January and February

As a teenager, I remember the first three of the months of the year as boring. No holidays, no vacations, not too much going on. Now I wish this was still the case, as it seems life will never be boring ever again. When the kids start complaining that they're bored, they get, "It's not my job to entertain you. Go find something to do or I can find work to keep you busy." Life is too full of work, church, school and kids to be boring!

We got out on a couple of hikes in January. This first one was up to the top of Turtle Rock, a hill near our neighborhood. It's a good viewpoint for sunsets.

When it's not smoggy. 

 The smog is so gross when it gets really thick like this. You can see me making a face. It smells and it makes me feel like I'm going to contract lung cancer just for breathing it. The hike was a good one for our kids and we went to In 'n' Out afterwards (calorie replacement ;).

 The next week, some friends we had just seen in Utah surprised us with an invite to our favorite beach area. They were in town visiting family. It was such a gorgeous day, no smog, and not too cold. When we drove over the last hill before the beach, we could not believe how clear it was and how far we could see on the horizon - all the way out to parts of the Channel Islands we had never seen before. Lots of people were out taking advantage of the superb weather.

After saying bye to our friends, we drove up to a different lookout point to watch the sun set. Once again, we were able to see parts of the landscape we can't see very often due to smog. The kids loved being able to see the barges out on Long Beach Harbor, and you could easily make out downtown LA and Malibu. We talked a little bit about perspective with the kids and how important it is to take time out of the routine to get a little perspective once in a while. Problems don't seem to be so overwhelming when you're standing on a hilltop with a great view. 

Maybe you knew it was coming: Bike pictures. Because that's our family's hobby. That and playing Mario kart on the Wii. I think the former is a better hobby.  

Ben and I took advantage of the clean skies the next day and rode our bikes out to Newport Beach where we could see the ocean. 

 Right now coastal Orange County is a beautiful place to ride bikes. It never got green like this last year in Bommer Canyon due to the lack of rainfall. Ben is finding some fun rides in there.

Panorama of inland south Orange County. Ben is doing a lot of hill climbing in preparation for the 'Breathless Agony' bike ride on May 2nd. 12,000 feet of climbing spread over 100+ miles. Whoa. 

Christmas/New Year's Trip to Utah

For only the second time since we moved to California, we took a Christmas trip. Uncle Ryan was entering the MTC on December 31st, so we decided to head up to see him and make a little vacation out of it. I spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about how cold it was going to be and how unprepared we are for snow, and we still ended up being a little unprepared for the brutal cold that greeted us in Utah. 

 Gordon's first time seeing lots of snow in the cold. The only other time he'd seen snow close up was in July of 2012, when we saw remnants of the winter's snow at Mt. Rainier National Park. 

 They were all thrilled to have snow to play in and didn't complain too much about being cold. We spent the first couple days of the trip staying at Great Grandma Green's house in Davis County. Grandma and Grandpa Chickens drove down from Idaho to hang out with us for a day and a half. 

 We took the Frontrunner train into Salt Lake City and visited the Clark Planetarium and ate lunch at Costa Vida. The kids were all excited about the train ride. Jilly's face here is funny. 

 Serious conversations with Grandma and Grandpa Chickens. 

 The Clark Planetarium was a lot of fun, and a great place to visit on a cold day. We watched an IMAX movie there as well. The kids liked playing in all the exhibits. 

 Waiting on the train platform to head back to Davis County. It was below freezing outside, windy and snowing, but Gordon and Jill were determined to finish their ice-cold drinks from lunch. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Grandma Green and staying warm. Soon the wind was blowing hard out of the canyon her house sits underneath and the temperature was dropping fast. We kept her walk shoveled for her and the kids spent small amounts of time out in the snow. 

 Later on we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Cows, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Nicole and Uncle Tyler and the cousins for a day of sight-seeing on Temple Square. We stayed at the Salt Lake Plaza hotel just across from Temple Square. By this time it was only 5 degrees outside. 

 We did some very brisk walking in the morning, taking a tour of the Conference Center, the Visitor's Center, and getting a peek at the sound mixing studio underneath the Tabernacle. That was courtesy of Ben's friend, Jason Graham. He mixes sound for many of the performances that come from Temple Square. 

 We took everyone to the Clark planetarium again, and discovered the third floor exhibits, including a Mars and Moon landscape. It was a fun photo-op. After this, we ate lunch at Tucano's. 

 I really wanted to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square, and we did. We honestly couldn't spend a whole lot of time out there because it was so, so cold, somewhere around zero degrees and the wind was blowing. We all lasted about 30 minutes, and then went back to the hotel to thaw. 

