Temple Lights

Saturday night we spent the evening with extended family visiting posh malls in Marin and traveling to the temple to see the Christmas lights.  What a view!  The visitor center was also giving presentations, including a look at an original Book of Mormon printed in 1830, and a walk through of sculptures made by Angela Johnson.  It was very inspiring to be among missionaries proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It strengthened my testimony and increased my faith and love for my Savior.

Nutcracker Night!

On Tuesday (the 16th) my sister, Laura, and I took Mattie, Ella, and her daughter, Lily to the The Nutcracker in San Francisco and wow did we have a great time! It was truly enchanting and even though we were up in the balcony (in the "cheap" seats, which is a relative term :)) we chose our seats early (back in September) and so were able to be right up front in the first row of the balcony circle. The view was great and the girls were on the edge of their seats the whole time-well, with the exception of Ella who decided to dance in the aisles during the second act. I told her that the ushers were watching her and that seemed to work:)

The San Francisco Ballet performs at the War Memorial Opera House which is just a treat in itself to visit. We also chose to go on a "family performance" night which meant that the girls got to meet some of the dancers beforehand and they provided free cookies and juice at intermission. Here are some pictures of our experience including the last one of our trip home which speaks for itself!

Halloween and Dolphins

Wow have we been busy the last couple of months! This is short but I really wanted to post this cute picture of the kids on Halloween. We went to the ward party for a little while where, of course, Liam was a big hit as Yoda. Afterwards, we went trick-or-treating in between sprinklings of rain but it was still nice and warm. After being in Utah for several years and enduring trick-or-treating in the snow with heavy coats on, I will forever be grateful for beautiful, warm California autumn nights-I love it, love it, love it!

One more thing-speaking of rain...Mark had a really neat and really wet experience on Saturday. He was given a gift certificate from his parents for his birthday last year to swim with the dolphins at Marine World (now Discovery Kingdom) which is right here in Vallejo. His class was scheduled for last Saturday and they go on rain or shine-and it was pouring!

Liam's Big Adventure

This week Mark left for San Diego to attend a four-day long conference for work. Since he was going to have a really nice hotel room right in downtown San Diego, Liam and I went down a day later to join him while my mom came down and stayed with Mattie and Ella. But since most of the pictures are of Liam, I'm calling this his "big adventure" :) Even in the few days we were there, we couldn't do everything. So, we just stayed close to the hotel because there was so much to do just within walking distance.

From the very beginning, Liam was enthralled with all the new sights. The airport, the shuttle, the hotel and then all the things we saw as we pushed him along in the stroller. He loved it and, as always, was happy to just look around and take everything in. Here is a picture of the hotel as Liam and I went out one day to walk down to the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier musuem. We were right there on the very end on the 19th floor with a gorgeous view of the bay, the ocean, and Coronado Island.

We walked about 1/2 mile down the boardwalk to the Midway and toured the inside and the flight deck. It was amazing and Liam had a great time looking at all the planes. Here's a picture of Liam sitting in an old ejection seat. In the next picture, I asked someone to take a picture of Liam and me both standing in front of an old plane up on the flight deck.

In the evenings, Mark came with us to tour the famous Gaslamp Quarter just two blocks away; we took the trolley to the other side of downtown and walked around Old Town San Diego; and our favorite place was Seaport Village made up of waterfront restaurants and little shops that was busy late into the evening and was just along the boardwalk behind the hotel.
Whew! We had a great time and hope to go back next time with the girls, too, and do everything else we didn't get a chance to this time.

Our vacation at Newman Lake

Well, we're back from our week-long vacation at a cabin on Newman Lake, WA that has been in the Guthrie family for over 50 yrs. It's a beautiful place and we had a great time just relaxing, swimming, and canoeing around the lake. Mark taught Mattie and Ella how to fish and they caught on very fast. Anna's highlights of the week were reading a novel (wow has it been a long time) and even once got to take a shower in the middle of day without having to notify the press. It was amazing-now that's what I call a vacation! We also go to do a little sight-seeing on our drives up and back. We discovered that we love Bend, OR! Here are some pictures of our adventures. Hope you all are having a great summer!

Teeth, Swimming Lessons, and Our Garden

Our first big news is Liam's first two teeth! Both of his bottom front teeth cut through two Sundays ago so he got to go to church and show them off. We had noticed Liam was teething for the last couple of months but he wasn't too bothered by it so we were surprised when they suddenly popped up! He's a happy and easy going little guy.

Last week, Mattie and Ella both started swimming lessons for the first time ever. They both attend at the same time and in the same pool but in different classes. After only five classes, they both are doing so great. It helped a lot that their best friends from church (that's Ella's friend Olivia with her in the first picture) are in class with them. After two days, Ella was under the water more than she was out of it-without holding her nose!

