to start training for a half marathon

march
-enjoyed a trip to georgia to see my mom and friends
-harley swam in the ocean for the first time!
-my sweet grandpa passed away and i went to utah with my mom for the funeral

april
-enjoyed lots of great beach days here in florida
-we went on a cruise with our best friends! such a fun trip to jamaica, haiti, grand cayman & cozumel

may
-my best friends (brittany & grace) and their boyfriends came and visited!

june
-i ran my first half marathon!!
-celebrated 2 years of marriage with kenneth! we went to blue springs state park, got a couples massage and went on a sunset cruise in st. augustine
-got to see my best friend david & jaime here in st. augustine

july
my best friend alexis and aaron visited us! we spent an awesome weekend with them for 4th of july and went deep sea fishing (where i threw up 7+ times...)

august
-kenneth and i took a trip to miami and went to the everglades national park. then we went to the keys! loved snorkeling in key largo and exploring key west

september
-i launched my photography business!! www.loelledgephoto.com
-my mom came and visited!


october
-our friends giselle and kam visited us and we explored silver glen springs
-harley turned 1!
-had to evacuate to georgia because of hurricane matthew (thankfully our place was okay although our town got hit pretty hard)
-i went to utah for our friend jordan's wedding

november
-took a trip to california for my best friend alexis' wedding!
-went to disneyland for the first time
-spent thanksgiving in georgia with my mom and sister's family. got to meet my new nephew niko for the first time!

december
-kenneth finished his 1st year of grad school
-went to northern california for christmas with kenneth's family!
-explored san francisco with family
-spent new years in georgia

what a year! excited to see what 2017 has in store!
xoxo
lo