Go // Our California Vacation

For our family vacation this year we went to Southern California. The trip had dual purpose: first, we attended the wedding of Jacob's sister, Mia, in Lake Arrowhead {It was the first wedding I have photographed, officially - to see pics, click here}. Secondly, we spent as much time at the beach as possible! We stayed two blocks from Venice Beach and also a couple of days with an old friend near Laguna Beach (who totally helped with the kids and spoiled them with lots of love and little treats - thanks Mel!). I will let the pics speak for themselves!

I have to add that Melinda gave Aspen her first real nickname (I call her "little sister" and "sweet girl" a lot...but she needed a good nickname!) She started singing to her to the tune of a well-known Beatles song: Penny Jane (you know, the latter part of As-PEN + her middle name). So Aspen's new nickname, which seems to be sticking, is Penny Jane. Cute, huh?

Our only souvenirs are our memories, photos, and, yes, I did get two new pair of my fave shoes in the world: flip flops! RAINBOWS to top it off - my first pair!

*pardon my obsession with making everything "vintage" lately in my post-processing...I guess I was in a "Gidget" mood :) I snuck our Holga cameras into our luggage and Jacob and I took some rolls of REAL FILM while on our trip. Gotta love the real stuff, 120 is pretty awesome. There you go. Dreamy Memories Made!!!!

Canada (day 1)

I am finally getting around to throwing up some pics from our long weekend up North. First, we love Canada. We have thought of living in Canada. We are lucky to have such friendly neighbors to the North, and since the border is a short 2 hour drive from Seattle, it makes it easy to visit. We stayed in White Rock, BC. We "camped" (sort of...if staying on a big field of grass in an RV Park that has a pool, jacuzzi, mini golf, and a playground counts as camping, that's what we did). Sawyer absolutely loved camping and sleeping in our tent. In fact, the day after we got home he said "I want go back to Canda and sleep in my tent". Profound words from a just-turned-two-year-old. I think he also loved the fact that camping meant spending lots of time playing with mom and dad, and doing fun things like playing at the beach, walking out on the pier, eating fish n chips, and other fun things we did, while "camping"...

It's funny, because we have excellent beaches right in our backyard (well, a 5 minute drive, anyway) but it's always nice to just be on vacation to appreciate the beach a little bit more. Maybe it's because when you're on vacation, or "camping" in our case, there is absolutely nothing to distract you when you get home, tent sweet tent, for the night. That's what I LOVE about traveling, it pretty much just forces you to live in the here and now and to enjoy each moment. I love that.

Canada (day 2)

Saturday we started the day with pancakes made on the camp-stove. We had gone swimming the night before and since camp fires weren't permitted on the grass, we actually felt pretty clean for camping. I guess that's one bonus of "fake" camping ;)

Sawyer loved the wide open space and all the grass he had to play on. Once we were ready, we drove in to Vancouver and to Stanley Park. Really, you could spend a few days just in Stanley Park, it is awesome. It is one of my favorite places on earth.

We picnicked at the park and then headed to the Aquarium. Sorry Seattle - Vancouver's Aquarium rocks you out of the water!

We did some whale watching, too. For Belugas, that is! Those "melon-heads" are seriously cute for such a big creature!

Sawyer's favorite part were the big toads. Hmm..dolphins...belugas...toads?

Canada (day 3)

Sunday morning, amazingly enough, we got up in time to pack up all of our camp site, eat, get ready for church, and drive the 30 or so minutes to make it there with 5 minutes to spare (9:30am). We can barely get to church on time at home, so it was great we could get there on time during vacation!

We were able to visit with an old friend and meet his wife and daughter Saturday evening. They invited us to attend their ward, which happens to meet right behind the new LDS Temple. We had planned on going to see the temple, anyway, so it was great to go to church right there. It is a breathtaking building.

I absolutely love this pic of Jacob and Aspen. I hope to show it to her on her wedding day.

We had packed a picnic for after church, so we ate lunch and spent some time admiring the new temple. We walked around, well, Sawyer RAN around, the grounds and just felt peaceful and happy to be there. We don't get to the temple often these days, but even just being on the grounds of such a beautiful and sacred place feels quite divine. Sawyer wouldn't hold still for a picture with me, but Aspen was delighted. After our time at the temple, we drove home.

We had such a wonderful time on our little mini-get-away. I wish we could've stayed a week!

I am sure grateful for the 3 days we had making some marvelous memories.