For Mom

Mom needed a picture of Kris and I for the Christmas card this year and Yahoo is being lame.  So the only thing I can figure out is to put them here and have you just drag them onto your desktop.  Sooooo...here ya go.

Thanksgiving in Idaho

 Kristen and I spent our Thanksgiving with her parents, younger brother, older brother, and his family in Rexuburg.  Because of work and weather, we weren't able to leave until Thursday morning so we didn't get there until around noon.  When we got to Rexburg they had a TON of snow already.  We were able to relax and/or help until dinner was ready.  Our friends Taron and Sam were able to join us too because they had no place else to go.  Taron, Brian, and I weighed ourselves before and after dinner.  I gained 4 pounds.  It felt good.

I LOVE pumpkin pie!!!

Most of our time was spent playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Kris and I thought it  would be a good idea to bring it with us in case we got snowed in.  We never got snowed in but we played it lots none the less.   

Look at the focus.

ROCK AND ROLL!!!

Kristen in her "rocking" chair

Sam's got the beat.

Our little singer.

Brian's epic rockstar picture

Experienced rocker teaching baby rocker.

Taron's got rock and roll coming out of his ears.

I may or may not get into this game.

I was starting to get a little cabin fever (don't worry, it didn't get so bad that we had a musical number) so Corey, Cameron, and I decided to go make a snow cave in the HUGE snow banks near the house.  I had never made one before so I think I was more excited than Cameron.

It was A LOT  easier at first.

Cameron was "supervising"

Hey Mom, look at me.  I'm digging a snow cave.

This is when it got kinda difficult.

We got to the point where Cameron could stand up in
there and long enough to Corey and I could lay down in there.

I got a little snow on me.

Just a little artsy fartsy.

This was the snow drift we built our snow cave into.

We had a lot of fun while we were there.  I wish I could say the same of our drive back.  Oh well....belated Happy Thanksgiving and I can't wait to see some of you at Christmas.

 

Caliblog (Sarah's version)

Thanks for the nudge, Dad. I've been needing to post about our California trip, too, so here ya go. (If you read my blog, this is just a repeat of the post I have there.)

We decided kind of at the last minute to drive to the Bay area for Thanksgiving this year. My Dad's family would be gathering there this year and of course Aaron's parents are nearby, so we thought we'd give it a try.

We'd planned to leave on Saturday, but we didn't want to deal with the snow that was hitting the Sierras so we waited. We drove as far as Winnemucca on Sunday and spent the night, then headed out again Monday morning. The closer we got to the Sierras the worse the weather got. Luckily we'd bought snow chains for our tires and some other emergency items like some flares, a small shovel, extra water and a wind-up flashlight. We knew the passes would be bad so we watched for signs indicating that we'd need our chains and listened to the AM stations for road condition announcements. The radio stations said they were requiring chains but we never came across anyone enforcing it, so on we went. We got through the mountains okay but they weren't too far behind us before we heard on the radio that they'd shut down the freeway behind us. That was a close one.

Tuesday Aaron and I spent the day exploring (more on that soon) while Dad and Kimberly took the kids to the coast. (See the previous post for details on that.)

Wednesday was a girls' day out to see the city. Mom, Kimberly and I took the BART into San Francisco and walked to Pier 39. Lunch was at one of the many seafood restaraunts there and I had the tiniest half a crab I've ever seen. Oh, but it was good.

This is my Momma and my cute littlest sister, Jennifer.

And this is my other cute little sister, Kimberly and her dorky big sister.



Couldn't resist taking a photo of this GINORMOUS bottle of booze with Mom's name on it. It's not often that you see "Pama" on anything.





We window shopped on the pier then walked on down through Fisherman's Wharf. Kimberly and Jennifer shared a shrimp cocktail and I bought a loaf of San Francisco's famous sour dough bread.

We made our way further to Ghirardelli square, where we visited the chocolate shop and then the cafe and enjoyed some lovely hot chocolate.

We'd walked a loooong way from the BART station so we found a map and plotted the most direct route back that we could. This mural was really cool and wrapped around the building. I guess the Giants are kind of a big deal this year? :)

Our walk took us by Chinatown...

... and that cool green building that I took a picture of from a distance on our last visit.

And then there was the Transamerica building. Wow. I got dizzy taking this picture.

It was a long day with LOTS of walking, but was so much fun and I just loved hanging out with my Mom and sisters. We never get to do that!

On Thanksgiving Day we had a lazy morning then headed over to Uncle' Bart's house for the feast.
The guys tossed around the football a bit and the kids played outside almost the entire time. The meal was PERFECT and we got to spend time with people that we don't get to see nearly often enough. It was wonderful! I felt kind of bad that I got to enjoy the whole thing without having to lift a finger!


On Friday we packed up and drove north to Windsor to Aaron's parents' house. Grandma Gayla was all ready to have the kids help her decorate their tree, and the kids were eager to do it.



We wanted to give ourselves two days to get home so we left about mid-morning on Saturday with lots of rain coming down. Once we got to the mountains we saw a lot of people pulling over to install their tire chains and eventually we had to do the same. We pulled off at an exit and spent about forty minutes putting the chains on (first time ever), then as we were getting ready to get back on the freeway we found that they'd closed it down due to several accidents that had happened up ahead. We sat in the car for an hour then finally decided to ask the guy blocking the on-ramp what was going on. He said it'd probably be several more hours before they opened the road again, if at all.

So we took our chains off and headed back the way we'd come. We were lucky to be towards the front of the mass of cars that had gotten stopped so it was easy for us to turn around. We found a motel, got some dinner and had a good night's sleep.

On Sunday we woke up to clear blue skies and started making our way home again.



When we got to the freeway we did end up having to pull over again to put on our chains, but just as we were finishing up a State Trooper came by and said they were lifting the restrictions, so off they came. Good practice, though!

