Tuesday, July 7, 2015

School Field Trips

Field trip to US District Courthouse

When excavating the land which the courthouse sits on, there was found artifacts from the Chinese gold rush camps.  Very cool!


Looks pretty good as a judge!

View of Sacramento


The snazzy-dressed, considerate, young men VI Mom chaperoned. 



We're Going to the Zoo


County Fair

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Mom and Dad Dates!

Walk the Moon
(Contest won at Star 106.5)


       Shut Up and Dance With Me!


Howard Jones
(our 80s fix at Harlow's and got to enjoy the show standing next to his wife)



     Everlasting Love


(Better than the grocery shopping dates.)



Family Outings

WE LOVE OUR FROZEN TREATS!

Free Cone at Dairy Queen
(FHE with Sister Missionaries and Miss Gavilan Hills, CA)


Found a new place to get Ice Cream and Hawaiian Style Shaved Ice

And there again with Dad this time!



Yard Sale and Entrepreneurial Sales



Drive In 
Watching Tomorrowland and Avengers: Age of Ultron



Trip to Crocker Museum
Jennifer Steinkamp's work called "Rapunzel"
....

ANAHEIM 2015

 We've been wanting to go to Disneyland for a few years now.
So we went during President's Week.
We stayed at a great place where we were on the same floor as the breakfast dining room.



DAY 1

We were all enthusiastic and energized about our Disneyland Adventure.

Then.... our first ride was Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Here's the "what have you put me on" look!

Here's the "do I trust you ever again" look.
Anticipating the Dumbo Ride.
 This was one of her favorites!


Fun Frozen shows.




 Autopia

Lovely Daughter's 2nd favorite ride







For the trip, everyone got new sneakers!  
We logged about 24,000 steps each day!



The Entire Family enjoyed this ride and Toy Story Mania (CA Adventure)


Just missed Tinker Bell. 


"It's a Small World" can be such a crazy ride.




At Innoventions (we also saw ASIMO)


Perfect way to end our day at Disneyland.
Photo Op with Mickey!!


DAY 2

None of us have ever been to CA Adventure,
so it truly was an adventure for our whole family.

If the line for Radiator's Springs Racers says a 90 minute wait time, and you have older children, we totally recommend taking the "single rider's" line that was only a 15 minute wait!


Funny picture below.... we paid to see this... 
what we see EVERY TIME we visit, Grandma and Grandpa Byrd in Southeastern Utah.


"Single riders don't get to sit side by side with family", but as you can see Son #3 and VI Mom got to ride in the same car!  And the other people in the car were very nice too.




We lucked out and got to celebrate "Chinese New Year's"! 
Some fun activities, performers and even a dragon parade with Mulan!  
Great entertainment while we ate lunch.
Gong Hey Fat Choy!



Mickey's Fun Wheel (wasn't so "fun" for some in the family)
Seriously, this was the scariest ride for Son #1, who we now believe has acrophobia!

Thank goodness for kind, supportive brothers!






Great Place to take a Family Photo!


OLAF'S SNOWFEST






While Son#2 and HW Dad (the 2 risk-takers in the family)
were trying NOT to scream on California Screamin'...



... the rest of us worked our way to....

Freeze the Night: A Family Dance Party!






Anna and Elsa's Royal Welcome!

This was the one thing, we couldn't miss.




The finale of the evening,
FROZEN SINGALONG!


It was really a perfect time to relax and sing with other children and families.



NEXT DAY
Beautiful Almond Orchards with their Blossoms



and
PURE EXHAUSTION!!

The favorite rides were Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, Autopia and Space Mountain.

They're all growing up, so glad we were able to make some family memories together.



Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Merry Christmas!


Hard Working Dad was honored with a BIG Gingerbread Cookie!
Sister Mills made these special for the Bishopric
It was DELICIOUS! She's the BEST!



Here's our Annual Byrd Christmas Video.
Enjoy!



Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving was so much fun with family-especially hanging out with cousins!
Thanksgiving this year was centered around service.


~ ~ ~

First up:  Run to Feed the Hungry.


 The Byrds and the Millers braved the early morning Thanksgiving Day chill.
Some walked and others ran the 5K through beautiful Sacramento neighborhoods.



~ ~ ~

In the afternoon, family and a family friend worked on making some hats for Angel Outfitters.
Such a wonderful way to serve grieving families of angel babies.


A few of us that day have lost a child through miscarriage. 
We understand a little of how these families might feel.
This particular service was in honor of an angel nephew/cousin.


We were able to make 40 hat sets (80 hats in total) in varying sizes.
The angel baby is dress with one set and the other set remains with their families.
(Some have been sent to a Women's and Children's hospital in Louisiana.)


~ ~ ~

 Our final service of the holiday was to make these cute advent calendars for all our nephews serving full time missions.  They were sent to Oregon, New York, Germany, Michigan and Southern California.  The calendars included a fun joke for each day leading up to Christmas Day. We received many thank you cards and messages from these amazing Elders.



~ ~ ~


Our Michigan Elder had his farewell talk that Sunday.
It's pretty emotional to see these young men grow up!



We're so thankful for forever families!