Pre Christmas Festivities

I feel that this post is VERY late, but I have good excuses... I will explain :)

Enjoying his candy cane full of... you guessed it, chocolate wrapped in foil to look like BALLS! Landon's favorite. Also, our tree in the background.

Unwrapping gifts

Austin, Landon and I had Christmas for ourselves in Illinois before we left for CA. We had our first real Christmas tree, and put our old 3 foot high fiber optic tree in Landon's room with some plastic ornaments. He loved his tree! Landon is going to be doing many international flights this year, so we bought him a children's tablet so that he can play with it and learn lots of things. Even thought his attention span is so short right now that he is in each app for approximately 30 seconds, I think he likes it. His favorite apps right now are Fruit Ninja, Toddler Cars, Toddler Bubbles, and a counting app. Austin surprised me with new Vans shoes (my feet grew after Landon was born so most of my shoes don't fit anymore). I didn't surprise Austin with new luggage for traveling.

Landon and Aunt Claire playing outside

We flew out to CA for Christmas on the afternoon of our anniversary. It was a fairly uneventful flight. Landon played with his tablet for quite a few minutes, but is not yet able to watch even 5 minutes of a movie without moving on to other things. I guess the whole "no screens until 2" thing is catching up with me. After our flight, we had a 4 hour drive to my parent's home in Atascadero, CA.

Anniversary hike to the beautiful OCEAN!

Austin and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a little getaway to Sycamore Mineral Springs in Avila Beach.It was the first time we left Landon alone overnight, and by all reports everything went well at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Our room had a hot tub on a balcony outside of our room, and we hiked up and over the ridge that Sycamore is built on to a magnificent view of the ocean below. I LOVE the beach! We drove down to actual Avila Beach, walked around for awhile, then went to a nice dinner at a restaurant on the end of the pier. We sat in a glass room with a 360 degree view of the water. We did not see the sun set because Avila is south facing, but the light from the sunset on the water was gorgeous. We enjoyed fresh seafood and watched seals that were hanging out in big groups on landings in the water near the pier. There was this one seal that kept trying to jump onto a landing that was FULL of seals. A few of the seals were protesting very loudly and they fought with the newcomer. Finally, the newcomer found his way on the landing, but instead of just minding his own business, he knocked the most vocal of the seals off of the landing. It was humorous to watch.

4 years and we still love each other! YAY!

When we got back to my house, we got ready to go to church. Landon was all dressed up in his cute church outfit when he begged Grandma for her water bottle. He ran away with it, tripped and fell with the water bottle in his mouth. He cut his lip up pretty bad; it was his first bleeding injury ever. With some ice and pressure and ibuprofen, all was well for church. At church, Landon went to nursery for the first time. We checked on him between classes and he was just hanging with all these strangers, enjoying snack, sitting in his seat, playing with toys, etc. No problems whatsoever.

The girl of the hour! With pearls instead of a tiara

Christmas this year was slightly eclipsed by a major event that happened just a few days later- my little sister, Mariah was married in the Portland Temple. The few days before Christmas were spent gathering last minute gifts and preparing all the little details for the wedding. We had a bridal shower on Christmas Eve with all of the women in my family that live nearby- mom, sisters, Aunt Net the Great! and Grammy. We put together Mariah's wedding favors- gourmet hot chocolate tubes, and had girl time. Landon, Austin, my dad and brother all went to the beach for boy time.

Grandpa and Uncle Greg introducing Landon to the tidepools

Christmas day is always a magical day, but it is so much more fun with a child. Landon is just at the age when he can kind of get into the spirit of things, and he was a pro at opening gifts by the time we were all done. He was very excited about a small rolly bag that Landon got from Grandpa and Grandma so that he can carry all of his own toys and snacks on the airplane (soon! when he has his own seat). He LOVES pushing it around, or pulling it around all over the house. My sisters made all handmade gifts, which is so special- they are all so talented in that department! We had a yummy Christmas dinner and then craziness ensued. We planned on leaving for Portland December 26th at 7:00am, so we all had to do laundry and pack and pack the cars and pack the food and then we played games and watched shows and went to bed.

Lando, Grammy and Mariah sharing a laugh at Christmas

This is how Landon kicked off the picture taking- with a fit on the ground.

The Drive to Portland would only take 12 hours if you went straight through. Austin had the stomach flu the night before, so I was very worried about how the drive would go for him. He recovered with the help of a Priesthood blessing and was able to make the trip no problem. Unfortunately, with 6 ladies on the trip, there were multiple bathroom breaks. We took a good break at dinner time to eat not in the car, and finally arrived at 9:00 pm after starting out around 7:30am. It was a really long day, and Landon handled it well. He had his moments of protest, but was easily cajoled into playing on his tablet, reading a book, eating a snack, watching tidbits of the movies that were playing in the van, or playing with fun uncle and/or aunts. I don't think I could have designed a better child for traveling. He took all of his naps sitting up. He is a champ!

The next day, we spent some time in the temple as a family and helped set up the Portland reception. The decor was gorgeous and took many hands and hours of manpower to complete. Most of it was done before we even arrived! Dinner was yummy at Outback Steakhouse, and it was the end of another long day for all of us, and especially for little Landon who kept having his naps and bedtimes pushed back and interrupted.
Mariah's wedding day was cold and foggy, but everything in Portland was green and beautiful. The sealing was so sweet, and I helped Mariah get into her dress with zillions of buttons. By the time Zach and Mariah came out of the temple, Landon was ready for a nap. We quick took family pictures and tried very hard to have Landon  not sucking his fingers in the pictures, but I'm not sure if we succeeded or not. Austin and I went to run some errands and put Landon in the car for his nap. The luncheon was at a house at Old Fort Vancouver with a neat wrap around balcony and yummy food. Landon ate lots of bread, and the cute little desserts they had on the tables.

Riah and the Bridesmaids... she looked like a princess!

I was surprised at how gorgeous the Portland temple was... I never knew!

The happy couple with their only nephew- Lando!

The reception was very fun with dancing and food and some sweet musical numbers by Zach and his friends. Landon fell asleep about half an hour into it, so Austin and I got to enjoy it together without having to worry about him. What a treat!

Austin went back to Chicago the next morning after the reception and we took the long car ride back to warm, sunny CA!