The Holidays, Part Two

Back to the holidays...
That Tuesday/Christmas Eve found us at Brad's parents house, enjoying the animals and the outdoors.

 Jack is seriously an animal whisperer. After he was done riding, we watched the horses in the pasture. I turn around for one second and he's sitting down with a horse. Like their best buds. Later we couldn't find him and his uncle found him in the pasture with a horse. This kid...

Then... Christmas! The boys were great helpers (for the most part- got confused a few times who the presents were for) and enjoyed all they got.

Sleds from Santa! And my gramma was able to join us and watched us open presents- we loved having her there with us!

The next day we headed out to Muir Woods for an early day trip for James' birthday. We had originally planned it for on his birthday, but my dad (being the smart man that he is) pointed out that it'd be even more crowded on the weekend. So earlier we went! The boys loved walking the trail and seeing the enormous redwood trees. There is a part of the trail called Cathedral Grove, where they ask you to be quieter in respect to the beautiful nature surrounding you. Before we got there, I told the boys we were coming to a part where we'd have to be quiet. To my surprise, they were very quiet and reverent while we looked at the amazing trees and plants all around. It's one of my favorite parts. Later, Gavin turned around early with Nana and Papa. James and Jack finished the trail with us and they were all such troopers. We only hiked the main trail, which I think is around 2-3 miles round trip. Pretty awesome. We had planned on going to San Francisco afterwards (favorite city!), but decided against it to keep our little guys happy. I hated missing the city, but knew it would be pushing their good moods too much. 

 Don't let that face fool you- he was totally posing and being silly

 The beautiful redwoods

  Gavin looks tooootally creepers here! 

 The drive back over the San Rafael bridge

Friday was a down day (thank heavens). My parents took Rach and Thomas to Monterrey. I would have gladly joined, but didn't think the boys would be up for another 2-3 hour drive, both ways. Instead we stayed home, relaxed, went to the park, got amazing Mexican food, and Brad took James and Gavin back to his parents for a few hours. That night we watched the BYU game (saaad game) and Jack fell asleep on Papa, lucky dog. So sweet- the little guy was so tuckered out from all the fun we'd been having!

Saturday was birthday day... another post :) Then our vacation ended on Sunday. California was great fun and we are looking forward to visiting again soon!