San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park

Gorgeous day in San Diego! Time to head to the park and get some walking done. Brenden of course had a wonderful time. A great place to spend a few hours indeed.

Real Pirate Ships for The Cute

Part two of our three week winter vacation is spending a few days in San Diego.We decided to tour the famous "Star of India" in downtown S.D. and got an added bonus for Brenden. The ship The Providence that was used in the Pirates of The Caribbean On Stranger Tides was parked next to The Star and Brenden got to see both. Very cool for a three year old!
The Star of India is the world's oldest active sailing ship and was fabricated in 1863 in case you were curious...

First Class cabin clerestory window

Christmas finally arrives - 2011

With much anticipation on if Santa would bring Brenden a "Blackbeard pirate with a broken sword" the day arrives with glee and a little bit of craziness with both Brenden and Dan opening up their gifts. The look on Brenden's face when he saw that Santa had indeed delivered not only Blackbeard but The Black Pearl Lego ship was priceless as seen in the above pic. Merry Christmas everyone!

A Pirate's Christmas Eve

Both Dan and Brenden were Jack Sparrow the pirate for Halloween so they both wanted to dress up on Christmas eve and play pirates with each other - too cute. Tomorrow is the big day!!

Putting out reindeer food

Showing us their 'ARGGGHH' faces

Gorgoza Park Tubing

All the cousins went to go snow tubing at Gorgoza Park today. Brenden was a little scared of the "big" hill but had Dave to go down with him. Everyone had a lot of fun!

Unitversity of Utah Natural History Museum: Rio Tinto Center

Having just opened up it's doors in November, this is one powerful place for kids and adults. The 163,000-square-foot building is stair-stepped into the Wasatch foothills above Research Park and features numerous references to Utah’s land and people. The most obvious is the copper that covers the building’s exterior, articulated in a way to evoke the sedimentary layers of Utah’s red rock geology. The horizontal panels are enriched with various elements so they will oxidize at different rates and in different hues of green and red.
 The University of Utah is angling for LEED gold certification, which is a challenge, considering the power needed to safeguard more than 1 million items in a climate-controlled environment and to create a first-class visitor experience.I have designed LEED certified building before in California and it is no small feat let me say - especially gold level.
We decided to take Brenden on a day when Dave wasn't skiing so we could see first hand the building both inside and out - very cool place!

Sneak peak at snow in SLC for Christmas

Time for some snow fun in the mountains (none in the valley) - it did snow the night we flew into town and Brenden had a ball the next morning making snow angels and driving his pirate ship through the snow. We can't wait to go to the new Natural History Museum at the U of U tomorrow!

Yuma's Z Fun Factory reopens!

What better way to spend a lazy Sunday in sunny Yuma during December? Santa, mini golf, video games and go carts - yahoo! Fun times were had by the Slays!

Somerton Tamale Festival

Nothing says December like tamales and beer! We went to the 5th annual tamale festival today in Somerton, AZ and had a pretty good time. A lot of old retired folk ambling around which was annoying but great tamales and Blue Moon beer!

Welcome to the 5th annual Tamale Festival
Here at the tamale festival you will enjoy a great variety of tamales. Last year we enjoyed over 40 different tamales and we expect more this year. If you enjoy live music, tamales and lots of fun well this is the place to be on December 17, 2011 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the heart of Somerton, on Main Street between Union Ave. and Somerton Ave.

Brenden's Pre-School Christmas Program

SO sweet! All the three year old children singing three songs for the Christmas program. Brenden told us that he 'won' because he was the loudest... I didn't know one could 'win' at singing but Brenden teaches us new facts every day... the videos say it all:

Our Christmas Card - 2011

I couldn't help but put the pictures of Dave's homecoming on our Christmas cards this year. Not the greatest frontal shots of everyone but it's the emotion in them that tells the story. Merry Christmas!

All Wrapped Up -2011

Decided to go to the MCAS All Wrapped Up with Leann while the guys are in Vegas saying farewell to the C.O. It was crazy! I didn't know that many people are connected with the base! We did stand in a long line for Brenden to meet Santa so that was nice. He is asking Santa this year for a Lego Blackbeard pirate and he was very eager to tell him that.

VMA-513 Homecoming!

Yesterday FINALLY came! They guys flew the 10 Harrier jets 10,000 miles home from Afghanistan and it was wonderful to watch them come in and land!