A Winter Blog Update

It has been a little while since I have posted anything. But I have some good excuses, really I do. First off we have been down in California visiting my family and we were having way too much fun to post anything! Secondly I am not sure what I am going to do with this blog and have been avoiding posting until I get it figured out. You see I have two blogs. One for the farm and one more personal. Well I have been happily going along posting to both of them and often double posting to both of them. Uh-oh, little did I know that was a big mistake. Apparently duplicate content can negatively affect how your sites show up in search engines. Thanks to my friend Gretchen I am now aware of the error of my ways, but I am still not sure what to do about it. I might keep both blogs separate, but delete the duplicate posts or I might try to merge the two together and only have one blog. Oh the agony of deciding! I am still undecided, but decided to go ahead and post for now.
So as I was saying we went down to California for a visit with my family. It was such a relaxing and refreshing time for us after our crazy, busy year of farming. The sunshine and sea breezes were just what we needed. While down there we relaxed, visited family and friends, played games, went to the beach several times, went window shopping in a couple of cute villages, went out for coffee, stayed up late watching movies, took the boys to the zoo, sat on the back porch, visited farmer's markets, and just relaxed.
I also turned 30 years old while down there. It is hard to believe that I am that old already. I had a very nice birthday. Andrew took me out for breakfast and I got crepes, my favorite! After that we went shopping in San Luis Obispo. We didn't buy anything but had lots of fun looking in all the shops downtown and going to the mall.
Now that we are home I am feeling motivated to get back on schedule and get organized. Spring will be here again before we know it, I'd better get ready for it!

My amazing sister playing two games at once. Hand and foot
with us and Uno with David

The boys had a horse ride on Misty, my old pony.

Blood Oranges are so beautiful

Drinking Tea with Aunt Melissa

The table on the back porch set for a tea party.

Two Cute Boys!

Looking at the parrots at the zoo.

Watching little animals at the zoo.

Looking at the Sea Elephants

Watching the Sea Elephants

Sea Elephants laying on the beach

At Morro Bay

Playing in the sand

Digging in the sand

Toes in the sand

Running in the waves

David and the Tractors

Last week we went to the Spokane Ag Expo. It was so cute how much David loved the big tractors. He wanted to sit in every single one of them.

Shopping

We went shopping with my Mom several times while visiting. One of her favorite stores is Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's has the cutest mini shopping carts. David loved feeling grown up pushing his own cart and putting items in it.

Monarch Butterflies

We took a drive down to Pismo Beach while in California. There is a grove of eucalyptus trees where thousands of Monarch butterflies overwinter. It was a little chilly the day we went so the butterflies weren't flying around much, but after we were there for awhile the sun came out and a few began fluttering around. It was very interesting. The guide explained how they fly down from the northern United States and Canada in one generation, but it takes four generations to make it back up north. All the Monarchs west of the Rockies migrate to Southern California and the ones east of the Rockies go to Mexico. It was amazing to see the large clusters of them up in the trees. David was even able to see them and enjoy them as well.

Solvang Adventure

My Mom, Melissa, David, and I all took a drive down to Solvang last week. Solvang is a cute Danish village on the central coast Of California. We enjoyed walking around and exploring all the little shops. We went in a sock shop filled with cute and fun socks, a hat shop and tried on hats, and an adorable children's shop where David tried on hats. We also went to the 99 cent fabric store. They have bolts of leftover fabric all for 99 cents a yard. It is a bit messy and random, but if you look there are some good finds. They also have formal dresses for $6. We also stopped at a bakery and got some delicious pastries and coffee.

Looking down one of the cute streets.


David had a great time seeing all the sights.

David in a wooden shoe.

David trying on hats.

Eating our pastries. This was Davids favorite part.

Along the Shore

At the Cabin

Our five days at the cabin with family was full of fun times.
We had our family Thanksgiving dinner during our time there. The cabin was on a lake and only a short distance from the ocean. There were boats there and bikes to ride, a pool table, and a hot tub.
Thanksgiving pies

The pool table was almost in constant use.

Story-time with the children

We did several puzzles while there as well

Out on the lake

David and Grandpa

Trip to Oregon

We had the wonderful opportunity to spend 5 days at a vacation rental on the Oregon coaast with the whole Engell clan. It was a great time of family fellowship and fun.
On the drive down we stopped to see Multnomah Falls near Portland. We enjoyed the magnificent waterfall and David also especially liked the little exhibit we went into afterwards. He loved seeing the stuffed owl, the deer antlers and the racoon skin.

Afternoon at the River

One Sunday afternoon we took a picnic and met Andrew's family down at the river. We had a lovely and relaxing time. On the way home the sunset was beautiful and then a few minutes later the moon rise was, too.

Silverwood

My family was up for a few weeks recently and we all had a great time. While they were here we all went to Silverwood theme park with Andrew's family. It was my first time on any big roller coasters so I was a little nervous at first but I ended up enjoying it a lot!

David enjoyed the tiny train roller coaster

On the Corkscrew

Waiting in line, we spent alot of time doing that:)

David on the carousel

Brothers on "Tremors"