A weekend in Snowflake

Matt's mom directs the high school musical in Snowflake every spring.  Now, I'm not a huge live performance fan-- honestly, I would rather see a movie.  However, the musicals that I've been able to attend these last few years in Snowflake have really been entertaining!  We missed Cinderella last year because I was 38 weeks pregnant, but we saw Hello Dolly!, Anything Goes, and this year we saw Little Abner.  The sets are really well done, the singing is fun, and the acting is actually pretty good.  And it's been so fun to watch Matt's siblings all participate.  His whole family puts so much work into the plays each year, and it's a treat for us to go down and watch.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from the play, but here are a bunch of other pictures from our weekend.

Adam is over the age where he slept peacefully in the car during long road trips, unfortunately.  And when Adam isn't happy in the car, ain't nobody happy in the car.  Luckily, there are all kinds of fun gas stations/rest stops on the drive down to Arizona.  It makes the trip take longer, but it's nice for us to have a chance to stretch our legs and explore.

 

Matt's brothers just bought this old sandrail and are working to restore it.  We got it running and took it for a spin!

 Adam loved riding around on the quad!

 We don't mess around.

And I can't end this post without mentioning how awesome it was to see Judy after her mission to Mexico!!  We're so happy to have you home!

California Christmas Part 3

The last leg of our trip starts with a trip to Point Lobos.  Unfortunately, a lot of the trails down to the tide pools were closed.  But, we got to see the seals from a distance and enjoy the sunset!  This is definitely a spot that I want to come back to on our next trip out here.

We went one a three hour whale watching tour on our last day in Monterey.  We were surprised at how small the boat was with only 15 or so passengers total.  The boat hands were pretty rugged guys, so we felt we got a truly authentic experience.  We were warned about sea sicknesses, and I was a little worried about Adam because he wasn't feeling to well the night before with a runny nose and cough, but figured he would probably just sleep in his carrier pouch for a good portion of the trip.

About 40 minutes in, Adam woke up throwing up all over the front of me.  Matt and my dad ran into the cabin to grab some paper towels to wipe Adam's face and clean off as much as they could from my jacket.  He was totally pale and green which was just awful to see, but I figured he probably felt better now with an empty stomach.  He went right back to sleep.  

We saw dolphins, sea otters, seals, and once we got out into open water, whales!  It was so incredible!  I was actually quite amazed at how calm I was considering the ocean is my biggest fear.  I stayed at the back of the boat the entire trip because I did not want to get sick with Adam strapped to me sleeping, but I was still able to see most of the animals.  

Adam woke up and threw up again, which sent Matt over the edge.  My poor boys!  Matt felt pretty awful for the rest of the trip.  He wasn't as bad as one girl though.  I'm pretty sure she threw up 7 or 8 times and then proceeded to scream at the guide, "GET ME OFF THIS BOAT!!!!"  Over and over again.  I'm glad Matt had a little more self control.

All in all, the whale watching was a really neat experience, however, I don't see us doing it again anytime soon... or ever if Matt has a say in it!

We drove to San Jose later that day and toured the Winchester Mystery House.  Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures of videos, which is a shame because I'm pretty sure our tour guide was just as crazy and Sara Winchester herself.  I would have loved to get a recording of him.  Seriously guys, he was weird!

I was a huge ice hockey fan in high school and loved the Washington Capitals, and this was back when they were terrible.  And now they're awesome!!  And I'm on the other side of the country!  Lame.  I hadn't been to an NHL game in years, thank to Utah having next to no professional sports teams, but we saw that the Sharks were playing, so we got tickets!  The game was a blast!  Matt had never been to one before, so it was really fun being able to share one of my favorite things with him for his first time.  Now I've caught the bug again!  We may have to settle for now with the Utah Grizzly team to get our fill.

Lastly, we headed back to San Francisco and spent the day hiking around the Golden Gate Bridge and shopping at Union Square.  I could spend all day there, easy!  

 All in all, we had a fantastic trip!  We were able to squeeze a lot into a short amount of time.  It was great to be together with my family during this special time of year and make memories that will last forever!

California Christmas Part 2

Here we go with Part 2 picking up right where we left off--Lover's Point!  This is a small beach park where you can swim, rent bikes and kayaks, etc.  We just explored the water and climbed on all the boulders.  It would be a really fun destination during the summer.

