Christmas in California!

We decided to do something different for Christmas this year. We decided a non-cold-snow Christmas on the central coast of California was in order. We spent Christmas at my sister Monica's house with her family, my Dad and brother Todd. We started our action-packed Christmas Holiday stay at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Dillon and Joe loved checking out the starfish (which you are not supposed to take out of the water).

Dillon-the-seahorse loved just about everything at the aquarium.

It's a good thing that we went to the water play area last. As soon as Dillon started playing there, he didn't want to go anywhere else. Even the penguins next door couldn't draw any interest.

After the aquarium we went to the Dennis the Menace Park (which was awesome) and ate lunch. Joe wanted a picture of our "Dennis" with the statue of Dennis. However, Dillon wasn't really down with that.

The day after Christmas we went to the Monarch butterfly grove and the beach. Joe started climbing trees at the beach and of course all of the kids joined in that activity.

Dillon was all about climbing the trees with Dad.

He just couldn't understand why he couldn't keep going higher and higher.

It was a cold day for the beach, but Dillon had fun running up and down the shore line.

After the beach we all went to Solvang (a Dutch inspired town) and ate all the pastries we could find. We had a great time in California and didn't miss the snow a bit :).

Dillon's Birthday!

Our "baby" Dillon turned 2 this month. Of course his party was all about trains!

Dillon was excited about his train table and so was his Mom. Having our own train table means that we don't have to stay at Barns and Noble for extended periods of time playing with theirs :).

Joe took Dillon on a tram ride, which Dillon loved. He pranced all around the tram car helping everyone to feel the excitement.

Dillon loved wondering around the top of the mountain looking for snow to crunch.

Last weekend Joe took Dillon up the canyon to play in the snow. Joe showed Dillon the fun and art of sliding on the icy snow (which shockingly Dillon didn't catch onto - except to fall). Dillon much prefers to walk around crunching the snow beneath him.

Nuggets Please

Dillon's new love in life. Chicken Nuggets. Dillon would like to have nuggets for breakfast (as seen above), lunch and dinner. However, his mean Mom limits his nugget love to one meal per day. Dillon will open the freezer and find the chicken nuggets, he will then open the refrigerator and find the ketchup and give it a good shake (hello - who likes icky ketchup juices) he then finds anyone around who will put them in the microwave for him. Yum, Yum!

Halloween

Dillon was all over Halloween this year. Previously, he had thrown a fit every time I tried to put his overalls and hat on (train conductor costume). However, when it came to the real-deal-candy-getting-time, he didn't utter a complaint and did what had to be done - wear the costume. We went to my brother Kade's house and trick-or-treated with his kids as well as my brother Ladd's. Dillon didn't miss a beat stepping up and getting his candy. However, instead of saying trick-or-treat, he gave everyone a "choo-choo" as any good train conductor would.

We went truck-or-treating the night before Halloween, which gave him some good practice and got him into the mode.

A couple of weekends before Halloween we took Dillon to Gardner Village to see the witches and go to the petting-zoo. He thought the witches were okay, but he was all over the petting-zoo. Each animal got a pet on the head, multiple times, and was also told what sound they made (sheep - a loud "Baa").

I think that I enjoyed the witches more than Dillon did.

The weekend before Halloween, we went to the American Heritage Center (in Logan) with my brother Ladd's family. We had fun with all their Halloween activities. Dillon of course was all about their train and had to ride it multiple times.

Family Pictures

Our latest and greatest :).

Dillon was sick the day these were taken. We felt lucky to get what we could - the little rascal.

We guess we kind of like him :).

Our little "cotton-headed-ninny-muggin", "Dill-weed", "Dilly Bar", "Dilly Doodles".

My parents and brothers & sisters.

The whole family.

MAN TIME

Since Dillon's mom is out of town, we can pretty much do whatever we want and not get in trouble. For example, we can have graham crackers and frosting for breakfast and then go fishing in the Uintas.

Unfortuneatly, when I decided to take Dillon up to the Christmas Meadows, I figured we would do some fishing and just hang out by the creek. That lasted about two and a half minutes (see pic above) and then Dillon decided he wanted to be in the creek.

This is Dillon's "I just fell in a freezing cold river and got covered in mud" face!!! The funny thing is...after a few minutes he stopped bawling and wanted to get back in?!?!

Instead, we went back to the truck to change his clothes...

Except, we didn't have any extra clothes. So instead, Dillon was rockin' his fishing diaper the rest of the day. I was pretty impressed, he figured out how to reel it in pretty fast. The hard part was getting him to leave it in the water.

HEY DAD...I GOT IT ALL TANGLED UP.

Can you fix this for us?

While I was trying to fix their fishing pole, these two knuckleheads decided to get back in the creek.

They pretty much spent the rest of the day throwing rocks.

And Mud.

Since mom's not there to stop us, why not cap off a good day fishing with an ice cold dewski and Cheetos? By the way, for those of you looking closely...yes that is blood coming out of his right eye. Don't ask!

Weekend Fun

Dillon would consider playing in a vehicle "big-time excitement". He loves, loves to play in vehicles. There are so many buttons to push and pretend driving to do. My Dad's truck is his personal favorite.

Dillon is also getting to be quite the little cowboy. Papa is teaching him early and well to "hold on to the saddle horn".

Contrary to his facial expressions, Dillon actually quite likes to ride Papa's horses.

We went to Bear Lake with my family and despite it being a little cold and Dillon not having a nap, he did pretty well.

Of course, I had to throw in a picture of Joe showing the kids his dazzling hand-walking skills. They were totally impressed :).

Wyoming Trip

Dillon and I spent a couple of days this week in Star Valley, WY at my friend Shalee's Parent's (Ron & Gail )house. We had a great time hanging out with Shalee, Kelsie and their kids.

This was the first time that I got to see Shalee's little Tatum and she was such a fun beautiful little girl.

Dillon had a great time playing with Tatum, Mason, Kinley and Taylee.

I tried to get some good shots of Dillon and Tatum, but they preferred to just look at each other instead of the camera.

I tried to get Dillon to give Tatum a kiss on the cheek, but he decided to give her one on her back instead :). I love this picture of Tatum. Isn't she such a sweetie!

On Sunday we went on a hike up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was beautiful and the cool mountain air felt great. In this picture Dillon is say "Go" as in "Ready-Set-Go" it's his newest thing to say.

Dillon loved running around on the trails. We had to keep holding him back so that he didn't get going too fast.

The wildflowers were incredible. I wish the pictures could do it justice. Notice the dust on Dillon's shirt from biting the dust on one of his runs :).

At the bottom of the trail were (2) moose. I bet no one knew that a moose says "moo" just like a cow - serious, just ask Dillon.