Sweet Grandma Wright

This morning we received the news that Kevin's last remaining grandparent had passed away. Jean Wright, Kevin's mom's mother, was the sweetest lady and will be greatly missed by all her posterity and friends. We went to visit Grandma Wright while we were home for Christmas, which ended up being the last time we saw her. We're sure glad we stopped for a visit, even if she didn't fully recognize us or remember our visit.

Grandma has been without her sweet spouse for 10 years so she was more than ready to go home to heaven to be reunited with him again. We are sure she's happilyy with Grandpa Wright right now.

Where did December go?

Is 2011 really gone already? And I didn't even do a single blog post in December. Hmmmph. Well, it was a pretty crazy month. We had Kevin's last semester of class work, finals, a ward Christmas party to be in charge of, California Christmas, followed by 3 wonderful Utah Christmases. I think I'll still go back and update the photos and stories soon, since this is my personal journal and I'll want to be able and look back some day and remember.

Until then, here's a sneak peek for anyone who still reads. We did a family photo shoot with my dad's side of the family on Christmas eve. My step-mom is a huge Ute fan, so naturally we did Utes vs. BYU themed pictures. It was fun and funny and the photos turned out great thanks to my aunt Cecily at mychaosmybliss who takes fabulous photos! Although I'm still convinced one day these will end up in one of those Awkward Family Photos calenders :) More to come soon!

The hair Kevin secretly longs for!

Yeah, we're not normal... funny thing is that none of actually attended BYU or the U. Go figure?

Korbin cutie

This little guy knows just how to push my buttons and simultaneously melt my heart! He makes me laugh so much and brings such joy to our family. We love having Korbin in our lives! Lately he's been so busy climbing in and on and over EVERYTHING! I have to keep a close eye on him. It's funny to watch where he likes to hide and play. He likes tiny corners and little spaces. I think a new one this month will be hiding underneath the Christmas tree. We love you Korbin!

Kevin was hiding mandarin oranges on and around Korbin and he thought it was so funny!

Thankful

My family has all gone home. The apartment is vacuumed and clean once more. Leftovers are stocking the fridge. The Christmas tree and decorations are up. The kids are sleeping soundly in the other room. I feel so content and blessed tonight! We just spent a wonderful few days with my side of the family who came out to visit for Thanksgiving. We had a jam packed few days full of adventure, good food, and even better company. Best part was when my mom said this was her favorite Thanksgiving EVER! We had a good time to say the least. Here are the highlights:

First stop, The Jelly Belly Factory. We've been here way too many times, but it's a must when family comes to visit.

Me and cousin Sara with our Jelly Belly boyfriend.

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to wild turkeys outside our apartment. Kassidy asked if we shot one of those turkey's to eat.

Thanksgiving dinner was at my aunt and uncle's home. We had a big group and wonderful food! This was a first for the Hicken family to have Thanksgiving in California and mostly be together. These are my beautiful ginger cousins :)

Aunt Jennette can cook up a storm!

Cousins Sara and Justin

The Hicken clan. Everyone but Clark and Kelly's family and my brother and wife were here.

Next came a little turkey induced nap time.

The next day we broke off into groups and went wherever the wind took us. Our breeze took us to the city and sight seeing. We stopped at the Marin headlands overlook of the bridge, then went to Fort Point, had a picnic, and ended with a drive down Lombard street.

Kassidy loves to take over the camera and many of the pictures I posted were taken by her!

From Kassidy' viewpoint

On top of Fort Point. Amazing view of the bridge and bay!

Me and sweet mama!

We had a fabulous week and wish it could've lasted longer.

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween in California! The weather was warm, almost too warm--about 76 while trick-or-treating and in the 80's during the day. It didn't feel very fallish, but at least we didn't have to wear coats while trick-or-treating. We had an eventful day full of too much candy, lots of walking and finished with even more candy. The kids had a good time, and we exhausted ourselves because we were all in bed early. I already posted these on facebook so these are pretty much for my grandparents to see. Happy Halloween!

Sweet Dorothy

Scarecrow

The whole group (minus a lion) at the ward trunk-or-treat. All the costumes were homemade which made it even more fun! Although the face paints scared our sweet Korbin :)

What happens at Date Night stays at Date Night

My sweet aunt came over last week to watch the kids so Kevin and I could go on a much needed date. With school and pharmacy rotations we haven't gotten to spend much time together just the two of us. I had forgotten how much fun we have together! We spent the whole night laughing and talking (I don't think we even mentioned the kids) and acted like teenagers. My favorite part of the night was putting on costumes at Target and acting like spazzes. I think it's really good for a marriage to let free and just act silly around each other.

Creepy

Masquerade

Again, creepy.

Gladiator

Hola!

Got Milk?

Pumpkin Patches

Although I really miss being home in Utah around this time of year, we have found there are lots of fun things to do in California in the fall. The weather is still quite hot, so getting outside and playing has been very pleasant. We've visited many pumpkin patches this month and played with our great friends. We are lucky to be in such a versatile area where we have so many neat things around us.

Suisun Valley Pumpkin Patch

Noah, Daniel, Caytlyn, Micah, Kassidy, Korbin, Sara

Larry's Produce giant pumpkin with the Tabish's.

I love how much Kassidy looks out for and loves her brother. I hope it lasts :)

Jelly Belly Factory. We did the haunted house inside too. It was a bit to scary for the kids this year. Kassidy wore her princess crown to "shine the bad ghosts away".

Dixon "Cool Pumpkin Patch" playing in the corn bath. So fun!

Jen and I definitely got our work outs riding these pedal bikes around the pumpkin patches. We've had a great time this fall and look forward to the start of the holidays.