Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas Ruby!

(btw... this whole alias thing is reallllly weird.)

She was such a cutie in her Rudolph pj's from grandma!

Uncle John thought he was so funny for getting her a bikini!

For some reason I got a gift from someone other than Santa...

those letters are easy to mix up... :)

We got a good laugh out of that one!!

Ruby LOVED her Little People nativity set, and her blowing elephant from Santa too!

Auntie Beana got me/Ruby a chew toy necklace.  She LOVES it.  Expect to see me wearing this at church.  Every week.

A water backpack! Yay!  Maybe I'll be able to keep up with Scott (world's fastest hiker) now!

Glittery Toms :)

And in case you haven't smiled yet today, here is a picture of our honorary reindeer:

Tilly Bean.

Facelift

Well, as we all can see, I've spent some time reformatting the blog.  It was about time.  I think its been 2 years since I did it last!  I'm not sure I love it, but it's okay for now.  In other news, we are heading to California tomorrow.  It is such a relief to leave the 12 degree Utah weather and be able to go outside again!  WooHoo!  Stay tuned for a post on our Minute To Win It Christmas edition :)

Names.

I've been thinking about the use of my baby girl's name on the blog lately.  I love her so much and want to protect her as much as I can.  It kind of freaks me out when I see the random places people view my blog from, and I have bigger plans for my blog in 2013!  So... she is getting a blogger alias.  From now on, this little angel is going by

Ruby 

for she is more precious than rubies! 

 Love LOVE her.

And, clearly, I love making headbands too much!

Our "Almost" Christmas cards :)

I played around in photoshop and came up with these...

we took a family vote and decided to use neither of them, but I still like them and wanted to share!

Oh wow.

I came across this photo today... and remembered how much I despise being pregnant.  The whole "I'm growing another person, how cool is that?!?!" wore off about week 25, and this picture really shows how I felt.  I can't believe I am posting this out of choice, so embarrassing.  But real.

I much prefer Ruby in my arms :)

And some more just for fun :)

A Day in Napa

Our token photo:

picnic at Pride Mountain winery. 

love these two. period.

too bad i'm holding a grocery bag... otherwise this would be a really cute photo!

Beautiful wineries around every corner.  Napa Valley totally impressed us.

BeeGee loved doing a bath with Ruby, too cute!

Scott's dream come true!  The Culinary Institute of America!

We took R to "the bridge" on the 18th hole behind BG's house.  This is where Noelle and I used to play all summer!  

And possibly the highlight of our entire vacay: mud baths :)

Does the photo say enough?

The mud was so thick and almost foamy... you felt completely suspended.  It was very warm and impossible to keep any stiff or strained muscles in your entire body.  Once we got settled, the attendant came in to apply a face mask, place the cool washcloth on our foreheads, and pour us a cup of lime infused water.  So fancy :)  Next time you're in Calistoga, don't miss the mud baths!

We were so lucky to be able to put Ruby to sleep at BeeGee's house and make a date of it!

We finished the night at Brannan's where we had the best cheese plate of our lives and a molten lava cake with raspberry sorbet.

Life is good in Napa.

Old Towne Sacramento

We left the house only once for a trip to Old Towne Sacramento!  

Clearly, Bryan had a good time :)

The Olive Mix was AMAZING!  Hundreds of flavored olive oils and balsamics with a pairing list.  We spent an embarrassingly long time in that store...

Just some fun along the river...

After many tries, I finally got a photo of the capitol building with the sky and building both at the right exposure.  It was a feat I tell you!  (Did you know that the new Canon T4i takes a series of 3 photos exposing different parts of the picture and then instantly compiles the best aspects of each into one seamless photo all in camera? Prettty cool.)

See, this is how most of them were turning out... Scott is a bear in front of his state's capitol.  Represent.

Awkward family photos:

Ruby could have done better as a sleeper while sharing a room with 5 adults, but she wasn't horrific...

and next up, a day in Napa Valley!

Around the house in Sac town

The sleep charmer:

Scott can rock that baby to sleep anywhere!  Well, church and airplanes mostly, but I cannot get her to shut those eyes and relax!  He has the touch!

Welcomed with a cheese plate.  The first sign of a great vacation!

Aunt Kathy was always so good to me as a child, so it was cute to see her with Ruby!

My little turkey!

Our Thanksgiving walk along the American river!

Bryan's creation!

Ruby is the total star!

BEE GEEEEEEE!!

We did Danish pastry lessons!  There is quite a bit of technique to do these correctly... and lots of butter!!!

The backyard is pretty incredible!