Christmas was simple in the Frye household. We spent Christmas Eve with the Taylors. We woke up Christmas morning and opened Santa's gifts and then went to the Fryes and the Meadows were already there. We went to church and came back to the Fryes for lunch and ended the day at the Taylors. It was an amazing day!

Carson wasn't very interested in opening presents, but she really enjoys some of the toys that she received. It's so fun to watch her as she learns to play by herself.

We are so fortunate to serve a God who gave us the best gift of all. He gave us Christ and a way to have a personal relationship with Him. We have been blessed with wonderfully loving families and truly enjoy every minute we get to spend with them.

So being the wonderful parents we are. We didn't take one picture all weekend long. I'll add pics when I receive them from my mom and Andrea. Below are a few pics from our pre-Christmas photo shoot.

So my husband spends a little too much time surfing the internet.... but hey, I won't complain because I reap the rewards of his luckiness as he enters web-based contests. As I had mentioned previously, Jim was featured (ok, maybe not featured, more like a quick cameo) on the Food Network's Thanksgiving Live special. He was able to ask the Food Network chefs a question concerning Thanksgiving preparation.

One day after finding out he was going to be on the Food Network, he received a call from Burbank, California telling him that he had won 2 tickets to the Ellen Degeneres show. Not only is she an incredibly funny entertainer, but it was the first day of her twelve days of Christmas series! That meant that we were going to receive so super cool gifts. We had to pay for our way out there and hotel, but we figured it'd all even out. We decided to take Carson with us because we have some family from my mom's side that said that they'd come down and watch Carson while we went to the show. It was doubly awesome because then we could bring baby girl AND our family could meet her!

We left Tuesday 11/29 after work. Carson was a trouper on our two flights. Although she couldn't sit still for the life of her, she never got too upset. It was a long day out. Wednesday 11/30 we woke up, ate breakfast, and then Aunt Glenda, Carol and Vanessa arrived to meet Carson. We visited for a few and then headed off to go to the taping. We got to Burbank in no time (who knew the 405 would be wide open) and we had three hours to kill before we went in to the studio. We walked to a restaurant and had a nice long lunch. Got some coffee and then finally it was time to go. It was so cool!

WHen we got into the studio we had to dance for what seemed like an eternity. I guess they wanted you warmed up so you didn't pull a hammy during the taping! Finally the show started. Everything you see on the show is exactly what we see. They would take commercial breaks to change the set, talk to Ellen, set something up. There was really no banter between Ellen and the audience. But that's ok because we got iPad2s!!!!! Jim and I were SOOOO excited!

When we got back to the hotel, the power was out! It was out for a little while, and thankfully came back on about 30 minutes later. Why wouldn't they have the worst wind storm in years while we were there?

Thursday we spent the day at the beach. We went to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. We had lunch on the Santa Monica Pier and then came back to the hotel for Carson's nap. Afterwards we tried to go downtown to Olvera Street. It's an awesome street open only to pedestrians with authentic Mexican products and food. Well, it took us 2 hours to go 20 miles and we got down there in time for it to close. It was the longest I've gone for a Subway sub for dinner :(

Friday we went back to the beach for some pictures and for Carson to touch the Pacific ocean. We wanted to make sure she felt it in case she never makes it back to the west coast. Then we went to downtown Hollywood, ate dinner at Mickey's Soda Shop next to El Capitan Theater, and walked around Grauman's Chinese Theater. Finally, we spent the late afternoon shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. I know, you're jealous! At the end of the street, next to Tiffany's they had Santa! It was Carson's first trip to see Santa. She detested every second of it. It was great.

Saturday we came home. Carson again was a trouper. It was an incredible first family trip. We had a wonderful, relaxing time. We can't wait for Disney in January!