Beautiful!

I am so grateful to live in such a beautiful place!  Here are a couple of pics I snapped last year capturing some of the beauty around us.

Beautiful Sunsets

We don't often have clouds in southern California, but the other night, we had some and the sunset was beautiful!

More Old iPhone Pictures: Fun with Family and Friends

Here are a few more:

Krispy Kreme (2012) - A Family Favorite!

John and David swinging Michael (2012).

Some handsome men!

Date Night (in 2012).

John at urgent care in Outer Banks, NC (while on vacation in 2012).

All you can eat sushi with friends.

Mountain Man Rendez-Vous (2012) - It was so cold they didn't camp the night before.

David working at the Helaman Halls Creamery (2012)

Michael's First Scripture Chase (2012)

David's Eagle Court of Honor

Mormon Helping Hands 2013

Every year, we participate in Mormon Helping Hands, a day of service to our local community.  For the past few years, we've finished the ever increasing in size projects within a couple of hours.  This year, the city gave us a huge project which included painting fences throughout a local park, planting a ton of plants on a hillside, and moving 2 HUGE piles of mulch so that the hillsides were covered in mulch.

We had a lot of fun working (although AJ wasn't as excited as he was in past years), and we had a great sense of accomplishment when the tasks were complete!

Here are a few pictures.

Pretty Sunset

AJ had a GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) night at one of the schools in our district.  On our way in, I noticed the most beautiful sunset, and I had to snap a picture.

Nags Head, NC

Yes, I know we went there over a year ago, but I found these pictures on John's iPhone.  This pictures are from the beach looking back at the beach house.

Isn't it beautiful?

Sunrise

This is why I love living in southern California.

One Last Hurrah!

Just before school started, I took AJ to the beach with some good friends.  We had a great time enjoying the sun and cooler weather at the beach.  (It was well into the 100s at home and in the low 80s at the beach.)

Jousting! Or Is It the Olympics?

My boys are very creative. 

They can take a mundane task, such as setting up a tent, and create a fun game out of it, let's say Jousting (with the tent poles)...

Or Javelin Throw...

Opening David's Mission Call

My son, David, will be serving a 2 year, volunteer, Vietnamese speaking mission teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Cambodia.  We recorded him opening his letter so those who were not able to join us in person could experience this special time with us.  That video is at the bottom of this post.

His letter arrived Thursday, May 3, which was also his Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  We waiting until Friday morning, so we could open it with family and friends (the family joined us via skype and telephone).

Beautiful!

While leaving a shopping center on December 30, there was the most beautiful sunset I've seen in a while. I snapped a picture of it, but it doesn't quite capture it's beauty.

Fun at the La Brea Tar Pits

John and I went to the La Brea Tar Pits for the first time last week with some good friends of ours. It was a gorgeous day, and we had so much fun being outdoors!

Running down hills...


Climbing on Statues...










And climbing to the top of the amphitheater to pose...
It was a great day!

Late Christmas Tree This Year

With all the work that was done on our house after Thanksgiving, we put off getting our Christmas tree until it was finished, which meant we went on Christmas eve.

We cut our tree at a local tree farm most years, and we continued the tradition. Although this year, David and Michael took control of the cutting of the tree.





The stumps on the lot make great places to do the "crane."

Loads of Laughs at Lombardi Ranch, Part 2

Here are a few more pictures from our day at Lombardi Ranch.