California

It was 11 days of joy, happiness, laughter, and love with a little wedding madness mixed in for good measure!

We arrived on Christmas Eve. After flying for 8 hours with 2 kids we were pretty beat. We stepped off the plane and walked towards the baggage claim area and saw Ben's parents waiting for us to reach them. It was an exciting moment. After hugging, chatting and getting our bags we headed 'home' where I finally saw my Karina and her fiance Alan! Christmas was so so fun. We woke up early and opened presents and the rest of the family came over & we FINALLY got to meet our 2 year old nephew, 8 1/2 month old neice & 3 week old niece for the very first time!Christmas Pj's & some cute cousins!

The day was spent playing rock band taking family pictures,

Ben & his silly brothers
All of Ben's siblings
Something's funny!After pictures we headed over to Ben's aunt's house for some more fun, food, playing pool, games and seeing relatives we haven't seen in years! Such good times!

The next day we took a girl's trip to get Karina fitted for her wedding dress while the boys watched all the kids:) It was so fun to actually see her dress and shoes and everything in person! We met up with the kids & boys & had dinner at in n out...totally delicious! It was fun going to church the next day in my old ward and getting to see a lot of familiar faces and catching up with old friends.The next week was spent preparing for Karina's wedding! We put 160ish crystals on strings to be hung on the ceiling of the reception hallframed pictures, tied bows, had a bridal shower, shopped for goodies, then we went to the LA Temple for Karina's endowment

After a long day in L.A. we stopped and ate at Macaroni Grill where I got my all-time Mac Grill fave...Penne Rustica...so.dang.good.

Our next adventure was to decorate the reception hall! See all those beautiful dangling crystals?! It was SO beautiful & totally worth all that hard work! It took all day, but it was so fun. A bunch of bridesmaid's flew in and came straight from the airport to help. Dang, I love those girls! ...oh the laughter and oh the fun! Karina is so lucky she has such awesome family & friends;) (cough, wink)

We did have new years eve somewhere in there & of course took breaks for games, including a ruthless tennis match

I'm pretty sure that's not how to play tennis
Team Feuerlein (yeah, I aint gonna lie...I totally had to look it up)Claira lookin' cuteI love this picture:)I don't know why we are feeling the need to put our butts together...ah well, go Team Miller!
Cutest ball boyPutting her game face onother events include a night run/ab workout with the sister-in-laws to counteract the insane amounts of goodies we were eating:), and of course lots of laughing, girl talk, and wrangling children:)

Then came the big day in San Diego! Karina and Alan were married in the San Diego Temple! I never knew what an impact Karina's marriage would have on me. What an emotional wreck I was (in a good heart-bursting-with-joy kind of way) It has really caused me to contemplate my own life, marriage, and has refreshed my mind to the very real eternal opportunities I have on earth to make covenants to be with my family forever... and how cool is it that one of my best friends from high school is my sister-in-law?!?! It's just dang awesome. I'm so happy that I have a new brother-in-law...he's perfect for Karina in every way, I love him. He's hilarious, fun, and makes a mean hot artichoke dip!Pretty princessStud muffinOh the LAUGHTER!!!Gorgeous and DELICIOUS cake.Speaking of food, My sister-in-law Kandie made some delicious oreo truffles that are sooooo easy & so so very good! I'll have to post the recipe for them sometime...Mmmmmm!

The day after Karina & Alan's wedding was our niece's baby blessing! Matt & Kara had little Ada all dolled up and adorable in her little white dress. She was so precious! It was a beautiful sunny day in the 70's...who would want to go back to Philly after a day like that?! It was hard to leave, let me tell you! After Ada's blessing Ben & I were able to go on what I like to call a mini-date while grandma watched the kids (thanks grandma!) Our sweet friend Gena is a photographer (who also assisted with Karina's wedding) and she took some photos of just the two of us out at her parents ranch. It was so fun and special, I loved every minute of it! You HAVE to check out her website she is AMAZING!!! She has a sneak peek of our session & Karina's wedding on her blog! If you wanna see another sneak peak of Karina's wedding, Gena's sister Tonya Joy was the main photographer and has some of Karina's wedding up on her blog as well! They are all breathtakingly gorgeous! Hit these beautiful girls up if you're ever in California and need some good photos!!!