Lake Tahoe

BEWARE - PICTURE OVERLOAD

My parents rented a cabin for my whole family to spend time together in Lake Tahoe for the week between Christmas and New Years. It was absolutely AMAZING! I have not been to the snow in forever and it was so much fun to bring Cooper there for the first time - he LOVED the snow (even though he had a few sad moments about having to wear his gloves). We were able to relax a ton, play lots of games, eat yummy food and just hang out together without having to rush here or there. I will say again, it was AMAZING! Thanks, Mom and Dad. Here are tons of pics from our great trip...

We went to lunch right when we arrived and Cooper entertained us all. How can you get upset at this huge grin even though he has the plate on his HEAD!

Mom and Me!

Matt, Lauren (Matt's GF) and Mall

Cooper being silly with "LaLa"

Our little Cheeseball



We all had a blast playing games. Our two favorites were "Partini" and "WOW Cranium"...I even learned a little bit about history and stuff :) The hardest part of both games were the humdingers - you had to hum a song and your team had to guess...no one could ever get it, but it was soooo funny! Here are some pics of all of us enjoying our evenings playing games...


I got all the girls matching pj's and socks...we called ourselves the "Gingys!" Lauren had some too but her and Matt left before we could all be matching...here is my mom, sis and I

Mom and Dad cracking up while playing some part of Cranium

We spent most of the days playing in the snow. Chad and my dad built an awesome sled run right outside the cabin. Coopie loved using the shovel to "help" with the snow. At night Chad, my dad and Blake (Mallory's BF who we got to meet for the first time!) had crazy snowball fights in the dark and went on nighttime hikes - definitely a boy thing! We loved the snow...for a week at least - I'm still not quite sure if I could be someone to live in the snow.

We all had so much fun sledding...





Sister and I in our matching jackets and beanies

Snowball fun!

Cooper LOVED helping Daddy shovel the snow!
Chad and my dad on their way out for an evening walk! My dad got all the boys those warm masks for Christmas.

The 3 of us with a little snowman

Homewood - Trying out the slopes! For the first time ever Mallory and I decided to hit the slopes. I was a bit nervous but thought, oh seriously, how hard could it be? I skied (well tried to) and Mallory snowboarded! My dad and Chad were skiing with me and Mall's boyfriend Blake went snowboarding with her. One problem - I didnt get past the bunny slope...I was terrible! Well, going down I was okay...but I COULD NOT AT ALL stop - meaning I had to fall on purpose so I would not run into people. So needless to say it was very frustrating and my day ended a little early. On a positive note - I am totally willing to try again! Everyone else had a great time. Yay for them!!!

Here we are - First day on the slopes...

Pretty obvious I've never done this before

The cute lovebirds.

Dad and Chad! Definitely enjoyed their day and even hit a black diamond.

Each night my dad made a fire in our cabin. He always made fires when I was growing up so it was pretty much the norm for all of us...except for Cooper. He was so interested in watching Grampie make the fire every night. He would get close, then scoot back and even get low to try to see underneath the wood...it was quite adorable!



Ever been to the BridgeTender in Tahoe City? If not, you totally should! And you should order the pork sandwich...YUMMY! Here are some pics from the night we went there...long wait, no highchairs...but delicious food!









The last day we went to Downtown Truckee and walked around the shops and ate some lunch. We took Misty (my parents dog) and Coop had a blast with her. What a nice day to end such a fabulous trip! Thanks Mom and Dad for such a great time!

The boys and their doggy



Be back again soon :)

Christmas

Our Christmas began Christmas Eve morning with Chad, Cooper and I celebrating Christmas together. It was fun watching Cooper open up his gifts, because unlike last year, he seemed to understand a little bit more of what was going on. We didn't get him too much because we felt like he already has every toy possible and this is probably the last year he really won't understand...we took advantage of that!
Cooper waking up in the morning with a smile wearing his Xmas jammies

Chad opening up his Under Armour Sweatshirt

Coop cuddling with Daddy


At 2:00 we headed to Modesto to spend Christmas Eve with Chad's side of the family. Michelle had her house decorated so cute for Christmas. Coop enjoyed playing with Sam. We ate a wonderful dinner and opened some nice gifts. AND Santa stopped by a little early! Cooper LOVED Santa! Santa brought Coopie a truck that "dances" to the music! He is obsessed with it. Cooper also got some really cool connecting blocks from Michelle, Jeromy and Sammy...he has loved playing with those, too.
Cooper enjoying his time with Papa

Opening presents with Cousin Michelle

Sam and Cooper greeted Santa at the door

Coop and Santa

Sam and Santa

Opening up his car from Santa

Chad and Papa


Christmas Eve night we drove from Modesto to Stockton and spent the night at my parents house. My brother and sister were home so it was nice to have us all there. We woke up about 8:30 Christmas morning and openend gifts with my family.

My parents Christmas tree - always so pretty with tons of lights and endless ornaments

Coop opening a present with Daddy

Loving Auntie "Mall Mall"

A UCLA sweatshirt from Uncle Matty! Woohoo!

Cuddling with "Mammie"


At Noon we went to my Aunt Verna's house to celebrate Christmas with my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins on my moms side of the family. We enjoyed seeing family that we rarely get to see and ate a scrumptious lunch!

Cousin Amanda, Mommy and Coopie

Playing with Cousin Damien - who is just 6 weeks older than Coop

The center of attention and loving it - showing everyone his new clothes

Unwrapping a toy with Damien

The annual group picture (this is always so funny to do because we have to set the timer to get everyone in the pic)


From there we went to my Aunt Linda's house to celebrate with my dad's side of the family. We had Chicken Taglorini (sp.) for dinner which is all of us cousins absolute favorite. Cooper got some REALLY COOL big toys which he ran in circles playing with all around the house when we got back to my parents house.



Even though Christmas day was over - Christmas was not over for us. We woke up on the 26th and Chad and I went and got some breakfast for the fam (who was packing to leave for Tahoe for a week). We arrived back with breakfast to Coopie vacuuming...it was pretty funny!


Chad, Cooper and I packed our stuff up and drove to El Dorado Hills to visit Uncle Darren, Aunt Pam, Jake, Katey and David for the day. Mark, Brooke and Troy came too! It was a great day in El Dorado Hills. We got to catch up with everyone, play in the arcade, Chad played some video games with Jake and Katey, Cooper loved playing ball and Guitar Hero with Jake and Katey, we opened some gifts and ate yummy Prime Rib for dinner! Chad, Cooper and I stayed the night because the next day we were making our trek to Lake Tahoe for a whole week! Thanks for opening up your house to us!!! We had tons of fun, Coopie slept great, which means we did too!
Playing with Katey's basketball

Silly boy!

Playing with his new Jack in the Box with Aunt Pam and Auntie Brookie

Showing off Jakes new beanie with his silly grin

Mark all dressed in the beanie, scarf and gloves trying to rip open the tightly wrapped gift as fast as he can! We played this game that was absolutely hysterical!


After 3 busy days of celebrating Christmas with family it was all over. As a kid I remember Christmas being so much fun - and of course, don't get me wrong, I still think it is...but boy are we busy!!!! We were ready for a much needed relaxing vacation in Tahoe for the week to come...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!