Utah Christmas

Ricky and I had another Utah Christmas this year! It was a full and very enjoyable vacation with family and friends!

The first night there, we went to Luminaria in the gardens at Thanksgiving Point. It was neat, and they had the best hot chocolate and stroopwaffles!

Ricky warming his nose

The next night, we went to see the lights at Temple Square. We also had to try out the Light the World vending machines! They were pretty cool! We stayed in a hotel downtown that night, and went to Music and the Spoken Word in the morning.

Christmas window displays

The Giving Machines

Ricky and I after Music and the Spoken Word

On Christmas Eve, we went to my Grandma and Grandpa's for our traditional dinner, gift exchange, nativity, and talent show. It was so good to see everyone!

Ricky played We Three Kings on the ocarina for the talent show

My grandparents got us Willow Tree nativity pieces!

On Christmas Eve, we all worked together to make lots of sack lunches to donate to the Road Home. On Christmas morning, we made the sandwiches to go in the lunches, and then took them to the Road Home. It was a good Christmas service experience!

Organizing the sack lunches

Brian got me a coloring book and Ricky a knife sharpener

We got him a Charlie Brown Christmas tree - it matches his shirt!

Brittany got us candy and an Angry Mama and we got her notebooks and glow-in-the-dark stars to enjoy at college

We got my mom just what she asked for - a Swiffer duster and nail polish (and we got my dad candy)

She got me the dress I fell in love with when we went shopping at the Gilroy Outlets in October

We didn't get any pictures of the day after Christmas, but it was a great day! We went and visited Uncle Dean and went out to lunch with him. We went to Kokonut Island Grill, one of our favorites in Bountiful. Later that day, we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Reid and Larissa and Bennion and Brittney. It was fun seeing them!

The next day, we went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa at their new place! It was so nice there, and had anything you could want - cookies and candy by the front desk, games and puzzles you could rent out, a schedule of activities you could go to, even a hair salon. Downstairs was a place you could go eat pretty much any time of the day, and my grandpa took us to lunch there. We enjoyed it! We got salads, a delicious tomato soup, and then I got a burger and fries, and Ricky got one of the specials of the day, Cashew Shrimp. And after that, we got dessert! Also, Ricky was impressed that there was a soda machine you could access anytime of the day or night! We were sure impressed, and loved visiting with my grandparents!

Delicious fries and fry sauce

A snowy view

This is the sign that my grandpa got from the white elephant gift exchange at Christmas!

My grandparents - we can't wait to visit again!

Ricky got a cute picture of us hugging bye

So Ricky and I got to our gate to fly home, but our flight had been overbooked and they needed volunteers to take a different flight a few hours later. We were in no rush, so we decided to volunteer. We ended up getting food vouchers and gift cards for volunteering! So after that, we had some time to spare and looked for somewhere to eat in the airport to use our food vouchers! It was a fun and tasty little adventure to end our trip!

A San Diego Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to drive to San Diego to spend it with Ricky's family. Ricky has made this drive once on his own, but I hadn't ever made the drive from San Jose to San Diego. Ricky said it was about 7 hours without traffic. That seemed long and I didn't know if it would be worth it for such a short trip. But airfare was pricey and we couldn't get any extra time off work, so we drove. We left on Wednesday right after work, and drove back on Sunday.

We left right at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, and traffic was pretty bad in one spot on the 101. We got to San Diego around 11:00 pm. I like road trips that are about 3 to 4 hours, so the end of that drive was a little miserable for me. I was actually exhausted after work, so Ricky did most of that drive.

Anyways, on Thanksgiving, we started the day by going to Balboa Park. It was so nice, and reminded me a little of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Some of it was closed for the holiday, but it was fun just walking around and I feel like we still got to see a lot!

Here is a look at the Japanese Tea Garden - so pretty!

This is outside the Prado Restaurant, where their neighbor works

We wanted to go inside the Botanical Building, but sadly, it was closed.

It was actually double-closed, because it was Thursday and a holiday!

Ricky and his brothers had to recreate the statues lol

You can see Ricky running away in the background after helping Jake onto Alex!

Loved this tree!