Also, for the past two weeks our garden has been producing vegetables abundantly. Here are pictures of Mattie and Ella posing with our first cucumber and Mark and the girls (and a neighbor kid) holding up our potato harvest. We've been enjoying fresh peas from the pod every day as well as zucchini and beans. Yumm! I've also included a couple of pictures from recent outings-the first one is of the girls and I posing with my favorite superhero, Wonder Woman, at Marine World (now Discovery Kingdom). And the second picture was taken at an exhibit at the Marin County Fair last week where Mattie and Ella got to meet Storm Troopers-also some of our favorite movie characters! I'm sure both times the girls were wondering who in the world are these strange people and why are mom and dad so excited about taking pictures of them?

We'll be back with a new post in two weeks when we get back from our trip to Newman Lake, WA with Mark's parents. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation!

Our 8th Anniversary on the Bay!

The other exciting event this week was our 8th wedding anniversary. It was on Friday the 20th but since Mattie had a performance that night, we squeezed it in on Thursday night the 19th. My mom came down and watched the kids while we went on a 2 1/2 hr. dinner dance cruise around San Francisco Bay. It was amazing! We had perfect weather, great food and music, and had a rare up-close glimpse of Alcatraz, Angel Island, the San Francisco shoreline, and even a trip under the Golden Gate Bridge-amazing-it was so much fun!

 

Mattie's Dance Performances

This week was the long anticipated rehearsal and performance week for Mattie's ballet and tap classes that she takes at a small local dance studio. Her teacher is great-she's a former dancer/performer and "Raiderette"-she owns the place herself and teaches all the classes. At the end of the year they do a big show at the beautiful Maritime Academy here in Vallejo right on the water beneath the Carquinez bridge. So here are the pictures of Mattie doing both her ballet and tap routines and in her costumes. It was a long week of rehearsals but a great "real-life" performing experience for the kids. 

 

Mattie's story contest

Believe it or not, I'm finally updating our blog! We've been so busy with the end of the school year and after this week it will all be over as Mattie has her ballet and tap performances on Fri. and Sat. nights (the 20th and 21st). But, we will tell more about that and post pictures after the weekend. Our most recent event we want to share is Mattie's awards ceremony for the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest. We submitted her original story called "Sarah Saves the Horses" with illustrations back in March. Out of over 200 first graders throughout the Bay Area, Mattie won 3rd place! And coincidentally, Mattie's best friend from church who homeschools, too, won 1st place for 1st grade. The girls were excited but I think us moms were more excited they were. We attended the awards ceremony on Saturday June 7 at the KQED television station in San Francisco. They had a catered lunch for us and read all of the winning stories (K-3 grades). They were all awarded with Reading Rainbow backpacks, DVD's, books, and tickets to local kids museums and parks. We had such a fun time and it was a great experience for Mattie. We are going to try and scan Mattie's story and post it on the blog so you all can see it. Until next time...which will hopefully be soon.

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Talking dogs!

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The Baby Blessing Reunion

The baby blessing was wonderful! Rick and Megan came down from Washington to see Liam for the first time and Rick participated in the priesthood blessing. Myrle was unable to come, but looks forward to flying down some time in the near future. Eric, Judy and the Browns also came down from Sonora and Jamestown for the blessing.

We named him Liam Garrett Guthrie. We chose the name Liam because it was a name Anna and I both liked. Garrett is the last name of my great-great grandparents. From his birth all of us have been absolutely in love with this little man. So far he sleeps all day minus the evenings when he seems to be fussy. He is a hearty eater and loves to sit upright in our arms and look around. Those participating in the blessing were Eric, Rick, Dustin, Donald Atwater, Dean Davis, Bishop Terry, and Greg Glenn. Ernesto Revetto, a very good friend, held the microphone for Mark.

We were very fortunate to have so much of our family visiting us. The Browns and Olsons came down just for the day. After the blessing we rushed to our community center to have a bite before everyone went home. However, we couldn't find the codes for the center doors. So instead we ate at Terrace Park, which lies right at our
front door. It was a cold day and the park was extremely soggy from yesterdays rains...so it was interesting trying to enjoy a brief lunch. We ended up eating the cake in our house until it was time to take Rick and Megan to the airport.

A big thank you to all those who have prayed for us...we need those prayers! We appreciate everyone's gifts. Liam has grown out of his 3 month old clothes and is well on his way to his missionary suit.

If you aren't saving water, beware...the dog!

I need the monkey!

Octopus and Sharks

Are the waters safe anymore?