::birfday 1::

My birthday was sooooo snowy.  It snowed most of the day before and a lot of the early morning.  We had been planning to go up skiing for the morning anyway, and all the snow just made it look like a even better opportunity.



It was only my second time.  My first time I didn't fall down once.  This time I fell down and skiied into a fence as soon as I got off the lift.  Of course everyone was there to see. Oh well.

When I got on the big lift for the first time I didn't know what I was doing, so I messed up and ended up going on by myself because I missed a gate that only opened for about 2 seconds.  Anyway, I had a nice peaceful ride up the mountain by myself.



Going down the bigger runs was a little intimidating but I didn't fall down or ski off the mountain, so I was glad about that.  My legs got incredibly tired though--turns out my boots weren't on quite tight enough.  By the time I got down to the bottom of the mountain I was wasted.



Lucy was in the childcare down at the lodge so I went to check on her and she was doing great.  I only had gotten a morning lift pass so we were almost out of time.  Max and Kris came down from the big fancy runs to meet us and Max went on the easy hill with me a few times.









This next picture was of when I dropped my glove out of my lap because I was too busy taking photos with my phone and then I caught it with my skis. It was pretty impressive.




Max and I had fun on the lift and it was fun for me to see how good he's gotten with all his lessons and practicing.  He's great at turning and he's very confident on his skis.  Super silly, but confident.  And somehow he didn't trip me on my way down the hill, though I was sure he would.

It really started to snow just as we were coming down the hill for the last time.  It was beautiful but really really cold!



Then we gathered all our people up, had lunch at the cafeteria and headed back home.  I really had a good time.  I think everybody else did too. Even Sandy had fun his little ski lesson, though he tried to pretend he didn't.

More to come.

::jan ca trip--even more disney::

This is long--lots of photos!



On the way up to our place we were staying in Malibu we stopped for the day at Disneyland (of course, where else?!)



I think this is the first time we've taken the classic sword in the stone photos--how can that be?
The kids look so cute here.

This was right before or after I lost my annual pass someplace in the park.  Argh.



This trip was especially fun because Kris got to come and do a bunch of the rides with the kids.  And it was a beautiful day.  And it really wasn't that busy in the park.



Here is my baby and I waiting for the guys to get off some ride in Cars Land.  We had a lot of fun just hanging out together.



She thinks I'm pretty funny.



We had the delicious coconut curry chicken that I like so much for lunch.  Sandy decided he wanted to use chopsticks after he got excited saying "Chopsticks!?  I've been there!" (We have a yummy Asian food place in Santa Fe that's called Chopstix).

He actually did great.  I was very impressed.  And he stuck to it--he kept trying even shen he was getting nothing at all.



And Kris got this fortune:



Hmmmmm....



Look Sandy actually got something!  He's so cute.

Here we are waiting for Max and Kris to ride on the big roller coaster that takes you upside down.  They have a nice waiting area in the shade where you can watch the roller coaster cars zip by.  Sandy danced around the whole time.



I told him to take a picture of me.  He took like 500.  None of them were very good.  And in most of them I'm saying either "Take the picture" or "Give me my camera back!"



At the very beginning of the day when we first walked into the park Sandy said "Do I get my double sided red light saber today?"  Kris and I were both like, "um, what?"  But he was convinced that should be his souvenir, and since we are pushovers he ended up getting "his" light saber at the end of the day.  And he was ecstatic.



Dad helped him build it.  He's never gotten one of the special ones that you build before.  You even have to put the "crystals" in the handle.  So exciting.



What a way to end a super fun day, right?



We left the park at about 4PM to head up to Malibu.  The kids were very happy.  For his souvenir Max picked out a few little prank items.  Rear view shades, and squirting nickel and the crown jewel of his collection a mustard bottle that squirts out a piece of string that looks like mustard.  It's startling.



Sandy was doing awesome jedi moves all the way back to the car.  In these photos the saber is taped so it doesn't extend.  When extended it's about as tall as Kris.  So crazy.





Max squirted the poor parking lot attendent with his trick mustard and scared him to death.  Luckily he was a super good sport and thought it was hilarious.  It made Max's night.

