Two Weeks in Ca

After Christmas Matt had to fly back to Alaska for work, but Lydia and I stuck behind in California for 2.5 more weeks of sunshine, daily walks to the park, time with Grandma Trudy and Grandpa Mark and coincidentally Sarah was there too so that made the extended visit even better! We missed Matt but REALLY needed to be out of the extreme dark and cold for a while! Since I work online I continued working part time for CoreHealth and set up my Comm class to re-start in mid-January.

I'll sum up the trip with a sentence per picture!

L got daily walks with Grandma Trudy, Aunt Sarah and/or me.

She had so much fun playing in the sunshine!

The pic above and two below were taken on New Year's Day.

She LOVED the slides at the park (last year she was all about the baby swings) - sad that she won't be able to play on them again until, like, May in Alaska!

Chatting over breakfast...

Every day I worked through Lydia's nap and into the afternoon. When L woke up, she got to hang with Mom and Aunt Sarah until I was done!

My office while we visited :)

Library trip

They got her into the CUTEST outfits every day...

She's just TOO cute! 😍 

This was her church outfit one Sunday.

... but when we got to church she ripped off her jacket and wanted to show everyone her tummy. Goofball!

I cannot believe how cute these pink glitter slippers and clip are - (Christmas presents!)

Such a big girl out for fro yo with Sarah.

Hot tubbing!

Normal days consisted of waking up to a pretty sunrise... (this doesn't happen in Alaska except for briefly in the spring and fall...)

Chatting with everyone through breakfast...

Then a walk to the park, Countrywood or the Reservoir...

Lydia pointed out every bird ("caw caw!") and doggy ("da-ey!") she saw.

The BEST video of a bird we saw catching fish on our walk! If you listen close you can hear her say 'mmmmm' when he swallows it.

Then naptime!

That's when I'd start work until the mid afternoon...

When I was done we'd play until dinner (thank you Cindy for letting us borrow your play kitchen!)

Mom makes the best, healthiest dinners.

Mine was just orange juice and sparkling water

And at night Lydia enjoyed watching Grandma Trudy and Grandpa Mark's favorite shows with them (NBR, HGTV, Jeopardy and Warriors basketball! Go Dubs!)

Video of us playing while the Warriors game was on...

We FaceTimed with Matt before bed

And that's about enough day for a 1.5-year-old! 

Here's Lydia checking in on how her team did one morning... LOVE this shot!

I also went to the temple one night (in Ak we live 6 hours away from one so we try to go whenever we're close).

And read out in the sun whenever I had the chance (on the second Lord of the Rings right now)

Mom is an angel and picked up all the movies for us to watch too (from three different libraries!)

While in California Lydia started to eat with a fork and spoon off of her own plate.

She loved her strawberries, blueberries, avocado, and cheese,
 as long as she could eat them with a fork!

...had this dance party with Sarah (video)

...learned about brushing her teeth (she got an electric toothbrush for Christmas and after fighting it at first she loves it now!)

She ran down the hall and got her toothbrush and
toothpaste all by herself

She has a new favorite restaurant and it's the same as Grandpa Mark's - Rocco's!

She went on a rainy run with Sarah one day...

...and generally had the best time ever. 

It was perfect. :) Now it's time to go see Matt and Barkley and survive our LAST winter in Alaska!!