Christmas in California

We spent Christmas this year with my family down in CA. It was a blast! Sorry for the ridiculously long post, but we did so much and had so much fun. Here's a recap:

Ice Skating at the Spectrum

Home For Christmas

The Tree of sin!



Christmas Morning/Day

Luke scoping out his new toys from the stairs

Visiting the Grandparents

Santa Monica Pier

Wierd guy that was balancing things ... just wanted money so he could pay for his health insurance!

My dad being funny!

3rd and Promenade

Beverly Hills

We stayed a night in Beverly Hills and outside our hotel there was a crane. Luke thought it was so cool. The rest of the day every time we saw a crane he would point with excitement. Such a boy!

You can call us the bobbsey twins! We packed the same outfit. Who knew!

We also saw a bunch on the Penn State football team, because they were staying in the same hotel for the Rose Bowel. Some biggggg guys!



Hollywood

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Grauman's Chinese Theatre



Pink's Hot Dogs
So this hot dog stand has been here since 1939. It is a hot spot in L.A. I heard stories about the line that wrapped around the building, but I didn't expect it. We went to get lunch at 2:30 and didn't end up eating until like 5:30! Crazy! I guess I can say I went to Pink's though.

The Grove

Hiking Saddleback Mountain

My Dad, Brandon and I decided to go hike Saddleback Mountain. My Dad had done it once before and wanted to take us on it. The mountain we actually hikes was Santiago Peak. It is the tallest in the area. It was a total of about 18 miles round trip and we climbed about 5,500 vertical ft. It took us 7 hours total. So exhausting! Seriously by the end I felt like I literally could not move my legs any further!

We thought it was pretty cool that there was snow higher up. We had just had a big cold spell with a lot of rain.

The snow was cool until the last mile or so of the hike. It was the hardest part of the hike, and we were in about 1+ feet of snow. Didn't make for an easy accent or descent.

Finally at the top!

This cool tunnel the trees made around the trail.

Luke's Gym

Andrea takes Luke to this cute little gym. They have classes by age group and do things according to their abilities. This was an open gym day. We decided to go see him play!

Mom and Dad's 30th Anniversary

We went to the Charthouse in Dana Point for my parent's Anniversary. Sooo good! Happy 30th you two!



Disneyland

This was one of the coldest and most busy days I have ever been to Disneyland in my whole life! And I have been a lot! I stood in line for hot chocolate a few times. First after waiting 20 min. I got almost to the front and the machine stopped working. Another time I stood in line for another 20-30 min and finally got my hot chocolate but it was not warm! By this point I was raging. I just decided to forget it. We went to meet my family in line and Brandon, being the good husband that he is, went to try and get me some hot chocolate one last time. That didn't pan out either beacaus I ha d to call him to come get back in line before it was too late. I just wanted some hot chocolate people!!!

Domesticated

This past weekend we had the chance to celebrate Christmas with Brandon's family, since we will be in California this year. It was a lot of fun getting together with everyone. We ordered in Chinese food and everyone came over to open presents at our place. I was pleasantly surprised by Brandon's parents with a much desired pots and pans set! I love them! They have the cutest little shape I have ever seen. I was a little skeptical at first, because I'm used to cooking with non-stick pans. But I love them. They are great! Now I can get rid of my old mish mash college pans. Thanks again Jeff and Kathy!

Body Worlds

This weekend Brandon and I went to the Body Worlds exhibit. We have been wanting to go for months and finally had a chance. It is really the neatest thing. These are real human bodies. And with the miracle of science they are able to preserve them through a process called plastination. Basically they are injected with a plastic like substance.

Anyway, I love the human body and I love seeing how it works. Brandon was a little nervous to go at first because he can be a little squeamish sometimes. But it was great. We spent a couple of hours winding though the exhibit. It's amazing how intricate our bodies are. Such a miracle.

Thankful

This year for Thanksgiving we got together with Brandon's family and I was in charge of cooking the dinner. Yeah! I know! I freaked out a little bit when I found out myself. But I figured it was better than the alternative...dinner at Chuck-O-Rama. We had 7 of us total so not a huge crowd. Luckily Brandon's mom came over and helped me cook. I've never cooked a turkey before! All in all everything turned out really well. I'm thankful that it did and I'm thankful that it's over!

Fall...Soon to be winter

Last week Brandon and I went on a bike ride to see all the pretty fall leaves. They were gorgeous! Luckily we went when we did because winter weather is starting to come in. I will miss our bike rides during the winter season. It was a good 10 mile ride until Brandon got two flat tires after riding over a few "goat heads." That's what Brandon called them at least. Enjoy the pics!

Halloween

This year for Halloween Brandon and I dressed up as hippies. I think the best part was scouring multiple D.I.'s for the sickest, nastiest clothes we could find. We celebrated by going to one of Brandon's cousins' house for a party. Enjoy the pics!

Ballerina?, Richard Simmons, Jane Fonda, Sarah Palin, John McCain

I can't believe she wore/found this! Hilarious!

Our pumkins.

So since I am not down in CA with the rest of my family, they send me pictures of everything I am missing out on. Here are some cute pics of my sweet little nephew Luke and the family. Miss you guys!

It's only appropriate that Luke have Oakley's like the rest of the family... I mean come on!

Cutest Peter Pan out there.

My beautiful sister...

Nana...

And Papa.

Look at this cool pumpkin stand they got. It's so cute! I have never seen anything like it!

Really?. . .Snow?

On Saturday we had warnings of snow showers. Now I was thinking maybe just a little sprinkling here and there. Uh...I was wrong! It snowed off and on Sat. afternoon and ALL DAY Sunday! It snowed about 6 inches! Crazy for mid October! But it's about all melted now. What a weird weekend.






One of our neighbors and their son built this snowman. It hardly made a dent in all the snow that covered the grass!