sweet-awesomeness: So much stuff...

Arianne is now my external motivator for doing my blog. Thank goodness I have someone, or this blog would never get done. I'm always glad I did it AFTER the fact...

Looking at these pictures makes me happy. I surprised Justin with a trip to San Diego for his birthday. It was SO nice, SO fun, and SO relaxing. We would do it again for sure. It was a nice quick trip and we were able to squeeze in a lot of things even though we weren't trying to "go, go, go" constantly. It was just a good time.

One of the great things is that we were in a hotel RIGHT on the beach. The location was phenomenal. So many places to eat within very short walking distance. And we LOVE food, so the good food on this trip was definently a contributing factor to our high enjoyment level.

Below is Justins most favorite burger he ever has eaten. It was some kind of bison burger. They also homemade salt and vinegar chips that were AMAZING. We sat outside right by the beach at sunset. It was amazing--and right across the street from our hotel!

This is our Hotel!! There is undeniably something therapeutic about walking on the beach, being at the beach. Nothing compares.

THIS was so fun! We rented a TANDUM bike for a couple hours and road on the boardwalk and around the town. We were laughing SO hard, especially in the beginning while we were trying to get the hang of it!! It was more challenging then I thought, And we are coordinated people! A lot of the problem was Justins back handle bars were loose, so every time he put pressure on them, (like is necessary when you are just to start peddling and you need to balance), the handle bars would twist and throw him and I off balance. It's a miracle I didn't pee my pants.

Treats treats and more treats, all the time! The only thing that wasn't good in our trip was my Tarro Boba Tea, it was the REAL Tarro root tea. Apparently I always get the fake stuff, (and I LOVE it!..But I didn't know it was a fake mix...) This was NOT fake and I did not ask for any added sweetener, (because I never needed it with my yummy fake stuff). Anyway, way to real for me, like drinking bark and leaves--and I'm a tea drinker! Well, maybe not as much as I thought...Anyway, everything else the rest of the trip was YUMMY though! The ice cream we are eating had shaved ice in the middle!

The second day was "Beach Day." The water was so pretty, no seaweed and pretty darn clear. We rented wet suites and boogie boards, it wasn't very warm and neither was the water. YIKES! I was a really good sport and played with Justin probably farther out into the ocean water then I have ever been in my life. I think I was in a constant state of fight or flight as we tried to ride the waves in and I watched for sharks or other live things while I also tried not to freeze to death. I lasted a hour. Then I just watched Justin play while I tried to warm up on the beach. It didn't work. I was freezing. But I had such a nice view.

The last day we rented ELECTRIC bikes. It was SUPER cool. They had "Santa Ana winds" that day, very powerful warm wind that made palms frons fall all over causing accidents and such. Anyway, we were able to just speed up hill and into the wind like it was nothing. Those bikes were REALLY fun. We covered a lot of ground.

We went up to see the seals and walked/road around this darling ritzy little town nearby before flying back home. We passed people struggling on normal bikes and felt a little guilty, but just ended up passing them at abnormal speeds. It was pretty cool. :)

This dessert has two pictures because we ate it twice, (note the different clothing). It was AMAZING. Acai bowl IN a pinapple!!! We loved it. We both dream about it.

And these sandwiches were SO good!! We would definently go back and re-do them the exact same way. Daily.

Last food picture: PIZZA! It was really good as well! It was awesome because you order by the slice so you can try any flavors you want! They fire them up for the last part of cooking AFTER you order it, so each piece comes out fresh. Yum.

It was such a great trip. We loved it.

Thank you so much Mom/Chanel for watching our kids, could NOT have done it without you!!

Later that month was Justin's REAL birthday DAY. We had a tiny little get together with his family and I made an amazing chocolate cake, per his request!! He never would have requested Chocolate back in the day, his tastes have morphed more into mine in his old age, I LOVE IT. :)

My parents got Justin this huge funny nerf gun for his birthday. It's a big hit!!

This is a cute picture of Jax at the ward party. He is dressed up like a Jerusalem person back in the day. He is playing this weird roman "Game" with some other kids, (Rod is in the brown). I was very surprised it was holding their attention, it was cute so I wanted a picture.

