Disneyland

I'm still finishing up my Thanksgiving posts.... what a slacker. When we were in Newport for Thanksgiving, Cameron's brother Damon (and fam) met up with us for a day in Disneyland. It was so fun to see them and spend the day with them. 

The whole crew

Owen and I had lots of bonding time. I couldn't ride many of the rides and little shorty couldn't either... so we played dress up,

Had fights with guys (I had no clue who all these figurines were),

Saw Tigger (Owen is really excited about this),

And just hung out. Owen is adorable. 

The other Shannon trying to save Buzz.

Cam, Damon, and the kids (Brooklyn, Owen, Ethan, and Mason) under the reindeer food. 

I have never spun so fast on a tea cup before... Damon is crazy. 

I have decided that Disneyland is the stroller meca. 

You can't leave Disneyland without eating cotton candy

and wearing the awesome 3D glasses. 

Which one is made of legos? 

The Killers

Big suprise, I'm posting about another concert. We love The Killers though so it was a great show... until the crowd starting smoking illegal drugs. Yet another big surprise.

So I enjoyed the concert from the bathroom (as to not damage my growing fetus) and Cameron enjoyed the show alone. 

Lucky for me the Warfield has couches in their bathrooms. 

Cameron's Moves

Cameron has a Christmas party for his employees each year... they put tons of work into these little dance numbers and its a pretty wild party. I sit back and kind of chuckle as I watch them all dance... especially my husband. They picture quality is poor but check out Cam's moves. I was just hoping he didn't pull a muscle. 

Christmas Eve And Then Some

Our first Christmas Eve alone in Cali... soooooo strange! Despite missing our families we had a blast. We went into S.F. to do some shopping before the Nutcracker. We were both counting down the minutes until it started... me because I couldn't wait, Cameron because he was dreading it.

We didn't spot Santa but we did run into the Grinch

And of course we had to take our annual picture at the Macys tree. I love San Francisco during Christmas... there is nothing like it.

Besides boiling in the nose bleed seats at the Opera House, the Nutcracker was awesome. I only had to nudge Cameron 10-15 times to wake him up. Keep in mind we are making progress. Two years ago he slept through the entire 1st half and woke up at intermission.

And then we headed home on BART... so after taking a bunch of random photos

I started to get a bit queasy... things were not looking good. In fact, I emptied out my recent purchases and got the bag ready. Are you kidding, was I really about to vomit on the BART, on Christmas Eve, in front of a million people? Yes, I was and yes, I did. How embarrassing.

Why do they call it morning sickness when it seems to last ALL DAY LONG. We are pregnant, 14 weeks along, and so excited!!

Nutcracker

I get really hung up on traditions. When I lived in Utah I HAD to go the Michael McLean's "The Forgotten Carols" every year. I never ever got sick of it and to me, thats part of my Christmas. Since they don't have that here in Cali I've replaced it with The Nutcracker. I LOVE going and it is one of my favorite things to do. Now... let me mention that it is not Cameron's favorite thing to do. It has something to do with men in tights... but then I remind him of the concerts I go to with him. It's a fair trade. So tonight we are headed to San Fransisco to go see The Nutcracker.... I'm so excited. Happy Christmas Eve... I hope Santa finds you! 

A Charlie Brown Tree

Cameron and I weren't going to get a tree this year. I'm not sure why since we aren't going anywhere for the holidays... but I didn't want to deal with buying lights, ornaments, etc. etc. But one night I was working late at good ol' Pottery Barn and Cam was hanging out with our friends. They convinced him to go get a tree and look what I came home to: 

It really was the cutest thing. Brooke gave him lights and he set it all up. How sweet of him... our first Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving... Finally

We spent Thanksgiving in Newport. We had such a fun time seeing Cameron's 2 brothers and my family. We stayed in a condo... which I like to call T.Q... which stands for tight quarters. It was some serious bonding with 11 people in a 2 bedroom condo... sharing beds, air mattresses, towels, maybe even a toothbrush here and there. Anyhow... more to come on that later. But we spent Thanksgiving day with my dad's brother Phil. We hardly ever see them and have never spent a holiday with them so we all had such a great time. 

Pre-dinner preparations... trying to whip the cream in a blender. It seemed to work for awhile until it turned to butter. Oops. 

The favors (idea found via Make and Takes) 

Liz with the ham... let's eat! 

Phil, my dad's brother, loves to crack jokes. Between him and my dad it was a pretty comical dinner. Phil surprised my dad with this hat and had him wear it the whole dinner. Looking hot dad. 

