Christmas Festivities

1/13: Added a few more pictures at the bottom!

Christmas is just a little different, a little more magical, when there are little ones around. It was so fun to be there Christmas morning with my siblings. Brad and I were a little confused when we woke up at 7:30 and they were all still sound asleep! So we were the ones waking them up (I know, weird huh?) Christmas morning. No worries though, they quickly snapped out of their grumpy-half-asleep phase when they remembered what day it was.
Santa brought the whole family a Wii... but just try telling Luke that. He is convinced that it's just for him. Well, he certainly has logged more hours on it than all of us combined, but sorry Luke it is still a family gift.
Grant got a new-to-him electric guitar to continue his newfound love of the guitar. He is completely self taught so far, and really talented. Keep it up Grant!
Princess Taryn got a dollhouse. She loved it and couldn't wait for Dad & Brad to assemble it for her. She's still trying to convince my parents that they should paint it pink... but I don't see her winning that battle.

(Aren't my siblings adorable? Sorry, no pictures of Ross on Christmas morning, but rest assured he was there. Check out their equally adorable Christmas Eve performances here!)


The best gift of the day was saved for last. This was the "mystery gift" that had sat unmarked under the tree for a few weeks. The kids were each SURE it was for them. It was actually for my Dad. It was a framed picture of Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail that my dad had fallen in love with last year on their trip to Nauvoo, IL. With some stealth moves on my mom's and my part, we were able to get the artist to personalize a message and sign the print. My dad said it was the best gift he's ever gotten. (Dad, I guess that Donny Osmond CD I got you is 2nd-best now?!)

The day after Christmas, Brad, Taryn, and I drove up to visit my Dad's parents in Sun City. It was good to spend a few hours with them. Taryn had fun playing with the cats, and Brad had fun listening to all of Grandpa's stories and dusting Grandma's fan. What a guy!


We had quite a few lunch/dinner dates while in Escondido. One night we were getting ready to eat dinner with my family, and Luke asked, "Aren't you guys going out to dinner?" He just assumed we went out for all meals! We were able to get together with two of my best friends and their husbands, as well as our good friends The Andrews, and Brad's former coworkers Ricky & Maggie.
It was great to see Janelle & Tonya (and Mike & Adam). This was the first time all 6 of us had ever been together. I'm already looking forward to the next get together. I'm not sure when that will be, with us living in 3 different states... but it will happen! Maybe a spring trip to San Francisco? What do you think girls?

I can't wait to see the pictures Whitney has from our visit with their cute family of four. :)

Other highlights from the trip include:
*Temple trip with my parents and dinner to Pat & Oscars. I miss those breadsticks already!
*Talking to Bryant on Christmas. He's home in 7 months!
*Family birthday party for Grandpa Fox's 81st B-day
*Anniversary getaway to San Diego (see post here)
*Holiday Bowl parade
*San Diego International Auto Show
*Holiday Bowl party at Full Swing Golf. What's better than 4 hours of football? Playing golf on a wall size simulator while watching football.
*Family movie day, which had the older boys seeing Invictus, and the girls+Luke seeing Princess & Frog.
*New Years Eve, which included spirited games of Twister, free hair stylings by Taryn, and sparklers at midnight.
*Football... lots of football.
*Nintendo Wii.
*Lots of laughs and memories!

It was a great trip, and hard to leave, but real life called. We are looking forward to the upcoming long weekend and Ross's trip to visit us in sunny San Fran!

3 years ago...

I became a married woman. I've loved every minute of the past 3 years and am looking forward to oh so many more!


To celebrate, we took an overnight trip to downtown San Diego. We ate dinner in Coronado at Il Fornaio, a delicious Italian restaurant with a fantastic view of the San Diego harbor.

Isn't it beautiful!

After dinner we checked into our hotel, which was the beautiful Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel.

Highlight of the hotel for me was the beautiful view our 21st floor room had of the San Diego harbor. For Brad it was seeing Mike Stoops, head coach of the Arizona football team, in the hotel lobby. Are you really surprised?

I love you Brad! Thanks for 3 incredible years!

My talented siblings!

On Christmas eve we had a small musical program with my family. Ross played a few Christmas hymns on the piano, Taryn sang a 'Pinata' song, Luke & Grant performed 'Silent Night', and we ended by singing my grandparent's favorite Christmas hymns.


It was a really special way to start the night, as music always has a way of inviting the Spirit. Okay, maybe not Taryn's song, but the hymns sure did! I didn't record Ross's songs (sorry Ross) but I did get Taryn, Luke & Grant.





I'm probably a little biased, but I think they are pretty darn talented kids!

Mannheim Steamroller

As an early Christmas gift, we got tickets for the Mannheim Steamroller concert on December 12. The concert was in the city, so we left a little early and walked around Union Square and enjoyed the Christmas lights and music. (Not to mention, crowds too!)

I love going into the city. I don't think I would do very well living there- with the crowds, crazy driving, and fast-paced everything, but it sure is fun to visit for a night!

The concert was in the Golden Gate Theatre, which is architecturally similar to the Orpheum Theatre where we saw Wicked back in April. We snapped a couple shots while we were waiting... before we found out that was a no-no. Whoops. The lighting did wierd things to our pictures, so this was the best we got:


The concert was awesome! It was their Christmas concert, which happens to be the #1 Christmas tour in America. They play songs from each of their albums over the past 25 years. All the songs were great, but my favorites were 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman' 'Good King Wenceslas' and 'Deck the Halls'. Brad's was the song they played while video of a medieval man galloping through the forest on his horse played on a screen that covered the entire stage... you think I'm kidding, but I'm not. It actually was a really cool song.

