Halloween 2013

It's almost been a month since Halloween (better than several months since, right?) so I figured I should knock out a post with pictures before Thanksgiving hits us this week...

 

The Saturday before Halloween, the kiddies and I went to the home of my oldest brother and his family for their annual Halloween party.  Hudson was a banana, Claire was Belle (from Disney's Beauty & The Beast), and not having any kind of costume on hand, I threw together my best attempt at a goth-inspired look in the 24 hours before the party.  We had a great time at the shindig and I'm already excited for next year.  I just need to put my thinking cap on now for a better costume next time around (though I did get comments from a few people that they didn't recognize me...not too shabby!).

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know why Picasa has chosen to hate some of my iPhone pictures from the night of the party and not others. I would have made a collage but most of the pics weren't showing up in folders like they should have.  Whatever, Picasa.  Above you can see my Belle and Banana, me with brothers and with my sisters-in-law, my pirate nephew with Claire, my cute pirate niece with my oldest brother, my baby bro with his wife and their darling baby elephant, and a selfie of me as the kids and I were leaving home for the party.  I was SO not meant to have bangs.  My favorite costume of the night was my 6'7" brother in lederhosen...those shorts were extra special.  I'm not including the best pic of the night (which may or may not have shown him pulling up on the leg of his shorts) for the sake of his keeping some sort of dignity.

As for the big candy-begging night the next week, I didn't get as many pictures as I did in past years but I got a couple of good ones of my kids in their costumes so I'll just offer the best pre-trick-or-treating shot I got on our front porch:

 

Claire obviously opted out of being a princess again and was a super hero.  Hudson LOVES his banana costume and stuck with it for the big night.  We had a great time zipping around our neighborhood and the kids came home with WAY too much candy.  After allowing them to slowly consume it over the past few weeks, I allowed them to select a few final pieces last night and confiscated the rest.  We'll have plenty of goodies this week with Thanksgiving and in the next several weeks with the Christmas holiday.  Oh, the sugar comas!

 

Summer 2013: A Nutshell of Photo Collages

Alrighty, folks...trying to keep it simple as I promised.  Here's the rundown of our summer months:

 

1. Spent a week at Marriott's Newport Coast Villas in Southern California.  Minutes away from what I still consider my 2nd home: Balboa Island (spent 2 weeks there every other summer growing up). We spent time walking around the island (as much as I could on my poorly-timed broken toe), eating Balboa Bars, enjoying the sights on and around the island, relaxing and swimming at the villas, playing on our favorite beach: Corona del Mar, going for a cruise around the harbor on Duffy boats, spending a day at LEGOLAND (1st and last time) and more than anything, we enjoyed spending time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Walks around the island with family, time with cousins, and most importantly, Balboa Bars from Dad's.

 

 Amazing gardens and sights on Balboa Island.

Cruising in the Duffy boats.

Corona del Mar: my little brother found a seaweed super hero mask, my oldest brother showed the sand who's boss, Hudson and Grandpa had fun in the waves, and I discovered that buddy taped toes and sand don't jive...at least my nail polish rocked. The wide pic at the top is of my dad, two brothers, my bro-in-law, and a niece all a ways out from the beach waiting to catch waves (body surfing and body boarding).

LEGOLAND with my little brother and his family, my kids and I, and my niece, Becca.

2. After Newport Coast, we headed to Northern California for some quality time in my hometown of Los Gatos. We took my niece with us for some extra time with my kids (didn't hear one complaint from any of them).  We stopped at Harris Ranch and Casa de Fruta on the way up.  I was an amazingly awesome mom/aunt and paid for the kids to ride the double-decker carousel a the latter.  My childhood self wishes she could have ridden it.  While staying at my parents' place for over a week, we enjoyed going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, spending time with friends and extended family, going to the park, doing a little bit of shopping, and more than anything, we had a great time being at Grandpa & Grandma's house.

The three cousins together: at The Boardwalk, Casa de Fruta, Harris Ranch, and G&G's backyard sandbox.

 

Happy 4th of July: The kids spent a good chunk of the day riding scooters in the backyard. They were having fun hamming it up for the camera and Grandpa had fun photo-bombing a totally unsuspecting Hudson.

