It's Great to be 8!

Merry Christmas!

Berkley had some surgery a couple days before Christmas that has required a cone.  It's been interesting.  ;) 

 Last year on Christmas Eve, Addison lost a tooth.  This year on Christmas Eve, Carter did.  This picture kills me!  So funny!  :)

We brought this 1000 piece puzzle home from Disneyland last month to do while Marty's parents were here for Christmas.  It was nearly impossible.  Tiny pieces, they all fit in every spot, but it was good because it kept everyone busy...

 Christmas morning!

 Carter and Grandma took a break from giant puzzle and worked on something a little smaller and more manageable!

 The day after Christmas we drove out to Santa Cruz and were pleasantly surprised to find the weather super sunny and warm!

 More of that dang puzzle!

 The demolition of the horrid 1970's shed on the side of our house--fun project for the boys, especially Carter!

The puzzle was finished!  YAY!

We had a great Christmas, and enjoyed having Marty's parents here for the week!  We are excited for 2014 and the experiences it will bring.  Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My mom met us in Disneyland and then flew home with us for Thanksgiving.  It was a fun, low-key, relaxing holiday with LOTS of food of course!  

 (There were 5 of us.  That's more than 1/2 a pie each!)

 So much to be thankful for all year long.  We made little turkey crafts to list a few things.

 My mom worked the whole time she was here!  She needs a vacation from her "vacation"!

 Addison is currently obsessed with Harry Potter and can't get enough reading in, even at the Thanksgiving dinner table!

 Our Elf on the Shelf showed up, yay!

 We my mom decorated the house for Christmas (thanks mom!)

 Marty and the kids hung lights outside.

And then we headed to the Oakland temple for the lighting and a program in the auditorium which was awesome!  

(this picture makes me laugh!  It looks like Marty has a tiny arm that he's resting his head on.)

After Utah we went to the Redwoods

The Jones' came to visit!  They were at our house for a day and a half and then we headed to the Redwoods. We drove through beautiful Napa Valley on our way..

 This is the kids all crammed in the back of the Jones' car to drive through the giant tree.

 Marty had to get out to direct Greg through....there was about an inch of wiggle room, maybe.

 Mirrors pulled in and Jami able to touch the tree without even really being outside of the car.

 We made it!!

 Jami found a cute little cabin for us to stay in on a really amazing produce farm.  We had access to all of the fruit and veggies we wanted.  It was GREAT!  This is only part of their garden.  We loved it, but the kids REALLY loved it!  They could just roam around, hide in the corn stalks, pick whatever they wanted, chase the cat and dog, and just be dirty and happy.

oh those blackberries.  So, so, soooo delicious!  They just grew wild EVERYWHERE.  We ate so many!  They were so good on this salad! 

 Just walking down the street and eating more berries.

 The trees were MASSIVE!

 (Addison could not have been any happier to have this little girl along!)

When we left the cabin, we stopped by a glass beach.  Real pieces of glass made smooth from the ocean.  It was pretty cool!

And then we headed home for a few more days with the Jones'.  This was just when we came out of the Redwoods and got to the coast.   California is so beautiful!

Before Hawaii, we went to New York!

I tell you, we did more traveling this summer than pretty much our entire lives combined!  We told the kids by the time we were their age, I had been to Disneyland once, the beach a few times and Lake Mead.  Marty had been camping a lot and to Seattle once.  (Our parents may know of a few more vacations we took, but pretty much that sums it up!)  

Anyway...Marty had to go to NYC for work and we decided we would join him for a week of it (although by join, I mean we shared a room, poor guy worked so much it wasn't really a "vacation" for him).  It was a lot of fun, a little crazy, we learned a lot and certainly didn't see all we wanted to, but we are glad we got to go!

The day before we left, I decided to fly to Utah and spend half a day with Amy.  Luckily (and possibly miraculously) I was pretty much already packed and ready, which has NEVER happened.  I am always throwing stuff together at the last possible second.  Definite tender mercy.  

On our way!!!  

 Toys-R-Us

 Lego Store

 American Girl Doll Store

 Taking a break from walking and looking through the 9-11 magazines we bought from some guy on the street.

 Our hotel right in Times Square.

 The only statue of liberty we saw (bummer, but we will just have to go back some day I hope!)

 Top of the Rock

 Wicked on Broadway!!

 A-MA-ZING cheesecake, eaten at midnight (which is only 8pm in California, so we figured we were good)!

 Weekend trip (with Marty, yay!) to Palmyra!  SUCH a beautiful (although really, REALLY long) drive through the most beautiful scenery in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

 Sacred Grove

 Hill Cumorah Pageant

Susquehanna river

Before we drove back into NYC we stopped at a waterpark for a few hours.  I'm pretty sure it was both of the kids favorite part of the entire trip.  Next year we're heading to Waterworld in Concord!

We definitely wore everyone out! 

 

The kids and I left New York and flew to Utah for the next trip we had planned!  (Which turned out to be preparing for and having Amy's funeral, but could be considered another tender mercy since we were already scheduled to fly into Utah the day she passed away.)