Golden Spike

 Our First visit to Golden Spike National Monument in Promontory Utah.  It was freezing and the ranger was on a lunch break so we couldn't see the trains.  But we stopped at the rocket plant on the way home and saw some cool rocket replicas so at least Oliver wasn't too disappointed.

Dinosaur Park

Dinosaur Park - Ogden Utah

Sledding

Sledding at Bear Lake

Valentines Cards

So, I totally stole this idea from my sister-in-law, Mayka and her super crafty blog, www.mybrainbaby.com.  She did it last year and I was totally jealous, especially after I had just bought the super lame-o cards from the store.  It's super easy.  I took a picture of Oliver with his fist out in front of him.  (He wanted to add the Darth Vador element).  Then just make some slits on the top & bottom of the fist and stick a lollipop through.

Blockheads Shavery

Back in December I was asked to do custom art work for a dessert place (shaved snow) in Santa Monica, CA.  This is the finished product, hanging up in their store.  The pieces are much bigger that they look and each panel has much more detail that the picture shows.  They are each 18x36.  I was really hoping they would have them up when we went down to CA for Christmas, but the framing took MUCH longer than expected.  The panels tell the story of Blockheads.    It was a really fun project and I was thrilled they asked me to do it.

Trying to be Like Jesus

California Christmas

For Christmas this year, we were able to go to California!  (A special thanks to Mike's brother who drove all of us down in his car).  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  It was a much needed vacation and I am so glad we were able to go.  We visited tons of family and had loads of fun.  Did I mention how awesome the weather was?

Visiting Mike's Cousin, Betsy, in Dana Point.

 

Mikes uncle Dave owns a boat down in Santa Barbara, CA.  He took us out on it and it was totally awesome.  Mike's parents and brother and family were also able to come along.  It was a beautiful, warm day and an awesome ride.  We all had a blast.  

 

After the boat ride, we went and played on the beach for awhile.  I still can't get over how warm it was!  Oliver absolutely loved the beach.  He would have stayed all day.

Mike's Aunt Tina and Uncle Rick & family took us to the San Diego Zoo.

I love zoos and have always wanted to go to this one.  It was so much fun!  The pandas were adorable.

Oh, and of course the reason we came....Christmas!  The whole 2 weeks felt like one big long Christmas day.  It was so much fun!

Our Tree

Sunday

It was a hard day at church for all of us.

Lotion

I guess Hazel had some pretty dry skin.