 

Day trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium: Hudson got to pet a Bat Ray, we all pet sea creatures in the tide pool exhibits, a saw Bottlenosed Dolphins swimming a ways off the main observation deck (a real treat...they're rarely in the Monterey Bay). The jelly fish exhibit is always a favorite...the one picture shows Hudson's hand with a teensy jelly swimming on the other side of the glass.

Swimming with friends and playing with 2nd cousins.

3. Next up was a trip to my sister's in El Dorado Hills, CA, where we spent the last few days of our trip.  I was thrilled to have the opportunity see two of my dear lifelong friends who live in the area.  One made the long-ish drive with her cute daughter to see me at my sister's and my kids and I went to visit the other friend and her family at her parents' home near EDH (extra special treat as I hadn't seen her parents in over 20 years!).  Aside from visits with friends, my sister and I made sure to fit in some sister time, complete with a yummy lunch at one of our favorite digs, Jack's Urban Eats.  The kids spent their time playing with their cousins and swimming in the neighbor's pool.

 

When we drove home to Utah, my sister and her kids came with us to spend almost 2 weeks out here.  One of the highlights of their visit here was our day spent up in Park City where we took the kids on the Alpine Slides (my 1st time ever!) and Alpine Coaster.  I didn't get many pictures of our other activities here but I'm pretty sure that only my sister and I would truly appreciate looking at photos of every eating establishment we went to and the foods we consumed at each place.

A glimpse of our days in EDH and at the Park City Mountain Resort.

Now, that was better than my usual wordy self, wasn't it?  It was wordier than it could have been but far less wordy than I'm capable of.  You're welcome.

Rewind: New Years Eve 2012

Most years we stay home on New Years Eve and party like nothing you've ever seen.  Some years we have maybe one other family over and enjoy a bit of food, bed before midnight for the kids, maybe some games or a movie, and a quiet, "Woo-hoo...Happy New Years." when the clock strikes twelve (because the kids are asleep).  Very thrilling indeed.

This year we headed to my the home of my oldest brother and his family to join them and my wee baby brother and his family for the big night.  It was fairly low key overall and we had a great time.

Food is key to my family's gatherings and I must say that the food was awesome.  We all provided snackies and appetizers for the spread...baked brie, shrimp with cocktail sauce, fruit, cream cheese with jalapeno red pepper jelly, veggies and dip, hot artichoke dip, candy/cookies/dessert, etc.  If anyone left hungry then either a) there was something seriously wrong with them or b) they didn't get to the kitchen before the rest of us inhaled all the tasty vittles.  I think I gained 10 pounds that night.

The kids spent much of the night downstairs playing and watching a movie (or movies) while we adults were upstairs watching a movie, chatting, and playing poker (using Horse-opoly money).  My one sister-in-law was pregnant at the time and that got the three men talking about the babies that they carry in their tummies.  We all had a good laugh as they stood and compared the abdomens that they obviously so tenderly care for and nurture (Matt's stance and face are my favorite...I laugh every time I see the picture).

I am so glad that we all got together that night...nothing like family and laughter to make one's heart happy.

Anne Was Here!: Big BBQ

The day of my visit to the DMV and out trip to Thanksgiving Point was a very busy one, indeed.  That evening, we had a BBQ here at our house with my little family, Anne and her three kids, and each of our three brothers, their wives, and all of their children.  There were 25 of us in all and the only people missing from our family were my parents and Anne's husband.  What a bunch of party poopers!  We got over their absence, though, and had plenty of fun without them.

Dinner was easy for us...we did a pasta salad (made the night before), prepped the chicken, and made a big cooler of lemonade.  Everyone else brought veggies, fruit, and dessert.  Max was the grilling master and while he took care of business, we took several pictures of all of the grandkids together, the three brothers, the five sisters-in-law, and the five of us awesome siblings.  I do wish that the aforementioned absentees could have been here so that we could have taken pictures of everyone.

Pics of all the grandkids, the brothers, the sisters-in-law, the granddaughters, the grandsons, and the five siblings.

We don't always behave for the camera.

Best picture of the night...me and the BEST sister in the whole world.