Just to document; Jaxton is a closet avid reader. He LOVES to read, but has a war internally because he LOVES video games more. One of the requirements for him to play video games is to read for 20 minutes a day, he always sets a timer because he knows if he doesn't he will read waay more then 20 minutes. Sometimes he will read without a timer--those are the times he reads the most. I love it. I think he loves it to...

Calvin loves to cook with me ("cook wis' you?") Most especially he likes to make cookies. It might be for access to the chocolate chips and cookie dough, but either way, I can usually count on him to "help" me. Taking turns with making the dough balls is the longest, hardest part for his mom...But he looks really cute when he helps.

Rods front teeth had to be cut out of the gums, (the gums had hardened because he had been missing his front teeth so long, they kind of callous.) He also had to get a filling in one of his 6 year molars he JUST got because his enamel is so poor. The process was facinating and I took a lot of pictures. I only included 3. One of the beginning, middle and end.

The "middle" picture is the one on the left. He had laughing gas and could not support his limbs. I was laughing so hard. The end one is him holding the "tiger" the gal made him out of a balloon. He loved that tiger.

The kids all picked out chocolates and made cards for their teachers! The cards were so darling.

Justin had a "Ugly Sweater Party" at work. He did a great job of making an ugly sweater. He didn't win but he should have. :)

My cute Chanel cut her hair!! It's darling. And now we are twins. And Arianne, and my mom. :)

Katelyn had a dance recital that she preformed in. We were able to go and were SO impressed by her! She is a beautiful dancer and we can't wait to see more out of her!!

Then it was Christmas Eve at my Moms!

The kids did a Nativity. It was darling and comical.

Presents from Mai Mai!

We were so happy Arianne and Carter and kids could be "present" on the TV. We miss them so much!!

We did sibling gifts that were home made this year as well. But with less stipulation. Here I am with Chanel and the gift I made her. It's heart cut-outs of the places she served her mission.

I didn't get a picture with Gabe! He made me the COOLEST light, I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of it with him!! It's the most impressive thing. A work of art, but also, super technical and brilliant. He is (always) amazing.

Calvin is cute when he reads to himself. I love it!

Then Christmas Morning!!

Jax drew us the cutest picture.

Rod made us a darling calendar at school.

Rod LOVED his smart watch. Jax loved it too. Spoiler alert, we ended up taking back the karaoke machine we got Jax and got him one of these watches instead. The watch didn't come till a week after Christmas, but it seemed to be worth the wait for Jax. Apparently Karaoke isn't his thing...:)

Aw, my cute family, My parents brought us this cool illustrated book of the 3rd Harry Potter. We are excited to read it!!

I got an X-box one. Huraay. The boys about died. Mostly Jax. His dreams are all coming true...eye-roll. :)

Then we head over to Debbie and Prestons for Christmas afternoon.

Debbie and Preston always have food and gifts galore, always a party at the Gause's on Christmas!!

We gave great-grandma Gause a cheese slicer my dad made out of wood from her tree that split almost right down the center, in a storm! It was extra significant because it was the exact day that Charles (Justin's uncle and Grama's son) died. We happened to be AT her house when the tree broke and took some of the wood to my dad who treated it and dried it out and was able to make the handles for the slicer with it. Kind of a crazy story.

Grama wing got all the great-grand kids PJ's. They all looked so cute!

Here are some random pictures: My skinny cute long child.

My work Christmas party!! It was really fun, I LOVE my people I work with. This is a picture of me with my FAVORITE work people, the other trainers at my gym. They are the best.

Here is Jax the day he got his watch!! To happy boys, playing on their little watches all the time.

We have a lot of changes going on in our house right now, and many more to come! We are trying to make more space for one more human in this tiny house. One of the things we did to save space was to get rid of the fireplace. This enabled us to get a sectional and move the TV to the center wall with a floating entertainment center. Preston helped us with the hook ups for the entertainment center and with that huge sectional. Good thing too because it was a little challenging. Thank you Preston!

We really like the new couch and the new set up!