Christmas Weekend

So after work on Friday the 21st Jackie and I decided to make the drive back to Utah. We made it in record time. I ended up being really sick all weekend and that was no fun. We met up with Brian and Abby and Ryan and Amber for lunch on Saturday and it was nice to catch up. We sure do miss being able to hang out with them. That night we had the Vincent party which was fun. Grandpa put on the Santa Suit so he could take pictures with the great grandkids. Christmas Eve we went and saw National Treasure and then spent the evening with Jackie's extended family. It was a lot of fun and had some great food. We got stuck in a blizzard that afternoon and it sure did remind me how much I hate driving in the snow. We were able to see Candice, Dallas, and Cohen that night for a little bit. Spent Christmas morning with Jackie's parents opening gifts and eating breakfast. Thanks to Jane for all the great food she cooked this weekend and for letting us stay with them. On our way out we stopped by my Mom's to say goodbye and play with Cayman. It sure will be fun to have kids some day that will open gifts. Hopefully everyone had a Merry Christmas like we did!!!!
Cayman and me, I think I had more fun in the pop up tent than she did.
Jackie and Baby Hannah
Opening presents at the Johnson's

Me, Santa (aka Grandpa), and Jackie
Kyle, Jackie, and Jake on Christmas Eve
Jed, Jake, and me on Christmas Eve
Baby Cohen and his favorite Aunt Jackie
Playing in the Snow, oh how I don't miss it

Weekend in Salt Lake

So we had a chance to go back home last Thursday. We landed late Thursday night with a little bit of snow coming down. It was so cold!!!! We spent Friday running some errands. We stopped by Jackie's brother Scott's work and said hi. We went out to lunch with Sarah, baby Kayla, Natalie, Debbie, and Allison. We enjoyed Rumbi's grill and it was fun for Jackie to catch up with her friends and just talk. That night we went to the Bountiful Temple for Candice's first time and it was nice to be there. We met Ryan and Amber for dinner at Cafe Rio, and McKay joined us too. Saturday we went to a luncheon for Candice and Dallas and then to their Sealing. President Stanely who performed our Sealing also did theirs. It was great to hear his counsel again. That evening we were able to hang out with Terry, Jane, Tim, Ashli, Wyatt, Scott, Kristy, Kyle, Jed, Jake and Colby. Sunday we celebrated Christmas with Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Cory, July, Cayman, Candice, Dallas, and Cohen. It sure was a lot of fun being with everyone. It does make it hard to come back to California. We are looking forward to Christmas, it should be fun like always.

Cohen (six months) and Cayman (fourteen months)

Grandma, Grandpa with Cohen (one of sixteen great grandkids)

Me and my beautiful wife

Jackie and Cayman playing

Jackie and Wyatt (seven months)

Me and Wyatt (I think I am his favorite Uncle)

Top of the Joseph Smith Building (where I wanted to propose to Jackie at, but couldn't seem to find it, boy was I dumb)

Wyatt, Jake, Colby, and Uncle Timmy

Momma Jane and Jackie

Happy Birthday Jackie!!!!

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Wife Jackie!!!! Thanks for making the past few years the happiest of my life!!! I love you!!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. Luckily enough for us, the whole Cottrell Family came to California to visit us. It sure was nice not having to make that long 11 hour drive to Salt Lake. My Mom rented a house in Santa Barbara (picture above). The girls and kids arrived last Sunday the 18th and Jackie made Taco Soup for everyone that was amazing and then we headed up to SB. Cory and Dallas arrived late Tuesday night and I picked them up at the airport and we got up to SB really late. Wednesday we spent the day hanging out around the house and we went to the Zoo in the afternoon. Thursday was Thanksgiving and we had a great dinner. Friday we went horseback riding and my behind is still hurting. It was a lot of fun and it had some great views. No one had any major problems with the horses. At the very end Jackie's and July's horses got spooked by a hiker, but they were able to keep the horses from running away. A group of us went up to Solvang to do some shopping. Mom found some great Christmas ornaments and she had a great time up there. We were all exhausted that night and I think everyone was in bed by nine that night. Saturday was the Utah-BYU game and we won't mention the outcome..... After the game we went down by the coast and rented a six person bike. Cayman and Mom probably had the most fun since they didn't have to do any pedaling. We spent the evening on the Pier and Cory, July, Cayman, and Jackie went on a "Pirate" boat ride while the rest of us did some shopping. We finished the evening talking until late, and then bright and early this morning we set off for the airport. It was sad to see everyone go, but we had a lot of fun. Thank you to Mom for putting it all together and for everyone coming. We love you guys. Below is a lot of pictures from this weekend. Mom and Jackie overlooking the ocean in a neighborhood called Hope Ranch.
At the beach
Just chilling in the house.
The Scary Pirate Boat Ride

Horseback riding, Dallas, Candice, and Danny the guide.
Jackie, July, and Cory
Me and Bucksnorkle, what a great horse
Up in Solvang
In N Out, had to make the stop

Cayman ringing the bell on the bike
Mom, Jackie, July, Cory, Cayman on the six person bike
Baby Cayman giving me loves, me, and Jackie
Baby Cohen with Jackie
Cayman loved this door, she was entertained the whole week with this little trap door. Whenever we came in we had to knock on the door so she could open the little door. That made her really happy.

Me and Baby Cayman
Dallas, Candice, and Cohen
Cory and July
Cayman giving Cohen loves. She sure liked to pet him
The sunrise as we left.

The LoveSac Experience

So it's Saturday afternoon and we are burnt out from watching too much college football, so we decide to go with Ty to buy a LoveSac for his game room. We made the mistake of taking Andy's civic. I don't know why we thought it was a good idea to take the smallest vehicle that the four of us have. So we get to the store and Ty decides on the six foot LoveSac that we think we can fit in the trunk maybe, but the eight foot LoveSac is the same price. Now we know full well we can't get the eight foot in the car, but hey we're guys so we decided lets just jam the eight foot LoveSac in the car. So we get out to the car and there is no way it's getting in the trunk. Somehow we manage to get it into the back seat, problem is, there is four of us and now only two seats. So Ty crams in on the one side and I try the other. It takes quite a bit of maneuvering to get us in the car and once we are in we don't even have room to put our arms down. I feel like I am trapped and going to be smashed. So we take off and we have forty-two miles ahead of us in the car. It was really funny. So here are the pictures we took with our phone. You can kind of see our hands waving in the second picture. Good times!

Happy Halloween!

Fires

The fires going on down here have been crazy. It is really sad all the homes/businesses that have been destroyed already and everyone that has been evacuated. We are few hours away from the San Diego fires, but the fire in Malibu is like 30 miles south of us and there is a fire in Piru/Fillmore that is 20 miles east of us. The smoke is intense and there is ashes in the air and on top of that it has been really hot. Some of our co-workers didn't come to work today because they were waiting to be evacuated. It's really sad. Hopefully they are able to contain the fires soon.

This picture is from our apartment looking toward the ocean. Those aren't clouds but smoke from the fire. That is at about five o'clock this evening.

The Ride Photos

Splash Mountain
Hollywood Tower of Terror
Space Mountain
Space Mountain the Second time