Vacation!!

Six and a half years. 

Was the last time we went on vacation just the two of us for more than one night. 

A huge thank you to Mom & Dad for gifting us three nights away to have fun. 

We decided to head down to Anaheim, CA.

Day 1, we flew, got settled and met up with Skyler's sister Sasha who lives in L.A.

We went to China town and had authentic Korean bbq. What an experience! Grills right there on the table, sitting on stools and using metal chopsticks and bowls. They were very similar to the ones my mom brought back from her mission in Korean many years ago.

 Day 2, we drove around quite a bit, we visited a few areas of Skyler's mission. Ate at In'N'Out of course. We went to an amazing bakery on Laguna beach where I tasted the best cinnamon danish I've ever had.  It was overcast and breezy but it was still fun to walk in the waves at LAGUNA BEACH! We drove up into the hills there and I just couldn't believe how spectacular the homes and landscaping were. And like people say, the houses are quite literally on top of each other. 

We visited the Newport Beach Temple 

I thought it was SO COOL to see the citrus trees randomly growing in people's yards. 

Day 3, Disneyland!! We got the hopper pass and actually did Disney and California Adventures in one day. Since it was just us, we just rode the rides we wanted to over and over, stopped when we were hungry and kept on going! It.was.awesome. Although the "mom" in me felt a bit guilty that the kids were missing out, especially when we saw the Little Mermaid ride or when Cinderella walked by with a huge line...and the other part of me was like WOooo we don't have to wait in that line! 

The weather was perfect and the park wasn't crowded at all. I totally recommend going mid-week in March. We didn't wait longer then 20min. for any of the rides we went on (with the exception of 1-2).

Day 4, Travel home day. Why does vacation have to end...ever? We bummed around at the pool, went for a drive hoping to run into Long beach but didn't, so we stopped at Chick-fil-A to see what all the hype was about and we were pleasantly surprised. Made our way back to the Long Beach airport, which is so chill, no lines and pretty much all outdoors. 

We came back to two happy little campers that had lots of fun with G&G but also had lots of snuggles to give us. We stayed a couple nights at my parents to celebrate my brother's 30th birthday at Buca di Beppo's. yumm. 

Hobbes points at EVERY airplane. And since my parents live near a small residential airport, they said he'd been pointing quite a bit. 

Jon's Birthday Dinner

The lighting was terrible for pictures which is why they're all b&w. But,  the food was great, and we were happy to be able to celebrate together. 

February Love

Happy Valentine's Day! This year Hayley was able to write all the cards we sent out. We were so proud of her writing skills, she sat at the table determined for at least two hours writing in 12 or so cards. We made sugar cookies and gave them into Skyler's work. 

He got me beautiful flowers :)

These kid's are too funny. 

Reading time in the hallway.

She was pretty excited to find a pair of Skyler's goggles in the bath tub.

This is the box from a pillow....it had a small half circle cut out so you could touch the pillow, apparently Hobbes thought the box looked big enough to crawl into....and the whole looked big enough to crawl out of. He was wrong, and not too happy about it. But I had to get a picture, and of course big sister Hayley was yelling at me "Why are you taking a picture?! He needs your help Mommy!! HELP HIM!!" hehehe

He's such a sweetie, always so loving and gentle, I don't think he's going to be ruff and tumble. But who knows. In the meantime, he loves unloading my baking cupboard, one at a time, slowly stacking the canisters and boxes.

This girl.

(at the bottom of an indoor slide)

She has her mind made up and knows what she wants, but she can also be very sweet to "Hobbsy."

Movie night with friends!

Hobbes is also very curious about Hayley's hair bows and accessories. Multiple times a week he'll have them all spread out in the bathroom.

Hanging out in a fort.

Sibling love.

Happy New Year...

Hayley is all girl, loves nail polish and glosses, twirly skirts and pretty cardigans. She also has a very imaginative side, notice the vehicles "riding" in her shoe and she wasn't playing dress up carrying around the polish in her new purse, the polish, the red ball and green block were also characters in that day's play. It's very entertaining. 

A couple leftover pics from Christmas vacation- 

Brenna and I made the Archibald traditional carmel corn in the sink, the girl's were quite enthralled.

(yes, we bleached it out first) 

At our Stake's Nativity Activity, you can dress up! 

I guess he still has red hair :)

There was one blessed week this month when the temperature was above 43 for like 4-5 days. We went on a nice long walk everyday, and on the last day, I even got my bike out and pulled them around town. We stopped at Ferdinand's for a scoop with Skyler and his co-workers, it really felt like summer, except when it was time to ride home and the sun went behind the hill....it was dang cold. 

Last week Skyler fell during his fitness class. His leg got tucked under him awkwardly....and well he's injured. They can't tell if his meniscus is alright at this point but all the ligaments look good. There's been a TON of swelling and a hematoma. Dr. says we need to wait a month to see if the hematoma will get re-absorbed (probably not the way Dr. described it, but just doing my best) Then we'll go from there.

As a gift from my parents we will be going on our first vacation since our honeymoon. For Christmas they gifted us a few nights in a hotel, our choice on destination and they would take the kids. So we decided to get out of this freezing cold winter and go to California in March. We're so excited! (thanks mom + dad!!!)

Christmas 2013

1st Christmas, we celebrated as a family a couple days before leaving on our trip to Kent and Seaside.

In stark contrast to last year, Hayley was quite excited about Santa coming and eager to leave out cookies and milk by Grandma's tree. 

Christmas Eve, Grandma Forbes was able to come visit! 

(This was taken late…after a long day…)

This year I got a little crazy and made 7 pairs of these monster slippers for my kids and some of their cousins. They were pretty fun to make.

One night we went and walked along the path at Gene Coulon Park. 

They had some really pretty lights up.

Mom and Dad and grandkids…and Alyssa. 

(Sorry Mom and Dad that you have branch mustaches…)

A couple days after Christmas we made our way down to Seaside to visit Skyler's family. 

Kid's Table

As per New Years tradition, Jodi and Ben bring their Chocolate fountain. 

It is quite the spread if indulgence!

Jodi and Kylee

Nick, Jenna, Brenna

Hayley and Skyler, celebrating New Year's for kids…at 9pm.

Let's be real, we love them, but 12am would be 4-5 hours past bedtime 

and they don't know the difference at 9pm. 

Break out the streamers and noise makers for 5 min, do a fake countdown…. and bedtime! 

When in Seaside…ride the Carousel.

And of course, visit the beach! 

We had a few family photos taken, this is one that I snapped right before my batteries died. 

Go figure.

We had a wonderful time visiting both our families and getting to see just about everybody.