Santa Cruz and Hollister, California

So another day on our quick nostalgic vacation to California. Today we are heading over to the beach, Santa Cruz to be exact. But before we get to the boardwalk, we stop in Capitola. This is a special place to Scott and I for many reason, but the most important one is; this is the place where Scott proposed to me almost 14 years ago. We didn't follow the normal dating time frame to marriage. We dated 2 1/2 years before getting engaged and then were only engaged for 7 weeks before getting married.














After Capitola, we drove over to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. We let the kids choose which coasters they wanted to ride. Garhett and Scott rode The Giant Dipper, which is one of the last wood roller coasters. I was surprised that Garhett wanted to ride this coaster because he isn't usually our fear seeker (or coaster lover). He had a blast on it, even though he rode the ride with his eyes closed the whole time, he says. When the kids were done riding coasters they were begging to go out to the beach. So away we went. We collected shells as we walked along the beach. The boys chased the seagulls. I thought it would be fun to write our name in the sand and then have a family picture taken. So I wrote our name and Scott found this nice couple to come and take our picture. One picture is showing our name and a great back drop of the boardwalk and the other picture was edited to show our family a little closer. We had a great day at the beach. There is something about the ocean air and walking on the beach. Oh how I miss it!! When Scott and I were first married (well probably up until we moved out of CA 6 years ago), we would spend the weekend or at least Sunday afternoon walking on the beach or sitting listening to the waves crash.











As we wrapped up our time at beach and headed to our next stop, we drove through Watsonville (not an exciting town), but a place where the best strawberries are grown - Driscol Strawberries.

Our next stop was Hollister, CA. Again, not an exciting town, but this is the place where Scott and I bought our first home. We received the keys to our first 1600 sq foot home on our 2nd year anniversary. We put a pool in the backyard and had the most beautiful palm trees lining the fence around the pool. We had a cactus garden in the front yard. We loved this home. We drove the kids by our home and told Garhett that he lived in this house until he was 3 years old. Scott and I would get up at 4:30am to leave the house at 5:30am, drop Scott off at the office at 6:50am, drop Garhett off at daycare at 7:00am, and then I would get to the office by 7:30am. I would get off at 4:00pm and make the rounds to pick up Garhett and Scott and then we would join the traffic on our 2 hour commute home. Oh the days. We talk about it today wondering how the heck we did it, but you do what you gotta do to get by.














We finished our nostalgic tour and headed back to Scott's parents to sleep. Today was new years eve and I think the kids and I were in bed asleep by 9:30pm. Oh well - Happy New Year! Scott kept an eye on the weather for our travel back to Idaho and decided that we needed to head home a day earlier than planned because a big storm was coming. So the next morning we left and a good thing we did cause the day after the freeway over the pass closed due to snow. Phew!

We are back in Boise and getting everyone ready to get back to school and work. Even though this track break was one of the longer ones, we spent a lot of "family" time together and made lots of memories. I enjoyed this break with my kids, but am going to enjoy getting back to schedule and a routine.

San Francisco

We spent the day in San Francisco. I love the city, I have spent a lot of time here shopping at the great stores and eating at the fantastic restaurants. So it was fun driving and walking around again, it's been awhile.




First, we took the kids to Pier 39 and went to the Aquarium at the Bay. After the aquarium we walked around the Pier and down the wharf.



















We stopped at a shop that had a lot of crazy hats. Everyone picked out their favorite hat to try on. We didn't realize that Garhett's first choice was a "beer hat"

















Second, we took the kids to the Exploritorium(http://www.exploratorium.edu/). The kids had such a great time going from station to station creating bubbles, making static electricity, making shadows, etc. My favorite station as a kid and I have to say even as an adult is the shadow wall. I was so excited to see that they still had the wall after all these years. How it works, everyone stands by this wall that has different colors shining on it, a timer starts counting down, then everyone strikes a pose, a flash goes off, and then your shadow is on the wall in the pose that you struck. It's so much fun! The flash goes off every 30 seconds. We spent 3 or so hours in the exploratorium.























Before leaving the city, Scott some amazing pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.














It was a long day in the city and we still had a 2 hour drive south to get to Scott's childhood best friend's house. We spent an hour or so visiting with friends before we got in the car and drove another hour south to our hotel. Next post will be another day, another city, and more fun!!!

6 week track break comes to an end

Bringing 2008 and the l-o-n-g 6 week track break to a close, Scott woke up on the snowy morning of December 28th and said pack our suit cases we are going to California today. So off we drove, luckily we left between storms so the roads were clear and dry the whole way there.

Our first stop was seeing his sister's family in Roseville. His sister's daughter Ella is 10 days older than Paige and as soon as they got together, it was dress up time. The day was so beautiful, we spent some time as this great park. It had some great slides that I even went down with the kids. This park had a lot of firsts for Emmett, he went on a swing and sat on the grass and loved it!!

















A great day with cousins (Ethan, Ella, Garhett, Trent, Paige and Emmett)

At first when we left on this trip, it was to get out of the cold, but as we arrived at the different places this trip became very nostalgic for Scott and I.

Our next stop was visiting the Oakland Temple. As we were driving to the Temple in the fog (which is common in CA), Paige kept singing "I Love to see the Temple". Even though the boys protested at first, it really changed the spirit in the car. The closer we got to the Temple, the fog cleared and there was blue sky's along with sunshine.












This picture is the same bridge that Scott and I had our wedding day picture taken almost 14 years ago.

We started our family here at the Oakland Temple, and almost 14 years later, here our 4 beautiful miracle children stand.

















Scott loves to take pictures and he captures such great things. This is the front of the Temple and the other picture is taken from the top of the Temple looking down. I love the fact that we can walk up on top of the Temple and see out for miles (even across the bay to San Francisco).













Upon leaving the Temple, we drove across the Bay Bridge over to San Francisco. There was some great shots of the city as we were driving in. Unfortunately Scott was driving, so I had to snap the pictures as we drove.














Our day in San Francisco will be on Part 2 of our trip to California!

Farewell to 2008

To start off our farewell to 2008, we need to Thank Heavenly Father for all of our blessings throughout the year. The Morgan Family has truly been blessed in 2008!

Here's a recap of our 2008!
January - Paige turned 3! Emmett came home from his 5 week stay in the NICU and began his long journey of good health and development! Scott was informed that he won President's Club 2nd year in a row - way to go Scott!! Here we come Mexico!
February - The kickoff to meeting all of the new doctors for Emmett!
March - Trent started soccer and Garhett started baseball
April - Cindi and Scott went to Mexico and left the 4 kids with Grandma and Grandpa
May - Family vacation to Disneyland and Legoland. Emmett got his helmet to help reshape his head.
June - Trent turned 6! Trent had his second set of tubes put in his ears and his adenoids taken out. Paige had her adenoids and tonsils taken out. Scott would say the best day was the 3rd seeing RUSH in concert!
July - Garhett started 3rd grade and Trent started kindergarten!
August - Scott turned 40!
September - Garhett turned 9 and advanced to a bear in cub scouts. Emmett got his helmet off. Paige started her first year of preschool. We took a family trip to the Oregon Coast.
October - Happy Halloween! Emmett had a sleep study done and we discovered he has obstructed sleep apnea and will now to need be on oxygen whenever he sleeps.Fall baseball and soccer come to an end :O)
November - Happy Thanksgiving! Emmett no longer is wearing the apnea monitor, only sleeping with oxygen. Take a family trip to California for Uncle Jim's wedding.
December - Emmett turned 1! Emmett is rolling over, getting ready to crawl, and says "dadda and momma". Thankful that Scott is employed and has a good job! Thankful for Jesus Christ.