Christmas at Gammy's 2013

                                          Christmas jammies at home before we left for California

                 

The nightgown Gammy got was a hit! Claire asks to wear it almost every night.

 Claire was hyper-excited Christmas Eve night and thus decided to prance around the tree and then snuggle up underneath it.

 

Around this time Clark began his obsession with dogs (he's pointing to Jens out the back door) and said one of his first words there, "dah!" for dog. He also took his first step!

 

Christmas Day at Carmel

Christmas Day on the central Cali coast brought gorgeous weather. The beach had unprecedented amounts of people enjoying the holiday. We still found our spot undisturbed for a bonfire though. Christian's little sis Sarah took some beautiful pics of our fam on the beach. Thanks so much Sarah - you are so awesomely talented.

                                  

Finishing up Florida

 Claire loved the many elevators we rode on during our trip and would consistently run to the handrailing and hang on it every time we went up or down.

 Amazingly we made the whole nine-day trip without losing Cinderella and Dora, two favorite toys.

 Orlando, FL temple. So beautiful

Hangin' out at the Chicago O'Hare airport in a great kids area. We also made sure to visit the USO there  for free lunch, a toy area, and some quiet relaxing time, courtesy of the US Military. What a great perk.

Florida Pt. 2

West Coast FL: Tampa Bay - Clearwater Beach. Coming here was a flashback to 2009 when Christian met me out there while I was at a public health conference, shortly after we got married.

 Oh and did we mention Gammy and Porter came out for a couple days with us? They are awesome. We went on a dolphin excursion with them. It was pretty amazing. Look at these pics!

 

Claire was dead tired on that dolphin ride and ended up crying a lot and then finally conked out on my lap

 Some sweet ladies were giggling with delight at little Clark. He wasn't so sure about them though...

Legoland

One of our favorite things was the walk through some gardens that Legoland was built around. And this tree!!:

Our engagement spot, built in Legos

By the end of the day, this was our child. Time to go back to the hotel:

Sea World! Even after watching Black Fish I still (mostly) like Sea World

 

She started out brave, but then I think we pushed it too far by going on a ride a little too scary. She has been extra cautious since.

We got to spend some fun time with the Marriotts when we got back to Utah. Claire LOVED being with those girl cousins! They got quite comfortable with each other - I went downstairs and found Liv just loungin' on Claire's lap as they watched a movie. So cute.

Oh and I love Claire's random photo shoots:

Captures a whole new angle of life, doesn't it?