California Vacation!

November must not've been a very noteworthy month; we didn't take a single picture. Thanksgiving came a day early for us, because of James's work schedule. Our friend Char joined us and we had a nice time. Joey had his first experience with turkey and it was definitely a hit.

We had a nice family vacation at the beginning of December. We started out with the annual pilgrimage to Disneyland. Joey enjoyed it much more this year. Last year he was only 8 weeks old and wanted to eat and sleep most of the time. I think James and I went on 2 rides in 3 days. This time we were able to take full advantage of the Rider Swap tickets. It just so happened that our favorite roller coaster was right next to Joey's favorite carousel. We did a lot of laps on both of those.

Here's Joey and Daddy in line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. 

 And Joey and me in another line. Luckily they weren't too long!

 Dumbo! We never actually rode this one, but it was a good photo op.

 The Jungle Cruise

 Passed out in his stroller with a half-eaten grape in his hand. He was that tired!

 The castle that we usually get a family picture taken in front of. This year we couldn't quite pull it off.

 Joey still isn't so sure about Mickey--or Christmas for that matter.

After Disneyland, my parents met up with us and we went to San Diego for a week. It was a nice relaxing time there. Our first stop was my cousin Lance and his wife Julia and kiddos' house. Julia had baby #3 a couple of days after our visit, but we weren't able to go back and meet him because James had a cold. Next time.
We mostly went to the beach (and for some reason I don't have any pictures), but we did make it into town a couple of times to see the sites. Here is the Hotel Del Coronado. A very pretty, very pricey place.

 Here we are outside the San Diego Temple. It's so pretty! Nanna and Grandpa watched Joey while James and I went to the temple with our friends Alicia and Dionte. They just got married last weekend!

 We got to visit Hiram, Christina and Hayden. Joey had a good time playing (i.e.taking things from) his little cousin. She's such a cutie!

Our last night there, we went to a Christmas boat parade. Not something you see every day in Utah! It was really fun to visit family and friends and have a nice, warm, relaxing week!