When Momma Came to Town

I've never understood why it is always so hard to be a tourist in your own city, especially when you live in a touristy city.  Perplexing paradox - I think so!  I lived in Paris for a year and saw many things, but not nearly as many as I would have liked to.  I've always regretted this, but in my defense, I was practicing the harp like crazy!  I suppose life is just busy and excuses are always easy to come by, which is why one of our New Year's resolutions is to see and experience more everyday!  Speaking of excuses, not that McKay and I wanted an excuse, but McKay's mom gave us the perfect one to start seeing some of those things we had been "saving" by visiting us in LA! 

It is always easier to get out and be a tourist when you have one, so thanks mom!  We started at the Getty Villa, which a friend of mine raved about, so naturally I had to go!  The museum is free - I know Wow! right?  J. Paul wanted admission to always be free at his museum here, but they found a way around it by charging $15 for parking.  In the end that's not so bad for the three of us!

 Getty's collection includes perfectly preserved Greek and Roman art, but probably my favorite part about the museum was the museum itself with it's beautiful architecture, gardens and pools. 

 They even had a sculpture of a harpist from Roman times...making harp the coolest instrument!  Sorry fellow musicians!

First thought when I saw this...

  "Slave!  Bring me my laptop!  I want to check my e-mail."
I mean what else could she be doing, right!?!

For lunch we took mom to True Food, one of our fav restaurants in Santa Monica because they cater to Gluten-free eaters, and then hopped over to the Santa Monica Pier.

What a beautiful day and people to spend a terrifically touristy day with!

(terrifically: what a funny word!  It either means:

1) Very Bad: Frightful

2) Exciting or fit to excite awe (the one I meant)

And don't even get me started on awful and awesome!

Ok, I already started!  Why is it ok to have some awe, but bad to be full of awe!  Just a thought.)

New Year's Eve

Instead of ringing in the New Year, I plucked it in!

And did so at this stunning Malibu estate!

A few months ago I got a call from this lovely bride asking if I could play at her wedding.  All I needed to hear was Malibu and New Year's Eve...Of course I said YES!

I gasped when I walked through their side gate and saw this!

As requested by the bride, both the processional and recessional pieces were accompanied by this fabulous violinist.  He played almost everything by ear!  It was quite impressive!

And, as you can tell by my squinty-eyed face, the sun was a bit intense that day.  All that morning I was so worried because it kept threatening to rain.  Luckily, the sky held out just long enough for the wedding, and for McKay and I to get everything back into the car!  Then it poured!  I'm sure the bride would not agree with me on this, but I really wished it would have stayed cloudy.  Then I could have seen my music and avoided the one-sided face sunburn!  

Regardless, the wedding went smoothly and the bride was happy, which is all that matters in the end.

After the wedding we stuck around Malibu and made a celebration of it.  We enjoyed the sights of Malibu, then splurged a bit at a nice Italian restaurant with some of the moolah I got from the gig!

Oh! And that night we did lounge in our jammies until late to watch the ball drop with sparkling grape juice in hand!

Cousin to Cousin...

...we'll always be, 

Special friends from the same family tree.

At Christmastime, cousins are the presents under the tree.  

And this Christmas I got plenty!

Oldest to youngest Von Trapp style.

Raleigh and Lili's little cuties!  I do not get to see these little munchkins enough!

Thanks for sharing them with us!  What joys!

No Christmas break is complete without our annual girlies shopping spree!  Could life get any better?  

                                                                       Only if there were an H&M in Utah.  

                                                                                                                                ahh...Life is better!

Chad's Angels

The three C's made these wooden Bond guns from scratch!

They have more creativity in their little pinkies than I have all together!  They are some of the most talented, intelligent and accomplished people I know and I love them to death!

See ya'll next year!

Do I really have to wait another year to do it all again?  Ugh!

Nelson & Rosalia

One of the main reasons we travelled out to Utah this Christmas, besides the time we obviously wanted to spend with our families, was to attend Nelson and Rosalia's wedding!  It was such a joy to celebrate their most special and sacred occasion with them!

What a beautiful couple inside and out! 

The joyous day began with a delicious morning brunch complete with music provided by our own talented Matthew...

And Nelson, who played the adorable song he wrote to propose to Rosalia. 

In between brunch and the actual ceremony we had a delightful time roaming around temple square and Deseret Book, where they had the cutest gingerbread man machine!

How cute is this, right!?!  Love it!

While waiting for the happy couple to come out Matthew slipped in a quick nap in one of the most comfortable sleeping positions I have ever seen.

And here they come!  

It was pretty chilly!  Good man Nelson!

Their reception that night was at the regal Joseph Smith Memorial Building with a stunning view of Temple Square in its full glory!

The beautiful blushing bride with one of the most elegant dresses I've ever seen!  All custom made!