It was a great day.  The kids had a blast.  We're lucky to get to do so much fun stuff.

::jan ca trip--more more::

The next couple of days were kind of weird.  We had a lot of stuff to do for work and had to just stick around town close to a place where we could print and fax and do that sort of boring stuff.

We ate some good food, such as In & Out.  We drove in traffic a lot.  The boys and Kris went to a trampoline park for a few hours which was really fun.  Kris bought an old used short board from a guy on Craig's list and tried that a little bit.  He practiced surfing at T-street a few times and went a few other interesting places.



Basically we just hung out.  We sort of had fun and sort of just felt like we were treading water until we could get our stupid work stuff done.  Argh.



The kids were cute and sort of behaved though, so that was good.


I can't remember why Max made this drawing but I love it.  Especially the colors.  I have a hard time getting him to color his awesome creations.



And here we are driving in CA traffic some more.




Of course there's more to come, we weren't even close to done yet!!!!

::jan ca trip--more::

On Sunday we went to sacrament meeting later in the morning someplace in Orange County.  It was nice and then afterwards we headed down to San Clemente again.  We tried to stop by the Newport temple on the way down, but it seemed like it was closed so we just did a drive by.  It's super pretty.



The new place we were staying for the next few days was pretty nice.  There were enough beds for everybody and a little more room in the kitchen sitting room area.  Lucy especially loved this place because there was a big mirror all over one of the walls and she was so happy to talk to herself.



What can I say about the view?  It's incredible.  This is from the front balcony.  I could look at the ocean all day.  We're a good ways away from the beach--a big street, Amtrak tracks and other things are between us, but it basically looks like we're right there.  I was pleased.



Cupcakes after dinner.  Cute Sandy in footies.



Here's Lucy heading out towards the view--on the threshold of the balcony door.  She was excited at the prospect of escape and disappointed when I foiled her.



What's Max doing with the cupcakes?  Making a frankenstein?  Making a scary face?  All of the above?



And this is what happened after the sun actually set.  I want to eat it or roll in it or wear it or something.  So gorgeous.  Heart heart love beach sunsets.  And this was an extra scenic one.

More to come........always.......

::jan ca trip--run and more disney::

Here I am after I got up at 4:30 to get to the start of the 10K on time!  This is near the end when we were going through Cars Land.  I felt out of place without a fancy costume, but other than that I had a good time.  I didn't really get to train as much as I'd hoped, but I paced myself and didn't ever get too exhausted.



After the run I scooted straight back to the hotel on my tired legs and hopped in the shower so we could be ready to go and have some fun.  The Bryce and Nancy Randles drove down to spend a few morning hours with us going to Disneyland and we were supposed to meet them at the entrace around 10.  Well of course Lucy fell asleep just as I was finishing getting ready.
And of course once we made plans for me to sit with her and everyone else to get going she immediately woke up.


So off we went.  The cousins were very happy to be reunited.  Sandy was really serious about needing to immediately get on Star Tours, so we headed over to Tomorrowland.  We got a fast pass for Space Mountain--the next big and scary ride that Sandy was finally old enough to ride.  And psyched up to ride too I might add.



Lucy and Nancy and I hung out while everybody else did some Star Tours.



Yes, I do lots of Lucy-Mommy selfies.  I just can't help it.  She's so good at smiling and posing.



And she's such a perfect accessory.  She makes me look so good.



I got to go with the boys on Star Tours next and that was pretty fun.  We get to go to the park a lot, but with Lucy along I don't get to go with the big guys on the big stuff much.



We had fun.



Just an aside, thank goodness for the big water ball in Tomorrowland.  The kids could stay there pushing that thing around for hours--maybe even days--before they realize they're just pushing a big ball around and awake from their trance to ask why we're currently not riding a ride.



Sandy loved Space Mountain too.  He's a crazy guy.

After that we had a fun lunch together.



And that was the Disney day!  After that we all split.  The Randles for home and us to our hotel room.  Kris went on a surfing escapade and I tried to have the kids rest.  It almost worked.  Then I think we had hawaiian food at a really groaty place in Anaheim.



Just a classic CA sort of day.  Still, just the beginning of the trip.  This was a long one!