Danny & Liz

Monday, February 6, 2012

Christmas in Kennewick

We decided to take a lot of vacation time this holiday season to see our families. We spent 9 days in Kennewick! It was awesome. Unfortunately Danny had to work 2 of the days we were there. But we had a good time anyways.

I always bring Becca a present when I come and most of the time she is more excited by the fact that the toy came with me on the airplane in my purse or luggage. This time we decided to document the toy's journey.

Danny and Liz with baby Kermit at the airport

Baby Kermit wearing his seat belt

Looking out the window

Enjoying his in flight beverage

This is an inside joke that would take too long to explain. Enjoy Becca!

We decided to brave the crowds and go to the mall. While there a crowd pushed Danny into a rack of clothes and he got a SMALL cut on his foot. Danny's injury kept Becca up all night long and the next day she made sure to do everything she could to make Danny feel better. Behold all her favorite pillow pets to rest his foot on and Ernie rubbing it better.

Danny, Becca, my mom and I also went to see Puss in Boots. Ernie was excited to see Simon.

Surprise! Someone's in your bed!

After a few days in Kennewick we all drove up to Coeur d'alene, Idaho to spend the night at the resort on the lake and go on the "Journey to the North Pole" cruise. We made a quick stop in Spokane to check out the Nordstrom Rack and I had to drag Danny out of that store before he spent all our money!

Sisters riding in the car with Spock

This is what you have to deal with when you sit in the middle

Lake Coeur d'alene from our room

Trying my best not to do my weird smile

Spock giving Danny a back rub at lunch

Becca and Spock

Danny and Spock

BFFs

The boats

Sunset

Becca and mom with Santa's friends

"Will you please help me with my hat? My hands are stuck in mittens."

On the boat Becca tells Danny he needs to take his coat off.

The lights from the boat.

On our way to the North Pole

Enjoying hot chocolate and cookies

Santa!!

"Liz, Santa read my name. I'm on the good list!!"

Santa's workshop

Back on land

The Girls

Danny and I

Later that night we went into town and ate at Jimmy John's. Not too bad. We also saw our first snow of the year. After dinner we chilled in the lobby enjoying the holiday music and carollers.

Becca and I

Spock

Becca enjoying her hotel brochure and Christmas music

Snow! The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and headed to the mall in Spokane for lunch at Nordstrom.

Dad was patient when a beggar kept harassing him for scraps.

A day later Danny, my dad, and I headed up to White Pass for some snowboarding and skiing.

It was super cold but a pretty nice day. There wasn't a ton of snow but that meant there were few people on the slops. It actually ended up being a really awesome day of skiing.

Me. We even saw Santa skiing!

Christmas Eve dinner. That morning we had breakfast at McDonald's with our old neighbors Heidi and Cam. We miss them!!

The Christmas tree

Becca with her basket of nativity dolls getting ready for the program

Opening our pjs

Everyone was mad I gave into Becca's demands and put on Christmas with the Kranks. I didn't actually think she would watch all of it. I was wrong. Look at how cute her and Danny are though. Precious.

Becca's elf on the shelf, Buddy, left her a final message from Santa

Th next morning Becca woke us up a little too early. Danny was barely awake.

Becca loved the gigantic Lady Bug Pillow Pet Santa brought her.

Is there anything in there?

Baby Porky

Dad and mom had a yoyo competition

Even Porky got a present...a monkey costume

Becca was excited to see her friends from out of town at church and show off her new toys

It was an awesome Christmas and I'm so glad we got to be there for so long. My only regret is that I wasn't able to see my friends from high school like I normally do. Danny and I did get to eat at the new Costa Vida 3-4 times while we were there though. I can't believe my parents have one 30 seconds from their house and Norcal doesn't have anything!! It was a great Christmas!!!!!

Pre-Christmas Festivities

This year we didn't do much before Christmas to celebrate. I had finals and final projects due and Danny had lots of MBA applications due. It was just a crazy time. We did manage to try McDonald's new mint hot chocolate and take a drive down Christmas Tree Lane.

I was especially impressed with the house that looked like the outside of It's a Small World. Too bad all my pictures are blurry!!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Final Projects

School this time around is definitely different. Some things for the best and some not so much. The first week in December I had all my final projects due. This was a tough week for me. I'm not used to doing finals AND final projects. It was a lot to get done. And all the special supplies required for the projects were expensive and hard to find.
For my history class I had to do a living/dining room design based on at least one historical time period we covered in class. I chose to do American Georgian and English Neoclassic.

For my color class I had to do a design with historic or ethnic use of color for a bed and breakfast (any where in the world). I chose to do French Provincial.

For my drafting class I had to do a floor plan, electrical plan, and two interior elevations. This project was a nightmare. 1) because I'm not the greatest at drafting 2) I don't have a drafting table so I do all my work at school and I ended up having to do the entire project the day before it was due because the classroom was closed the other days. I was panicking that I wouldn't get it done and had to have Danny go with my at 2am to make copies of my vellum sheets. It was a very stressful day and night.

For my business class I had to do a group business plan which went fine. The presentation was a little crazy but luckily the teacher gives an A if you did the work and we did the work. Finals went fine...I think. I never found out my test scores. Strange. So different from BYU. I kind of miss the testing center!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Thanksgiving

When we finally arrived in Sacramento it was late. Danny didn't show up until even later (midnight). The next day we got a slow start and by the time we arrived at my aunt's house everyone was leaving to see The Muppet's. Becca, Danny and I hurried back into the car to join everyone. Becca loved it!

Kermit in his own seat, in his own row.

Becca and Kermit leaving the movie

We had a fabulous dinner later that night. The next day my family decided to go out to Roseville to our favorite mall. My mom found lots of good stuff at Nordstrom and I got a super cute skirt for a steal at H&M. When we got back to my aunt's everyone was leaving to see Arthur Christmas but my dad took Becca this time since Danny, my mom, and I were still at the mall. We had another delicious dinner that night followed by a musical recital. All the kids were so cute!