Christmas in Danville

 We drove up to Danville to spend Christmas with my parents and visit a few friends.  

 

We enjoyed a fun girl's afternoon making cookies with the Mascardo family and the girls had an extra special treat visiting Phoenix and her 11 pups!

They were in puppy heaven!

We fit in lunch with the Houston's as well

and Jack loved his new police helicopter!

We took some family photos before Christmas Eve mass and Grandma made Grandma Lil's pasta sauce for Christmas Eve dinner.

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas morning opening presents and had a delicious turkey dinner in the afternoon.  It was a nice few days visiting and having some good family time!  

Allison Receives An Academic Letter

Allison received her Academic Letter today at GOHS!  She has maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.97 in her 4 years and makes us so proud as she juggles school, sports, community service, leadership and friend/family time.

 She is so deserving of this award

 and has surrounded herself with a lot of special students.  Congrats to all of them who represent the top 15 percent of GOHS students!

She is filling up her letterman jacket nicely!

Allison and I went down to San Diego with Tami and Kylee to watch the San Diego Holiday Parade of Lights.  It was a chilly rainy night, but helped us get in the holiday mood!

White Elephant Ugly Sweater Party

Matt and I were invited to a White Elephant Ugly Sweater party tonight with several of his coworkers. We may not have won "best ugly sweater",

but I think we won "best gift" with our box of a dozen Peterson's donuts.  The Norton's were thrilled to win them!

Thanksgiving Break

Taylor is home for Thanksgiving break!

 She spent lots of time with her puppies,

 we celebrated her belated 20th birthday,

 watched Allison play in Surf Cup (met a fellow KWU teammate and the new KWU keeper coach, Miranda)

and made time for a few family dinners.  She will be home in 18 more days for the winter break.

Balish Visit

Chris and Susannah were in San Diego for a few days so we had a chance to spend a fun afternoon with them in La Jolla.  We had lunch and some drinks at Duke's and walked around the cove.  We keep saying we will plan a trip to get both of the families together, but with 4 of the 6 in college and 2 headed there soon, an afternoon in La Jolla will have to do for now!

20

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this girl of ours can already be 20!  I'm sad we couldn't be with her to celebrate, but we mailed her a fun birthday box full of goodies and she had a great day celebrating with all of her girlfriends and Andrew...roommates decorated the house, a pedicure with Hannah Gail and a concert with Lauren, Megan, Halle and Andrew in KC.  

Happy 20th Taylor!

National Letter of Intent Signing Day

Allison made it official today by signing her National Letter of Intent to play soccer at Kansas Wesleyan University!

She was recognized along with 15 other GOHS athletes at today's ceremony.

We are beyond proud to see her achieve her goal and can't wait to watch her play.  We may have gotten a little choked up during the ceremony.  So much went in to making this happen and it just felt so special to finally reach this day!

 She was appreciative of all who came to support her. Kylee even left school to come cheer her on!

 Her bestie Turbo

 Leslie

Tami

 and Jenna!

 She's so excited to be a Coyote!

Halloween

Allie and her friends dressed up like their most prized possessions...their Hydro Flasks!  Super creative and they looked great!

Annie was a good sport in her lion costume, but both pups spent most of the evening in their crates while I passed out candy.

East Coast Day #4

Well it was an unexpected early wake up to the fire alarm at our hotel this morning!  It was a chilly 33 degrees outside while we waited for the ok to go back in.  At least the early wake up gave us time to get a quick breakfast at the hotel and then drive into Maine for the morning before heading to the airport.

We got coffee in Kittery, Maine and asked a few patrons for recommendations for the best place to visit close by.  They suggested York so we drove a few miles to find this amazing view!

 Gorgeous trees, gigantic homes on the water and the most beautiful beaches.

We had just enough time to visit the Nubble Light House before the drive back to Boston.  It was exactly what I expected Maine to look like!

 Taylor and I had the most wonderful 4 days together!  So grateful for this time with her and can't wait to plan another adventure.  I think she was more choked up about saying goodbye to the Jeep than saying goodbye to me, but that's ok.  I'm glad she loved it and I'm thankful for the memories we created!

East Coast Day #3

Taylor researched and found the cutest breakfast spot with the best pancakes and açaí bowls we have ever had.  Butler's Pantry was amazing!

Then we were off to see the stunning views that Stowe had to offer everywhere you looked.  Pictures just don't do this place justice!

We were just in awe!  It was everything we had hoped it would be and more!

The highlight was our stop at The Lodge at Spruce Peak! Taylor had learned about it from a blogger she follows and was determined to recreate the pictures she had seen on her Instagram.

We casually went into the hotel and walked around, took elevators looking for the perfect view and finally ended up on the "penthouse" floor (without initially knowing it) to find the balcony that gave us this most amazing view! Just breathtaking and unlike anything we had ever seen.

Our last spot in Stowe was a short hike to Bingham Falls...a pretty walk through colorful trees and a steep rock staircase to the falls.  Well worth the trip!

Hoping someday we can come back to ski here in the winter!

We were back in the Jeep for another 3 hour drive to Portsmouth, NH.  We stopped in Plymouth for lunch 

and arrived in Portsmouth with enough time to walk around before the sun went down.

We walked along the water, through the gardens

 and through the streets of downtown.  

So much fall decor, brick buildings and cute shops and restaurants.

We found this really fun British Beer Co and had the best dinner.  Taylor got Bangers and Mash and I got this New England Patsy.  We shared apple cider margaritas and Moscow mules for the perfect finish to the fall meal!