The next morning, we said bye to everyone, including Ryan, who will be nice and warm on his mission in Sydney, Australia for the next two years. We spent two more days visiting friends in South Salt Lake (the Wards) and Utah County (Lanengas, Wilsons, and McCullochs). I love seeing old friends and I love seeing our kids get along with their kids even better. 

 Pretty snowscape in Hobble Creek Canyon, Springville. It was a great trip, not too short or long, and we got to see and do a variety of things and visit lots of family and friends.  

The craziest part of the whole trip for me was driving home, and how instantly warm it was. With no snow. And how the kids went out and built box forts on the grass the next day for hours, and we couldn't spend more than an hour outside on our trip without heading indoors somewhere. Winter is real! Just not in SoCal. 

Merry Christmas!

 Our most recent family picture at the church Christmas party

What have each of us been up to in 2014?

Gordon: Learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, learned how to swim, started kindergarten, is learning how to read and write, and loves being outside. He is definitely the most active of the kids and needs lots of time outside to expend his seemingly endless amounts of energy. We are seeing sports in his future. He is showing interest in music as well, like his sisters, but doesn’t have the attention span for it yet. He has made leaps and bounds this fall in kindergarten and is loving learning right now. With his emerging writing and drawing skills, he will sit alongside Jillian and draw and color with her. 

 Jilly: Turned 8 and got baptized, started 2^nd grade, improved as a swimmer, started piano lessons, and loves to draw and write. She still loves miniatures and anything with chickies or duckies. She remains the more cautious and conscientious of the kids. If she’s going to do anything, she’s going to do it 100% and correctly. She is very empathetic and makes friends easily.

 Evelyn: Started 4^th grade, lost two molars (with more to follow soon), started playing the viola and piano, improved as a swimmer, and enjoys reading books and writing poems. She comes up with new rhymes all the time and amazes us with her budding literary skills. She started calling herself “Queen of the toddlers” this year after finding that toddlers seem drawn to her and enjoy her company. She’ll make a great babysitter in a couple years.

 Shaunie: Got a road bike last spring and occasionally joins Ben on some rides (which, Ben thinks, is the most amazing thing ever), and continues work part-time as a member of the administrative staff for the housing community in which we live. She is also coming up on four years of teaching beginning piano to several of the neighbor kids. When she has a bit of spare time, it’s usually occupied by practicing the piano, sewing or staring at cookbooks or blogs to come up with new meal ideas. Volunteering at the kids’ elementary school is also a rewarding outlet. This year, she is teaching art to Gordon’s kindergarten class about once a month.

Ben: Lost a few pounds (and kept them off!), continues to enjoy cycling, and thinks that bikes are the most amazing thing ever (other than his family). More than a few times this year he wished he’d majored in computer science. Ben enjoyed the World Cup this summer and finds soccer as exciting, if not more so, than baseball. When he’s not researching, writing that darn dissertation, or taking care of teaching responsibilities, he can be found on his bike, playing with the kids, grooming his beard, or feeding his love for movies and music.

Two of the many highlights this year:

 Having cousins come to spend a week with us in August enjoying the beach, pool, In n Out, and Disneyland. 

Having both sets of grandparents visit for Jillian's baptism in November.

November

 We have been doing some short bike rides on Sunday mornings to help the kids expend some energy before church at 1 pm. We go to 9 am church in January, which will be nice and challenging at the same time. :)

Ben and I took some rides together too, but this picture is from one of his rides along the coast near San Diego. It looks like these guys are riding into heaven. 

 Jilly turned 8, and she wanted to have a party with some close friends. We did a treasure hunt for the ingredients to their brownie ice cream sundaes. It was probably the shortest treasure hunt ever, they ran full bore from one treasure site to another. I was hoping no one tripped, and no one did

. 

 Jillian is a ravenous sundae beastie. They all enjoyed their party. 

We decided to baptize Jilly the weekend before Thanksgiving and were lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents travel to California for the occasion. We had Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons in town for most of the week before Jilly's baptism at our house, and Grandma and Grandpa Cluff were in the area too, staying at a local hotel while Grandpa Cluff had had a work conference to attend. 

We took one Friday off of the kid's school and visited the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum here in Orange County with the grandparents. It was pretty cool, and we all agreed it was a part of history that we weren't too familiar with and learned a lot. These statues of prominent world leaders during President Nixon's term were fun to pose with. 

Family shot!

 Jillian's baptismal service was a wonderful and spiritual event. It also happened to be Grandpa Gibbons' birthday, so we ate at In n Out for dinner, and hit Bruxie (dessert waffles!) for dessert. The kids opted for ice cream from Wisconsin, which was the creamiest ice cream I have ever tasted. 

