Ben and I are now back from our holiday adventures in California. This was our first big trip with Arianna, and she was such a good traveler... what a relief! We beat the big storms that were headed to Provo just as we were leaving, and enjoyed the drive down through Las Vegas and then up to Modesto. We stopped at Calico Ghost Town near Barstow, CA and got to tour the old silver mining town. We went to a little leather-making shop just to see what was there, and be touristy, but the owner was so friendly that we ended up buying a leather dog harness with a miniature saddle on top for my mom's dog before we left the shop.
We went to a birthday celebration dinner for me right when we arrived in Modesto, so that was a fun welcome. And it was here that Arianna got to meet her grandpa for the first time. My dad was so excited to finally meet her, and he totally adores his little granddaughter! My Aunt Carol, Uncle Dale, and cousin Mark were also there, as well as our friends Anna and Josh.
While we stayed with my mom, 
we put ourselves to work. Ben tore out the old, rotting deck that was in her back yard. She has been wanting it out for several years now, and Ben had it all out in only about 45 minutes. What a guy! Also, he and I both painted my mom's dining room as one of her Christmas gifts. Last year we had painted her living room, so this year we finished the project by doing the dining room also. It has really brightened up her home, and she says she is very happy with it, so we're feeling good about our accomplishments.
On Christmas Eve, Ben, Arianna, and I went to the Hilmar Cheese Factory and toured the plant. We got to see how they make the cheese, and even better, we got to taste lots of wonderful samples. Here are some pictures of us having fun and a 640lb block of cheese... yumm!
Christmas day was spent at my Uncle Dale and Aunt Carol's home in Modesto. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas meal, and Arianna got to meet many more aunts, uncles, and cousins for the first time. Even my cousin Jody, who says he normally doesn't like babies, told us that Arianna is a cute kid. Coming from him, he says, that's a big compliment! 
We have a tradition in my family where we have a gift exchange every Christmas. Everyone puts an anonymous gift in a pile in the middle of the room, and everyone draws a number to see the order we will pick a gift. The first person chooses a gift from the pile of presents and opens it. The second person has the option of either stealing that gift or selecting a new one from the pile of unopened presents. And it continues this way until every gift has been opened, and then the person who went first gets the final choice where they can either steal at the very end or keep their gift.
I had painted a Tuscany scene to bring to 
the gift exchange, which had a frame hand-built by Ben, and it was the very last gift to be unwrapped. I was kind of anxious the whole time to see who would end up with my painting, and the fact that it was chosen last only added to my anxiety. It ended up perfect though, because my cousin Jason got the painting. He and his wife were married just a few months ago, and they had honeymooned in Italy, so I thought it was pretty cool that they were the ones who got the Tuscany artwork. I asked Jason if it looked anything like what he had seen (since I haven't been there myself), and he said the vineyards reminded him of a lot of the countryside there.
The Saturday after Christmas, Ben, Arianna, my mom, and I all went to San Francisco to see a few sights. We toured one of the 21 original California missions, Mission San Francisco de Asis.
We also ate at an authentic SF sushi cafe called The Crazy Sushi. I'm not normally a big fan of sushi, but this place really was good, and Ben was the brave one who ordered raw octopus and scallops and the super hot wasabi sauce. I stuck with the veggie rolls and California rolls with crab. No squishy octopus for me!
On our way back to the valley, we visited the Oakland, CA temple. This was our first time visiting the Oakland temple since we were married there in August 2006. It was really neat to 
pose for pictures in the same places we had a couple years before, but this time with our little baby in the pictures. We had missed the last temple session of the evening, but we were able to see the incredible statue display at the visitor's center, as well as the Christmas lights on the temple grounds... there's nothing like Christmas in California, where they decorate the palm trees with lights!
On our last day trip in California, we took my dad to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA, which is near the Bay Area. This was super fun! We got to go on a tour all through the factory and see how they make the Jelly Bellies from start to finish, and they gave 
us free samples. My dad accidentally bought about 4 lbs of Jelly Bellies... he just got a little carried away with the excitement of it all, and ended up with more than he had intended. Ben and I also bought a bag of "Belly Flops," which are the beans that are not quite perfect, but still taste mighty fine. It was great to spend the whole day with my dad, and we had a great time together.
We spent New Year's Eve with family, first visiting my great-uncle Bob and great-aunt Mary, then spending the evening with aunts, uncles and cousins at my Uncle Keith and Aunt Helen's house. We woke up the next day to drive back to Utah, driving half a day ahead of the next storm. We were certainly glad when we arrived back in Provo before any more snow. Arianna was even better on the drive back, but was more than happy to get out of her car seat and spend some quality time with her mobile. Ben was able to check on his grades for fall semester and we found out that he finished with all A's, even in anatomy, which is impressive.
We hope all of you are having a fantastic start to the new year. The year is starting with our hitting the road running. Ben starts his last semester of prerequisite courses on Wednesday, I'm (finally!) finishing the last details for my Master's degree, and by summertime we will be moving on to bigger and better life adventures!
