Brad and Elly: Christmas in California

Wow, so to recap for the last month....I finished my 3rd semester of nursing school with 2 A-s and 1 A (not too shabby!). Brad flew to NC for his interview at Campbell University. He kept gloating about how he was going to NC, in NC, or was in NC (yes I am still hearing about it). Brad LOVED it out there (no shock to me cause NC is a great state). He tried some Carolina BBQ and has been craving it ever since. He found a Guy Fieri Carolina BBQ sauce at a grocery store which is pretty close to the real stuff. My family was never a big BBQ pork family so I never knew the difference between Carolina and Western style BBQ but apparently Carolina is a vinegar base sauce instead of a tomato base sauce like Western. Brad is in love. He really liked Campbell too, his interview went great, and we found out he is on the waiting list (so I guess not great, but good...we are crossing our fingers it works out!)

Brad flew straight from NC to Sacramento (flying to Sac was cheaper then flying to SLC). Meanwhile my Dad flew from Sac to SLC, Tacy and I picked him up, and we all drove out to Sac (well Rocklin). I brought Hunger Games to read (per my Dad's request) and got him hooked. We had a nice week in California with my family. We went to BJ's! My absolute favorite restaurant/pizza/pzookies. My mom told me that she loves when we visit because it means we are going to BJ's. ha ha. My best friend Shalise had an inpromtu visit to Rocklin (from Houston) so we got to meet up and her daughter Millie and Tacy got to have a fun play date at a park. It was funny because Millie was not so good at sharing and Tacy is used to sharing everything with Grant...so it worked out but I laughed a lot. Brad, Tacy, and I went to my parents ward Christmas party but only stayed for the dinner because Tacy was tired and I was meeting up with some of my friends for a girl's dessert night. Dessert night was so much fun. We went to this place called Rick's Dessert Diner in downtown Sac. Lots of options and I got cheesecake haha. But it was so fun to catch up with Katie and Tamie. I love seeing my friends!

Saturday we went to breakfast with my sister, Katie and her husband Mark. I love breakfast food. Katie and I got banana pancakes and Mark and Brad both got omelets. Tacy had a little of everyone's. Then Katie and I watched White Christmas while the boys escaped to do christmas shopping because they were bored. It's a sister movie and both boys aren't big fans of old musicals. Mark looked up the movie on IMDB and said "everyone in this movie is dead". I think that pretty much summed up Mark's feelings. Ha ha. Mark and Katie also gave Tacy a cute teddy bear from Build-a-Bear for christmas. She has on a cute ballerina dress, bows, and her name is Snuggles. Tacy takes the bows off all the time but she loves snuggles. We also went over to Mark and Katie's apartment and watched Rudolph. Mark won Tacy over by giving her colby jack cheese. Tacy loved running after their cat "Boo" and saying "meow". Boo was scared and spent most of the time hiding behind the couch. Mark and Tacy also bonded over watching college basketball. Tacy loves Aunt Katie and Uncle Mark.

My mom made street tacos for dinner. She and my Dad went to Mexico for 2 weeks and feel in love with street tacos so my mom has been trying different recipes to find one that is similar to the real deal. They were yummy. My mom also made tons of treats while we were there like white chocolate cranberry rice crispies, peppermint bark, and lemon white chocolate cookies. We also ate a lot of local mandarins.

My brother flew home for Christmas from school in LeGrande, Oregon. It was fun getting to see him. Sunday we had a big family breakfast (Dad's waffles = heaven) and dinner. Then my parents had Brad, Tacy, and I open our gifts from them. Basically is was Christmas part 1 for Tacy. She loved it! Ripping off wrapping paper and opening boxes was so much fun for her, plus my parents spoiled her rotten. She got a grocery cart with a baby doll to put in it. She got lots of clothes, a minnie mouse, a princess book, princess puzzle, and a large Sully stuffed animal. Tacy loves her Sully. She's never seen Monster's Inc. but she loves caring that huge Sully around (he's almost as tall as she is which makes it entertaining).

I forget how crazy my parent's street can get during christmas. The neighborhood is pretty famous for setting up lights and disney/WB displays for christmas. Trying to get in and out of the house at night is a nightmare between all the cars and people walking. But it was fun to get to walk the street with my Dad one night. Brad, Tacy, and I did it during the day.

Monday my mom, Brad, Tacy, Steven (my bro), and I went to the Sacramento zoo. It was so fun. Tacy loved seeing all the animals, especially the big cats. She kept saying "Meow" to all of them. So cute. My Dad's work party was Monday night so we all went to dinner at Claim Jumper. I haven't been there since homecoming my senior year. The food was good but Tacy was so tired. She clung to me almost the whole dinner (which made eating hard). One of the sweet lady's kept trying to win her over but Tacy would not succumb. It was nice to meet everyone who works with my Dad though, even if Tacy was fussy the whole dinner.