Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Fall 2016

We've been busy this fall and the temperatures have finally come down so we're happy campers around here! Here are some of the fun things we've been doing:

Dan, Nicole and the kids stopped by on their way home from Disneyland.
A pillow fight was the first thing on Camden's agenda.

He put up a good fight but I somehow managed to stay on my feet.
Story time with Grandpa is always a must.
The next day was Veteran's Day....
...Scott had a helper this time...
...putting out the flag...
,,,priceless.
Zach, Malia, and Josh came over with the biggest water balloons I've ever seen...
...kerplunk.
Wesley LOVED playing the piano.
Ping pong was a bit hit as usual.
Organizing the ping pong balls into baggies, of course.
Someone's in my bed!!
Hanging out.
Underneath the ping pong table was a favorite place.
Building a fort has become a tradition.
I am always amazed at how fast Nicole and Ashley can put a puzzle together!
Croquet was another big hit.
Wesley had some serious moves.
Coming through.
Another strategic move.
Yep, he has this.
And break!
Enjoying the sun. So glad Ashley and Jason could join us.
Twister was yet another big hit.
Coloring time.
I hate it when they leave!
Agnes and Malia had concerts last week.
Agnes is right in front with the bass that is bigger than she is!
Malia is in there somewhere playing the trombone.
Well done girls!

I don't remember how this got into this batch of photos but how cute is that!!!
We are grateful for the time we've had to spend with family and friends.  We're looking forward to Thanksgiving later this week and then the Christmas season! We are doing well and are so thankful for SO MUCH!

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Anniversary Trip 2016

Scott and I just got back from our anniversary trip for this year in Southern California.  Like always, it was so fun to just hang out with each other for a week and we got to see some fun things.  Here are the highlights:

We drove to California on Saturday thinking that we wouldn't be bothered with weekday traffic.
NOT!
We did make it to the hotel though and the next day we took a nice Sunday drive out to the LA temple.
Oh come on! It's Sunday!!
We finally made it to the temple where it was nice and peaceful.

This is a very tall temple.

Yep, our drive to Disneyland later that day.

Oh for Pete's sake!!
We made it!
Our hotel.....nice!

Our first line at Disneyland....checking into the hotel!
Waiting in our car until the rain let up enough to take all of our stuff to the room. The rain felt so good!
View from our room. 
For Cori....There are 13 Mickey's hidden in this display!
Pluto joined us for breakfast the next morning.
 
Our first day was at California Adventure.  It was rainy but that kept the crowds at a minimum.  A couple of the rides closed because of the rain but were still able to do quite a bit. My favorites were the Frozen musical, World of Color and Soarin'. 
Our first ride was Soarin' and we were greeted with a beautiful empty room with no line!!
Waiting for the Frozen musical to start.  One of my favorites!!
Caught a nice sunset.
The next day we went to Disneyland Park.  My two favorite rides, Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain were closed for renovations so I was bummed about that, but we got to see all the rest.


Chip.....
...and Dale were our breakfast companions that morning. I've never had so much fun at breakfast before!
Disneyland was a lot more crowded(: but all decked out for Halloween!
Ready to paint the town red...not really, our feet were pretty tired already.
Haunted Mansion was our longest line.
The best part of Disneyland!
The next day we decided to go back to California Adventure since there were some things we couldn't do in the rain.  Our favorite ride was the Grizzly River Run, we rode that five times.  I am also happy to report that I got up enough nerve the last day to go on California Screamin'.  And I survived....even though the car came up off the track at least three times during the ride. I know it did!!
We came upon the Newsies singing and dancing in the street.  They were quite chipper.
Next to the Grizzly River Run...quite picturesque.
Oops, you caught me eating another churro!
I only had two, no three, no four churros. But I shared them with Scott! We stayed the third day as long as our feet could stand it then headed down to San Diego. No traffic! Wish I had a picture.
First thing we did was go to the beach!
Pretty good selfie!
Watched the sun set before heading back.
The next day was our anniversary so we spent most of the day in the temple and then went to Ruth's Chris for a nice dinner. This was our first time at the San Diego temple so we were looking forward to that.
First sighting of the temple.
It was a beautiful day!
Can't think of a more perfect way to spend our anniversary.
At dinner, they brought out a special dessert on the house to celebrate.
It's been nine wonderfully happy years! I'm so grateful to have found Scott, so worth the wait!!!!

For our last day we went to the Mormon Battalion and spent some time at Old Town San Diego.

Old Town had a fun hacienda that we toured:
What a modern kitchen from the early 1800's looked like....yikes.
And an oven from the same time period...whoever invented microwave ovens, thank you!!
Whoever invented indoor plumbing....THANK YOU!
Whoever invented washing machines....I LOVE YOU!!
Whoever invented cars....you get the idea.
It was fun to go back in time for a little while....and then be able to come back to the present!
We had a great time and were glad to get home and rest, ha! 

Of course, no one was as happy to be home than Riley! She had a rough time at the sitter's. 
We are now back to work, school, Primary, etc.  Looking forward to the holidays and seeing family! Stay tuned.....