Hiking in Uvas Canyon

Chris took the boys hiking in Uvas Canyon which is a state park close to Santa Cruz. They had a great afternoon. I know this because of these pictures they took and also because they came home sweaty, smelling like boy scouts.

St. George Trip - Subway Hike

This is the face of a happy man. Chris and his buddies from highschool, as well as his brother Scott, hiked the Subway at Zions NP the first weekend in July. They had such a fun time together and had plenty to talk about as they caught up on life.

Back at home we had tons of fun with the kids. They jumped on the tramp, painted, watched movies, and lived up the cousins life.

Classic Father/Son Fun

My dad did this when we were babies. My husband now does this with all of our kids. The tradition of scaring mothers everywhere continues. But the kid loves it - what can I say?

BTW, Chris works at Google now

If you haven't heard already. Chris got a job in California at Google Inc. He will be an instructional designer, making videos to help people use Google Apps better. We will move to San Jose area in late February.

This all came about quite by surprise. Chris was at a conference in San Francisco in November, he met a guy from Google who said he was putting together a team, Chris submitted his resume, he was back there for an in-person interview a week later, and he got the job offer a month later.

Even though we weren't looking for a job change or a move, we are thrilled with it. We are excited to be in more moderate temperatures and near family. (we are a 12 hour drive to everyone except my brother, Justin, who is only 1.5 hours away. YAY) Chris started work at the beginning of the year. He spent two weeks in Mountain View, CA for his initial training, then he came back and has been working out of Ann Arbor this week. 70 minute commute - not so fun - but we are lucky to have the flexibility of working from Michigan for a few weeks.

So February will be interesting. We will go out there for a house hunting trip on February 4-7. (Thanks to Jean, Andrea, and Molly we can leave the older boys here.) Hopefully we can sign a rental contract that weekend. Chris already did a walk through of a great house in Los Gatos. Hopefully it is still available when we get there. After the trip, we will come back for two weeks and then move out the 20th.

I have moved a lot in my life, and I never thought that someday a moving company would pack my boxes and drive it across the country for me. That day has come. With three kids and a busy husband, it has come at the perfect time. THANK YOU GOOGLE! (Chris and I say that every day for some reason or another)

I never get tired of this...

Dads taking naps with sons.

Chris is Turning 30!

Chris is turning 3o tomorrow but we threw him a surprise party on Saturday to celebrate and to, you know, catch him by surprise. I started out by sending him to get a 30 minute massage. While he was gone, the guests arrived and hung out for a while until he got home from the massage. As he was pulling in the driveway, everyone (as in 16 adults and 10 kids) hid behind couches and got ready for the big surprise. When he got home, I asked him how the massage went and said "Babe, I want to show you something." (which was the key phrase to signal everyone to pop out and yell surprise) We turned the corner from the kitchen to the living room and no one popped out so I said, "I SAID Babe, I want to show you something!" And voila, everyone popped out. It was a great suprise and a very memorable experience for the kids. They have always wanted to do that.

After we had dinner and socialized a bit, we all got in a circle and did a sing along to the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was awesome. Pretty much everyone had a solo, Chris played Joseph, and then everyone chimed in on the chorus. I got 11 of the main songs from Joseph in a Karaoke version off itunes, and I gave everyone a copy of the lyrics, so we were set to go. It was fun to see how each person with a solo sang right out and got into character.

The kids loved it and either listened, or danced, or just ran around the house while we were singing. It is something I would fee very comfortable doing again and I hope we can soon. I am thinking Sound of Music would be fun.

Alex and Chris go Ice Skating

Alex and Chris had some father son bonding at the roller skating rink the other night. Alex came home happy and excited to try it again some day.

I have fond roller skating memories from my childhood. I remember my first time at Skate World in Hillsboro Oregon. I went around the rink like 9 times. I know this because each time I slowly went around the rink I waved and smiled to my parents and thought "Hooray, I survived another lap!"

Skate World became a fixture in my life even into my teenage years. I bought a pair of speed skates and the world of roller skating opened up. Backwards skating, 180s, 360s, I was on those skates a ton.

London is Amazing... surprise, surprise

It was freezing at Trafalgar square that night

Westminster Abbey at night

This was taken at the Brighton Pier on the South Coast of the UK

Westminster during the day

I ate pasties growing up. I always loved them and I still do. They are soo good.

Chris and I have been living it up here in London town. Up until today we did everything together. We saw Trafalgar Square, the National Galleries, the show Wicked, took a train down to the south coast, saw Big Ben and a ton of other sights. Chris and I had a ton of fun together, but today the together time had to come to an end because he had to do some actual work. So I went to Westminster Abbey.

I got there by taking the bus. Which took about an hour each way. It was great to tour the Abbey and see memorials for all the people buried there. Newton, Darwin, Chaucer... the list is huge.

The best part was sitting in on their evening worship service "Evensong" It featured their boys choir mixed with readings from the new and old testaments. Listening to those perfect voices that space was incredible. Now I now what that kind of music is supposed to sound like. I sang lots 16 century music in high school and now I can hear what it was intended to sound like.

We're going to London!

Great news. Chris is going to a conference in January and it just happens to be in LONDON! So I decided to tag along and see the sights while he is hard at work inside of a conference center.

I am so excited. Chris and I haven't had a lot of vacations where it was just the two of us...wait...let me think. Yep - our last vacation as a couple was our first anniversary and we went to a little cabin in Wyoming. Wait, my brother Justin and his wife Kathryn... and their baby were there. It is time for me and the Mr. to set out and explore the world.

If you need me from January 8th - January 18th I will be touring galleries, watching guards do their changing thing and so much more.