Santa Barbara Marathon

We went to Santa Barbara for the weekend after Halloween so David could run the marathon. It was so beautiful! We spent three hours at the beach while he ran. Here are some pictures.

After dropping off David at the start line, we went to get pancakes and then headed to the beach to wait for him to finish.

We had a good walk along the beach.

 Lily figured out the water is a little warmer in Santa Barbara than in our Northern California beaches.

 We should have had them put their suits on! We must have been thinking with a November mindset though.

 Lily loves the waves.

 Here is a giant anchor at the harbor. The kids liked climbing on it.

Fresh crabs from off the boats down at the harbor.

 And California Lobsters (we didn't know those existed).

Some fish from off the fishing boats.

 A sea horse stands guard.

 David came in a little later than he was hoping. Maybe it was the hills, or maybe he's just slower, or maybe a little bit of both. But, we sure like marathons waiting at the beach instead of in flat places in Minnesota or South Dakota!

 No. 1144 just finished his seventh marathon! 3:02:38 was the final time. He didn't break three hours like the hoped, but it was his second fastest marathon.

 Palm trees and sunny blue sky at the finish line.

More playing at the beach while Dad recovers.

 We're including this picture for Lily's bouncy hair.

 ...and this one for the crazy look in her eyes.

 On Sunday we stayed in Bakersfied and went to church with the Traynors from David's old ward. We had lunch with them before driving the rest of the way home.

Tauna was there on the trip too! And here is a picture to prove it.

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween with lots of party's and candy.

Sarah had a Young Women's activity where she had to dress up as an ancestor.  She picked her Great Great Grandmother Augusta Wilhelmina Wolf. She called Oma to find out what they wore back then and then we went and found some clothes at the thrift store.  She looked really cute and had a fun time learning about Family History.

The next night was Trick-or-Treating at Intel. The kids love being able to go to Dad's work.

We also walked up to the school for the Harvest Festival.  All of the classrooms made scarecrows.  Alex made a minion for his class display.  

Then Mommy and Daddy went to a party at some friends house.  They had a lot of fun and thought it was one of the best Halloween parties they have ever been to. The house was decorated top to bottom with really fun decorations and the food was delicious.  We also were able to talk with lots of our friends.  It was a fun date night.

Next, was the Ward trunk-or-treat and Chili Cook-off.  Mom's chili won for the hottest!  She mad a yummy white bean and chipotle chicken chili.  The kids loved playing with their friends!  Alex especially loved being chased by lots of little girls that followed him around all night.  :)

Then on Halloween night Mom made a yummy Halloween dinner.  Afterwards, our friends the Dansies came over and we went trick-or-treating with them.  The kids loved it, but we were all pretty tired afterward.  Whew!  That was a long week.  Time to throw away some candy.  :)

Mommy's Random Backyard Pictures

Mommy took some pictures in the backyard. 

Yes we know.  She took a picture of herself.  Someone has got to do it and it is purely for Family History purposes.  So her family can remember what she looked like because she usually is behind the camera. 

Lily's First Soccer Game

 Lily has been loving soccer.  She had her first game on Saturday and did really good.  She scored 3 goals and played good soccer.  Some of the girls get frustrated and push each other, but Lily has been good at playing fair but aggressive.  She is learning some good skills in soccer.

 She has awesome coaches.  She loves her teammates and is enjoying finally being able to play soccer like her older brother and sister.

Hiking on the Western States Trail

We spent our last Saturday, before the soccer season started, hiking on the Western States Trail.  It is a trail that goes through the Sierra National Forest (20 minutes from our house) from Squaw Valley to Auburn.  Daddy has run on it lots of times, and he knew of a fun hike he wanted to take us on. 

It was a rainy day, but the rain stopped just in time of us to go exploring.  As we hiked along the trail, we first came to No Hands Bridge.  Legend has it that when the Western States Trail 100 was a horse race there was a woman that would let go of the reins and ride with no hands across the bridge on her horse.  Back then the bridge didn't have rails.  Most people would dismount and walk their horses over it.  I guess she trusted her horse a lot.

It was a beautiful bridge built into the granite cliffs along the American River.

 Next we came to the waterfall.  It was beautiful from all of the rain.  It had wild figs and grapes growing around it. 

 Finally, we decided to hike down to the river.  The kids loved playing in the water and on the rocks.  Lily would have swam if we would have let her.  She got pretty wet.  :)

 Daddy climbed to the top of a big granite boulder.  Alex wanted to do it too, but he was nervous. 

 

Next thing we know Alex was on top of the boulder too!  He overcame his fear and climbed up on his own.  We can do hard things when we set our mind to it!