Even for Los Angeles, it has been an unseasonably warm winter. Not like I know any different - it's the most unseasonably warm winter I've ever had in life. All the better to take advantage of family visits!!
My parents came to town to play for a weekend. We had a grand old time – we got to kick it at the beach, we paid the Knapps a visit, and of course, we spent some quality time playing cards.
We also visited Huntington Botanical Gardens. David had to work that day, so I had to take over with the photography. We’ll definitely have to return in the spring, when the Japanese garden is open and David can capture some quality shots.
Emily also came to spend some time with us.
And we went sailing! This Saturday was 80 degrees and clear – perfect conditions. Uncle Brad got certified to sail a catamaran, so a bunch of us joined him for a nice leisurely jaunt up to Palos Verdes and back. (See David for more pictures.)
Then we got some pizza and got back on the boat and dined with the Queen Mary and the Long Beach skyline as our backdrop.
It was lovely.
And as an aside, sometimes when I’m stuck in traffic sometimes I have killer sunsets.
David and I went running in the Christmas Eve snowfall. There is nothing in the whole world like running in the middle of a snowfall. The way all sounds are muted. The sound of your shoes crunching in the snow. The way the sky and all of the trees are covered in a fluffy, white blanket. It was stunningly beautiful. It was utterly peaceful. It was pure magic.
It was two miles all downhill and then two more all uphill!!!
We spent our Christmas in Spokane this year with the VanderLouws, the Colin Croshaws, and my parents. On Christmas Eve everyone spent the night at the Croshaw's so we could all be together on Christmas morning. And so we could all be together to open our Christmas Eve jammies!!
Thank you Jack and Naomi for looking my way. :) (And thank you DC for making sure I too had a pair of Christmas Eve pj's!)
Christmas morning! Let's all play with everyone else's toys!!
This was definitely the least organized Opening of the Presents I've ever participated in - which one may expect, with the army of kids we had present that morning. David and I just sat and watched for awhile - we were enjoying witnessing the pandemonium. Plus, we figured all the well-behaved adults would be opening their own presents in a more orderly fashion once the kids got through their spoils. Then we looked around and noticed that even the grown-ups were tossing organization to the wind and had already begun digging in! It was every man for himself!!
P.S. Yes, David grew a beard. The Proposal Beard. Chalk it up to workplace camaraderie - they found a way to commiserate together through the insanity at the office. More on that later.
Once again, David has shown the world that he truly can sleep anywhere.
But it's okay - he was just building up energy to play with this little bundle of goodness!
So David is kind of like the Pied Piper of children. As soon as he enters the room, they respond to the siren sound of his footsteps and come running from all over the house to vie for his attention. That said, you can imagine their glee when he asked them if they wanted to help him shave off the Proposal Beard!!
Oh yeah. We went through phases. First there was just taming down the beard...
The foo man chu...
The soul patch...
And whatever this is...
And the clean-shaven eye candy!!
(Good thing it was out of focus. You’d all have to hold yourselves back if you could see the real thing! Just take my word for it.)
Thanks everyone for helping!
It goes without saying, but I LOVE getting to spend time with all those kids. But, I also really love when I get to chill out with the adults.
Thanks to everyone in Spokane for letting us come play and providing the snowy backdrop that these LA residents were craving!