After picture taking was done, the three brothers got up on the trampoline and the kids took turns being "bounced" high into the air.  A few of them were up over Matt's head at their peak...and he's 6'7" so they really got up there!  At the end of the pre-dinner fun, two of my sisters-in-law decided to let the guys have a go at them and unfortunately, my brother Dave's wife, Jeanette, ended up with what was diagnosed the next day as a nasty case of whiplash.  She could barely walk and was in a lot of pain.  Poor thing spent the evening laid out on our bed with her legs propped up on several pillows (my hubby is seriously a pro at this thanks to the many times he helped me when I was laid up with back problems).  We all helped take care of their baby girl (6 months old?), my sister fed Jeanette dinner since she couldn't sit up, and everyone went in and visited her off and on throughout the night.

In addition to just getting together for dinner, it happened to the birthday of Matt's middle child/daughter, Abby (she's the one in the bright green).  They brought very tasty red velvet mini cupcakes for the kids and red velvet cake from Costco for the adults. Yummy!!  It was great to combine an already fun get together with her big day.

Just over a week after this big BBQ, Dave and his family moved across the country to Connecticut so this was our last big hurrah for a while.  We're all planning on meeting up in Newport Coast, CA next summer but as my mom says, "Life is what happens while you're making plans."  I just hope that the whole family (and I mean everyone!) can be there next year.

Anne Was Here!: Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm

The same day that I had a really great experience at the DMV (no lie!), my sister and I packed up our kiddies and took them down to the Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm with our sister-in-law Heather and her kids.  We've both been there many time before but it's always enjoyable as we are all animal lovers.  We all got to see, pet, and hand-feed draught/draft horses, ponies and their darling little foals, baby goats, etc.  The younger kids each went on a pony ride (if you can call it that...it's done in a small covered corral with the ponies on a mechanical merry-go-round of sorts) as well.

Growing up, I always thought I wanted to own and live on a small ranch/farm someday.  Now I think it'd be awesome to have chickens and maybe a goat.  Otherwise, I think the constant cleaning of messes, feeding times, and smell would do me in.  I'm glad we don't live to far from this place so that I can get a good dose of farm animals now and then!

June & July Catch-Up

Did you miss me?

I'm behind on posting as usual and falling behind on my monthly quota.  In sitting down to write just now, I was really tempted to do several posts about what we've done since I last wrote.  I would have caught up on my numbers really fast.  However, I'm no cheat.  So I'm going to do one post with a paragraph or description about all our noteworthy happenings since June 26th to get it all out there.  I much prefer to cheat that way instead.

June 25th: So I'm starting one day before...  Kids and I went down to my brother Matt's house in Highland for his 40th birthday party.  We had fun seeing their new place, visiting with family and some of their friends that I hadn't seen in ages, eating tasty food, and exploring the pond and golf course that's just beyond their backyard.  Took his middle child home with us for a sleepover.

June 26th: Took the kids and their cousin to see Brave...totally loved it.  Took the kids to the zoo at the end of the day.  Hardly anyone was there and we got our own little show of the polar bear swimming and diving right by the underwater viewing area.

June 29th: Kids both finished a session of swimming lessons.

July 4th: Spent the evening with hubby's brother and his family.  Tasty grilled steak and all sorts of sides for dinner and cupcakes and ice cream for dessert.  I made red, white and blue cupcakes - they were very cute.  I took a picture of the batter in the cups before baking then failed to get any shots of the finished products (blue frosting with white pearls on top) before they were gobbled up.  After dinner we played games and hung out until fireworks time.  We all drove over to my in-law's place to light them off there as fireworks are currently illegal up where we live and down at my bro-in-law's place due to the high fire danger this year.  It was a great evening that we all thoroughly enjoyed.

July 6th: One of my BFF's that I grew up with in California (Kim) moved here from Virginia.  I got to see her briefly the next day, we had them over for dinner that Sunday and then we got together a few times that following week.  Our friendship is the best kind there is - no matter how long we've been out of touch or whether we haven't talked in days or years, we can always pick up like no time has passed.  So thrilled to have her living a quick 7 minute/3 mile drive away!  The cherry on top is that our kids have all hit it off and absolutely love playing together.

July 13th: Busy day...  First the kiddies had swimming lessons followed by lunch at Kim's place with playtime for the kids and a little move-in work for us.  Later that afternoon we went to the zoo with my middle brother, Dave, his wife and most of their kids (5 our of 6) and my little brother's wife and their two kids.  It was a nice way to spend a little more time together before Dave and his family move to CT at the end of the month.  Afterwards I forced myself to take my kids to Tepanyaki for dinner.  It was fun, delicious and totally awesome and I managed okay in the end.  My daughter, on the other hand, did not manage okay and had a meltdown at the end of the meal as she whined over and over (and over), "I never get to do ANYTHING!"  It was my favorite part of the day.

