A California Christmas

Our theme song this week has been:

"The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway. There's never been such a day, in Beverly Hills, L.A...."

While we are not in Beverly Hills, we are in the L.A. area visiting my dad and step-mom for Christmas. We came in late Saturday night, which was actually Sunday morning. After attending church, later that day we went on a walk to the cactus farm around the corner from my dad's house. The kids thought we were in some tropical paradise and wanted to take pictures of very palm tree we passed and enjoyed seeing the cactus too. 

I never took pictures of palm trees growing up!!

cactus and dinos, right around the corner

Starting the walk with Grandpa.

Monday we went to the beach, I didn't pack bathing suits because the water is cold in the summer, so I thought it would be too cold in December. (Growing up here, we never went to the beach in December to swim). Of course the weather has been super warm and pleasant, but we survived the beach with our clothes on, though Austin was in his undies by the end since he tripped in the water filling up his bucket and Erik fell over toward the end. 

Right before Austin fell over. 

Grandma introduced Erik to Danimals (drinkable yogurt). A BIG hit!

chasing seagulls

Trying to block out the bright sun.

Austin and Victoria ran back and forth about 30 times (Austin in his undies).

What is a trip to Cali without visiting Grandpa's orchard?

Christmas Eve and day were spent enjoying time with family, friends, and fun. (How often do you go to the park on Christmas Eve?)

Our lovely Mary

The kids all got some cute furry friends from Santa.

Go Blue!

Austin sleeps with this every night.

Uncle Kevin spoiled the kids with gifts and giggles.

Joy to the Ward

We were supposed to have our church Christmas party on Saturday the 14. It was going to be a talent show with a cookie and hot chocolate bar. I had worked with Victoria and we made up a dance to Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and taught it to some of the girls around her age. Karissa and her friends were going to sing All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth. I was going to play the violin with the ward "symphony/orchestra" and do a simple dance with lights with some of my friends. Well.... this is what happened instead.

Erik ran out before I got put all of his gear on. I think he regretted it!

It snowed the whole day and the church wasn't plowed in time. On Sunday after church, we had a "linger longer" so we could enjoy the cookies and hot chocolate that were prepared, as well as the decorations that were put up. They did have the ward "symphony/orchestra" play our songs too. We might have the rest of the talent show in January when everyone is back in town. So, if you see a blog about Christmas music, that would be why!

That Time Again

It's that time of year again. It came pretty quickly and the only reason I have been motivated to put up any decorations or do anything festive is because my kids actually helped this year and did most of it. We made it to our favorite Christmas tradition at the Summit to see the dancers there and participate in the cookie decorating, ornament-making, and other festive activities, though I didn't bring my camera. They had a new train display that was very exciting.

To get rid of Halloween candy, we made the "gingerbread" trains again. Erik enjoyed sitting on the table and eating the licorice left-over from his birthday.

I thought I had more round candy, so I had to draw some wheels with frosting.

Some wheels are square...

Erik likes the Jingle Bell horse

Thank goodness for kids keeping me going!!

BYU vs. Notre Dame

Jason was packing a few days before the game, he was so excited. The main reason for my mom's visit was for us to attend the BYU/ Notre Dame game. We left Friday afternoon to make the 3 hour drive to South Bend so we could attend the BYU fireside the night before. A little dinner out as a couple was a nice addition too!

The Stake Center was almost twice as big as ours, which was good since it was full with all the BYU supporters. It was awesome to hear the musical talents of some of the players as well as the testimonies of Taysom Hill and Bronco Mendenhall in their talks. I think it's a great way to start off game weekend. The best part, was the next day during the game, Jason was telling me which player on the field played his guitar and which one said the prayer... it put everything in a different light.

We were sitting in the right place, so at the end of the fireside we were able to get out into the foyer quickly so we could rub shoulders with most of the players and wish them good luck. It would have gone by more quickly, except for the fact that Rudy (the real Rudy, as people were saying) was there and the football players wanted to get his autograph and shake his hand. I only got a glimpse of Taysom and Bronco as they ran off at the end.

We started off the day of the game with a huge breakfast at our hotel, knowing we would need to consume many calories to help keep us warm throughout our visit to campus and at the game. It was snowy, windy, and cold!!

Here's some of the things we saw:

"Touchdown Jesus"

Gold helmets

The cathedral

Inside the dome

Outside the dome

Inside the cathedral

 In the dome we listened to the bagpipes, saw the trumpets play, and followed the band out to walk to the stadium. At Notre Dame, it's all about tradition and the band.

We ate a huge lunch with the BYU Alumni and I was the first to run into Cosmo! The cheerleaders led us in a few cheers.

The original stadium.

Our very cold seats at the game. (You can see "Touchdown Jesus and the dome in the background.)

I have to rank this day as one of our top cold activity days. Up there with the ski jump in a blizzard at the Salt Lake Olympics, the ice hockey game at Michigan in December, and walking around Quebec at Christmastime. With a wind chill factor of 9, we felt quite cold. I was very glad I ate a big breakfast and lunch, b/c I was too cold to eat at the game! Even though we lost, it was a memorable game for sure!