The Hike: Devil's Punchbowl

While in Lancaster we went hiking at a place called Devil's Punchbowl. Billy's cousins from Clovis came to visit while we were there and we all went hiking. We didn't leave until late in the afternoon and it got dark and cold quick. We still managed to hike around for about an hour. Ryan was cold...we told her we were going to take a picture so she popped up long enough to say, "Cheese."

This picture was taken at the very end of the hike. Ryan was such a trooper. She was so cold by the end that she buried her head in Billy's jacket to stay warm.

Ryan loved playing with her cousins while we were there. They were really sweet to her. (L-R: Ammon, Jo Jo, Jeremiah, Ryan).

Cassie's cute boys: minus Dexter.

These pictures are out of order, but here's a picture of the kids at the beginning of the hike.

Christmas in Lancaster 2010

We headed up to Lancaster late Christmas Eve. Ryan loved playing in Grandma's garden.

Ryan enjoying a piece of See's candy chocolate. Yum!

Ryan loves to color and believe it or not, didn't have a coloring book. Mommy and Daddy fixed that problem for Christmas. Ryan enjoying coloring with Grandma.

Ryan happily enjoying her toys on Christmas morning. It was a lot of fun seeing Ryan get all excited about her toys. She knew the tree was special, but didn't really understand that you got presents on Christmas. It only took opening a couple of gifts to realize that she got new toys. She would start opening a present, smile, and exclaim, "Toy!" It was really cute.

Billy checking out what Santa brought. We had a wonderful Christmas. We enjoyed spending it with family and reflecting on the birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for the gospel and our many blessings. We hope you had a great Christmas.

Christmas in Brea 2010

We headed down to CA on Tuesday night, 12/22. In attempt of staying on our "schedule" we spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Billy's family. It seems like it's non-stop going whenever we take trips to CA, but we had a lot of fun. My dad got remarried over Thanksgiving this year so it was a unique year combining families and traditions for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to LA to help an organization get ready to feed many, many people (that didn't' have money for Christmas dinner and presents ) on Christmas. We pretty much cracked enough eggs to fill the biggest pot I've ever seen and pour many cups of juice. It was a fun experience and a great feeling serving others.

On Christmas Eve Ryan opened her presents from Grandpa Pyper and Grandma Donna. She got a cooking set for her kitchen and she loves playing with it.

Ryan also loved playing with her cousins Pyper and Ashton. All 3 got a Cinderella Princess set from Uncle Pat and Aunt Mindy.

Opening their presents.

The 3 cuties, subtract little Presley. L-R: Ashton (2), Pyper (3), Ryan (1). It was so much fun seeing family and hanging out with everyone. I was able to spend some time with my sister Mindy, which was a blast. We left wishing they lived closer. Donna and her kids have a tradition of eating sushi on Christmas Eve. They cooked up some grilled chicken and salmon and made authentic sushi of raw tuna and salmon. I didn't eat the sushi, but the grilled salmon was delicious. Billy loved the sushi....a tradition we gladly adopted.

Temple Lights

I am way behind on my blogging these days...and it's a new year! About a week before Christmas we went to see the temple lights with our good friends the Buckwalters. There was a ton of people there who had the same idea as us. We went to Pete's Fish and Chips before (which we are going to have to make a tradition...it was delicious) and then headed over to the temple to see the lights.
Our friends the Buckwalters.

The lights were beautiful and we were so glad we went.