Christmas Day in LA

I am going to be honest. I have not been in the mood to blog, or really make any account of our happenings in the last little while.  I don't even want to be doing it now but Brent so lovingly (and annoyingly... mainly annoyingly) reminded me that I have a lot to catch up on.  So here is LA Day 2.

Now last year when we were in Copenhagen during Christmas, it was miserable, because everything was closed and it was FREEZING!  I was worried that LA was going to be a repeat but man I was wrong!

First, we went to Chinatown! 

 We arrived fairly early and only some of the shops were open.  Luckily as the morning progressed many more opened up!

 The Chinatown Gate Entrance

 In China Town we saw a million different shops with these baby turtles.  They were only $5.00 for two and you better believe that I was totally tempted.  We didn't think Caliah would enjoy having any siblings!

 This is the Disney Music Hall.  It wasn't open so we only got pictures from the outside.  

 This is something that felt oddly familiar in Chinatown!  The tent like shopping reminded me of what it was like to shop in the China Town in Budapest!  I loved it. 

 Art in Little Tokyo!  Yes, there was a little Tokyo.

 Brent enjoying the feeling of being back in Japan... well kinda.

 Isn't it a gorgeous day in LA?

 We ate lunch in a Little Tokyo. It was a lot of fun to eat really authentic food again.

 Then we went to the Trash Towers. Long story short is that this immigrant started building these towers. It took him around 40 years but they are actually pretty incredible.

 A statue in the park.

 Look at that Tower!

 Brent just had to see the donut from Iron Man.  To bad it wasn't open.  

 Then it went to the Canals.  They were really beautiful and I would love to have some property on one of these canals.

 Very Pretty

 Then it was time for Venice Beach. I love playing in the Ocean.  Something just feels right about it!

 I ended up getting soaked but it was totally worth it.

 On Venice Beach there was a lot of really crazy things to look at (including a Medical Marijuana Doctor!)  Looking at the two-headed turtles made me feel terrible.

 Colorful, hippi, sinful Venice beach.

 Brent also really wanted to find the outside gym.  Since it was Christmas day there was really no one there working out at all.

It was a successful Christmas day, and honestly I didn't think about it being Christmas once!

Christmas Eve in LA

After a very fun morning opening presents we headed off to LA!  The first place we stopped was the Griffith Observatory which has amazing views of Hollywood. 

I would love to say that this was a PERFECT trip, but I felt like this...

miserable!

Luckily, Brent was good at having fun despite me not feeling great!You can barely make it out but there is the Hollywood sign in the background.  We found this as we were walking to the Griffith Observatory.

A gorgeous sky from the observatory.

You can actually see the Hollywood sign a little bit better here!

The views from the top of the observatory was really amazing!  What a great man who will plan a whole vacation in less than a week to make sure we have an amazing Christmas.

After the Observatory we went to the Holocaust museum.  Since we have actually been to a concentration camp this was a little more lack luster for us than it might be for others. Although it wasn't quite as impacting as Auschwitz we were both surprised at the fact that the US made legislation to keep Jewish immigrants out. 

After that we went to the Tar Pits.  Yes, there are actual tar pits in the middle of LA. You can see the tar pit behind Brent.

Aren't these trees amazing?!

Who knew my tracks were so big?  No wonder I have a hard time finding shoes!

Bamboo was everywhere.  I am pretty sure Brent would take some of this home in a heart beat!

At the art museum there were statues of all the chinese zodiacs. Since I was born in the year of the rabbit!  

Brent was born in the year of the rat!  There were some other ones!

There were also lamp lights.  This place was really fun!

Brent took a lot of pictures.

While I played a fun game that involved swing from one light lamp to the other.  It was really fun.

At the end of the day we went down to the walk of fame.  Can I just say that I wasn't that impressed.  Brent and I just aren't that into celebrities!  I do enjoy Matt Damon though, and we were able to find his footprints and hand prints.

Brent with Jay Leno's star.  We walked almost the whole thing and this is the only one that interested him in the least.

We were really excited to be there and see everything.  I wish I would have felt a little better but it was a great Christmas Eve anyway!  Thank you Brent for planning such a wonderful day!

Christmas (EVE) Morning

We were suppose to go to Oregon for Christmas but sometimes the airlines just don't like to have affordable tickets.  So instead of going home for the holiday we decided to go to LA for the three day weekend!

