Family Pictures

I'm beginning to learn how very difficult it is to get my little family of four together to take pictures. All of us have to be dressed, awake, and happy. The more people you have in your family, the more rare is this occurrence.

So, during our time in Antioch today, we got Weston to take some pictures of us. Even though he denies it, we think he is an aspiring photographer... haha...

Anyway, here's the quiz: Where are we in this first picture??

(Actually, it's easier to tell in this picture than in the actual print we had made today...)

And the other thing that makes me laugh about this experience is Jon... Well, yes, he makes me laugh every day (much like the romantic Eliza and David from Legacy), but in this case, I refer to his uncanny ability to "accidentally" get awesome pictures of us. Our engagement picture and the one above were random "silly" moments that he came up with on the fly, but they end up being the pictures that best display our personality. Does that mean we are silly people? Probably...

Little visitor

Joe came down for a training session in the Bay Area... and he brought Kaelan with him! KK got to stay with us for the day while Joe was busy, and as you can tell, we had a lot of fun.


Dawna and Adele were also very fond of him. The three of them played with Nana most of the day--inside and out, even though it was pretty cold and wet around here.

Thanksgiving Fun!

As always, our Thanksgiving break was split between our two families. It's part of the blessing and curse of living close to both sets of parents...

Wednesday was a very wet trip to San Francisco. We walked from the Embarcadero BART station all the way to pier 39 and then up through China Town. We were soaked, but still had a blast. Matt and JoAnn and Co. enjoyed Ghiradelli Square and Alcatraz.

Thursday morning we played football with friends and family. Nobody got too hurt, amazingly...
After football, Jon and I drove out to Antioch for Thanksgiving dinner. Louis and Camille and Co., Dan and Karla, Weston, and Lynn were all there. All five brothers... together again...

All the food was amazing, of course, since Mom Luetta was cooking.

Friday we went to Rodeo Beach, where the surf was too high and the wind too cold to actually swim, but that didn't stop the Utah kids from trying anyway. Much to their parent's chagrin, they waded into the water. Kaylee tried rolling up her pants, but we all know it doens't take long to get them soaked anyway. Charles actually tried to strip down to his "trunks," and there ensued quite the little tussle between him and his dad trying to keep his jacket and shirt on... In any case, the beach had beautifully colorful pebbles, and romantic vistas :)
After the beach, it was back to San Francisco for a drier, more crowded view of the city. We enjoyed the aquarium, a driving tour of the Presidio, and clam chowder in bread bowls at Boudin's! Yum!

Friday and Saturday were kick back days as we dreaded the upcoming week and the hectic Christmas season to come... but so far, we're surviving! Jon is ALMOST done with the term... and after this term only ONE MORE! YAY!

And to conclude, we had a good Thanksgiving.

Hike at Castle Rock

So, going back to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving...

Jon's brother Dan and his lovely girlfriend Karla drove down from Antioch to spend the afternoon with us. We were so excited that somebody actually wanted to come visit US!! It's easy for family from out of town to only make it as far as Antioch, so special thanks to Dan and Karla for making the extra trip :)

We went on a hike to find Castle Rock falls, but as it turned out, it was more like Castle Rock trickle. Dawna was very sad to discover the non-water fall... she was expecting Burney Falls, but all she got was a lousy drip of a waterfall. Jon and Dan and his friend Matt were all very studly as they maneuvered the bike trailer, with Dawna and Lawrence, over rocks, around trees, and over the edge where the trail wasn't wide enough for it to fit. I was a little nervous, but the boys did a spectacular job keeping my kiddies safe.

Matt took some fun pictures along the way:

Castle Rock itself was awesome fun to climb on, in, and around-- With lots of nooks and crannies and crags. and there was this one cave that looked like a brain... no picture of that though... This was an easier part of the trail... don't let it fool you though... there were places where the trail wasn't as wide as the trailer...
Mostly, this is just a cool picture. It captured Dawna's complaint very well: "Wanna get out!" Good job, Matt!