 My cousin Kira and her little boy came from the south bay to party with us.

The next day Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons took off to finish their road tour of the western US, and we spent the rest of the week with Grandma and Grandpa Cluff. Grandma and I went to Beverly Hills one day, Ben went to have some bike fun with Uncle Dan and Grandpa, and we all went and saw Big Hero 6 at the movie theater. Thanksgiving dinner was at Uncle Dan's house and it was yummy as usual, with more pie than needed. 

 The day after Thanksgiving we skipped Black Friday shopping and hit the beach instead. It was a beautiful day for it, and just in time too, because the next week "winter" (or fall?) finally arrived in SoCal and it started raining. 

San Diego Zoo and Halloween

There is a series of these pictures and I think Jilly and Ben were having a staring contest. They get pretty intense, and Jilly wins half the time. Evelyn can't keep a straight face for more than 10 seconds, and Gordon can't focus on anything for that long without moving. 

 Headed to the ward Trunk or Treat with their neighbor/sister. These four hang out all the time. 

 We bought pumpkins to carve, and you can guess which one is Jilly's (the smallest!). She wanted to make a pumpkin family. The fabric comes from my scrap stash. 

 There was a pumpkin carving party in our apartment complex, so we took our pumpkins down there. Evelyn got creative and actually rode on her pumpkin, all the way down the hill. Sort of like Cinderella. 

 Candy accounting time. I was on call in the apartment complex, so Ben was the one taking them around this year. 

Our good friends and next door neighbors, the Whites, have San Diego Zoo passes and invited us to go along on a school holiday in October. It was "bring a friend day" or something, and so we got in free. Friends are cool! 

 This was in the koala exhibit. There is a lot of stuff to climb on at the Zoo, so it's perfect for kids. That's also why it can take you two days to get through everything. 

 Notice Jill's grumpy face. She didn't get her picture first. 

 Pretending to be a member of the sea ice community. 

 Jilly found a baby!

 Gordon and his buddy talked repeatedly about seeing the crocodiles, and toward the end of the day, we did see them. Other notable exhibits were the pandas, koalas, and elephants. We saw the lions too (surprisingly stinky!) and they were just asleep, which made sense when I remembered they sleep during the heat of the day. The reptile house was fun for the little ones too. 

The best story from the trip came from the Orangutan/Chimpanzee exhibit. The orangutan was doing a funny dance on a rock with the gourd in his hand and keeping the people entertained. Then he started banging the gourd on the rock. There are high glass walls to separate the people from the chimps. Once he was done banging the gourd, he looked at it, and then lobbed the gourd over the wall into the crowd. It landed right behind the kids and didn't hit anyone, thankfully. A man threw it back over the wall. The kids started laughing, they thought it was great. 

Idyllwild Cabin Trip and other fun stuff

A friend of ours rented a cabin in Idyllwild for a weekend in October and we split the cost of the stay. It was a fun little mountain trip. And a nice respite from the heat. 

 Ben brought his bike along and rode some forest roads. He loved it. This is looking out towards the ocean. The mountains here rise rather suddenly out of the ground, so you get some spectacular views of the valleys. We were up around 5500 feet, as compared to sea level in Irvine. 

 We went on a hike with friends. And while Gordon and Evelyn were running all over the trail and climbing all available rocks, Jilly just hung out with the younger girls, content to be firmly planted on the ground. 

 Holding back a boulder with friends.

 Our friend had heard there was a UFO cabin in the area, so we drove around to find it and finally did. It was a bit of a hike in to see it. 

 The kids had fun making forts out of the leftover logs and firewood. They had to put it all back before we left. There was a tire swing as well. 

 We watched a sunset from the peak one night. After it was dark, we took a short walk to see what we could see of the night sky. It was more visible than in Orange County, but there was still quite a bit of light pollution which make seeing lots of stars difficult. 

 Ben photo-bombing the kid picture. 

 Watching TV while making breakfast. Evelyn make good friends with the toddler in this picture and he used her as his seat. We had lots of good food, company and conversation on this trip. 

We celebrated our 11th anniversary by going to the Red O in Newport Beach. Rick Bayless is our favorite Mexican food chef. We went to a session in the Newport Beach temple prior to this as well. We're working on some family names, which makes going to the temple a bit more fun. 

 The food did not disappoint, and neither did the service. It was a beautiful restaurant with great food. These were the beef sopes. We also had the chips with various salsas, tacos, tortialla soup, and some shrimp. We had a fancy churro with chocolate sauce for dessert. 

Here is my fine specimen in his native Southern California habitat drinking from a coconut.