This made Brent super excited to move Christmas morning one day!

Here is our haul!

Can you believe it?

Brent is the king of wrapping items! He wrapped up a gift card with a old school video game so I wouldn't figure it out!  Isn't he the most amazing?

Brent opening his favorite present!  

STARCH!  Just kidding, well it is starch but not his favorite present

Brents mom sent us Stockings!  There is always fun stuff in the stockings!  She gave me a scented eye mask that is so amazing, it makes your eyes tingle forever.  I opened that and then I was content to just sit there!

Brent got: A NEW COMPUTER! 3 white shirts, work socks, world travelers map, bike, griddle, starch, bread pans, spatula's and a huge stocking from his mom!

Mallory got: 2 pairs of pants, shirt, eyebrow waxing set up, really nice shampoo and conditioner, 60 gift card  for shoes (thank you for the puma's Brent!), 2 other pair of shoes, and a BOW AND ARROWS!!!!

It was an amazing Christmas and I think Brent and I both ignored the budget this year.  After a big breakfast we were off to LA!

Our First Christmas Tree!

Four years.

That is how long Brent and I have been married and I am now willing to admit, we have NEVER had our own Christmas tree.  This year was different though.  We saw and artificial one at Lowes, but it way a little to expensive for us :(  So I took to the web and found one that was considerably cheaper but also considerably "dinkier."

Either way we set to decorating our tree. 

A big thanks to Christi and Mama Huntley for getting up the "Standard" Ornaments.  Since, we haven't had a tree before we hard to buy enough to make look luminous 

I thought all the kids visiting would want to help decorate but my nephew Micheal was the only one who could feel the magical Christmas.  Everything was pretty "Glitter" filled so Micheal and I were covered  by the end of it!

 As you can tell, we may have had more ornaments than tree! (Don't you LOVE my Spoon collection in the background.  I actually have another 14 spoons and need to get another case!)

 The final product. 

I really like having a tree.  It is small and overwhelmed with ornaments but I love the feeling and warmth it brings!

Great Start to a Wonderful Holiday SEASON!

Red Rock Canyon

On Saturday we got sick of sitting inside so we decided to get out into nature!  Off to the Red Rock Canyon!  I have got to warn you that if you come out to visit we are likely to take you here because it is AMAZING!

At the visitors center I decided to ride the lizard!  I think this could be the next big form of transportation!

 On reason we love Red Rock is because you get to basically climb all over a bunch of cliffs!  Of course Brent has to hang off one.  Our 7 year old nephew wanted to try, it was hard to explain to him why Uncle Brent got to act like a reckless doof and he didn't :) 

 Thank Tyler for taking a cute picture!

 Everyone hiking.  I really love to climb but I am a cautious climber.  I think it is because for how tall I am I have pretty small feet, so I don't have as much supporting my heights (that and I am a total klutz and fall a lot.)  It is because of this that I sit and scoot down whenever I feel uncomfortable.  Either way I get to where I want to go!

Josh and Tyler would tend to just disappear and then show up 100 feet away on some huge rock!  They swear they fight but I really didn't hear to much of it while they were here and none while they were on the rocks!

 The king of the world!

 All the Hikers!  Grandma and Grandpa decided to stay on more solid ground and Christi was home with a really bad head ache!

 Sometime Brent will say "Hey that is a great shot.  Mallory go stand there."  In this case he told me to go sit but I think it is a nice picture anyway.

 That was only one stop along an 11 mile drive.  The second was into a crevice. This is probably my favorite place in Las Vegas.  In the crevice there are trees, sand and quiet. I just love being so secluded.  It is really easy to just feel at peace in that situation.

 Everyone enjoying the hidden Crevice.  Although the park was WAY crowded no one else was in here, it made it so much more fun.

 At out last main stop Josh took off hiking just to discover that everyone else was to exhausted from hiking all over to keep going.  He was pretty bummed since this was one of the easiest place to climb really high into the trees.  I was a little bummed to but an exhausted 7 year old doesn't lie.

 Brent took a million amazing pictures, but I like the memories more than the cool landscapes, so I may have him to a blog with some of his favorite landscapes he took. 

I must say this was probably the highlight of the weekend for me!  It was such a great feeling to get out and get moving!  It made me feel less guilty about everything I ate too!