California Part Two

 So once again I was going to write this post last night, but Bates Motel got in the way. Oops!

While we were in California we visited Yosemite National Park. My Dad had the opportunity to show off the beautiful park and play tour guide. The munchkins had a great time. Miss O was super excited to get her National Park Passport book stamped with a new park.

We only got to see a small part of the park, and were not able to do much hiking. My grandpa was with us and he is in poor health, so not much walking for us.  Yosemite is such a beautiful area.  I hope we can plan another trip to see more of it someday.

California Part One

 I had every intention of writing this post last night, but DJ and I got caught up watching Bates Motel. Oh Netflix, how you suck us in with your automatic start of the next episode.

Anyways, to the point. Recently, the munchkins and I took a road trip to California to visit Mema and Poppy. My Aunt and Grandparents had never driven across the country before, so when they made it to Arizona, the stopped and picked us up.

Oh my, those kiddos were so excited to see their grandparents. We got to stay with them for two weeks, and visit a part of California that we have never seen.  Most of the visit was spent just hanging out and catching up with family, but we were also able to do some sightseeing and celebrating while there.

Mariposa is an old mining town, and has a lot of history. While there, we were able to visit a couple of the local museums.  I took so many neat pictures!

I know my mom's eyes are closed in this picture, but I love it you can see how happy she is to be with her grandbabies again.

 

The weather was great while we were out there. It was sunny and in the upper sixties for the majority of the visit. Flowers were in bloom everywhere. The kids spent hours out in the yard playing and picking leaves and flowers. Some were put in vases, but the majority were use as hair decorations.

While there, Poppy celebrated his 54th birthday!

He had the day off so we were able to spend it with him. We all chipped in and took him out to dinner at his favorite local restaurant.

The Zoo

Lately, we have been spending our weekends trying to finish a home improvement project that DJ started back in July. Yeah I know, nothing moves fast around these parts. Anyways, the kiddos have been going stir crazy, and in turn driving us crazy with them.  

We were given some Christmas money from my in-laws for a Zoo membership, and finally decided to put it to use. We love the Zoo in our neck of the woods. It is perfect for smaller children. Plus, we live in Southern Arizona so we can use this gift all year long!

On My Needles: A Knitting Update

 

There has been a lot of knitting going on in my little desert house. We have been binge watching some stuff on Netflix, and it is impossible to for me to just sit and watch TV. I must be doing something with my hands at all times.

Even though there has been a lot of knitting going on here, there have been very few finished projects. I love to knit, but man it is a slow progress. I am a very instant gratification kind of gal, so I am known to start more projects than I finish. I thought I would share with you my "in the works" knitting projects.

These are the socks I started for DJ awhile ago. I hope to have these finished by his birthday, which is coming up soon. However, I will admit that might not happen. Sock yarn is really small.  Making sock knitting slow business.

 

 These wash cloths are the only recent project that I have finished. I found this cotton yarn in my stash from so long ago I can't even remember. I think I bought it to make Halloween washcloths. Well, when I found it, I thought it would be perfect for my brother Stephen. He is a giant UT fan, and he just recently got a new place. These will make a nice house warming gift for him.

My brother Stephen must be on my mind recently because this unfinished hat is also for him (what a lucky fella). I bought this yarn two year ago so I could make him a hat for Christmas. He is lacking in the hair department, and I thought these colors would look great on him. I am almost finished with this hat, and if I just sat down for an hour or so and worked on it I could mark this off my to finish list.

I am super excited to finish this project. It is a scarf for Miss O (more on this to come). I am also getting close to the end of this project as well. It was meant to be a Christmas present for her, but I just did not get it done on time. Man, I guess I really should start working on my Christmas gift much earlier in the year in order to get them finished on time.

 

Once I am finished with some of these other project, I am going to start on a project for myself. This yarn is super soft and beautiful. I can't wait to start working with it!