The Neidig's... 

Cute Lucas eating the fence

Teacher Stress

Let me tell you what a teacher's biggest stresses are: 

1. What to give the parents as a Christmas gift 

2. What to give the mothers for Mother's Day

Every year during those 2 times I rack my brain for something cute, original, child made, cheap, yada, yada, yada. It literally stresses me out. Plus, repeats are only allowed every other year. Two years ago we made applesauce and cinnamon ornaments. I won't go into the dirty details but that was the biggest disaster ever. That idea was immediately taken out of rotation. Last year we made a handprint calendar which was probably the cutest thing ever but way too much work. That idea is now also out of rotation. So here we are to this year... and we made these snowman ornaments. I think I love them. The only thing I don't love is that I had to do most of it... and I'm a huge advocate of my students doing all of their own projects. But I'm over it... it's done... and now I can start thinking of mother's day gifts! 

My Man Can Dance

My favorite is when Cameron reels me on in with his fishing pole and I shake it like nobody's business. That's hot. 

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Cameron's Christmas Party

We headed to Newport this last weekend for Cameron's annual Christmas party.  His co-workers are awesome and I love their wives. I'm starting to finally get to know everyone from Northern and Southern California so these get togethers are pretty fun. We stayed at the Island Hotel- I love hotels during Christmas. 

We flew in Thursday afternoon and met everyone for a welcome dinner. Cameron had meetings all day Friday while I ordered room service, took naps, watched t.v., and took more naps. It's the best day I've had in a long time!! 

Friday night was the party... these are the best because once a year I get to dance with Cameron. I love it! We had such a fun time... thanks Generations Healthcare!  

Cameron and his cute D.O.N., Maria

Getting ready to get our dance on... 

Oasis

Before I met Cameron I think I had been to 3 concerts in my life: sweet red-headed Reba, Garth Brooks, and Sarah McLachlan (which is still the best concert I have attended in my life). Anyhow, Cameron loves music, loves his favorite artists, and loves to support his favorite artists. So... that means we go to their concerts  every time they come to the bay area. Once we even drove to So. Cal to go see Toad the Wet Sprocket (oh the dedication).  I really try to be a good sport every time these concerts roll around... I even dutifully listen to the concert prep c.d that Cameron burns for me before each concert.

Last Wednesday night was Oasis, on the ninth row. Cameron was soooo excited. I'm excited too, look at my smile

I'm not so familiar with Oasis so I wasn't sure what to expect. Now after attending the concert I can tell you: 

Seats on the floor

 

definitely require ear plugs.

Oasis fans like to pass around their joints as they watch their band, in front of the security guards. Apparently this is legal. 

Cameron sings and claps to every song

especially when Liam, the lead singer, poses during and after every song. I have never seen an artist do this, he is like a statue. I thought it was very strange... everyone else thought this was awesome. He even held a tambourine in his mouth for about 45 seconds without moving after one song. I'm just mad I didn't get a picture of it. Here's to another concert!! 

Where To Begin??

Going out of town for 2 weeks really dampens the blogging spirit.... you get so behind and really unmotivated!! So instead of trying to download all my photos, I'd figure I'd shop for Christmas movies. I'm obsessed with Christmas movies and I add to my collection every year.  I love the classics and I love the ones I grew to love as a kid. Since we are staying here for Christmas this year I figured I couldn't watch my mom's copy like I do every Christmas so I just ordered my copy of:

The Muppet Christmas Carol is my MOST favorite Christmas movie and no season is complete without watching it (although everyone I know begs to differ). I'm going to tempt Cameron with fondue on Christmas and then make him watch this with me. 

Next up: 

I think my sister and I watched One Magic Christmas about 800 times while growing up. We recorded it from TV and rewound that VHS tape over and over. I love how Ginny finds the Christmas spirit and I can't believe I can actually still buy this movie. 

And just because I needed one more movie to get free shipping I ordered: 

I really hate black and white movies so I loved when Miracle On 34th Street came out with this new version.  Susan is a cutie and I love how Susan's mom falls in love with the hottie Dylan McDermott. 

Warm On My Couch

I hope all you Twilight crazies had a great time at the midnight showing... was it worth it? Let me tell you what was worth it... sitting on my comfy couch, in my warm house, with my warm new blanket, watching the best ever Grey's. Thank goodness Dr. Han (how do you spell that?) got the boot and that Grey's is back on track. Did I mention I was asleep at 11:00 pm?

Nicole Hoxie Photography

Nicole posted some of our photos from our day in the city. She did an awesome job... check out her photo blog here.