We actually didn't get pictures of Thanksgiving dinner that night, but that was fun! It was at Aunt Heather's house, and it was delicious! We played some Super Smash Brothers and Family Feud after dinner.

On Friday, we went to lunch with Ricky's friends Fernando and Brian. Fernando chose Chick-Fil-A since there's not one too close to him. I honestly thought Chick-Fil-A was only a Utah thing, so we enjoyed eating there. It was actually totally outdoors! You walk up to the window and order, then sit in the outdoor seating and get your food from the counter when your name is called. It did also have a drive-thru. We then went to Brian's house and hung out. We played some Toontown Rewritten, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and we watched a show. Brian's parents ordered us pizza, which was delicious! That was a fun day!

On Saturday, Alex gave Ricky a badly needed haircut! Then we took the family pictures for the Christmas cards outside in the front yard. Later, we went to Old Town San Diego and went to the Mormon Battalion museum. That tour was sooo good (and it was free), and I highly recommend it for anyone visiting San Diego!

Ricky getting a haircut!

The Mormon Battallion Historic Site

In front of the Mormon Battallion

Panning for gold after the tour

At the end of the tour, they took a nice picture of us to keep

Lastly, here are some photos of Teddy and the new addition to the family, the cat Sia. Also, a photo of the traffic we were in driving back on Sunday. It was bumper to bumper on the 5. It took us just under TWELVE HOURS to get back home! We left at 9:15 am, and arrived home at 9:05 pm. That was literally the worst drive ever! Traffic was so bad!!!!!

Bumper to Bumper traffic for hours - absolutely miserable!

Mom's Visit, Part 2: San Francisco

On Saturday, we headed to San Francisco. We went to Golden Gate Park again, which is probably our favorite thing to do there. We started off with the Harmon Tower, which is a must-do in Golden Gate Park, and absolutely free! Then we walked by the Lily Pond, where Ricky found some blackberries. We then went to the Conservatory of Flowers, and walked around the exterior, which was beautiful. We didn't want to pay to go inside though. We decided to pay to go into the Botanical Garden, which was the same price, but sounded like it had more to do. It was pretty fun. There are so many small parts inside of it, such as a Redwood Trail, Garden of Fragrance, and Ancient Plant Garden, to name a few. Our favorite part was probably the Garden of Fragrance. But I also enjoyed the Ancient Plant Garden. It was a little confusing at times because there were so many paths, but not enough signs. So at one point, we thought we should be in the California Garden, but we were really in the Succulent Garden. Anyways, Golden Gate park is huge and we still haven't seen it all! See last year's San Francisco trip for more San Francisco adventures.

Harmon Tower

Ricky and I found the same spot we stood in last year for a picture. Last year, you could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, but it was too foggy this time. P.S. I'm wearing the same shirt and Ricky's wearing the same jacket as last year!

Mom at the Conservatory of Flowers

There were plenty of flowers outside the building!

Ricky in the succulent garden (I think)

We ended with dinner at Cliff House! My mom had the salmon with lentils, I had the pork chop with broccolini, and Ricky had the braised lamb with shiitake mushrooms. Ricky's favorite part was the shiitake mushrooms, and my favorite part was the cornbread with sausage that came on the side for me. It was a crumble and it was SO good! The view was also beautiful!

Mom's Visit, Part 1: Shopping and Apple Picking

My mom came and visited us over the weekend a couple weeks ago. It was so fun to have her here! Our weekend started on Friday, which was our Girls' Day! We started off the day getting pedicures. It was so nice! The chairs had massage, and were amazing! We felt so relaxed afterwards. It was a great way to start the day!

After getting pedicures, we headed to the Gilroy Outlets to do some shopping! My family loves the Park City outlets, and I realized the Gilroy Outlets are my version of those. It's a little bit of a drive, but worth it for the deals!

My mom with her cute little basket in the Jelly Belly store!

After shopping, we headed to Gizdich Ranch to go apple picking! I had some apple pie, then we got to work picking our apples! It was a fun experience! And the drive to get there was through the mountains, and really pretty!

We got to pick 4 types of apples: red delicious, golden delicious, gala, and pippin.

We ended the night watching a movie. It was a wonderful day!