To the Snow

Last Monday we were in 80 degree weather at the beach and by Friday, after an hour and a half drive, we were in 35 degree weather playing in the snow! Is this the reason California is so popular?

We went up to the San Bernardino Mountains to Brandon's home town Twin Peaks. The first day we took Bailey sledding and to play in the snow. She loved sliding down the hills backwards on her belly and throwing snowballs at daddy.

Saturday morning Bailey was excited to wake up and be reminded that there was still snow outside.

Brandon and his younger brother Kenny went snowboarding while Bailey and I went to the Village at Lake Arrowhead. I loved driving in the mountains because I rarely get to since Brandon dominates the area when we are up there. It was so beautiful and peaceful and I only got a little lost, once. Bailey and I walked around the lake, fed the ducks and played in the little patches of snow. It was a really fun day with Bailey and I loved having that special time with her and watching her experience snow for the first time.

Brandon and Kenny had a really fun day snowboarding and Brandon especially enjoyed it since he has not been in 2 years! Bailey loved spending time with her Uncle Kenny. She has a special bond with Kenny and is ecstatic to be around him and never leaves him alone. She has been talking about him this whole week too.

Saturday evening we drove to Redlands and met up with Brandon's grandparent's (Mammer and Papa), Hollee, Tim, Tank, Brandon's Mom (Mammer Lee), Step-dad (Papa Mike) and Kenny for a birthday celebration at Red Robin for Hollee and Mammer Lee.

It was a nice to spend time with everyone since we do not get to see them that often.

So Silly

Last Minute Beach Trip

Monday morning Natalie called me with a last minute plan of going down to the beach. It was great because Brandon and I were trying to figure out something fun to do and the Johnson's had a plan.

We left within 2o minutes and I realized Bailey has no shorts or bathing suit she fits in and her sun hat is too small. I was a little unprepared for 80 degree whether in February but I already placed an Old Navy order for spring clothes for Bailey so we will be beach ready!

We had no problem parking or finding a comfortable place on the sand and the weather was gorgeous. Bailey has a blast jumping in the waves and running away from them.

Bailey and Emily played in the sand and watered each other's toes.

Eric and Natalie were successful in bringing their new little one Evan and a toddler to the beach without seeming tired and over-packed. A big encouragement! Natalie and I enjoyed sitting with little Evan and watching the dad's play with the girls. A perfect holiday.

Valentine's Date

Brandon and I love any excuse for a date so we look forward to Valentine's Day. We decided to make a day and night of it so on Friday we took Bailey to my parent's house before her nap and headed down to Newport Beach.

Brandon used a gift card he had to Spa Gregory's to get a massage and I went and got a manicure. After we walked around Crystal Cove and got dinner at Javier's. That was our first time there and we really enjoyed the ambiance and food. We ate at 5:30 so it was not crowded yet and we got a beautiful window table next to the fireplace and were able to watch the sun set.

We headed over to Big Newport and watched the movie Valentine's Day. Cute and very appropriate for the holiday. It was fun to go out to a movie because that is definitely one thing we rarely do anymore.

But our favorite part of our day was going home alone. It's a weird feeling having no little one around the house but it is so relaxing! We made homemade gifts for each other and Brandon really impressed me with his creativity. He had noticed that I hang my necklaces on some frames in our room because I don't have a place to put them. So he made me a necklace rack out of a tree branch. He cut a small branch, made a base out of corn starch, sprayed the branch with a sealer and used green paint to highlight the ends of the branches.

What a creative and thoughtful man I have! I also got a very sweet homemade card and red tulips.

For my gift I edited our honeymoon video. We have had some technical difficulties with our video camera at this time so it was pretty messy and we have been procrastinating on doing this tedious project. However, I achieved a clean edited movie of our honeymoon and we enjoyed watching it together. I also made Brandon a crossword puzzle with questions about our relationship. I discovered this website where you can create any type of puzzle you want and they do all the work for you and you just come up with the questions. It was super fun and I think we might start incorporating this as a tradition.

We slept in until 9 am, got a breakfast burrito and french toast from Mini Cafe (one of our favorites) and went to the park for a picnic.

Our Valentine's could not have been better!

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland recently and it was probably one of our most fun trips. We went in the evening and it was not very crowded and the weather was perfect. We rode Bailey's favorites; Dumbo and the Carousal, but unfortunately It's a Small World was closed. We also discovered the Dumbo train. I don't know how we have never noticed this ride before but it was the first time we saw it. We rode it at night which was a mistake. It was super dark and loud and Bailey was scared. She was really cute though and held it together on the ride but, I could tell she was stressed, and when the ride stopped she lost it and started crying saying, "all done!" It was her story for the next week, retelling the dark scary train ride.

We scored great seats for the evening parade and Brandon went and got us chocolate carmel corn to snack on. Bailey mostly just starred in awe of the over stimulating parade but she did dance a bit and follow some of the movements.