California Christmas 2014

Christmas in California was sunny, beautiful, and almost perfect. When we went to the beach we had some of the warmest weather we've ever had and it was December! Knowing Utah was getting hit with a big snowstorm made it even better!

 Games with Uncle Terrell. They were probably playing some car racing game or hill climb :)

Lots of fun times were had at the park, beach, and of course my parents awesome farmers market right by their house. This time we picked out some different foods for the kids to try like purple cauliflower and persimmons.

 We buried Tucker all the way up to his neck at the beach and had a fun time watching him try to get out.

 2nd cousins! I love this picture because everyone is doing something funny. Tucker and Austen are the same age and are little buddies even though they only see each other about once a year. I wish we lived closer!

It was a lucky day that we happened to come upon the hot tub filled with bubbles. We got to make our own little bubble snowman. 

Sheldon's family has the tradition of opening a special Christmas stocking on Christmas Eve. The kids had a lot of fun opening all the different presents up. Of course we had to play an epic game of Settlers on Christmas Eve. I can't remember who won except it wasn't me :( You can also see in the settlers picture half eaten cookies that we left out for Santa. We left out M&M cookies and Tucker and Halle were said in the morning that Santa only ate the M&M's on the cookie. Tucker also made some reindeer food in his class at school and made sure to bring it with him to leave out for the reindeer. It was made of oats, sugar, and glitter. That's what reindeer eat if you were curious.

Christmas morning the kids got to eat a magical breakfast of donuts and lucky charms! When I was growing up my siblings and I usually got some legos for Christmas. We are starting to carry on that tradition in our family. Tucker got some Star Wars legos he has been asking for. Well, he actually wanted the lego millennium falcon for Christmas, but Santa didn't feel like spending over $100 dollars on legos, so he got a smaller set. Finn got some more of his favorite trains. Tucker and Halle both got scooters, which they have been wanting forever. We got Tucker a scooter with big wheels that is big enough for Sheldon and I to ride. Of course I didn't take enough pictures, but it was a great Christmas and I think Tucker and Halle did better at only opening up their own presents.

We headed down to the beach one afternoon to check out some tide pools. We all had a fun time poking sea anemones and even saw a big sea slug.

It's Olsen Family tradition to take family pictures whenever we get together. I think they turned out pretty good this year except for Halle kind of looks like stretch armstrong. At least all the kids are looking at the camera and smiling, I'm happy with any picture that meets that criteria.

Our trip ended on a little bit of sad note with all sick kids. It was a long drive home with Halle and Finn both sick. Halle was coughing so much she was throwing up, but I'm an awesome Mom and caught it in a cup. We took them to the doctor the next day after getting home and they both had double ear infections and possibility of pneumonia starting. So grateful for medicine that can always make my sick kids better!