by kenny

Laura, our friend Heather, and her mom Carol got to go to a live taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show in Burbank. Heather's grandma May lives there so they had a nice visit with her and ate at an amazing bakery, Porto's, and had an all around great time. It was Super Bowl time, so they had a tailgate party.









Bobby Brown was the special guest. The audience danced with him to "My Perogative" before the show. Laura walked away with Orville Redenbacher popcorn, a Giants t-shirt and a $300 gift certificate for Stubbs BBQ. Nice. Afterwards Heather and Laura went to see the Takashi Murakami exhibit at MOCA in LA. Thanks Carol and Heather!

by kenny

While in Phoenix, Erica gave us a City Pass booklet that included a free 3-day park hopper ticket for Disneyland and California Adventure. We bought a second ticket and went to both parks 3 different times in January for only $120! Went we by ourselves once and spent all day at both parks. We brought the moho, and were able to eat lunch and take a nap in the afternoon. If you are going to Disneyland, and have a motorhome, I highly recommend doing this. It only costs a few dollars more to park, but you get to park right near the tram station, and it's awesome to have your own little home to go to when you want a break. The parks were still decorated for Christmas while we were there. As we went home that night at midnight, Laura got super tired and had a sore throat. She ended up with step throat and spent 4 days in bed.

A couple weeks later, Erica, Shawn, Elisa and some friends from Phoenix took the kids to Disneyland for my niece Ava's 3rd birthday. My parents came from Scotland, and we all went together (both parks, 2 days). Another great time. Most of the Christmas stuff was done. The Haunted Mansion was back to normal (no Jack Skellington) which was great because it had been over 8 years since I have been on the ride without the Christmas decorations. Cinderella's castle which was covered with snow when we went two weeks ago, and now it was beginning to thaw. Disney magic! Another Disneyland tip-if you buy coffee or cocoa at the Main Street Market, keep your receipt. You can bring it back for free refills all day long.

We had a fun birthday party for Ava at Ratface's, that turned into a bit of a family reunion. Aunt Debbie, Aaron & Christine, Madisyn and McKenzie came from Texas and my great uncle Richard and his extended family all came. We had a good visit with my parents and Elisa before they headed back to the UK.

by laura beth

There is a farmer's market across the street from Grandma's. It's in the Buena Park Mall parking lot. And it is wonderful. The produce here is incredibly affordable, but most of all it is super fresh and AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS! The farmers even let you taste before you buy. Brussels sprouts, squash, zucchini, onions, peppers, broccoli, artichokes, pears, berries, citrus, apples... Add that to Grandma's backyard full of oranges, tangerines, and avocados and I'm in fruit and veggie heaven. I knew that I would miss freshly grown vegetables, but am willing to sacrifice one love for another for now. Farmer's markets are life savers.

There are also craft and food vendors, including crepes. Hoorah for crepes!

by laura beth

We spent New Year's Eve with Matt and Chris Rice in Long Beach. Matt has been a good friend of Kenny's for years, and they were groomsmen for each other's wedding. Matt and Chris recently had a little baby boy, Alexander. You can check out more of Matt's great drawings here.

Several friends came over, we played games, lit sparklers at midnight, and stayed up to watch Sunshine. Kenny and I slept in the moho, which was parked around the corner from the Rice's house. A lady kept staring at us from inside her house when we first pulled up early in the evening, and the next morning she came out and said, "I'm glad you didn't light a fire." Hmmmm.