July 14th: Kids finished another session of swimming lessons. The only thing Hudson had needed to master to pass his level was his freestyle with rotary breathing and he finally did it! Claire had a number of things to get done to move up and she really seemed to pick up a lot this time around. She can now jump off the diving board and swim to the side unassisted. Like her older brother, she's especially good at backstroke and easily switches from her tummy to her back then cruises along. Both kids advanced to their respective next levels.

July 17th: My sister and her three kids came in town for a good, long visit.

And that's where this re-cap post stops.  I want to do at least one separate post about the fun we had!

Oops!! One More Summer Collage: Cousins

I realized midday yesterday that I failed to put one more collage in my morning post.  Long after having done my post about my sister and her family coming in town, I discovered that I had  hadn't uploaded several pictures from my second camera...including a good number of photos of her kids and mine together at Temple Square in downtown SLC (I also failed to remember our trip to downtown when writing that original post!).  So, better late than never, here's the collage of our afternoon at Temple Square from way back in June:

During this day trip, we walked around Temple Square and then took the opportunity to go and take a tour of the Conference Center across the street. The end of the tour brought us to the incredible rooftop where there are gardens, trees, fountains, a waterfall, and a fabulous view of the temple. I'd been on the roof once years ago but hadn't seen the whole thing. I think we're all glad that we had the chance to do so...best part of the day as far as I'm concerned! 

Long Overdue Summer Post

Alrighty, folks.  Obviously haven't exactly been on top of blogging this summer.  Grand intentions and pathetic (non-existent?) efforts and results.  So here is our summer in a single photo happy post...

Flowers in our garden in the late spring/early summer.  I'm a touch obsessed with my white peonies and the dark blue delphinium and would check on them daily.  This year, the delphinium got to be over 5 feet tall!

Hubby got out the pressure washer one day in late June to clean off the fence and patio.  The kids had a glorious time playing in the misty spray.  The only problem is that we have irrigation water outside and we had to keep reminding them to keep their mouths closed and resist the urge to take some in (you can see in the bottom left picture that the reminders didn't always stick).

4th of July: We had some of Max's family over for a BBQ and fireworks.  In spite of the warm night, the kids "needed" to wrap up in blankets to watch them.  Maybe they're not the children of this always-warm lady.  My nephew went out and bought aerial fireworks (just became legal here) that we set off at the end of the "show".  Wish I'd had my act together to get some pictures...they were seriously awesome!

I wanted to get a wading pool for this kids this summer and lucked out at Target...a package had been opened for whatever reason and was marked down to $20 (no damage or anything missing).  It's a HUGE pool as far as the wading sort go - when I sit down in it the top edge is up to my armpits.  Unfortunately for the kids, as cool as I am for buying it, we only set it up the once.  It was there on the soft grass for a few days but then we had to empty it and take it off the lawn to avoid damage.  I hate to think of setting it up on the cement with how much they kids love jumping into it on their knees and the possibility of holes or damage on the bottom.  Maybe I'll get something figured out and fill it up for one last hurrah before the weather turns too cool.

A little robin couple set up house in the Japanese maple tree near our front door this year.  Three little chicks hatched and much to the parents' chagrin, I kept tabs on the little cuties and took pictures often.  You can see in a few of the pictures that dad and mom were keeping tabs on me in return (dad has the bright chest, mom is lighter).  Unfortunately one little chick didn't make it through the 2nd week but the other two were alive, healthy, and hopping away last time we saw them.  The chick sitting on the stepping stone in the one picture was my favorite.  It was very calm and happily sat in my hand and snuggled in  the couple of times that I held it (when it had fallen out of the nest). So stinking cute!

 What is summer without swimming lessons?  My kids both LOVE the water and were thrilled to be back in the pool in July.  I also put them in a 2nd session just before school started.  Claire is definitely progressing and easily moved from Preschool Level 1 to Preschool Level 2.  Hudson, on the other hand, is progressing but not so quickly as his little sister.  The biggest hitch for him?  He's tall.  So rather than breathe to the side as he goes, he stops, stands up, and then gets going again when he's ready...time to move this boy to deeper waters!

