McBlog

We went as a family (minus the Skankeys) to Safari West to check out the animals they have on a beautiful preserve in Santa Rosa. It didn’t disappoint!

Lemur

Cheetah

Charlotte’s hair was super frizzy on that foggy morning. All our kids were happy & well-behaved for the adventure!

Did you know that flamingos get their color from the shrimp they eat?

Pretty giraffes roaming about

This clever guy was stealing food from the gazelles

Why, here’s a friendly giraffe!

He came right up to our truck, and the people sitting on top (Ryan, Tina, Pace & Chase) got a great close-up view! Ryan pet its face. Charlotte pet the giraffe’s body from down below where we were sitting.

Rhinoceros

Some odd type of cow from Africa, whose horns have evolved to be huge. How do they hold those things up all day?

My personal favorite, the zebra!! Soooo beautiful. They look so sweet & friendly, huh?! Actually, our guide told us that zebras are not very friendly to humans and that the zebras definitely wouldn’t allow anyone to ride on their backs.

Wildebeest: The easiest prey in Africa! Apparently, they’re pretty dumb.

This ostrich was crazy. It charged right toward us—I moved to the other side of the truck! It nibbled Pace’s shoe for a minute before we moved on.

Some more wild African animals! ha.

Poor Caroline was sick that day, but she was a good sport along with Grandma, who was also sick!!

Love those sweet babies!

Making gingerbread houses! Rachel & Pace were the good sports who helped the kids make these. I definitely prefer just making little gingerbread men because they’re easier to assemble, you can take pics of them, & then eat them!!

The obligatory sampling

Bonding time with Uncle Gino. He loves babies, can’t you tell by his thumbs up?!

Picking delicious Mandarin Oranges with Grandpa on a cold, windy day. I realize now that when I was a teen, I didn’t appreciate having those beautiful oranges right outside the back door! Now I wish I could transport a few trees to our house here in Utah so I could feast on those tasty oranges all the time.

P90X time! My dad is in the best shape ever. He did this workout after he had already swam laps for 1.5 hours earlier that morning! Good example to me.

Charlotte was exhausted after about 3 minutes of exercise. I don’t blame you, Charlotte!!

These weirdos decided to spontaneously pretend to be Joseph, Mary & baby Jesus with the couch arm covers + Charlotte’s sweater.

Now switch roles! Cute….

Caroline checking out the Christmas loot

“The Men” went on a short fishing trip at a neighbor’s pond… Didn’t catch anything, maybe because it was about noon, not 5am?

My handsome guy grew a goatee for a few days.

Trip to the Redwoods

Good thing she wore her rain gear!!

We celebrated Christmas with Pace’s family a couple days before we left to visit my family in California for the Christmas break. We felt so lucky to be able to open some presents early! We made breakfast before we opened presents, which drove the kids crazy. Hence my conniving grin below, haha!

Caroline got to open her gifts first because we thought she was ready to go down for a nap (she wasn’t though, because of all the excitement going on). She got a toy cell phone, a turtle toy, & some little Mary Jane shoe socks that I found on clearance & that I love.

Caroline has been obsessed with bracelets lately—for a while she loved having both of these slap bracelets on her wrists (which were from the Paynes when they visited during the summer—thanks)!Now she wears a big shiny one of Charlotte’s on her bicep—that is where she pulls it up to every time! She screams if we try to take it off of her. I’ll have to post a picture of that one!

Tyler appreciated the fact that his present looked like it was meant for a little tiny girl.

This gift from Pace’s fam was probably Chase’s favorite gift of all this year—a fiber-optic lamp thing that glows blue. He likes to play with it in the dark & turns it on each night when he’s going to bed.

GG & Caroline were excited about the homemade paper candy cane that Chase had made!

Charlotte got tons of girly stuff, of course, like a musical butterfly jewelry box & pretty jewelry & princess makeup. She got to open her birthday gifts from the grandparents also, since we were going to be gone for her birthday.

 

I got a new Crockpot (my original one is cracked & leaks so that was great) and Pace got a new snow blower! That was a total surprise. He has gotten to use it since then, with all the snow & freezing cold weather we’ve had. We appreciated our presents and the fun family time!!

We scored some free Disney On Ice tickets through Pace’s coworker (who’s a radio DJ for “KBull 93” on the weekends). We were grateful to Gretchen for going all the way to SLC to pick up the tickets for us in advance.

The show was amazing! We all absolutely loved it. I was super impressed by the skaters’ skills! Aunt Jessica so kindly babysat little Caroline back at home, so it was a relaxing afternoon for us, minus Caroline, plus GG.