We so Fancy

So you'll remember last year, my neighbors put up this very interesting nativity in the front yard complete with Santa Claus overlooking the manger scene. This year, they spent many hours setting it up again. My dad looks at it and says, "Where is baby Jesus?" How strange. Was he stolen or lost, maybe broken? It is kind of necessary to have Jesus in the manger scene. Well, lo and behold, my dad walks outside Christmas day, and miracle, there was Jesus. He had been born! I guess my neighbors were just trying to be accurate. Just ignore Santa.

We were so happy and excited to have my parents come visit us for Christmas. We had a great time. We did so many fun things... The Holiday Boat Show- so cool. We saw an awesome parade of people's boats all decorated for Christmas. It beats looking at house Christmas lights any day! We did lots of shopping. Here is Dad in Miami Beach. We also have the largest outlet mall in the U.S. by us that we spent a day shopping at. Took the Miami Beach Star Island tour. Shows all the exclusive star's homes and gives you a beautiful view of the city. Beautiful Miami skyline Went down to the Keys for a day. Saw Key Largo and Islamorada. Had key lime pie at a Cuban restaurant (naturally?!?) It was good! Had fun doing a couple "traditional" Christmas things like decorating a Gingerbread house. Spent Christmas Day at the beach. Mike and Dad trying out the new football. Relaxing on the beach. Christmas Florida style.

How is it possible that we have lived here almost 2 years? Time flies. Here are some random pics while we've been here. The full moon rising over the beach. Not the best picture, but it was absolutely beautiful. The lack of courtesy of our fellow Floridians. Again, lack of love for our fellow man is a common theme here. Smokin' hot car in South Beach Good luck getting up in that truck, ladies! So cool to see fleets of cruise ships I believe there are more "New York" license plates than "Florida" plates here. I love how beautiful the palms look all ready for Christmas. How would it be to have a house where your backyard anchored your boat? Pretty cool. My favorite picture of our little path to the beach. Gorgeous. Creatures. No discussion of Florida would be complete without a picture of some disgusting lizard!

We are so thankful that we could spend Thanksgiving with so many family members. We are thankful for our family visitors from Kansas, Utah and Miami. We had a full table of thirteen people including the Rob Yancey family, Ryan and Jen Isom and boys, Steve, and Mike and I. While the women cooked and chatted, the kids played and watched videos. Oh, and the men played playstation and watched football. What a fun day. Jen made these beautiful homemade pies. My first ever turkey. It turned out awesome! I highly recommend Food Network's Good Eats turkey. So yummy. Dinner table for 13 Right before Phoenix locked himself in the bathroom :) Playing guitar hero

We were so happy and excited to have Rob and Katina, Benjamin, Kayla, and Maya come visit us and spend Thanksgiving with us. We sure love this family. It was the kids first time at the ocean and they absolutely loved it. I wasn't planning on getting in the water but my little buddy Kayla talked me into it. It was a really overcast day, but we were able to play for about an hour before the rain came down. Even then, we had to drag the kids out. They absolutely loved it and spent a good part of the next day (Thanksgiving) also playing in the ocean. Thanks to our great photographer- Mike. Takes after his dad!

So, I haven't blogged in awhile. I need to get back in the habit. For my birthday in September, my hubby and I saw OneRepublic and Rob Thomas at the Hard Rock. It was such a fun time. (Yes, going to concerts is one of my favorite things). Here are some pics from my fun birthday date with my hubby.