January 2014

Whew! I've let myself get SO behind on blogging again! It has been a busy 6 months and I haven't made the time for it. Part of that  is our computer died in Jan. and I lost pictures, as well as not having anything to blog on! Here goes our January in a nutshell (and tons of pictures!).

Lydia loves being outside and didn't let the cold and snow stop her at all. She loved playing, helping keep the walks shoveled, building snowmen (I built some small ones with her, and she and Neal built some big ones), and even swinging.

She is also loving being a big sister and for the most part, is very helpful and nice to Jacob. She loves to play with him, and was always very excited when I would let her give him a bottle. I hope that these two can continue being nice and playing well together.

Mid January, we headed to California with Neal's family. We were so excited and ready for the warm weather and sunshine. Lydia LOVES painting her toenails so that was a must do before we left.

Waiting in the airport... Lydia was not happy to sit with us so we could take a picture.

We arrived in California Thursday evening, so that night was basically checking into our hotel and spending the night. Friday morning we all got up and headed to Disneyland and California Adventure for a full day. All of Neal's family was there (minus Bradley, who is on his mission) as well as Neal's cousin Grant, his wife Kate (and their two kids). It was my first time at Disneyland, so everything was new to me, as well as Lydia and Jacob's first time. We spent  most of the morning in California Adventure where we stayed with the rest of the family. They were so nice to watch the kids for us so Neal and I could go on some of the rides together. It was also nice to have Dallin with us (he has downs syndrome) because we could get fast passes on all the rides he wanted to go on. There weren't a ton of rides for Lydia, so around lunchtime we went to Disneyland. Right after lunch, Jacob had a MAJOR blowout! We're talking about all over himself and covering Neal's shirt as well. Luckily we had a change of clothes for him and Neal had a long sleeve shirt in our back pack (in case it was a bit cold in the evening). Not the most fun part of the day, but we got cleaned up and back at it. After getting everyone cleaned up, Neal and I took the kids and split off from the group (we didn't want the others to feel like they needed to watch the kids, and we wanted  to go one more of the little kid rides with Lydia). We stayed until evening, and the kids were so tired, that they fell asleep on the walk back to the hotel. It was a fun day, but honestly I am not a huge fan of amusement parks, so it isn't high on my list of things to do again. I do always enjoy trips with family though, and the weather was fantastic! We didn't take a lot of pictures, so here are the few that we got.

Disneyland!

Our first ride, the carousal in California Adventure. We even got Brent, Annie, and Stephanie to ride with us.

Fun in Disneyland!

Kevin and Neal's mom took the kids to Bug land while the rest of us went on Soaring Over California. Bottom right picture is from "Its a Small World"

After a full day of Disneyland, we packed up again and drove down to Newport Beach, where we stayed at the beautiful Marriott Coast Villa. The rooms were huge and really nice, the grounds/amenities were amazing, and it was just a few minutes away from the beach. We spent most of Saturday enjoying the pools/ outdoor activities they had. Lydia loved all the attention from her uncles(mostly Kevin) and spent a lot of time with them in the water. 

The guys spend their time swimming, doing flips/tricks, and playing frisbee

The girls spent more time relaxing in the sun

Lydia thought it was so funny to pretend everyone in the water were dolphins. She loved to "feed the dolphins" a cracker when we would swim up and "beg" for one.

Playing pool with Dallin and Grandma. Bottom right: having lunch with Allison (Kate and Grant's little girl)

Neal and Lydia finding starfish at the beach.

Just hanging out at the beach. Lydia liked it... as long as she didn't have to get too close to the water. She thought that the waves were too loud and scary.

Sunday morning happened to be Regional Conference for the area, so we were able to attend that. The closest chapel was across from the Newport Beach Temple, and we loved seeing the temple and walking around it as well. After church, we drove to Neal's cousin's home (Ricky and Alanna) where we enjoyed a great dinner, visit, and walk to  the nearby park.

Monday morning we had enough time to pack up and make a quick stop at the beach before heading back to the airport. It was a fun weekend trip and we were sad to leave!

Lydia was so tired from our fun weekend, she fell asleep on the drive back to the airport. She didn't even finish her sandwich first.

After our warm and sunny vacation, it was back to reality with the cold and snow! Since we didn't make it for the holidays, I took the kids up to Rexburg for a  quick visit  (Neal had to stay home to work). Lydia always loves to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and she even convinced them to take her sledding. It ended up being too cold for Jacob, even in his warm bear suit, so my mom took him back to the house and my dad and I pulled Lydia around in the sled and went down the hill a few times.