Spring Break 2012

 Here are some photos from our trip to CA over spring break.  The boys and I had tons of fun visiting family all over CA.

It all began with a local Easter egg hunt complete with the Easter Bunny

Then we went on a walk in my childhood neighborhood and the boys picked mustard flowers just like I did as a little girl

The Easter Bunny found the boys at grandma & grandpa's house

The boys played for hours on this hammock, until they spotted a spider on it

We spent a few days in central CA where the water was freezing, but the boys didn't care

 

The boys picked lots of citrus to bring home

Then it was onto southern CA and to the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center

He's Nine

I'm about a month late, but boy #1 turned 9! Unfortunately, he got strep throat on his birthday and we had to postpone his party a week. It's terrible to be sick on your birthday. Here's hoping for a better 10th birthday!

At the doctor

He did feel good enough to have his family birthday dinner the next day. He loves his cousins!

A week later at his party

I'm Lame

I had good intentions of at least posting our Disneyland pictures before the end of February, but that deadline came and went. We went to Disneyland for two days immediately following the birthday cruise, which was in January, so I'm a little late. Most of my siblings came on Friday and our good friends were also there that same weekend. We were lucky enough to stay with some other good friends and I am longing for crepes and an awesome massage chair! Now for some pictures.

Alice is pledging her love to Boy #1 and the Mad Hatter is making Boy #1 pledge his love to Alice

Mickey is switching hats with Boy #2

Trying out the glasses for the new Star Tours ride

Boy #1 and a favorite cousin

Its A Small World lit up at night

Because of the Chinese New Year there was a special Mulan area

Boy #2 and his friend on the jumping jellyfish

Our favorite thing to get at D-land, sourdough mickey loaf, yummm

Paradise in January

January is a big month for birthdays in my family. My dad, my mom, and I all have birthdays in January. This year my dad turned 80 and he decided to take his family on a cruise to celebrate. There turned out to be 21 of us in total. The boys were very excited for a cruise and I was just excited for some warm sunshine in January. Thanks to my dad for splurging for this vacation.

The birthday boy

A camera shootout with my brother and sister

We hiked around on Catalina Island

I loved the cool art and art deco lights at what is now the movie theater

Boy #1 was our navigator when we rented a golf cart to drive around the island

Beautiful plants

My sister-in-law gave me a Birthday Girl tiara and decorated my cabin door, Thanks!

The kids table, the boys sure love their cousins

The boys posing for the cheesy photographs, this guy loved to say "you who"

Boy #1 with a huge Ensenada hat, my other sister came to La Bufadora with us and is off to the side

La Bufadora, a blowhole that was not blowing much that day

The shops you have to walk through to get to La Bufadora, we did have fun bargaining for a few things including the sweatshirt that boy#2 is wearing


My mom celebrating her birthday

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Well, Christmas is over and we had so much fun celebrating the season. We had some great advent activities and lots of fun eating, baking, and eating some more.

Yummy homemade hot chocolate

Homemade crystal ornaments

Lights at Temple Square

Gingerbread house decorating

Some of the savory food for the annual Christmas open house

Some of the 9 pies that I made

My lovely eggs from my lovely chickens

Boy #1 as a wise men, thanks to Aunt J for great costumes

The full cast of the Christmas nativity

Christmas morning ready to see the gifts

Chicken Mania

Since I am loving my chickens I thought I should introduce you to them. On Thanksgiving we had the surprise of a third egg, so now all of our chickens are laying. Yeah! We also try to let them out each day for a little "free range" pecking. They love it.

This is Goldy and she is the oldest and was the only one laying when we got the chickens

This is Racer X and she has beautiful coloring

This is Black and White and she is a scaredy cat. She is our newest layer

Capitol Reef

My husband has gone to Capitol Reef the past two years for a work retreat. We decided that it would be fun to be there together so we went this weekend. The weather was a little cold, but at least it was not snowing. It snowed about 6 inches on Friday so we arrived to lots of snow and a very cold cabin. The park was beautiful and we went on two hikes.

The view from the cabin

We went on this hike and there were lots of geodes

Boy #1 with geode

Boy #2 with another geode

On our way to Hickman Bridge, the boys called this the big toilet bowl

Hickman Bridge

My new favorite picture of boy #1