Now comes Thanksgiving....

We drove up Wednesday and back on Sunday and spent most of it in Logan. The day itself consisted of 6 original LaPierre siblings, 3 new babies, 7 more nieces & nephews & lots of great in-laws! Tiffany came up, with intentions of getting homework done, so I apologize for that! It was a fun full house!




We didn't actually take any pics up there, so these are stolen from Besty's blog. If you want to see TONS more, click here.

We left Saturday afternoon and spent some time in Provo with Jason & Tiff, then drove home Sunday, stopping in Arches National Park for a quick look at some of the scenery and to stretch our legs. We've driven through Moab probably 2-3 times in the past few months, but every time it' been dark, so we were glad that we were finally going through in daylight!

Apparently we're 'trail illiterate'; it wasn't very well marked & unlike everyone else, we came out in front of the arch, which was pretty steep. We came abruptly to the edge of a very high cliff, which was cool. Unfortunately, some guy was kind of following us the whole way, so he had the hard path, too. When we crossed in front of the Arch, it was really steep & I had a little stagefright we'll say. Luckily, the guy following us took one hand and Micah took the other & I made it across. What a wimp, I know.... When we took the right way back, what a piece of cake! Hardly could call it a hike...

a perfect match-I guess you could also call this a double arch, but I like that title better for a later picture...you'll see

Yup, now this is the one we like to call "The Double Arch"....apparently he didn't see us??!! and kept backing up and crouching down until you could almost see a perfectly lined up 'double rainbow'. I mean, I probably could have changed my angle and lined it up perfectly, but I thought I better just take the picture before nature changed its course & I left empty handed.

we couldn't believe the amazing color & how it kept getting even more & more vibrant

on the road again....

YAY for Christmas Decorations!

Nope, this is NOT out of order. We put up our decorations BEFORE Thanksgiving. And thankgoodness!! Because I can't believe we're already getting ready to leave for Christmas. Having them up somehow makes our apartment more homey, too. AND it SNOWED last night! Can you believe it! Well, you wouldn't have been able to tell at all locally except that the cars were dusted & the foothill are sprinkled white; other than that, not much. Although there was a little snow still in the air when we woke up. I was so excited! It was in the 60s or so still last week, so I didn't think we had a chance for snow at all before Christmas.

The cardinal flys in its own special place, in memory of Grandma LaPierre

Mom sent me this pocket-size nativity while I was on my mission & I have loved it!
My pumpkin from the generous Kenzy-lou is still holding strong! The last few times I've been there, she has put all these little gifts in my bag for me, saying she doesn't need them, or she can get another one, or she doesn't really need all those pennies she's been saving. This is the only gift I could justify actually taking home, as they grew tons of them.

I took Micah on a Christmas date this past weekend and we went to Old Town to see it all decorated. In the end, they advertise that there are tons of decorations when in reality, this tree was about it, but oh well, we took a few pics and went on our way.

The Old Church

This is a really cool tradition they have here. You can't tell much in this picture, but a lot of the commercial buildings around town put luminaries up around the brims of their buildings. It' really neat.
...and we followed this semi home that night on the highway. Gotta love being around all that nuclear waste! GO New Mexico! (it's hard to see, as it wouldn't stay still long enough to get a good pic in the dark)

To kick off the Christmas Season....

San Diego

Micah had a conference in San Diego at the end of October, so we drove there straight from our Utah Trip on Monday...

The (back of the) Resort....it kind of had a garden theme

The conference ended midday Thursday, so when he had some free time, we went and visited the retired USS Midway, an air craft carrier.

A close up of the previous , for padre! The Berthing Area (sleeping) Yup, that's 3 beds on top of eachother!Another one parked nearbyThat night, Micah realized his good friend from school lived not far from there, so we met up with them for dinner and had a really fun time chatting. We brought the camera, but didn't take any pics, so this one from their own site will have to do!

The next morning Micah did a little more work then we went to the San Diego Zoo!For madre: black necked swans! Never had heard of them...and I know
how much you love the regular ones at Horn Pond!

On the 'skyway'

We thought this crocodile was the weirdest looking faced animal ever!
It's called a needle nose croc....or something like that

At this show, they had a hawk fly over the audience;

it seriously cleared Micah's head by 4 inches!! That was his favorite part!

An Albino Python

Kimono Dragon

"Buzz, your girlfriend! Woof!!"
(name that movie!)

I was fascinated by these ducks! They wouldn't sit still long enough to get a straight on shot, but they look like they are painted, the colors are so vibrant and lines are so... distinct.

That night, we started the looooong journey home...
and yay!!!! for cheap(er) gas! (we look at diesel prices)

This added a 3-4 hour detour on Saturday, after stopping and sleeping for the night. We decided to take advantage of these moments when we don't have kids in the car and didn't have a deadline to make it home for that night, so here we are! We didn't stay long at all, but we went!

Micah tied the camera to a branch on a bush (so it wouldn't fall) and then got it balanced horizontally to get this picture of us.... quite impressive I thought. Almost home!!So cute movie! If you look, you can see the baby koala crawling around on the mommy!