Happy Valentine's Day!

I have always rather enjoyed Valentine's Day. It is so much fun to exchange cards, decorate cookies, and try to sneakily determine the flavor of the chocolates in those packages that come without a diagram. (By the way, I can think of few things more frightening than biting into a chocolate without knowing whether it will be a delicious strawberry cream or a revolting mocha. Maps should be a requirement for all boxes of candy.) This year, Kelson was out floating around the ocean somewhere as usual, so I was at home watching Pride and Prejudice by myself for Valentine's Day. I stole Kelson from the Navy on the weekend so that we could celebrate properly. I have been having fun leading up to the holiday. I have been waiting to start my new job, so I have had an incredible amount of free time. Here are a few of the fun Valentine things I have been up to:

I saw this tutorial for an adorable felt valentines banner, and I decided to make one out of paper. I love how it turned out so much that I think I am going to design one for every month. It is perfect to hang on the bottom rail of this shelf. 

I have had a great desire lately to try making fancy sugar cookies with royal frosting. Valentine's Day seemed like a great opportunity.

They turned out so pretty! Not bad for my first attempt at cookie decorating.

I had way too much fun. I did spend 5 hours making cookies, but it was worth it.

We officially celebrated Valentines Day 3 days late when Kelson got home from his latest trip. We had a sunset picnic on the beach on Coronado. How romantic is that?

Yeah, I would say our picnic spot was a winner.

We had a delicious picnic of chicken salad sandwiches, watermelon, chocolate-orange brownies, and sparkling cider (which is what is in those glasses-nothing sketchy.) It was a perfect Valentines dinner.  I love you Kelson!

USS Midway Museum

 We recently spent a Saturday touring the USS Midway museum.  The Midway is a decommissioned aircraft carrier that has been docked in San Diego harbor and turned into a Naval aviation museum. It was an awesome learning experience. We spent four hours on board and could have easily spent longer.  There was a self-guided audio tour that told you all about the different parts of the ship, including recordings of people who were actually stationed there. One of our favorite parts of the day was chatting for about 20 minutes with a WWII veteran who was on the beaches at Normandy.  We both love history, and this was a great way to spend a Saturday.

In the pilot house-not quite as fancy and high tech as the one on Kelson's ship.

On the flight deck with downtown San Diego behind us.

Kelson took a moment to think in the ship's chapel.

Adjusting the throttle.  Full speed ahead! (I am sure they say that on aircraft carriers.)

They had 50 or more different models of restored aircraft. We could have spent another hour or more listening to the description of every one.

a little view of the harbor out the porthole

Poor Kelson got locked in the brig. Luckily, I busted him out so he could come home.

I Could Really Get Used to Living by the Beach...

I have always loved the beach. My family vacationed on the Oregon coast almost every summer when I was growing up, and it was something we all looked forward to. One of the awesome things about being in the Navy is that you always live near the beach. Here in San Diego, we have gorgeous beaches, and I love that we can just drive over to the beach after work and go for a walk if we want to. It is so cool! One place Kelson has been wanting to take me is the Cabrillo National Monument, and we finally made it.  It is a historical site/national park on the beach that is supposed to have awesome tide pools, which is what we really wanted to see.

We thought we had timed our visit perfectly, but it turned out that we had read the tide table backwards, and the tide was high. Oh well. It was still beautiful.

Can you see us?

I am so grateful to be blessed to live in such a beautiful world.  This was truly glorious.

We climbed up into the old lighthouse.

Can't beat a sunset at the beach!

My Surprise for Martin Luther King Day

I love holidays. Not only are they an excuse to eat yummy food and have celebrations, but Kelson gets to take the day off and stay home with me, which is awesome. Kelson and I made the best of our holiday last week and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. He volunteered to plan our day's activities and refused to tell me what we were going to do. All I knew was that we were going to drive about two hours away, and that it was going to be cold there, so I assumed we were going to the mountains. I just packed the picnic and hopped in the passenger seat to leave on our adventure. We drove through beautiful citrus orchards and up into the gorgeous mountains. Shortly after we started up the mountain, we turned on to the twistiest road I have ever seen (and mind you, I have been on some seriously crooked roads driving around the mountains of eastern Oregon).  For the next ten miles or so (which takes a long time at 20 miles an hour), this is what we saw:

We were completely encased in fog. This was actually a pretty thin spot. For the most part, we saw absolutely nothing all the way up the mountain. Luckily, we went high enough that we got above the fog, and I finally discovered our secret destination:

We went to the Hale Observatory on Palomar Mountain. It has a 200 inch telescope that was the biggest one in the world for a long time. It was really fascinating. It would be awesome to actually get to look at the stars through it.

Kelson was right when he said it would be cold up there. We got our one and only glimpse of snow for the winter.  Apparently San Diego has made me weak, because I was freezing. It was a great day, though.

The trees there were full of mistletoe, which I had never seen in real life before.  Kelson deserved a reward for planning such a fun date.  Thanks Kelson, I love you!

A Fun Visit from Grammy & Grandpa

One of the fun things about living here in San Diego is that all of our family suddenly wants to come visit us and the lovely climate we live in. Last week, my grandparents came down to southern California to watch the Rose Bowl, and they continued down this direction to spend a couple of days with us. We were excited to have them. We always love guests.  They hadn't been to San Diego in a long time, so I made good use of the day that I had with them to show them around town. The day started off with Kelson taking Grandpa on a tour of the ship. Grandpa and Kelson both had a great time. I hung out with Grammy while we let the two of them do manly things.