Merry early Christmas to us!

Thanksgiving Week

Brad and I got to spend Thanksgiving in Utah this year with the Hardcastles. We were busy from the moment we stepped off the plane to the moment we stepped back on a week later. It was a great trip and a much needed vacation.

First activity of the trip was a BYU football game. We went straight from the airport, and Brad knew it was going to be a good trip when we saw this guy on the freeway:

What- can't tell? It's none other than Jerry Sloan, head coach of the Utah Jazz. After slowing down and speeding up 3 times just to pass him again, frantically waving our hands like idiots, and yelling "Go Jazz" as loud as possible... he finally acknowledged us. Brad even captured it on video:


The game was a bit cold for this California girl (40 degrees and windy!) but the weather was much better than originally expected so I can't complain. Harvey Unga & Max Hall broke BYU records, BYU won, and it was so fun to cheer on our Cougars.

The rest of the week was spent seeing some of Brad's high school friends, going to lunch with Brad's mission president and wife, catching a quick visit with my grandparents visiting from Escondido, getting our hair done by the best hairdresser ;), going to the new Oquirrh Mountain temple for a family session, playing some Wii, and eating way too much!

Perhaps the most productive activity of the week was the 10+ hours Brad spent scanning and digitizing hundreds of family history records. We are burning the DVDs this week and will be sending out copies to the family soon. Brad has caught the 'spirit of Elijah' and is working hard on his family history. Way to go Brad!

I wish I took more pictures, but we were just too busy having fun!

Now we are home doing this:

Besides catching up on laundry, we are also preparing for Christmas with the Urry's next week. Can't wait!

The 'Joy' of Christmas

While we were in Utah for Thanksgiving (post coming soon!) the Hardcastle ladies got together for a girls afternoon. There were 7 of us ladies: my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, two of Brad's aunts, two of his cousins, and me.

We started off the day with Cafe Rio. So good. Why don't they have these in California!?

Then we dove into our Christmas craft, which was painting & mod podging JOY blocks. About 3 hours into the project we all came to the conclusion that it was a good thing we picked "JOY" and not "CHRISTMAS" because these blocks took a lot longer than we expected!

Everyone's blocks turned out really cute and I was excited to get mine home and put them on display!

I couldn't help myself

A couple weeks ago I got a call from my mom. Apparently the San Pasqual ward got a new missionary. Apparently he could pass for my brother's twin. For those of you who don't know, my brother Bryant is currently serving a mission in South Carolina. Which means my family hasn't seen him since July 2008. My mom said her heart "skips a little beat" every time she sees Elder Lammert.

I figured she was probably exaggerating a bit. Then I saw the pictures. They really could be twins.

So I had a little fun.

I forwarded the pictures to my hubby and told him that Bryant had come home for the weekend for some medical reasons, but that everything was taken care of and he was back in South Carolina now. (When someone leaves on a mission, they are gone for two years and do not come home, except in rare occasions. So saying that he had come home was kind of a big deal.)

Brad fell for it. I asked him, "Don't you think Bryant looks good?" and he said, "No, I think he looks like he should be back in South Carolina". Ouch. Haha. Later that night I had to tell him. He was a little mad (read: embarrassed) but quickly got over it and wanted to know who we could trick next. That list now includes: his parents, brother, and our current bishop, Bishop Hunt, Bryant's former scout leader.

We are heading down to visit the family in a couple weeks and I can't wait to meet Elder Lammert for myself. We are thinking about having him stand in for our family pictures, what do you think?

Two of these pictures are my brother, the other two are of his "twin". Can you tell who's who?

It's about time.

I checked my Google Analytics this morning for the first time in a long while. It was a little scary.

So, with that in mind, we've decided the pros outweigh the cons and we are going private.

Please leave a comment with your email address if you would like to keep reading! (Your comment won't be published.) We will be going private December 1.

(Dad, I know this might sound a little confusing, but it just means that from now on you have to put in an email address and password to see our posts. If you have any questions, give me a call!)

Apple Hill

Last Saturday Brad and I drove into Placerville, CA to explore the very popular Apple Hill Orchards. Apple Hill has over 50 ranches, full of pumpkin patches, christmas tree farms, wineries, u-pick fruit farms, and of course all things APPLE: apple juice, apple cider, apple pies, apple turnovers, caramel apples, etc. The apples were the best I've ever eaten, the juice was the best, and so was the caramel apple... and, well, it was just one yummy treat after another!

It was the perfect time to visit, all the leaves were turning and colors were so pretty!

One of the pretty wineries

I was loving this vintage car

Brad was loving his caramel apple. (PS- Ask for it sliced. Makes eating it 10x more enjoyable!) This place had every type of caramel apple you could ever imagine- and some you would never think of- but let's be honest, traditional caramel and nuts is the best!

Our last stop of the day. They had the best Golden Delicious Apples and the prettiest flowers!

We are so lucky to live where we do! Although California certainly has it's downsides (traffic, state budget crisis, cost of living) it is such a beautiful place to live and we love it!

'Double Double' Toil and Trouble...

Hope you all had a great Halloween! We sure did!