Beach in January!

Some of our best beach trips have been in January! This year was no exception. It was a beautiful day of 62 degrees with no wind. In the summer time, the beaches in Northern California are often windy and about 65 to 75 degrees, so the beach in the winter is very fun for us. Three of Dan's cousins from Utah decided to take a sisters vacation to San Fransisco this weekend and we met up with them at the beach on Saturday. Daniel actually picked them up from their hotel and brought them to the beach and so my friend Melissa was sweet enough to drive up with me and come along for the fun. I'm so happy I was able to spend the day with her. We had a great time talking and hanging out.

Micah got down and dirty right away. He was a sand monster and he was loving every minute of it!

Uh oh, Micah's getting ready...who's his lucky target?

ME!!!

Don't mess with the sand monster!

Dan had fun playing in the ocean and playing frisbee on the beach with his cousins. I'm glad we got to see Elsie, Kenzie, and Nelly. Fun!

Lea and Jonah were beach buddies playing in the water and the sand.

Jonah and Daniel decided to dig some holes. Micah kept wanting to go in the holes. It worked out great as a playpen for a while...

Until he started to get buried!

Look at that face!

Mommy rescued him right after taking a picture of his sad little face.

In contrast, Jonah was begging to be buried.

Micah just couldn't resist those holes.

Lea buried Jonah and made him a happy, sandy, boy.

Aunt Sage's visit

Last weekend Dan's sister Sage visited us from Utah. We had a really great time with her! We went to the Jelly Belly factory and enjoyed the tour and free jelly beans!

We sang karaoke on a cute PBS kids website so Lea and Jonah could join in the fun. We later played Guitar hero with my brother Steven and Sage got to sing and the rest of us played instruments.

The kids' favorite part of Sage's visit was the craft time they got with her each day during Micah's nap. They made lots of paper dolls and castles to go with their paper princess and paper knight. Mommy and Daddy had a lot of fun playing games with Sage at night and listening to the jukebox after the kids were in bed!

Craft Craze!

During this winter break from school, my kids have been having fun doing crafts. They make paper dolls, color, paint, and decorate with their sticker sets. Here are just a few pictures of some of the things they have created. Notice Jonah has also dressed up as Spiderman a couple of times too - cute! I'm kind of sad that they have to go back to school next week. It's fun having them home. :)

Happy New Year

This year on New Year's Eve, we went to Chevy's and had a low key night. 2010 seems to have FLOWN by! I can't believe I have a seven year old and a six year old and Micah's almost two. Wow! I will attempt to summarize 2010 with a year in review. March brought Micah's first birthday and a visit from Nana and Bapa, as well as Dan's brother Seth, his wife Heidi, and their three kids - Sarah, Spencer, and Lizzie. The kids loved seeing their cousins and we had a great visit with our family. In May we moved into a new home that we love. In the summer we went on several kayaking trips. We also visited family in Utah and went to Bear Lake with them which is always fun. Lea started first grade and Jonah started kindergarten. They are learning so much. We've had fun visits from Dan's cousin Sam, his sister Sonja, my sister Cheryl and my brother David and his wife Kara. We feel very blessed to have so much family who love us and support us. We are also so grateful for our friends who we have lots of fun with. Our family are looking forward to 2011 and all the adventures we are sure that it will bring! Happy New Year and may God continue to bless us all in 2011!