Tahoe Trip

Where can you play at the beach and in the snow on the same weekend? We had never been to Tahoe and we decided to plan a trip in late April hoping there might still be snow. We arrived to 80 degree weather and not much snow on the ground so our plans of sledding changed to an early morning hike, an afternoon at the beach, and an evening rock climbing. It was a full day and a lot of fun, but I was still a little sad that Britton hadn't had a chance to play in the snow. So on our way home we drove up to the closed ski resorts at the summit and found a patch of snow. Britton had a blast sliding down the hill on his bum with dad while I volunteered to stay dry and take pictures on our picnic blanket.

 Our hike above Cascade lake. Britton was the youngest hiker on the trail. He walked about half of the two mile hike with his little walking stick he found, and rode on Dad's shoulders about half of each way.

 There was a waterfall above the falls. Britton wanted to play in the waterfall, but luckily we were able to satisfy his desire for water with a smaller stream near the falls.

 Britton loves, loves, loves the water. The ocean, lake tahoe - both freezing cold, but he will play in the water for hours. He threw sand, kicked water, blew bubbles, and had a blast. I love the goofy face I caught him making in this picture. After the beach Britton's favorite phrase was "fun water." He said it in a funny voice with a crazy look on his face, but we couldn't catch it on camera.

Sliding down the snow hill. Again, again! Not sure how many times Dad and Britton slid down that little hill, but Britton giggled and squealed with pure joy every time.

Britton's 2nd Birthday Party and My First Cake Decorating Attempt

Another unpublished post! I'm farther behind than I thought. 

So Britton's first birthday was way low key - family only and cupcakes. It was nice but I felt like a little guilty for not making it a bigger deal or at least making him a real cake. So to make myself feel better (because really does a two year old care as long as there is cake?), I decided to throw Britton a race car themed birthday party for his second birthday. I thought he might appreciate it a little, and I had fun putting it together (though I couldn't have done it without Darren's help).

I stole most of the ideas off Pinterest, but I did come up with the idea of the cheese stick roadsters. The idea of decorating a cake terrified me, but I wanted to use the frosting set I had requested for Christmas and decided Britton's birthday was the best excuse to start using it. I chose the easiest design I could find on Pinterest. Who makes two or three tiered cakes for a toddler's birthday anyways or even likes fondant? Darren definitely helped with the cake, but I'm still pretty proud of it and it even tasted yummy. Britton loved the race cars on the cake, and to my surprise he even blew out the candles on his own this year (without spitting on the cake either). I was very impressed and realized my baby is now a toddler for real.

The snack spread. We had the party at a park with a playground near our apartment.

Darren helped me decorate the plates with race car checked centers and edges while we watched a movie the weekend before the party. They turned out cute.

I have this huge set of cookie cutters we received as a wedding gift with random shaped cutters like feet, dinosaurs, lions, and race cars - glad I discovered the race car when searching for a heart shaped cutter for valentine's day.

These are the cheese stick roadsters. Darren thought it wouldn't work but the toothpicks just barely fit into the holes of the Ritz crackers enough to stick in the cheese filling of the crackers.

Apple cars with grape tires - idea stolen off Pinterest and inspiration for the cheese stick roadsters.

The cake! Shaped like a figure eight (4 round cakes - stacked two deep and cut to piece together)  with a road in the shape of 2 and cars driving on the road. I made the little checkered flags. The cake was almost a disaster when we realized we should have made four round cakes instead of two and were scrambling to cook and cool the second cakes just hours before the party.

Goodie bags for Britton's friend. The tags said "Thanks for racing to my party!" They were filled with race car pencils and stickers.

January Catch Up

So apparently I never published this post, so my "January Catch Up" is now more of a reflection :) 

The picture below is Britton with his boy cousins on the Goring side. Four boys between the ages of 18 months and 3 - they had a blast playing together over the New Year holiday and Britton discovered air hockey. We can't go to Nana and Papa's now without playing at least a few rounds.

