I thought I looked okay for my big dinner date, until I saw this... oh well! 
The food was delicious. I went vegetarian this night and it was so savory! Everything was loaded with new, unique flavors. It was definitely fancy! Jake's in Del Mar will have to be our new Anniversary destination. Maybe next year we'll go when it's still light out and we can enjoy the ocean view!
These are pictures from Christmas Eve when we visited our long-time friends and neighbors from long ago, the Mejia's.
Below is Brooklyn with her only girl cousins on the McKendrick side, my sister's girls, Daisy and Lilly Sanders.
This is my sister Pip with her daughter Daisy.
Here's Ian with my cousin Kelly. For some reason, Ian decided this night that she was his girlfriend. He has continued to call her that ever since. She's 14 years old. I don't know what got into him!
These first few pictures are at the brunch before the wedding ceremony. Above is the bride and groom, below is the bride's parents.
Next is the groom's parents.
Me and Stephen
Cindy, Eric, Jana, and David
Taber, Rebecca, and Stephen
The new happy couple
Rosalia and the bro's
Ian
Bustin' a move
Brooklyn (It was really nice how all that black washed out our faces at times, right?)
Breyton and Brooklyn
Our family
The cousins lined up on the stage are watching the bride and groom dance.
Me and Stephen pose in front of another Christmas tree.
Skylar and the newest baby in the family (at the time) Cael, who is about 3 weeks old in this picture.
my family was fortunate enough to attend my coisin Kai's wedding at the Las Vegas Temple. This wedding was the first in three family weddings this Christmas season. Unfortunately, we only made it to the first two, Kai and Rosalia's. My cousin Lindsay Bickmore also got married on December 29th in the Salt Lake City temple, but we had returned home already for Christmas. Also, I decided not to go too far against my doctor's orders to not travel far after 36 weeks of pregnancy. 
Now here's our nearly-expanding little Badger family on this happy occasion. The kids were SO happy to be hanging out with their cousins, my brother Calvin's boys, that it was difficult to reel them in from their mad dash around the temple grounds to get a decent photo. You can see the mischief in their eyes, no?
For Thanksgiving, we went to my parent's house in L.A. We had a great time as always, but I thought I'd spare the picture of us all stuffing our faces at the Thanksgiving table. My mom and Brooklyn here are having computer time together. don't ask me what they're viewing because I haven't the slightest idea. Then there's my dad, or "papa" to the kids who is reading a story in his "slightly" animated voice.
Here are some friends dressing up in Ian's costumes on Stephen's birthday.
My mom lets Brooklyn and Ian "help" her rake leaves from a neighbor's lawn on the Thanksgiving weekend.
Stephen celebrates his 32nd b-day with his "second favorite" girl in the world on his lap. The birthday dessert is lempn-merangue pie. Mmmmm.
Here's Brooklyn posing by her posed stuffed animals and dolls. I think she said she was creating a circus.
Ian is patiently listening and obediently following his teacher, little Miss Badger as she authoritatively instructs. "First I'll read you a story, and then we'll have a literacy activity."
It's scary that I can totally relate to this little girl and her desire to teach. I did the same sort of thing at a very early age, only I didn't have a little brother and my sister may not have played along. I did play school with my friends though in our little playhouse in the backyard.
Another shot of her circus or zoo, I can't remember which one. I do like that there is a purple creature who is visiting the zoo and viewing a bear who is inside a cage. It's fun to see a child's imagination in action!
Our big boy Ian turned 3 , three months ago! Wahoo! Superheros are all the rage in his mind, so he got a couple of fun costumes from his mom and dad for his big day. Here are some pics of the kids (and Stephen) trying them on...
For Ian's birthday, we had a friend of his over for breakfast. We had waffles, eggs, sausage, and orange juice. It has been so long, that I don't remember what we did after that and before naptime...hmmm, maybe went to the park? I know we did plenty of fun things that week like SeaWorld, the Children's Museum, and the lighthouse, so we did not lack in the entertainment. 
The rest of the Captain America costume, not shown, and apparently not as exciting as the hat, had built in "muscles" just like the Spidey suit did. Funny.
The dinner we had was macaroni and cheese (from a box, not homemade, I was feeling simple and thrifty) with cut up sausage. I had to stick a real vegetable dish on the menu too so we had broccoli on the side. I'm sure that the zoopals plates and cups were left-over from Brookie's party earlier in the year...
Speaking of left-overs. Ian got to have pumpkin pie for his b-day dessert. This was a left-over from my b-day three days prior. At least he got to choose his ice cream!
I think he had a fun day. I am totally guilty of waiting too long to write this because I can't remember many more details than what the pictures provide. I'll try to be better next year! ;)