 Pioneer Day: It was a weekend long celebration for us this year.  We enjoyed the local fireworks show from our neighbors' backyard as always that Friday night and then had family events/dinners the next two nights.  Saturday night was at our house with part of Max's family.  The kids had a grand time lighting sparkler after sparkler after sparkler and we had a little mini fireworks show once it got dark enough (no aerials this time).

Lastly was a joint birthday shindig for Claire and me a couple of weekends ago (and her actual birthday the next night).  Pictures above are from both.  Claire's birthday is just over a week before mine so we often combine them for a little extended family party.  My favorite shot from the weekend is the one on the top right where I caught Claire's reaction when she saw her new pink scooter & helmet.  Operation perfect gift...success!

Well, that's about it in a nutshell.  Posts for Hudson's first day of school and my actual birthday (nothing big...just have to talk about my cake) to follow soon!

Rewind: We Love Our Cousins!

As previously mentioned, my sister and her family came into town and stayed with us for nearly 2 weeks back in June.  It was positively glorious having them here and while much of our time together was spent doing relatively unexciting things, we enjoyed every last second of it.  Unfortunately, neither my sister nor I thought to pull the camera out until the last day or two that they were here...at least we got a few shots.  I'm sure I've mentioned it before but don't Hudson and Becca make a cute little bestie friends/cousins couple?

We all miss them already and really, we missed them the second they pulled out of the driveway.  Then they came back a minute later (forgot something...I think it was B's kitty or blanket) and we had to miss them as they left all over again.  Lots of missing going on around here.  Want to know what I don't miss?  Even though there were two of us mommies here to do it all, I do not miss laundry for 5 kids and 3 adults (4 at times).  Or cooking for the group.  Or the incredible amounts of noise.  Or doing the dishes.  Hence our use of paper goods for a number of our meals.  In closing, I'd just like to say: I LOVE SOLO & CHINET.

Rewind: We Love Grandpa & Grandma!

My parents flew home the day after Easter.  Just before they left for the airport, it hit me that I hadn't taken a single picture of my parents while they were here.  We quickly grabbed the camera and snapped away...

We love you, Grandpa & Grandma!

Rewind: Easter 2011

We had a great group here for Easter this year. My parents were in town since my baby bro was graduating from law school at BYU down in scenic Provo that weekend and we were thrilled to have them join us for the holiday.  Along with them, we had my two brothers who live in the area and their families, my one sister-in-law's mom, and my dad's only sister and her daughter. Prior to the big dinner, though, we had our traditional family events...

Hunting real eggs - beautimous egg dyeing courtesy of my mom and yours truly - in the backyard. Hudson figured out the whole E.B. thing on his own this year and got to help hide the eggs and find them. He's being a good sport and egging his little sister on about the E.B. as long as she wants to believe. Pun intended.

Pictures of the family with the kiddies in their new Easter outfits. I am never 100% thrilled with how the pics turn out but it's real life, right?

In addition to egg hunting and pictures, the kids each had an Easter basket with a small toy and lots of sugary goodness waiting inside for them when we got home from church. Hudson also got to help with picking the goodies for the baskets this year but his toy and a couple of particular candies were still a surprise for him.

Now for the meal... Thanks to the ingenious design of my hubby, we were able to seat all the adults (and Hannah in her high chair) at one large table in our living room (rest of the kids were in the spill-friendly kitchen). It was made up of three folding tables side by side and we were able to cover the massive creation with my two large white tablecloths. We girlies enjoyed ourselves setting the table with my Wedgewood Basketweave china, glass goblets, and individual S&P shakers, and dotting it with pitchers of water, little duet bowls of jams, baskets of rolls, one of the cakes I made for dessert, and a small sampling of my decorative Easter egg collection. It wasn't anything super fancy but I loved how it turned out.

 Our dinner this year consisted of super delicious ham (using my mother-in-law's INCREDIBLE homemade glaze recipe), sour cream scalloped potatoes - the kind with Corn Flakes on top, perfect homemade rolls from my one sister-in-law, homemade jams thanks to my sister and I (too bad she and her family weren't here to join us!), an amazingly delicious fruit salad from my other sister-in-law, and a tasty green salad from my sister-in-law's mom. For dessert I made a lemon bundt cake (I always think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding when I use the word "bundt") and a Texas Sheet Cake - half with chopped pecans, half without. The whole meal was all so very yummy and there were enough leftovers at the end for everyone to take a bit home. I'm starting to drool just thinking about the meal again...mmmmmm!

