February

Wow. February flew by and was so busy but also very fun! I'll cut to the chase.

Preston and I were invited to a "ugly sweater party" with friends. lots of fun!

My good friend Steff and I threw a baby shower for our good friend Kirsten. Due any time now! Can't wait to meet the sweet girl :)

 Preston and I also got to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. WOW. It was amazing. So much fun and such amazing talent. I didn't want it to end. They were here to celebrate Arizona's 100th birthday.

Preston and I also watched some friends kiddo's for a weekend. We stayed with the kids at a condo resort thing. We had 4 kids ages 11-3. They were GREAT. It was so much fun. We played tennis, swam, played tons of games, watched movies, played more tennis, swam some more and played more games and watched more movies. Good times!

I went to another baby shower for another friend and Preston finished up another quarter in school. I'd say February was a whirl wind but lots of fun!

Preston and I went on yet again another vacation. We have been so lucky to be able to travel so much and to do such fun things. Especially knowing the time is getting closer and closer to us starting our family (no, I'm not preggo, and no, we haven't started trying yet) but it is getting here. So having that in mind lately, has really made me appreciate all this time I've had just with Preston and all the adventures we've been able to go on and all the time it's been just the two of us. Don't get me wrong, we're definitely excited and look forward to when we start our family, but having pretty much a 5 year honeymoon so far, has been great. So, for this trip, Preston and I went to Northern Cali to visit family and San Francisco. If Disneyland was in Northern Cali. I would never need to go to Southern Cali. Northern Cali is beautiful. I just love that place and what it has to offer. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities to visit and the family we have there is even better!

We spent the day at aunt Treacy and uncle Jay's. They live in the "country" this was pretty much their back yard.. a short drive down the road. Gorgeous walk.

Love them. People say we all look a lot alike. I must agree :)

I just love Preston.

My studly cousin Kyle. Such a great guy. Sorry ladies, he's taken :)

Connor. Funny, great, sweet boy!

Sibling love... If that's what you call it!

Ellie!

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After breakfast, our walk and spending the morning with Treacy and Jay and fam, the rest of the fam came up to their house and we went to "Awful Annie's" for lunch. Yummy food, fun environment, great company! Me, Grandma Bev and Hollie.

Sorry it's blurry... Janelle and Grandma Bev!

What is with the blurry-ness!

Uncle Matt and myself. We go way back. It was so fun seeing him.

Uncle Matt's cute wifey aunt Janelle and sweet daughter Abby.

Just Dance 3!

MAAA BAAAD!! Hollie.

Since Kyle had to work, we found a pic. of him to be in the pic!

Aunt Treacy.

The next day Aunt Treacy and Hollie came to Grandma Bev's and Grandpa Don's house and we played Tripoley and had a blast and laughed the night away.

Because Hollie loves me so much, she attacked me with tape. Treacy says I look like "burn victim barbie" haha.

Face lifts gone wrong. Who knew tape would be so much fun!

Preston and I with two of the greatest people I know. So lucky to have them in our lives!

We even skype'd with my family! Pretty mom and lili and Chris with a duck in his mouth?? Yeah, that's Chris for ya!

 Preston and I went into San Francisco and did something I've wanted to do ever since I knew the place existed... tour Alcatraz. It was SOO worth it and so amazing. Creepy in some parts but mostly interesting and wow, what great views and gardens this place has. The guard's and their families would live on the island and from interviews of children who grew up on the island loved it, it was always nicely landscaped, quiet, the views are to die for and it was a safe neighborhood because everybody knew where the bad people were and they had the best security around! We learned so much about this place and enjoyed hearing all the stories.

A beautiful morning out on the bay.

On the ferry ride to Alcatraz.

Dining hall

Notice the knife board. They are showing how they would outline the knives so they would know if any were missing. They said they went missing all the time and that and all the other utensils made the dining hall the most dangerous room.

One of the most famous escape stories is when a couple of the prisoners chipped away at the concrete, started with a nail file and went on with a sharpened spoon.

They made dummies like the one in this picture to look like somebody was in bed when they escaped.

Hard to see, but these are the pipes they climbed up once they got through the wall.

Warden's headquarters. 15 room mansion. This was caught on fire when the native american's had their riot on the island back in the 60's.

Inside Administration building

The vault.

Visitation

The prisoners eventually got radio in their stalls.

Preston in solitary confinement

Looking out of solitary confinement.

D-Block, solitary confinement.

I would definitely become crazy (even more so than I am now) If I had to be locked up on this place.

"Battle on Alcatraz" You can see where the hand grenades exploded.

What a lot of the cells looked like. One guy learned how to knit (knit on the left of the picture) from his grandma and taught a lot of the other inmates. That would be an interesting sight. All these killers, robbers, rapist,.. knitting away!

This place had the most gorgeous views! We lucked out with a clear sunny day. Cold and windy, but beautiful!

This is where the guards and families and other workers would host parties and dances. They had a bowling alley in the basement. Also burnt by the Native American riot's in the 60's.

Golden Gate Bridge

Beautiful gardens. They had gardens like these in the early day's of the prison too. So pretty!

Recreation area.

See.. cold and WINDY!!

Showers; The prisoners got two showers a week.

clothing area.

When the island was used for a military base before it was the prison, this was access to tunnels, during the prison day's, this was a morgue! Looking in that window gave ya some chills. FYI, there was never a death row or executions on the prison grounds. So this was used for guys who committed suicide or killed by other inmates or just died of other natural causes.

Apartment/duplex for officers and families were around the island.

Cannon from the military day's.

SUNNY in my face!! I was so excited to be at this place!

After Alcatraz, we had a fantastic lunch at Boudin's. They are known for their sourdough bread. (I've eaten half a loaf already). The clam chowder was heavenly!

Our view of the bay and Alcatraz (covered by the huge ship). Look at that thing. Those are so cool to see coming through the bay.

After lunch, we took a walk along pier 39 and made sure we checked out the Sea Lion's!

On the drive home, we decided to take hwy 1 for a lot of the drive. It added a couple of hours to our drive but it was well worth it. We had views like this most of the way home. It would be ocean view and within a couple of minutes, deep deep forest/woods. So gorgeous.

We found a nice, quiet look out to have lunch.

Well, there ya have it! Great trip! Thanks to all our family who made it amazing. Especially to Grandma Bev and Grandpa Don for being great host's, great cooks and awesome company! We love you guys!