It's a New Year! Happy 2013!

Exactly one year ago, I created this blog with the intention of posting something every month about the Littlejohns Family. It was mainly to give me an excuse to put up darling pictures of our little Lily and let friends and family know how we were doing. I would give myself a 70% on blog up-keep in 2012. Hopefully 2013 will bring more updates and as always, lots of pictures.

For the Littlejohns Family, three out of the four weeks in December were spent in Hawaii! Drew loved it so much, he wanted to extend our trip an extra week. He had to pull some teeth on my end (how could I possibly get our Christmas tree up in time for my parents arrival?) but it was a wonderful extended stay on the islands. We landed on Dec 2nd and left on the 20th. Lily did excellent on the airplane rides ( 5 1/2 hour flight from San Jose to Maui and then a hopper to Kauai) Our first week was in Maui and we finished off the trip in Kauai. Both islands were gorgeous! We had been to the Big Island together in 2010, but we hadn't seen Maui or Kaui together. Lily absolutely LOVED the pool! We would put sun screen on her and load up the stroller with floaties, snacks, and drinks a head for the pool everyday after morning nap. She made friends wherever she went. We even ran into a couple we had seen in Maui at our resort in Kauai and they remember her!! Not trying to brag or anything, but she MUST be cute if strangers can remember her:) Drew had a nice day of climbing and hiking the Haleakala crater in Maui with a friend from high school and Kasey's friend from Sacramento came to help baby sit so we could enjoy a day to ourselves. We drove the road to Hana, which was breathtaking. We even got to swim under a water fall! Our last day in Maui, we went to the Maui Ocean Center and then ate at the world acclaimed MaMa's Fish House which had unbelievable food. We finally got our breath taking sunset on the last night there. Our stay on Kauai included two different resorts/timeshares and two days of "camping" at an authentic Hawaiian plantation. There were several rain storms and high winds, but it was so green and beautiful. We did a lot of sight seeing, visted a blow hole and a restored light house... lots of beach combing, snorkeling and enjoyed cooking meals with fresh fruits and veggies back at our timeshare. The whole trip allowed us some well needed family time after a busy Fall for Drew and his work. Some pictures are below of our fabulous time in the Aloha state!

This year, we hosted Christmas at our condo in SLO and had my parents and brother here for a week. It was a wonderful time of catching up and just hanging out. We showed them around, visiting Pismo Beach and Morro Bay. We attended a nice Christmas Eve candle lit service at our church and then came back to our place for our Christmas family tradition which includes watching "Elf", eating pumpkin pie, and opening one gift. Christmas morning was low key... had a tree, with all the trimmings - gifts galore (mostly for me and Lily!) and a signature breakfast by my Dad - eggs, bacon, and pancakes! Lily's 1st Christmas was so fun. She loved playing with all the gift wrap and seeing the new toys she got. We all can't wait until she's about 3 or 4, so she can really "tear" into the gifts!!

New Year's Eve was spent hanging out with friends and ringing in the New Year playing board games and drinking carmel apple martinis! We have a wonderful new baby sitter who was willing to come watch Lily for the night so we could have some time together. We look forward to traveling less and settling in for at least the first half of 2013! Lily will turn 10 months old on January 9th. She's getting so big and we are excited to keep you all up to date on her milestones including the ever so soon 1st birthday!

We love you all and hope to keep in touch with you through out the coming year. May God's richest blessings be upon you and yours!