Christmas continued...

This is the first year we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house.   It was really fun and I must admit, I felt like we were playing house :)  We had Brandon come over to spend the night and in order to make it feel like Christmas for the boys, I made traditional Collins' family meals.  We had such a relaxing and enjoyable time together. 

This picture is of Travis, Hudson and I right after we got home from our first Christmas Eve service with Saddleback Orange... we had 1,000 people show up at our first service!  Plus, it was great to see some San Clemente families who came to Orange to show their support:

My mom, step dad and Grandma joined us for one of the services.  My sister, Brittany and her husband Taylor came with some of Taylor's family too, but I didn't get a chance to take their picture :/

Travis, Brandon and Hudson:

I love this picture, because Hudson noticed the guys were giving thumbs up, so he tried really hard to be sure he could give a thumbs up too:

This next series of pictures are some of my favorite pictures... We got Hudson a bike for Christmas and the look on his face was just priceless:

Travis' family in Ohio were on skype so they could watch Hudson open the bike:

Uncle B gave Hudson a book so they sat and read together:

Christmas morning eating artichoke frittata, smokies and hash browns:

Then we headed off to my mom's to continue the Christmas celebration:

We always have another Christmas Eve and Christmas morning... no matter the date:

Of all the toys Hudson got, the fake ice cream cones were the winning ticket.  He didn't put them down all morning:

Hudson loves keys, so my sister, Summer got Hudson a door knob and keys :)

Playing games:

The whole fam:

And the Christmas posts begin...

I am home with a very sick boy.  Hudson has pneumonia and unfortunately, it has gotten worse the last couple of days.  In addition to his pneumonia, he has also developed an ear infection.  Needless to say, our little Hud bud is out of sorts.  Travis and I were suppose to be gone this weekend in Vegas for a free weekend getaway in exchange for modeling for a photo shoot at WPPI.  We decided to pass up on the opportunity because of how tight Travis' schedule was and God knew best considering that we would have been gone while Hudson first came down with pneumonia. 

Back to the Christmas post...

I haven't posted in a while, although, I have noticed I am not the only one in the blog world posting about Christmas in February... So, Merry Christmas! :)

We love the smell of a real tree and the whole experience of going to the tree lot to pick a tree out.  However, a few years ago we bought a fake prelit tree on craig's list and we have loved the inexpensive option of using it at an expensive time of year.  Plus, we often travel at Christmas, so it has been nice to not have to worry about our house burning down. We plan on getting a real tree once Hudson is old enough to enjoy it, but for now we pull out the big fake tree box.

Hudson was very excited about helping:

We got Hudson a toy nativity set and he LOVED it.  The camel and the donkey were definitely his favorite part:

Travis played in a series of "Christmas Together" concerts with Jadon Lavik and several other artists.  They were so much fun to watch and they were definitely a big hit with everyone who went.  It was just nice to enjoy a night of Christmas music performed by several different artists focusing on why we celebrate Christmas. 

Our sweet friend, Amy joined Hudson and I for one of the concerts:

Since Travis and his brothers didn't get to go back to Ohio to celebrate Christmas, we decided to have a Collins' family Chrsitmas celebration at our house.  We ate a delicious meal, talked, laughed and skyped with their parents and sister in Ohio while we opened gifts: 

Hudson and I... and the fabulous deer sweater:

We also went to the boat parade at the Dana Point harbor.  It was a fun relaxing evening:

We spent some time up in Wrightwood with my family and we had a white Christmas.  It was the first time Hudson has been old to enjoy the snow as it was falling:

Travis even got Hudson to stick out his tongue to try to catch a few snowflakes:

Travis and I were the first to arrive out of all my sisters, so we left Hudson with my parents and headed down town for a date:

And it started snowing while we were out... which was just so much fun:

My dad reading a book to Hudson:

Hudson watched "The Sound of Music" for the first time.  I love that movie and it brings back so many memories:

Hudson helped to pass presents:

One of the gifts Aunti Summer and Uncle Bryan gave Hudson was a ball... and he was thrilled:

more Christmas to come tomorrow...

A peek into our lives

I just haven't felt like blogging lately.  I have so much to catch up on, but I just haven't had the time to make blogging a priority... but I am back.  Since I last blogged, Hudson and I traveled to Ohio for a week to spend time with Travis' family.  We wanted to be sure to get another visit out there before we have to start paying for Hudson's ticket.  After our return, all three of us flew up to Sacramento for Travis and I to shoot a wedding and we got to visit Shannon and her family!  Of course, Hudson stayed with Shannon while we were at the wedding (thanks Shan!), but now we are back in the swing of things.

We do have a few exciting things in store that we are looking forward to.  First off, Travis, Hudson and I will be going to Europe along with Brandon, Travis' brother.  We are going to be spending most of our time in London where the guys will have a few writing sessions which includes a day with Matt Redman.  While they are writing Hudson and I are going to explore the city.  We are hoping to spend maybe a day in Scotland too, but we don't have definite plans yet.

Also in June I will be heading back to Europe to shoot a wedding at a castle in Denmark.  I am really excited about such an wonderful opportunity and looking forward to experiencing a wedding in another culture.  I backpacked across Europe in college, but I never made it to Denmark... so this will be a first for me.  Another big first for me will be to leave Hudson and Travis for so long.  I know I will miss them terribly.

I plan on catching up soon with the rest of life which will bring us back to Christmas... and well, who doesn't like celebrating Christmas in February? But in the meantime, I will leave you with this adorable video of Travis and Hudson playing together.  Hudson is quite obsessed with anything musical.  I guess it is safe to say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Here are a few words that I will translate from Hudson language into English:
- doo doo (microphone... we make that sound in the microphone, thus where the name was derived)
- doo doo kah doo or boom boom kah (drums... again the sound Travis makes when trying to do an impression of the drums)
-blue (guitar pick... travis has let him play with a blue pick and now he will ask for "blue" while playing with his plastic guitar)
-and of course, he loves to play "air guitar" and "air piano".  What amazes me is when a song comes on and he can distinguish the difference between a piano or guitar... and then will proceed to pretend like he is playing them.

Children really are a blessing from the Lord!