Christmas Vacation

We hit the road the day after Christmas. I didn't even take down the Christmas decorations. We were just too excited to get to SLO. 

Matt & Papa got twinner shirts. 

 We took all the kiddos on a little hike. 

 Fun tree. Fun game: find Charlie. 

 Unfortunately it wasn't all fun. I don't know exactly how he managed to trampoline burn his face, except that it was a flip gone wrong. 

Matt & I left the kids for a night and went down to Santa Barbara. I am addicted to this town. We went to the coolest movie theater

 and watched the dumbest movie. Anchorman 2... so lame. 

Our little hotel was right across the street from the beach. 

 We walked along the beach and the pier

 and tried to get pictures of ourselves and the ocean. Selfies are hard. 

Dinner at the Pearl was delicious, but neither of us chose the filet mignon pizza. Should I feel guilty? 

 

Extra credit for the dessert presentation. 

 

 The next day we strolled around the other side of the beach. 

This picture is a reflection of us standing on the sidewalk. Cool, huh. The white lines are the reflections of the ships masts and the thing that looks like a big oyster shell below us is sand. 

I thought this statue was a cowboy riding a sea horse, but the plaque says it's just a regular boy which should have been obvious...the hat is all wrong. Darn it. 

 Whale tale bench. 

We are big fans of the tv show Psych so we had to drive by the Santa Barbara Police Department. Just goes to show you can't believe anything you see on TV. Real Santa Barbara Police Department:

and the TV version: 

 At least the courthouse is attractive enough to make it into the show.  It's a super cool building. 

 A little panorama shot from up above the clock. 

 The inner working of the clock. 

The courtroom:

 Beautiful tile-work!

Then we drove up to the mission. We were too cheap to pay for the tour. 

 This is the beach by the university.  

The winter break meant that hardly anyone was there. This beach has lots of fun places to explore. 

I think Santa Barbara is magical. I love it. We are hoping to take the kids this summer on vacation. It was nice to get away, and it didn't take long to get back to reality. 

Our absence was not without drama. The teens took Nana's golf cart for a late night drive and over estimated their skills driving down steep hills. The details are sketchy, but the evidence shows that the golf cart tipped over leaking battery fluid all down the side. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured and except for a little acid washed design on the side, the cart is ok. The really bad part was that the boys chose not to tell anyone about what happened. BAD MOVE!

Before we left we took the kids back to the sand dunes, 

and had a rockin' New Year's Eve party. Matt was one of the few who dared karaoke. 

This little guy was so excited about the toast that he threw his drink on anyone nearby. 

Happy New Years!

Christmaaaas!!

Christmas was extra special this year because Grandma & Grandpa came to stay. We've never had them at our house for Christmas, and we loved it. While they were here, we went to see The Hobbit at the luxury theater. Lounging in your own reclining chair is really the only way to properly enjoy a two hour + movie. This got the kids thinking that we should travel the extra 40 minutes and pass by at least three other theaters every time we go see a movie. Yeah...no. We did go on a movie spree while they were here and also watched the Secret Life of Walter Mitty & Saving Mr. Banks. 

On Christmas Eve we honored Grandpa by eating steak and potatoes. This is the first snow-free,warm weather Christmas my parents have ever experienced.  I thought something familiar would be appropriate. 

Zack is the only one who cares about decorating cookies anymore. 

Before bed there was a little Fauxcabulary playing. 

I don't know how my parents survived Christmas Eve without the NORAD Santa tracker. Once the kids see he is on this side of the nation, they are in bed, usually before 10:00. Awesome!

 New PJs. I searched for some fox pjs for the fox obsessed nine year old. Foxes are popular now but only for baby boys, adult males, and girls. Lame! Luckily, Emily volunteered to sew Zack some bottoms. They were perfect--he was so excited! 

 It's getting harder and harder to compile a Christmas list. Ben was the only one who could figure out what he wanted. Which explains the pogo stick. 

 Proof that Santa has a sense of humor. In fact, Santa is hilarious! He left the boys a pet dog...all the upsides of a dog with none of the downsides.

 Part of Noah's present for Zack was this cute little stuffed fox. Luckily this one is for decoration, I don't know if Zack could handle adding another stuffed animal to his nightly cuddle rotation. 

 Ben nailed it with Noah's gift-headphones and a 10 ft. charging cable. 

  I numbered the presents again--I like to add a little mystery. But didn't do fake out presents again--it was a little too traumatic. 

 A common expression: 

 It was so great to have these two here to celebrate with us. 

  A couple of pictures to document all of Zack's hard-work outside. He would go all out Griswald style if he could. 

December: The First Half

Ben chose to take choir for his elective this year. Rogich has a really great choir director. The winter concert was super impressive. How cute handsome is Ben is his choir uniform? 

 I was able to sneak away for a weekend in Santa Barbara with these two. I am so lucky to have great sister in laws.   

 We did a lot of Christmas shopping,

 eating 

 and wandering up and down State Street. We even caught a motorcycle parade.  

 Santa Barbara is a great place! 

The Bellagio Conservatory is always fun, it's kind of our Temple Square equivalent at Christmas time. We went with the cousins for FHE. 

 I love that these boys have become such great buddies. I also love that that house is made entirely of chocolate. 

  We've been in this one year rental house for over three now. I did not anticipate that the Las Vegas housing market would be so rough. In an effort to make more room, we decided to bunk the boys beds. It is a good change. Zack was so excited about it he decided to customize the beds. I was completely shocked when I caught him drawing (you would think we'd be past this). He looked at me like it was no big deal--it's only pencil.  Noah will tell you that I would have freaked out on him if he did that when he was nine. He's probably right. Whatever. I am getting soft in my old age. It actually looks kind of cool. 

 One fun toy I picked up in Santa Barbara is this little snowman. You build him and watch him melt--over and over again. He is adorable and entertaining. 

As usual we also had a great time with Grandma & Grandpa's 12 days of Christmas presents. Here's a sample: