


We had such a great holiday season. Of course I didn't take any pictures (because I'm a loser) but I did manage to get a few on Christmas Eve just before bed and the next morning.
Luke has the most AMAZING piano teacher ever....my super-talented and beautiful sister-in-law Mary Dixon. Despite the fact that most of time she makes the rest of us look bad she is one of my favorite people ;) A couple weeks before Christmas was Luke's first recital. There was a pretty little duet of Silent Night that he and David played together. He seemed so grown up and handled the pressure like a champ. I think of all the things we've put Luke in piano is the most promising. I'm giving all the credit to MARY! Thank you!!!
The view from our room overlooked the San Diego Bay and downtown. Jane and Luke spent hours in front of this window. The night before we left we were all crawling into bed when we heard a loud BOOM...we ran over to the window and there were fireworks being shot off all the bay cruise liners. We had the best view in the city! It was another one of those magical moments.



In Old Town we visited the Mormon Battallion Museum. If you're going to San Diego don't miss this! Luke loved it...seriously. At the end of the tour they taught kids how to pan for gold and they even let them keep the "gold" they found. It was great! Our trip had mostly been about fun so it was refeshing to have a more educational activity that was still fun for kids. I love this kind of stuff.

After the Zoo we went down to Seaport Village, which is right outside our hotel, to spend our last evening. We strolled through all the shops and let the kids play while the sunset. These are my favorite pictures, and maybe my favorite memory, from the entire trip.



I live for those who love me,
Whose hearts are kind and true,
For the Heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit too;
For all human ties that bind me,
For the task by God assigned me,
For the bright hopes yet to find me,
And the good that I can do.
I live to learn their story
Who suffered for my sake;
To emulate their glory,
And follow in their wake;
Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,
The heroic of all ages,
Whose deeds crowd History's pages,
And Time's great volume make.
I live to hold communion
With all that is divine,
To feel there is a union
'Twixt Nature's heart and mine;
To profit by affliction,
Reap truth from fields of fiction,
Grow wiser from conviction,
And fulfill God's grand design.
I live to hail that season
By gifted ones foretold,
When men shall live by reason,
And not alone by gold;
When man to man united,
And every wrong thing righted,
The whole world shall be lighted
As Eden was of old.
I live for those who love me,
For those who know me true,
For the Heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit too;
For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.
-George Linnaeus Banks-