You know, it's funny- when it's not threatening your life or ruining your vacation, snow is actually really pretty.

Caliblog

Sorry for the delay – I’ve been meaning to tell you guys about our trip to California for Thanksgiving, and haven’t done it until now. It was a great trip, although with a lot of driving involved – mostly due to weather. Plan A was for Kimberly to catch a ride to Salt Lake on Friday after class and Mom and I would meet her there and go to San Lorenzo via I-80. Jennifer had classes on Monday that she needed to attend, so we arranged for her to catch a shuttle to Vegas and a flight from there to Oakland on Monday night. But a big storm was hitting the Sierras that weekend, so we decided that discretion was the better part of traveling, and went to Plan B. Plan B was for me to go to Salt Lake, get Kimberly and come back south, meet Mom and go to Grandma’s via the southern route. We caught some rain going that way, but not the 10 feet of snow predicted for the High Sierras out of that storm. We got to Grandma’s on Saturday night, went to church on Sunday and relaxed. We also went out to Bart’s house and visited with them on Sunday evening.
Sarah and Aaron also decided to make the trip and got to San Lorenzo on Monday evening. On Monday, we did a little bit around Grandma’s house and went out to Janae’s in the afternoon to see them for a bit before Sarah and Aaron got in. Jennifer’s flight was due to arrive at about 10 pm, but was at least an hour late due to circumstances beyond her control. You’ll have to get her to tell you about that – I don’t have the vocabulary.
Tuesday, Kimberly and I took Pyper and Hakan for a ride down the coast to Bean Hollow, Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Ano Nuevo Island State Parks. It was still rainy and blustery, but by the time we got to Pigeon Point, got out and into our rain gear, the rain had about stopped, although the wind kept up. All three parks are well worth the visit. Pigeon Point is an old, closed lighthouse just south of Bean Hollow.

From there, we went south to Ano Nuevo. It was about a mile and a half hike out to the beach where the elephant seals were hanging out. Pyper and Hakan were pretty great little hikers, going the whole way themselves. That’s not to say they were happy about it, though – “Can you carry me?”, “I hate hiking”, “Why can’t we drive out here?”. But we weren’t about to do any carrying, so they made the trip on their own power. We were a little early for the big arrival of the seals, but there were a few out there for us to see. Even a big ugly male who raised up for a minute so we could see him.

After the long walk back to the car, we went back up the coast to Bean Hollow for a quick stop there (it’s a rule you know – you can’t not stop at Bean Hollow). It was a long day, but lots of fun.

On Wednesday, Mom, Sarah, Kimberly and Jennifer decided to take a trip to San Francisco. Aaron, Grandma and I decided we would be better off staying home and watching the kids. So the 2 groups went their separate ways. Because Mom didn’t take any pictures of San Francisco, I’ll have to post this slightly outdated picture from Ghirardelli Square.

On the home front, Pyper and Hakan invented the game of throwing their stuffed animals up into the magnolia tree in the back yard. When one got stuck, Pyper climbed into the tree and decided she couldn’t get down by herself. Hakan wanted to help her with the rake, which she politely declined.


In the afternoon, Aaron and I took them down to Kennedy Park. The concessions were closed, but they had a good time in the playground. Finnley liked the swings. Ryan, Jan, and Curtis got to Grandma’s house on Wednesday night as well. I hope this video post works - sometimes I can't get them right.




Thanksgiving dinner was at Bart’s house and was all we could expect and more. Lots of great food, great family and fun for all.
Finnley, Grandma and Aiden.

Couldn’t resist posting this picture of my daughters interacting – with their electronic devices.

On Friday, Sarah’s family drove up to Aaron’s parents home in Windsor. Jennifer didn’t feel well and stayed home, but the rest of us drove to Muir Woods and met up with Bart’s family for a day in the redwoods. Unfortunately, there were masses of other people who were trying to avoid the crowds of Black Friday in the same manner. I only had to drive ¾ of a mile from the park entrance to find a parking place. Bart and Jane went farther. But it was still a beautiful day and more beautiful setting, and despite the crowds of people, as Jan pointed out, it was still quiet and peaceful in the redwood grove.

We had to go home on Saturday, so we loaded up in the morning and headed south. Again, Plan A was to go the northern route and meet up with Kimberly’s ride in Salt Lake on Sunday noon, but there was snow predicted again in the Sierras (I’ll let Sarah tell you about that). So Plan B took us the southern route again and got us home to Coral Pink at about 2 am on Sunday. After 4 hours of sleep, Kimberly, Jennifer and I got back up, hit the road, dropped Jennifer off at her dorm in Cedar City, and got Kimberly to her appointed meeting place at the appointed time. By this time, I must admit, I was getting close to beat. Much as it pains me to say it, I was getting tired of driving. So I went over and visited Keith and Rachelle for a bit before heading home again. Unfortunately, during the visit, the cold front that had pounded the Sierras the night before arrived in Utah and I got to drive south in the snow. I made it as far as Beaver, and Mom and I decided (on the phone) that enough was enough. She checked around and got me a room at the Motel 6 where I crashed for the night. Luckily, I didn’t have to work on Monday, so I took my time in the morning and gave UDOT time to work on the road. I still saw a number of wrecks and slide offs between Beaver and St. George. It’s better to crash at the Motel 6 than on I-15, in my humble opinion. After all was said and done, I made it home alive after a grand total of 3,287 miles in the 10 days of vacation. How great is that?
Anyway, there you have the grand narrative of our Thanksgiving trip to California. We had a wonderful time seeing our loved ones, revisiting fun places and spending a lot of quality time together in a small car. Thanks to everyone who participated, and those of you who weren’t able to this time, maybe we can do it again another time. Dad