Hiking in the hills!

How can it be possible to go for a hike in decent weather in December? Only in California!! We went for a hike in the hills near Uncle Blake's house. It was a little windy but not bad.

 

Caleb is a better hiking kid every time we go, especially if he has a stick!

Mara and Blake are the best of buddies! She just loves him and I'm pretty sure he is quite smitten by her!

We hiked down to a waterfall. It was a nice quick hike perfect for everyone.

The kids would have loved to play in the water and they probably would have gotten in if it hadn't been cold!

California Science Center

Our family headed south to LA to visit the California Science Center while everyone else either worked or did something else. We enjoyed the museum, it had interesting exhibits, and it was all free!!

Outside the museum was a scale with a truck hanging from one end. You could pull the rope and pick up the truck! 

 One of the exhibits was about islands. There were several hands on activities that involved getting s 'bird' (ping-pong ball) over to the island.

 Caleb standing on top of a turtle.

Caleb checking out the landscape with the telescope.

 By the end of the museum Mara's legs hurt and she needed a little lift on her daddy's shoulders!

 

Ty learned about energy and electricity riding this 'bike'. Peddling the bike turned on light bulbs...the faster he peddled the more lights came on.

 The kids on a snowmobile in the Antarctic exhibit.

 The museum also had an aquarium with floor to ceiling fish tanks!

They had a fish tat was bigger than Caleb!

That is a silly fish face! 

 

We love the hands on exhibits! This was about creating water flow through sand.

Beach Day!!

The weather in California was wonderful! Mostly sunny, only one rainy day which isn't bad for December!! We had a perfect day for the beach and to play in the tidepools. Everyone went but me Carder, and Mara--who had a really bad ear infection and wanted to stay at home and sleep. So I'm not entirely sure if the descriptions are correct since I wasn't there! But I do know they all had a great time!

Caleb found a sea star.

The crew checking out the rocky shore for sea creatures.

 Caleb and Brooky playing in the sand!

 

Ty balancing on the rocks.

 The tide was really low, perfect for finding sea life in tidepools.

 Blakey and Cookie as we like to call her!

 

 Nate on the lookout for cool things! This is so his thing!

 What an awesome coast line!

  Ty found a hole in a rock...

 Which led to a huge sea cave!

Ty and a giant purple starfish!

 The digging crew making a giant hole!

 

Ty attempting to eat a giant crab!

The kids hard at work and  play! They loved playing in the sand!

That's my man!! I missed playing at the beach but glad we could get Mara feeling better!

Christmas Morning!!

 Merry Christmas! For the 3rd and last time! I must admit that the real Christmas morning was a little anticlimactic, probably because we had already had two previous Christmas-like mornings but it was still great and fun to wake up at Blake and Maren's and find that Santa had found us in California!

Caleb found his stocking!! It was full of candy, oranges, presents and more!

Ty found candy in his stocking from Santa and a few gifts!

Carder's first Christmas! What a great Christmas present with a bow on top! Merry Christmas little guy!

Caleb and daddy chillin on the couch!

Mara's new lego set! All the kids got a lego set for Christmas and a ticket to Lego land from Santa!

You can't tell from this picture...but Ty's new Christmas jammies were actually pretty big! I bought one pair and had Ty try them on but they were too small so I bought a different pair and was really excited about them because they were red with dinosaurs! He tried them on and they were huge! I guess he will have to wear them next year!

Caleb's new lego set! He was pretty excited to get his very own set!

Ty turned into a Lego Ninjago! 

Just kidding...but this was the present he had really asked for! He really wanted a lego ninjago spinning toy! 

Caleb has asked for a very long time for a Captain America shield!! He was super excited about this one!

 

Uncle Monkey Face gave Carder this cute monkey toy!

Aunt Maren gave Mara this cute purse from Brazil...where she served her mission! 

Merry Christmas my little darling children!

Two Christmas buddies!

Two little loves! So glad Blake and Maren are married! It was so fun to see them and spend time with them!

Carder with his favorite uncle monkey face--Uncle Blake!!

Mimi and Papa and Scott, Lorisa and family came over to Blake's and we had a wonderful Christmas breakfast of Eggs Benedict made by Papa! The weather was incredible in California so we all went for a walk to the neighborhood park by Blake's and played at the playground. We played a family game of kickball. The rest of the day we hung out played the Wii and games. It was so great being with family!

Christmas Eve Program

This is my very favorite part of Christmas: The Christmas Eve Program! It was so special to have all my family (except my older brother and his family) together on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I love the tradition of dressing up like Joseph and Mary, singing the special . It was extra special this year having a baby Jesus (Carder)!! I put together an awesome video that went along with the program:

We talked about what Christmas is, what it means to everyone. We all felt such a happy feeling. Although we all had a different answer to what Christmas meant to us we all knew the true meaning of Christmas was the birth of our Savior. 

We then took turns reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 and we had the kids act out the program. Mara was Mary, Caleb was Joseph, Ty was a shepherd, Nate was the donkey, Carder was baby Jesus, and Brooklyn was the angel! They were all so darling! Ty did a great job making the scenery for the production!!

 

Joseph leading his donkey to Bethlehem with Mary on it's back!

 

The shepherd came to see the baby Jesus!

 The angel visiting the little family!

Brooky is such a sweet angel!

 

I love these boys!! Baby Carder was a trooper! He did such a great job as Baby Jesus!

What a special Christmas celebration! We ended the night singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus and had yummy cakes and cobblers for dessert! Truly we felt the Christmas spirit that night!