January

 Testing out my Christmas present (to myself).  Love the fire pit.  We had a really warm December and January if you can't tell from Ava's winter attire. 

 

Our tree produced a lot of lemons this year, so I've been getting creative with ways to use them up.  There's always a box of citrus at church too from ward members trying to get rid of their citrus.  

Lemon curd for the year.

 

Made these lemon entremet cakes that were so yummy and used up about 7 of those lemons. Preserved some lemons and froze the rest.  

 The kids playing in the rain (mainly lifting electrical boxes to see what's floating around in there).  I'm taking the picture from the dry house. :)

 One of the storms toppled over this huge oak tree.  The bridge at the creek looks pretty bare now with it gone.  

 Ava was the only one to do the polar bear plunge this winter.  It's probably not much of a polar bear plunge when the outside temperature is 60 degrees and you're wearing a wet suit. Still braver than me.  

 We go on family walks on Sundays and about half way thru it starts raining.  This has happened way more times than it should.  You'd think we would check the forecast BEFORE we start walking.  The kids think it's quite fun when it downpours on us. 

 Saturday bike ride. 

 Activity days - First activity in January we did Resolution jars and dipped fruit and treats in chocolate.  2nd activity we did a fitness/dance class and then had smoothies.  

 Snowshoeing with some hiking friends to Echo lake in South lake Tahoe. 

 Frozen Echo lake

 The boys have been turning the tiny attic space in our entryway into a fort.  They hammered in a floor, added lights (hanging flashlights), taped up the wires ;).  The access is thru a small hole in the shoe closet. :)  They have big plans to cut a hole in the wall and make a sniper hole for their nerf guns. 

 Beautiful Camelias blooming.  Love that we get a pre-Spring in January. 

 Ava took her sluff day.  We watched a movie and then went to lunch with Adam.  I think we did something else, but can't remember. 

 Scout camp out for Noah and Adam at Point Reyes.

 There was a huge elephant seal in the water where they were playing. 

 Adam took some friends to the cabin to work on cutting out more trees and undergrowth. 

Adam said this fire was soooooo hot.  Jared said he had blisters on his back from this. :/  Hard hard work, but it's getting better each tree or bush that comes out.  We had a few trees we didn't want gone fall this weekend from ALL the rain.