Sacramento

We arrived in Sacramento to a nice surprise.  Washington has been cold lately and Tahoe was freezing in the shade (which we were in, being in the forest), so we were pleasantly surprised to leave the car and find sunny, 65 degree weather.

We took Kel out for a walk and ended up going a mile or two.  It was fun, but Sawyer was not a very good stroller-pusher and insisted on pushing so we were going pretty slow

Andy's mom just had surgery on her foot, so the boys got to ride on her walker thing.

They also got new hats (Sawyer got a panda)

Here is Sawyer with his new advent calendar.  He is really good with his numbers so he knew what ones to open. (Side note: he yelled at Andy in a drive through that they forgot "number 8".  The combo meals were listed and in fact, there was no number 8.  Andy hadn't even noticed.)

Grandma gave Kellan a bath in the sink

But one of my favorite parts were the cute little trees in back hanging over the fence.  There was one lemon tree and one orange.

This is not a lime, it is a not-yet-ripe lemon.

If you pull at them, the stems stay on the tree which leaves holes in the top...perfect for peeling, not so great if you are trying to save them for later.

 You have to cut them if you want to keep them.

Sawyer was the big bag holder helper

...and even got to cut some himself

I think I want to come every year at this time, just to see the fruit trees!  Sawyer had a great time visiting with Grandma too!

Tahoe

Friday after work we put the kids in pajamas and packed up the car.  We left around 6 or 7 and headed down south.  The kids didn't fall asleep until around Lake Oswego, OR but after they fell asleep it was good (Kel was hungry so he cried until we could give him a bottle).  I had some blankets and a pillow so even though I had to have the seat pulled up and straight up and my back and neck are still screwed up from the car accident, I was able to sleep off an on.  Andy drove like a champ and only took a quick break to sleep in the middle.  

I just drove the last hour and a half or so as the sun started to rise.  It was really pretty!

We finally made it to CA/NV and arrived at Lake Tahoe!

Andy's mom and Sam were staying with Andy's step sister Tami (it's funny to say that because they are all grown and just recently became step-siblings) and family who was there with their neighbors/best friends that we had met before.  They were all staying in this huge cabin in the woods.  It was 3 floors- really nice.

Andy and I took a couple hour nap and then I headed out to town with the girls while he slept for another 4 hours.  I found a thrift store and picked up 2 wood picture frames for $4.50 (those suckers are $15 each at Goodwill).  When we got back, we took Sawyer to the park as the sun was setting.  It was so pretty to watch the sunset on the lake!

 Andy's mom and Sam left and we hung out with everyone else.

Sawyer and Claudia (his cousin) were good buddies- he loved watching her play warcraft.

Sawyer even went in the hot tub! (Just his feet)

We all played Mexican Train (we used to play this every holiday with my dad's side of the family so it was a fun flashback).  I lost...we played all the way down to the zero domino and I had the most points :( (points are bad) but I DID win one game which was good considering Shelly won pretty much every game.

Uncle Tony stuck Kellan in the couch as a baby storage area.  It was hilarious (and Kellan didn't mind it)

Cousin Cassidy and Kellan were buddies too- she kept doing a raptor voice that he would give the funniest looks at her

We were up late and stayed the night.  The next morning we said sad goodbyes (we hadn't seen them in two years) and went up the road about 10 minutes to find some snow. It really wasn't too cold, don't be concerned about Kellan's feet and Sawyer's lack of jacket.  

Then we headed out

It was a few hours away so we stopped for lunch at In n Out...since, well, you're supposed to when you're in CA.

We had so much fun in our short time in Tahoe, we hope to go back someday and hope it isn't so long between visits!

Thanksgiving 13

We went to my mom's house as usual for Thanksgiving.

My aunt Barb was there so we got to say hi to them all before they headed off to eat.  My cousin Angelica's fiance Nick has parents that just moved down the street from us so they went there for turkey, but stayed with my mom and dad.

We did the usual Thanksgiving stuff.  Tasty of course.

Andy made stuffed mushrooms

Grandpa played with his little buddy

We got pumpkin cake, dirt (you know the pudding kind), and peanut butter cup cheesecake

Kellan got his holiday blend turkey and vegetables

And I caught these guys snoozing on the couch!

Andy wins

Andy won.  Kellan says dadadada before mamama.  Though he has no idea what it means, it is still fun to think he does.

Here is Kellan talking:


And here is another episode of "car rides with a 3 year old"

Me: Dang it!
Sawyer: Don't say dammit!
I didn't, I said "dang it"
Yes you did said dammit! (he hasn't perfected his grammar)
No, I didn't- and stop saying that! I said "dang it."
Well can I say "dang it"?
Uh, sure.
DangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangitDangit

Santa and a bouncy house

The days go by so quickly now, which is good for the weekdays, but I wish weekends lasted a little longer!

The sunset was so pretty on Friday so I took a picture while I was stuck in traffic.  A blurry view of the Microsoft building in Bellevue.

Saturday we went to the mall to get Santa pictures before the lines started to get ridiculous.  We got there at 1:00 and Santa was set to go to lunch at 2:00.  We still needed to buy Sawyer's PJ's so we decided to take our time and eat.  We headed back to be first in line after his break and to my surprise, Natalie and her family showed up right behind us!  I was so happy because I used to talk to her every day and I haven't seen her since my new job started.  Sawyer played with her girls and we talked about work and people for like 45 minutes before Santa came back.  When he was set to return, they start playing sleigh bells and he walks in the door.  The cutest thing I've ever seen happened.  Sawyer took off running like a rocket and sprinted to the door, right to Santa and gave him a huge hug and said "I'm gonna sit on your lap!".  I almost teared up it was so sweet.  A big change from last year when he was scared of him and only would sit with him if he had his toy truck.  The photos turned out pretty good even though Kel wouldn't smile even when I did things that normally make him laugh.  We even saw Jill and Easton as we were leaving!

Today we headed to the Auburn mall to meet Cooper for his birthday.  Unfortunately soon after we got there (and paid the $10.95) some of their party decided they needed to eat dinner so it was kind of crappy we drove all that way and paid.  We hadn't seen Cooper in a year so it was good to see him for a little bit.  We decided to stay and get our money's worth since we had dinner in the crockpot at home anyway.  My parents stayed with us for awhile though, and Kellan loved playing with grandpa.

This bear thing was there for some kid's birthday party

Grandma and grandpa saying bye 

Sawyer came in like a wrecking ball (this thing spun around and you can ride on them)

Jumping on some sort of thick water bed

boing boing

We kind of relaxed and put up some Christmas decor (with Destiny's help cleaning) since Thanksgiving is late this year, and we will be gone next weekend.  We'll have to wait on the tree though!  We talked about where we could move and are considering the Issaquah area.  I am driving 5 hours a day and it is bonkers!

Riding buddies

Andy took the boys up Friday on the bus to ride home from work with me.  Sawyer loved riding the bus but eventually fell asleep.  When Sawyer is asleep, he is OUT.  You try to stand him up and he just collapses or walks two steps and lays back down.  He did both of those on Andy and he was halfway off the bus before he realized Sawyer had cozied back up and was laying down asleep. They made it to Kirkland though where I picked them up (they were late to get their normal bus so I was off before they got on their last one).

On the way home we went to Bellevue Square.  Andy smiled at Felix Hernandez who was there shopping.  We also went to Cheesecake Factory.

Mac and Cheese burger. It's not as raw as it looks, but I do like my meat pretty pink

We ate the cheesecake at home

Not sure how often that will happen again since it was tough to get the boys on the bus, but I appreciate the effort!