The Nutcracker

Magical.

The Nutcracker exceeded my expectations, especially for having the cheapest seats available. I feel like I understand the words "grace" and "composure" on a new level. My heart was racing throughout the entire production, and I left feeling like I couldn't get enough ballet and Tchaikovsky. Beautiful.

This is the War Memorial Opera House, and if you look closely, you can see the gigantic nutcrackers between pillars.

Right outside the Opera House.

This is City Hall. It was so pretty lit up. It reminded me of a lot of the sites we want to see in Europe.

If you come to the city, you have to see the San Francisco Ballet. Definitely worth it.

More Pics from Thanksgiving

Things I Learned in Boise, Idaho

1. Kids from CA think that 60 degree weather is frigid. "Mommy, my hands are so cooooollllld," says Blake to Kristen.

2. Easton has some pretty great faces.

3. So does Ryan.

4. And Cory and Kristen.

5. Natalie can complete about 10 tasks at the same time, including pulling off a fantastic and coordinated Thanksgiving dinner with a newborn.

5. When it gets late enough, even the cup game sounds fun.


6. I can pick up a bag with my teeth to beat a bunch of guys and a pregnant woman. (I must gloat at this victory, because I'm convinced that Kristen or Natalie will claim the prize next time around...although Scott and Cory put up an impressive run.)

7. I appreciate suburbs--their fountains, sidewakes, entry arches, private park/playgrounds, the whole bit. I am a suburb gal. Running through the neighborhoods reminded me that I want to live in a suburb. (I do think I would like living in mid-city with a studio apt, but Brady thinks I'm all talk when it comes to that. Probably right.)

8. Our camera is pretty terrible. As you can see from above, it may be time to dip deep into the pockets for something a little more reliable. This is the best we've got! I don't even have a clear picture of my sister Natalie, who also made the trek up to Boise.

Good times, good food, good company.

Christmas Music

We are in the Christmas mood, and need some tunes. What are your favorite Christmas songs? Include the artist and title, and we'll be downloading it for our (currently small) collection.

Here's some of our favorites: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" (Barenaked Ladies), "Christmastime is Here" (Charlie Brown Christmas), "O Holy Night" (Josh Groban), and "White Christmas" (Bing Crosby).

A Windsor Weekend

Beau and Emily hooked us up this weekend with a TrendWest condo in Windsor. We started out early Friday afternoon, thinking we were in for an hour and a half of driving. Three hours later, we pulled in. California traffic...enough said.

Highlights of the trip include: yummy chicken taco soup, games, MI III, talking and laughing late into the morning, and of course listening to Beau explain how to do a prostate exam.

The kiddos were great, but thank heavens for "Cars"--good entertainment (and obviously not just enjoyed by the kids).

Echo playing with her dog.

The next morning, Brady and I took off on a jog around town. It was beautiful--still green, tons of trees, and a small-town feeling. We got back to a hot breakfast from Emily.

We hit the road toward a redwood park, taking in gorgeous roads covered in a canopy of trees. The best part of the drive was going over a one-way bridge that seemed to be placed right in the middle of a storybook. It overlooked a peaceful river engulfed in fall colors. Whew!

The kids were troopers, engaging in a hike through part of the park. Porter suffered a sock loss, but was all smiles when his parents were carrying him!

It's hard to believe, but the pic below was not framed. (It's especially hard to believe when you see that they are all walking in sync. Awww...that's just "tearin up my heart." haha)


By the end of the hike, we were all ready for lunch. Thanks for the getaway, Beau and Emily!

Happy Halloween

Thanks, Kristen and Cory, for a fun Halloween bash.

Beau and Emily
Greg and Katie

Brady's impressive rebar injury

My official, OSHA-certified accident report

Edwards Day Care

The past few weeks have been loaded with kids for us! We have worked a ton with primary kids in our ward lately, and Cory and Kristen finally trusted us enough for a night alone with Blakers and Rachel. I've wanted to decorate cookies with them for weeks, and was thrilled for a night of icing, "stiwwing" (stirring), and candy corn.

We even made snail cookies--although once they were iced, they were un-identifiable.

Blake's not-so-surprising comment, "Gee guys, this is the funnest thing I've ever done." (He takes after his father...everything new/exciting fits into that category.)

Can you tell which ones the kiddos decorated?

I was a little concerned today when a lady in our ward asked if we were officially the ward babysitters. Uh oh. But we'll take Blake, Rachel, and any other nieces and nephews any day!

Weekend Retreat

Bet you can't guess where we went... If you've been reading our blog, it won't be hard to figure out. This tree is one of the top 10 largest redwoods in the US. It's amazing how tall it is for being so hollow.

Highlights of our camping getaway included: an early morning trail run (Brady whooped up on me!!!), a long hike through fall leaves and catepillars to see the tree below, hot showers (yes, I am lame, and very okay with it), late night games of Dominos and Phase 10, brisk (read--FREEZING) fall weather, and surviving 3 days without a brush. Impressed?

Pretty sweet shot, eh?
Brady stuck his hand in these...can you tell what they are?

The first real fall leaves we've seen out here.

"Karen's Kitchen"

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Northern Cal is definitely into baseball, and we're working on becoming fans. Brady's work was able to hook us up with box seats at the Giant's game last week, but other than food and good company, it was a bit of a disappointing game. It was fun being at the Giant's stadium, though!

These are two of the guys Brady works with, and their wives. We all piled into one car to save on parking at the stadium. It was squishy, but entertaining.

Friday night, our ward went to the A's game, with 85 of us in the group. The kids in our ward were hilarious, popping out some hip-hop to the music in between innings, and running up and down the stairs. I'm not sure any of them actually watched the game, but they sure had fun eating their Cracker Jacks.

As you can tell by our apparel, we are quickly becoming A's fans.

We were a little late getting to the game because of work. We were both uptight, pulling in during the 4th inning, but that ended up playing to our advantage. We still saw 8 innings (as well as 4 homeruns), and most importantly, the last play of the 12th inning--Mark Skootero's base hit that drove in the man on third. Afterwards, we all went to the field to watch the best fireworks we've ever seen. (And you'd think that out of 6 pics, we'd have something better than these fireworks...but I'm a firm believer in experiencing the event, and not just getting great pictures.)

Our New Toy

We decided Labor Day was as good a day as any to bleed money, so we went out and bought ourself another piece of furniture for our one-bedroom apartment.

We always said we weren't the kind of pianists who would resort to a keyboard, but what choice do you have when you live three stories up???

And if you ever want to invite us to your child's birthday, you may or may not get a present this spectacular. (Cory and Kristen around gave us props for this, but this pic is just higher-quality. haha)