We spent the next few days of our trip exploring Monterey.  The Monterey Bay Aquarium was number one on our list, but you know, it was poor planning to go on a Saturday.  Actually, if I could do one thing regarding this whole trip, it would be to come on a random week during the summer!  Every place we went to was crawling with tourists!...especially the aquarium.  We got there right when it opened and there was already a line to get it!  Luckily, we got our tickets a head of time so we didn't have to wait, but each exhibit was so busy that after an hour or so we were all pretty much ready to get out of there.

On our way to Carmel, we stopped in Pacific Grove to see the monarch butterfly sanctuary.  They hangout at the eucalyptus grove as part of their migration.  They hang from the trees in huge bunches, and you would never even know they were they because they are all gray with their wings folded up and just look like leaves!

Spending time in Carmel was one of my favorite things we did on our trip.  It is such a quaint, cute little city with tons and tons of shops and restaurants--if you are planning on every stopping by, be aware that just about every one of them closes between lunch and dinner (about 3-5pm), which was the exact time we were there are all very hungry!  Luckily we caught one that was willing to have us!  We took Adam down to the water and let him play in the sand for the first time!  He loved it, and it was everywhere-- ears, nose, toes, you name it, but so worth it to see him learning and experiencing new things.

We did the 17-mile drive and checked out the views of Big Sur from the car.  We hiked at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where they have red wood trees and lots of poison oak!  My family does a lot of hiking, and it was fun to explore this new place together!

Hang in there for the last installment of our vacation-- Point Lobos, whale watching, a Sharks game, etc.  

California Christmas Part 1

This was the first Christmas in three years that our family was all together, so we decided to make it super memorable and go on a trip to Northern California to see San Francisco and Monterey.  The only stipulation from my dad was that he did not want to be in charge of planning it, so I volunteered and loved it!  It was so fun to research and choose different destinations and locations for us to visit.  We actually lived in Monterey when Amy and I were really little because my dad was getting a master's degree at the Naval Postgraduate School, so my parents had some places they wanted to visit as well.  So, here is the breakdown of our trip!

We flew into San Francisco and explored downtown-- Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square.  Luckily the weather cleared up and was nice for us pretty much the whole week!

The salted caramel brownie sundae changed my life.  Try it next time you're there!

  

Being near the ocean was so cool for us-- I mean, there are no beaches in Utah!  And I love Utah and think it is so beautiful with the mountains and everything, but there is just something magical about the ocean-- and this is coming from someone who is scared to death of sharks and all things alive and swimming in the water.  But really, docks and boats and beaches and all of the seals... It really is amazing!  I could totally live here.

We also went to Madame Tussauds wax museum which of course was a blast.  I've been to the one in New York City, but that was in high school, and I forgot just how realistic all of the statues are!  I mean, they have pores in their skin!  This museum even had a tribute to Madame Tussauds, which was really interesting.  She lived in the 1700s in France and loved doing wax sculptures.  In fact, she would take the heads after sessions at the guillotine, take them home, and create molds of their faces.  Could you imagine someone in your house doing that!?  Pretty creepy, but also pretty amazing.

Matt hanging out with his pal, Steve.  He said, "Take a picture so people can see that Apple and Qualtrics were a match made in heaven." 

I'm a little embarrassed about how excited I was to see Christian Bale.  Celeb crush guys, you understand.

Our first stop in Monterey was to hike Jacks Peak to see the beautiful view of Monterey, Carmel, and the coastline.  We did this on Christmas day, and the road up to the hike was closed!  We ended up slipping through the gate and hiked the whole thing, which was actually worked out so well because we were able to see more of the scenery, and since most things were closed on Christmas day anyway, it was a nice way to pass the time.

Can't get enough of those faces!  Adam loves being outside and loves hiking, which we are so grateful for!  He does really well in this carrier that can be worn in the front and the back, and he can sleep in it!

The view from the top of the peak was amazing!  Please can I just move there!?

After hiking we drove by our old house and to the Naval Postgraduate School that my dad attended for his first masters.  The campus is really amazing.  The main building, Herrmann Hall, used to be a luxury hotel in the late 1800-early 1900s called the Del Monte-- one of the finest in North America!  I kept imagining what it would have been like back then as we toured the building, the grounds, and the huge ballroom.