 After the tour of the ship, I took Grammy and Grandpa to Old Town for some authentic Mexican food and  a tour of the Mormon Battalion site. It is an awesome museum. Some of Grammy's ancestors were in the Mormon Batallion, and we found them on the list there.  Grandpa may not look too happy about being an honorary member of the battalion, but I promise he was having a great time.

 

After Old Town, we drove out to Coronado and went for a walk on the beach. (It is still completely bizarre to me that I live in a place where you can sunbathe in January. It was over 80 degrees last week.)  By the time we finished our beach excursion, I had pretty well tired my grandparents out, so we headed home to relax and then went out for dinner. It was a great visit.  Thanks Grammy and Grandpa!  We love you!

Goodbye 2011, Welcome 2012!

    We had a fun New Year's Eve getting ready to ring in this exciting new year. Kelson was off, so we got to spend the whole day together. We drove a few miles from our apartment to Otay Lake and went for a walk on some of the trails there.

I love that there is such beauty just a few miles from our home in the city.

         I have been under the weather all week, so we decided to spend the evening at home rather than spread our germs around at a party. We had fun eating sea food, playing games, watching an old movie, and ringing in the new year with sparkling cider.  

        I'm always a little sad when New Year's Day comes. It means the end of another holiday season, leaving nothing but January and February to look forward to. However, it does give a chance to think back on all of the wonderful things that have happened in the last year. 2011 was a big year for us. I don't know that we will ever have another year with so many life changing-events. Most importantly, we became a family this year. This is the first time I have ever had a partner to look forward to the new year with, and it is very exciting. We are looking forward to 2012 with optimism and hope. It is going to be a good year!

Merry Christmas!!!

Pretty much everyone who knows me is aware that I love Christmas to an almost unhealthy level. I usually debut my collection of Christmas music (which constitutes almost half of my iTunes library) around Labor Day. This is my absolute favorite time of year. I learned this great love for the holiday season from my amazing mother, who always made Christmas wonderful for us. That is why Kelson and I were so excited when we found out we had ten days off for Christmas, and that we would be able to spend the holiday at home with my family. My whole family was home this year, and we had a very happy vacation at home with them.

My dad gave my grandpa a box of clay pigeons and some shotgun shells for his birthday, so we all went out shooting one morning. Kelson said he had only used a shotgun once about ten years ago, so he didn't think he would be great at it.

Then he hit pretty much every clay pigeon dead on. He is just awesome like that.

Dad also took out every single one of his without even trying.

Then it was my turn. I tried with two different guns and didn't manage to hit a single one. Oh well, I can say I have shot a real gun now.  Before that day I had only shot a BB gun.  It was a fun morning.

On the 23rd, we had Danish Christmas with the Baxter side of the family. Every year we celebrate our Danish ancestry with a traditional Danish Christmas dinner, which includes pork roast, caramelized potatoes, dilled cucumbers, and sweet-and-sour cabbage (pictured above). For dessert, we have rice pudding, and the person who finds the one whole almond hidden in the pudding gets a prize. Its a fun tradition.

My adorable niece, Anne, helping out in the kitchen at Danish Christmas.

Neither of us found the almond this year, but it was a good evening.

The next night was Christmas Eve, and we had dinner at our house. Anne was a big helper setting the table.

All of us at Christmas Eve dinner, including my grandparents and Roger and Diane LeMaster, longtime friends of the family.  We always have lasagna, stuffed mushrooms, and yummy layered jello on Christmas Eve.

It was the first time in years that we have had a little kid in the house for Christmas, and it was fun. I made all of our nieces plus Lirael, my cousin's daughter, princess crowns and wands this year. They were a hit.

Facing down the Naval officer in a game of battleship, which Jeremy gave him for Christmas. Kelson won both times we played. He claims it's because of his naval strategy skills, but I think he's just lucky.

For her birthday, I made Annie a new apron to go with the toy kitchen she loves playing with at my mom's house. How cute is that? I love that little girl.

Pretty much adorable.

Kelson and I had to head toward San Diego the day after Christmas. We left most of our presents for each other at home, so we had more Christmas waiting for us. The first thing that I saw when I walked in was a gift-wrapped rug in our entryway. I searched forever for a bright red rug for our kitchen and finally found one that I loved at Ikea. Kelson bought me a matching runner, and I love it!

Probably my favorite gift I stumbled across for Kelson-a singing fish to hang on the wall of his stateroom on the ship.

I also found him a spyglass.  He is a real sailor now!

This is our cute, little Christmas tree, affectionately known at our house as Tiny Tim. He is growing in a pot so that we can keep him on the patio year round. The felt star I made for the top is my favorite part.

Our first Christmas together was wonderful. We were overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of our family, and we are grateful that we were able to spend the holiday with them. We didn't get to visit Kelson's family this Christmas, but we love them and are grateful for them too. As wonderful as the presents, the food, and the other traditions are, the best thing about the holidays is being with those that we love and remembering the birth of Christ.  Merry Christmas everyone!