Skyline Park

We were so thankful we stayed two weeks in California, because the first week was wet and rainy.  Week two was much nicer!  We were looking for a place to go for a day trip with the family... something family friendly, cheap and fun for all ages.  We were originally thinking about Muir Woods, but then my brother-in-law suggested Skyline Park in Napa.  Seriously brilliant.  Cheap, no crowds and only 30 minutes away for all of us!

Ethan, Brayden, Matt, Kate and Dallyn finding swords  sticks while we ate lunch.

Lots of beautiful picnic areas everywhere!

I could have admired this view ALL day.... sigh....

How nice of the park to provide a port potty.  It looked attractive, but the smell was horrific.
Given it's location along the trail, it probably doesn't get a lot of maintenance. 

Megan and Kate

At first the road was surrounded by oaks and scrub brush, but the deeper we walked into the canyon, the prettier it got.

Ferns, rocks and a waterfall... what more could you ask for?  Is this really just a few miles from downtown Napa?

Moss and lichen were growing on EVERYTHING!

Nine cousins made this hike.  Lyndi was missed, but stayed home sick with a 24 hour flu bug.  

This lake was our final destination for the day.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

Proof I was there.... I often have to ask people to take my picture or I won't end up being in any at all.  I'm so glad all my kids have a love for the outdoors.  I love spending time with our family!

20 Years and Counting...

I'm not sure if it was fate or not, but we ended up being home visiting during our 20th wedding anniversary.  This beautiful LDS temple was where we were married in Oakland, CA. 

This is the view of the Bay from terrace on top of the Temple

This temple has always been my favorite.  It's the temple I grew up going to for baptisms, and it's the temple I vowed I would be married in.  I was lucky that Eric was also from the Bay Area, so there was no debate about our wedding location when the time came!

Pictures like this make me Sooooo homesick for my Bay Area.... 

There is a beautiful christmas light display at the Oakland Temple.  We were lucky that the night we picked to go was pretty quiet.  We really did have the place to ourselves.  (Maybe because it was COLD and windy....)

Every year the temple has been closed during Christmas vacation for one of it's bi-annual cleanings.  They will open up one day during that time to accomodate live sealings.  So, we've never been able to go back to the temple and do any work there for our anniversary.  Since I knew we'd be there for our 20th anniversary, I decided to check the schedule again, just in case, and guess what... they were open! We were able to take some family names and go do proxy sealings for some of Eric's ancestors.  It's been too long since we've been in the sealing room, and I was super grateful to be able to go back and be reminded of the special blessings that come with a temple marriage.

This was the only picture I managed to get of Eric and I in front of Our Temple.  I'm so thankful to have him in my life.  Best decision I ever made!

Family Pictures

We spent our entire Christmas vacation visiting family in the Motherland of Northern California.  It was stressful and exhausting in many ways, but also so fun and rewarding!  

Here's some family pics we took in my grandma's backyard while my brother and his family were down from Eureka.  We had less than two days together, so we decided to do our family pictures while we were visiting my grandma.  She has a picture friendly backyard anyway, and I love being able to kill two birds with one stone.  

Thanks Annie for teaching me this trick to get a fun picture of all the kids together.  Afterwards, Brayden said, "Why does everyone have to tickle me?" I promised him that next time, I'll ask everyone to tickle Ben instead.

I'm so excited to be an aunt again... and we didn't know it yet when we did the pictures, but Adam and Delia are having a GIRL!  That's going to pose a real challenge for the woman whose favorite color is black.  I don't know how much self restraint my mother will be able to exhibit.  I wasn't a big fan of pink when I had Megan, and neither is Delia.  Poor mom!

This picture was a chore to get.  Brayden was not in the mood to cooperate.  And you can see how forced most of their smiles are.  I can almost guarantee Taylor was muttering something under his breath like, "just smile, so we can get this over with."  

 I don't think Grandma expected to be put into our family pictures that day in her backyard, but she should have known better.  Of course, she was dressed pretty cute, so maybe she suspected, and decided to be prepared!

This picture was too cute not to include.  My aunt and uncle were at my grandma's house the day we did our pictures, so they became our photographers.... and my Aunt Karen, just had to sneak into this one.  Love it!  

Four generations of girls... and another girl on the way!

I love this picture... the last year has been a rough one for my grandma with her health, and quite by accident I caught her and my mom having this private moment.  I wish I knew what she said to my mom... it was obviously funny!

Cousins

Now I know why I've slacked off so badly on the blog.  Now that I shoot photos in RAW format, it's so much more work to make them blog ready.  (But it's worth the effort...)

Here's some shots from a photo shoot we did just for fun in my hometown with Taylor and my niece, Ashlyn.  They are three days apart and super close.... despite the 800 miles of interstate separating them.  (Thank goodness for cell phones and Facebook, right?)

Ashlyn hasn't had any senior photos done yet, so we went Downtown and had some fun taking pictures of her and both of them together.  These are some of my favorites!

Next fall, Taylor will be who knows where serving a church mission, and Ashlyn will be going to college somewhere in Utah... if not BYU Provo, then I think Weber State is choice #2... then Utah State... can't wait to see where she ends up!  She's one talented and beautiful girl.  I'm so thankful we have her in our family.  

             

                  

 

A New Year

One of my four goals for the year is to blog at least once a week.  I figure Sunday will most likely be my mandatory blogging day, so I'm starting off easy with posting some pictures we had taken over Thanksgiving weekend.  Annie Critchfield came to visit her family for the holiday, so I quickly booked some of her time.  As you can see, she did a fabulous job!  Thanks, Annie!  (She is currently living in Provo, UT, but comes to Phoenix to visit her family here a couple times a year.)  Check out her blog (linked on her name) or her Facebook page.  She is awesome!