That evening, after everyone was gone, Claire decided that she needed to spend some quality time in and with her dear old friend, the high chair. She quickly climbed up and slipped into her old happy place. Too bad she's gotten too big for it - getting her out was quite the ordeal and her legs were a bit scraped up on top from the process.  Maybe she'll finally be cured of climbing in after that whole fiasco...we'll see.

Next up: another rewind! Maybe I'll be caught up one of these days...

Rewind: 70th B-Day Bash

Major rewind again...back in the middle of March, we threw a surprise party for hubby's dad for his 70th birthday. He thought that he and my mother-in-law were coming up for a nice quiet evening at our place where he was going to help Max with some electrical matter in the living room and then have dinner with us. WRONG. Instead he arrived to find 40+ people at our house to celebrate his recent 70th birthday. And he was completely surprised...the look on his face was priceless.

While a few were stragglers at the end, we had a total of 45 people here for a picture DVD presentation of the birthday boy's life, memories/thoughts shared by each of his 6 children, dinner, and dessert. Now, let us take a moment and allow me to toot my own horn on the dinner deal... In an attempt to save money, we were looking at all kinds of options for the main course. After mulling over everything, I put my foot down in the end and said that we were going to order fried chicken from the grocery store down the hill. And that was that. Both hubby and my mother-in-law were a wee hesitant and skeptical but EVERYONE loved the chicken. Just like I knew they would. We ordered enough for about 50 people and had one single piece leftover at the end of the night. We had the chicken, a whipped Jell-O/Cool Whip salad, green salad, and fruit. Dessert was Costco cake and ice cream and a very special sugar free cake for the diabetic man of the hour (made by me that afternoon - the frosting/decoration was finished as people were arriving).

As far as we're concerned, it was a smashing success and we'd do it again in a heartbeat. That being said, I have to say: I love my father-in-law and I love my mother-in-law. I love my dad and mom, too. But as well as the party went, I'm not throwing another party of that size or of that much work for any them (or anyone else for that matter) anytime soon. I'm still recovering.

Rewind: March 2011 - Afternoon At The Zoo

At the beginning of March, my parents came into town to watch the five kids of my one of my brothers while he and his wifey went on a really lame trip to Europe for 10 days. Seriously...who would want to go there? And for that long? Weird. My dad was just in town for the 1st few days and then headed home to work while my mom did her job here.

I was hoping to spend a lot of time with my mom and the youngest of the 5 kids (she's just older than Claire) but due to my being sick with a cold, those wishes took a back seat. However, once I was better, we met up at the zoo one day along with another sister-in-law and her two kiddies. The kids were thrilled to get outside and burn off some energy and we were far beyond thrilled to have them do so. Not much to report on the zoo itself...a fair portion of it is under construction right now (can't wait to the new arctic exhibits!) but it was still nice to leave the house and get some fresh air.

I must say that I did learn one thing from the trip, though, and that is that I wouldn't ever want to have that many children. Don't get me wrong, I love kids (especially mine!) but it was a lot to handle, even if it was for less than 2 hours. At one point my sister-in-law and I were walking through the reptile building with 8 of them in tow and we had to keep stopping to count the kids. A couple of times we came up short and had to quickly look around and see where the missing child (or two) had gone. And that's with everyone having a "buddy" and "staying close together" as a group! Kudos to the moms out there who have that many kids, keep track of them all (often on their own), and stay sane while doing it. I am in awe of you!

Christmas...In February!

"Someone" complained to me the other day that I hadn't posted in a while and that some fresh material/entertainment was needed. Well, my dear, here you go. After 53 days of sheer boredom thanks to my lack of blogging, you're finally getting your wish...

We spent over 2 weeks in the great state of California for the Christmas holiday. Due to a big storm being forecast for the Sierras, we took Hudson out of school for 2 days and went on our trip early. Thank heavens for that - the day after we arrived at my parents, the weather service was predicting 3-6 feet of snowfall over the days that we would have originally traveled. Yikes!

It was so nice to be back "home" for Christmas for the first time in 10 years. There's just something about being in my hometown, taking in the sights I saw every year for the first 20+ years of my life, seeing the Christmas decorations that I grew up with, and being in the home where I experienced the holidays as a child that made it simply wonderful.

As is tradition in our little family, I got the kids new church duds for the Sunday before Christmas. I was so excited to get them both all gussied up and I may be ever so slightly biased but SERIOUSLY...they looked so darling!! And so grown up. One guess as to who is getting too tall for some of the children's accessories. Note to self: go shopping for big kid/pre-teen sized ties. Soon.

A few days after our arrival, we packed up the car with my parents and headed up to the city one afternoon to meet up with my favorite (and possibly least favorite) sister and her family. We met up inside Neiman Marcus at Union Square where we had fun venturing up the various floors and seeing the enormous Christmas tree from each level. We then did a bit of shopping across the street at Macy*s (speaking of which - bless the glorious genius who finally got them to Utah)...or, I should say, we girlies did some shopping while my hubby took 2 of the 3 younger kiddies to look out the windows at the Union Square tree. We had a fun visit while waiting for our turn on the cable car and then had a fun ride over the hill in the "good seats" on the outside of the car. Kudos to hubby for tending the kids in Macy*s and curses on him for scaring poor Claire half to death on the cable car. Shortly after it started up the street, Max pretended to fall backwards and just about gave our little girl a heart attack. The rest of the ride, she sucked her thumb while holding tightly onto Max's jacket and leaning in closely on my lap. We did get a bit of a giggle out of her being so scared (except for when she had nightmares that night about him falling into the street and getting "squished") and the rest of us enjoyed the trip over to the wharf. Once there, our favorite 6-year-olds held hands for the walk to dinner and didn't let go until we reached the restaurant. If they weren't cousins, they'd make an adorable couple! They really are best buds and it was fun just watching them eat up their time together. Dinner at Scoma's was fabulous as always...swordfish for Max, salmon for me (I also shared a small clam chowder and shrimp louie salad with my sister), pasta for the kids, and 2 months worth of carbs in the form of sourdough bread for everyone there. Right after dinner, it was back in the car for a quiet drive home after a great day with the best company.

Just a couple of days before Christmas, we headed to my Uncle & Aunty's place in Los Altos for the annual family Christmas party and pageant. After a yummy potluck/buffet dinner, the kids had a grand time dressing up as wisemen and shepherds along with one little angel (not pictured) and my cute little solo sheep. Hudson and Claire were in 7th heaven playing with some of their many second cousins and it was great for us adults to catch up with cousins that we don't get to see very often.

Aside from our day in the city and the family party, we spent much of our time just spending time at my parents' home, doing a little bit of shopping, seeing the huge light display at Vasona Park one night, and going outside (and to the park!) on days when the rain wasn't soaking everything and the sun broke through. We had a lovely, quiet Christmas in my parents' home with just the 6 of us. I've known this for a while and those of you who are parents know this too, but I have to say: Christmas really is better with kids.

A few days after Christmas, we packed up the car (and I mean PACKED...we had shipped all our presents out beforehand) and headed up to visit my sister and her family on our way home. The kids couldn't have been more excited to spend more time with their cousins and Max and I were so glad to have more time with my sister and her hubby. We girls did some shopping, the boys did some gaming, the adults went and saw True Grit (so good!), the guys took the kids down to the lake one day, and we all relished our time together. The picture of Claire, Becca, and Hudson in the collage above is the only one I have to post right now...hopefully going to have some great pictures from the lake soon (waiting for hubby to forward them to me - all taken on his iPhone).

It was a fabulous trip and while we were ready to get back to real life, we were sad to end our time away and drive home the day after New Years. So very grateful to have had such a wonderful California Christmas.

Happy Cousins

As if my kids don't look white enough already, my oldest brother Matt (who is also extremely white like me) and his olive-skinned wife and kids came to visit last week. They were going to stay with us for their whole trip but well, you know how people say that they avoided something "like the plague"? Yeah, our house pretty much was the plague for a few days before they came into town and a few days while they were here. We were sad not to have them around more but were very happy that we finally got well enough to have them up for an evening in the middle of their trip. We hadn't seen any of their family in close to 18 months but everyone was quick to pick up where we left off. While we adults had fun chatting, Hudson and Ethan (H is about 18 months older) had the time of their lives playing together and Claire was happy as could be tagging along with the "big girls" Anna and Abby. I just wish that we lived closer to each other so that these get-togethers could be more frequent.