This is the bike that Santa brought for Britton this Christmas. He loves riding it and I love it when he rides it in a diaper with the bill of his beanie to the side; he looks so tough :)

So this is why parents do not allow toys at the dinner table...apparently the dinosaur was hungry too!

What do you get when a 20 month old little boy dresses himself? Two shirts, no pants, and mommy's boots - but at least the colors kind of go together right?

Wow! A picture of just mom and dad! I can't remember the last time one of these was posted to the blog - probably before Britton was born, but I can't blame Britton since I choose the pictures for the blog. Darren hit the halfway mark of dental school and his school threw a swanky party downtown with a 1920's theme. We had a great time at the party while our neighbors watched Britton for us. Thanks to the Eliasons for watching Britton, Tess Burton for making the bird cage for my hair, and Taisja Maxfield for styling my hair and supplying the fedora that Darren wore to complete the 20's look - glad to have great friends.

Valentine's Cookies

Britton helping in the kitchen.

 Britton loves helping with dishes, sweeping, and cleaning the counter tops, but his favorite thing to help me with is making cookies. I let him roll out the dough and cut out shapes. He actually does a pretty good job, but I have to watch him closely or he'll eat all the dough.

East Coast Trip

 It's been a month, but I'm finally posting pictures from our trip to the east coast in September. We visited Darren's sister Becca in Maryland and had a great time. We spent two days in the city visiting the mall and museums. Darren couldn't believe I wanted to spend an entire day at the mall in D.C. until I explained to him that the mall was not for shopping.





Britton had a blast playing with his cousins Charlotte, Jack, Leo, and Seth. He doted over Charlotte and followed Jack every where. It was pretty cute.

We also made it out to  Chesapeake Bay. Britton loved playing in the water as always.

July in San Fran

At University of Pacific Dental School, they begin working in the clinic and treating patients during the second year. In celebration of this new chapter of dental school, the university holds a White Coat Ceremony at the Palace of Fine Arts to present each dental student with their white coat. Darren's parents attended the ceremony with us as well. Darren enjoys working in the clinic and is beginning to have quite a full schedule of patients. His first major procedure he's working on is an implant retained over-denture. If you want to know more about, you can call Darren and he'll talk your ear off. It's a good thing some people are fascinated by teeth and enjoy looking in other people's mouths.

 The weekend following Darren's White Coat Ceremony, we went biking with our friends on Angel Island. Angel Island is the often referred to as the Ellis Island of the West. We enjoyed a bike ride around the perimeter of the island and stopped for lunch on the beach of  the island.

 If you haven't heard already, Britton needs eyeglasses for farsighted vision and strabismus in his right eye. Isn't he so stinkin' cute in glasses?! I'm not sure if his right eye just looks crossed in the picture because of the angle or if it's really crossing, but it has gotten much better since we began patching his left eye in November. The glasses should only be temporary to correct his vision and the strabismus, but they're a pain to keep on him. Hopefully he'll adjust soon.

 Yesterday we went to California's Great America with our friends. Britton's favorite part was the water park. It wasn't that warm but he didn't mind at all. We had to tear him away from the splash pad and wave pool. He had a blast!

They also had a section of the park with rides for kids and Britton was able to go on four of them by himself and a couple with mom and dad. I think he loved the independence more than anything.

On a related note, Britton started attending nursery at church. He doesn't really interact with the other children but he enjoys watching them, following along, and stealing snacks.

Oregon Trip - Red Woods, Crabbing, and Crater Lake

During Darren's last week of summer break, we drove up highway 1 and 101 along the California and Oregon Coast. We stopped along the way in Fort Bragg, the Red Woods National Forest, Newport, Seaside, and Astoria. Britton did surprising well in the car, but we decided to give him and us a break and left Britton in Newport for some bonding time with Grandma and Grandpa Miller before heading up to Seaside and then Vancouver, Washington for the fireworks.

 In Newport, we always like to go crabbing off the pier. We caught a couple Dungeness crabs. Delicious!





On the way back to California, we visited Crater Lake National Park with my parents. Britton loved playing in the snow and had his first snowball fight. It was a fun trip.