
We had a really busy week. It did start with a
new haircut...I decided to try it really short. It is a nice change because all I need is a
blowdryer...however it figures that my
blowdryer died the day after I got my haircut...so I will be going to the store during the Christmas rush tomorrow.

Max and I also had a chance to go to Disneyland on
Thursday 12/18! We met our cousins Vicki,
Brandon, Caitlyn a
nd Jared, and our Aunt Pam, Uncle Pat and Aunt Sue. We had a great time, and Max' cousins
Caitlyn and Jared just love to have him follow them around!

Now I know some of you guys who are reading this blog live in areas of extreme cold and snow...I want to start by saying that you chose to live there and have cheaper mortgages because of it. As a Southern
Californian it has been "butt cold" here. We don't have snow, but it has been high of 50 and lows in the 30's which is very cold for us living on the
beach and paying the prices we do! But we also got to wear our cute scarves that have been hanging in the closet!

So after wearing Max out on Thurs, Brian and I went on a little kid free trip this weekend. Our anniversary is actually tomorrow 12/22 but we took the chance to go camping over the weekend up in
Gaviota, just north of Santa Barbara. We had a great time! And yes it was "butt cold" camping too! As you can see we have a nice little set up with our tent and inflated
mattress bulging out of the tent...however when we actually went to sleep we could not get the door closed and the zipper ended up breaking! :-( So we slept in the van! The next day we went on a little mile hike up to some natural hot springs! It was so beautiful and
completely secluded...
heehee... You can't really see the pools in the picture below, but there were three different pools to sit in that cascaded down.

Yes, I know that being pregnant I am not allowed to sit in hot water...I guess we would
have to call these warm springs instead of "hot" springs. It was about the temp of a bath, but since it was 50 degrees outside and a
bout 85 in the spring it felt really nice!
Unfortunately we smelled a little funny afterwards, but we were camping...what do you expect. We spent the rest of the time enjoying a day up in
Solvang and even hit the Chumash Casino (I know...bad, bad,bad) But we didn't spend any money! That night we had an
awesome fire
and met some campers that were on a bike Trek that started in Alaska and they are going all the way to Argentina! I wish I could have the physical capability to do that...but they were some nice company and had fun sharing stories (us sharing domestic bliss and they sharing stories of the wild!) So that is what we have been doing the past few days...Thanks again to the babysitters that helped take care of Max over the weekend so we could enjoy our 8
th anniversary!
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