*: December 22'

Does life get any better/busier than this!

Saturday, December 3rd was the annual Henry Mayo Holiday Home Tour.

Jadyn, Jean, Honey and I had a lovely breakfast at Neighbarista and watched the home tour at Honey and Bubba's house. The homes were in Sand Canyon, Peachland Estates and Oak Meadow Estates in Westridge this year. Bummer that the tour is still virtual vs. in person.

After the tour Erik, Jean, Jadyn and I met the Leclair's at Hart High to catch Lillian's choir performance, The Nightmare before Christmas.

Miss Lillian in action!

School's Out! Winter Break!

Ethan finished up his first semester at COC. He withdrew from math this semester so he's going to take a winter class. He's also still a "Baconator" at Wendy's. He works the front register and drive-thru window :)

Jadyn finished the semester with a 4.0 and had winter guard camp before her break.

Winter Guard Camp 9am to 9pm! Saturday, December 19th!

Christmas shopping with Jadyn. Nice hat! And giant ducks???

Erik's first smoked turkey. YUMMY!

Ethan testing out his airsoft equipment

He let Jadyn shoot him a few times so he could see what it felt like :)

Ready to go get the mail! Don't scare the neighbors

Work, play, work...

Erik is super busy but they finally filled the applications administrator position so hopefully things get a little more manageable soon.

We had layoffs and lost 2 of the 4 designers in our studio so I feel lucky to have a job but I'm A LOT more busy!

Monday, December 12th was the Toll Brothers LA and SoCal Sales/Studio Christmas Party in Montebello.

This was just the dessert table!

A few of us from the SoCal and LA studio teams

Torey, Kylie, Heather, Sara and Kristen

So Cal and LA Teams after the white elephant gift exchange

Christmas Lights

Tuesday, December 20th we visited a few houses in Valencia and our favorite in the Southern Oaks with Honey and Bubba.

New favorite just around the corner from Honey & Bubba

Annual "Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow Ride" to Angelica Place & Wakefield Court

Even at 18 and 15 they'll do anything for hot chocolate and marshmallows :)

Jegel Christmas Party

Saturday, December 17th was Jean & Carl's Annual Christmas Party. We were missing some of the usuals but it was great to see some new faces, 27 of us this year!

Jadyn's white elephant gift, not a good look :) OMG these crazy cute girlies!!!

Ethan trying out my scarf from Pam. From our spot on the stairs

White Elephant Jackpot!

Logan's gift, pretty creepy!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started with our 6.5 run/walk followed by brunch at Grama Jean & Papa's with Brian, Olivia and Alexa. One of Jadyn's favorite Christmas events, mine too, Jean makes a wonderful brunch!

These two...

After brunch we headed home to start on Christmas Eve dinner!!

Smoked tri-tip, sweet potatoes, asparagus, rolls, armadillo eggs and donuts!!!

Armadillo Eggs: Seasoned cream cheese stuffed jalapenos, wrapped in ground pork sausage, wrapped in bacon, painted with barbeque sauce and smoked for 1.5 hours! Erik's new favorite thing...

Present Time!

Unfortunately Uncle Kurt missed the memo to give Ethan his VR headset strap AFTER he got the VR headset Christmas morning, so he knew what he was getting from Santa.

Christmas Day!

We had breakfast, opened gifts, made deviled eggs and headed to Honey & Bubba's.

"Wait!" at the top of the stairs picture :)

Jadyn's gift to dad. "I'm here because my kid does that flag flippy thing" t-shirt

Trying to open his well-wrapped gift from Jadyn and my GIANT spatula from E

Ethan's gift to Jadyn, aww...

When you realize the biggest box was a jacket your parents had already given you :)

Disappointment! But he did get a VR headset...

And, we're done!

Grama Honey's favorite part, telling a story before each gift she hands out :)

Jadyn's 15th Birthday!

She just missed the 5'6" mark! (5' 5 7/8") and 114 lbs

Monday, December 26th Jadyn celebrated her birthday with a few friends from color guard. They had lunch at The Stand, painted at Color Me Mine, had Menchie's froyo and wandered the mall!

It was a "date day" for Erik and I, we made a few Christmas returns and got to relax and chat at Starbucks.

Lunch at The Stand

Sienna, Sydney, Jadyn, Riley and Drisana

And they're off!!!

Painting at Color Me Mine

Menchie's froyo before more wandering

Party #2 was at our house for "Tuesday Dinner" with Honey and Bubba. We had some of Jadyn's favorites... Chicken Tortilla (thank you Vicki Hill ☺), broccoli, refried beans and red velvet cake with cookies n' cream ice cream for dessert.

Party #3 is in the New Year with Grama Jean and Papa.

Custom wrapped sabre from us and a flag/pole and bag from Honey & Bubba

Birthday shopping day with Mom and Honey!

Happy New Year!

Unfortunately Leah came down with COVID just before New Years so we didn't get to spend it with the Leclair family but we had fun at Honey & Bubba's! We picked up Panda Express, played a few rounds of Apples to Apples (with a little spiked eggnog), watched some of the weird New Year's shows and we were in bed by 11pm! Gotta get up and kick some ass, 6.5 mile run/walk to start the new year!