Now take a look at the picture below. For those of you who don't know, here's the question of the day... How far apart in age are Hudson and Abby?



Answer: Just a touch under 3 years. Abby is about 9 1/2 and Hudson is 6 1/2. He obviously looks younger in the face but he's got a couple of inches on her and out-weighs her by about 8 pounds. I just love looking at the two of them together. Hooray for tall boys and hooray for super cute tiny girls (we taller/bigger girls envy you and your tiny selves)!

More Vacation Pics - June & July 2010

After our wonderful week on Balboa Island at the end of June, we headed up the coast to my hometown to spend a week with my parents. We couldn't make that drive without stopping in Santa Barbara for lunch at Brophy Bros. in the harbor. We arrived at a good time and were able to get a seat on the balcony where we watched boats come and go and the goings on along the docks. One delicious meal of clam chowder, house salad, cheeseburgers, and fries later (we didn't all have all of that...different combinations for each of us), we were on our way up north.

While staying at my parents' place (and in between Claire and Hudson's taking turns having some sort of flu), we spent our days doing all sort of fun things....

There were several trips to our favorite park in town, Oak Meadow. While they have some nice, newer play structures, there are things that haven't changed since I used to play there when I was a kid. There's the real airplane that they've gutted and cemented in, the old fire engine, and the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. As they were when I was little, those three things are still the biggest attractions there. Not only did we spend time at the playground and take a turn on the railroad, my mom and I took the kids with us when we went on walks between Oak Meadow and Vasona a couple of times.

One of our first days there, my mom and I took the kiddies downtown to the Town Plaza Fountain. Hudson had no problem soaking himself from head to toe in no time. Claire was a bit more timid but eventually got in there and had a grand time as well. It was the perfect activity for a hot day (great for the adults, too...we sat in the shade under the big redwood trees).

The first weekend we were there included the 4th of July. Claire was just starting on the upswing from being sick and we kept the day rather low-key. Even though we weren't going anywhere or seeing anyone, I got the kids dressed in their patriotic duds and we spent the late morning and early afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather.

One of our favorite activites out there is to go to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. We went twice this trip, once with both of my parents and the other time with my mom. Claire wasn't old enough to really enjoy it last year so it was fun watching her as she "got it" when we went this time. We did go to Gayle's while we were over there the 1st time but alas, they were out of Princess Cake that evening so no pictures from that stop.

Another favorite day from our visit was when my dad and I took the kids to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo. It's an oldie but goodie that has been around forever. They recently overhauled the place, though, and the changes are amazing! While many of the attractions are the same (little zoo, petting zoo, rides, etc.), they added an incredibly enormous and amazing play structure and completely face-lifted the whole place. It was so fun to go there and watch my kids enjoy a place that I used to love.

Now, a trip to my hometown just wouldn't be right without a day trip to the city. Important note: Please don't call it San Fran, Frisco, or anything else like that. It's San Fransisco or the city. Period. Anything else makes us Bay Area natives cringe. Anyway...we started out with a trip to Golden Gate Park where we met up with my sister and her kids at the Academy of Sciences. This is another place that has been completely renovated in the past few years. I hadn't been since before we had Hudson and boy, was I ever impressed with the changes! They have an amazing multi-level rainforest exhibit with all sorts of rainforest creatures (ginormous orb weaver spiders included...yuck!), a T-Rex skeleton in the entry way, an incredible aquarium with species from all over the world, etc. After visiting the Academy, we went to Union Square and San Fransisco Center for our usual shopping and a great dinner at one of the best food courts ever.

Now, our trip didn't just consist of days spent away from home and out and about. Most days were spent close to home (which included the aforementioned trips to the park) and at home for the most part. The kids had the time of their lives riding in the John Deere truck, running in the sprinklers (or hose spray), eating ice cream, playing dress up, digging in the sandbox, reading with their grandparents, and washing my car (my favorite). We also took part of an afternoon and visited a very dear friend of ours, Inger, who lives in my hometown. She's an amazing lady who immigrated from Norway in her early 20's and I can never get enough of her Norweigan-New York accent, her smile, and her company.

Well folks, that's finally it. The last of the pictures and details that I'm posting on our month-long excursion to California. And it only took me just over a month to get it done!

Now to catch up on the 1st day of school, our weekend with Max's family, etc....