Light

A family from the church took Nolan and I up to Oakland to show us around. We visited Jack London Square and one of the most uniquely beautiful churches I've ever seen, The Cathedral of Christ the Light. The architecture is just amazing. Downstairs was just as amazing as the main sanctuary. It had a long walk way with Jesus on the Cross at the end. It also had a replica of the Pieta. It was such an incredible thing to see!

The outside of the Cathedral of Christ the Light

...and the inside.

The ceiling

This window depicts a 90 foot image of Christ. The image is created by natural light passing through aluminum panels that have been pierced with 94,000 holes.

the Pieta

Lights

We went Christmas-Light-Looking on Wednesday night with a couple we've met out here in Menlo Park! Lindsay, the wife, made Cherry Cider (which was great and you can get at Trader Joe's) and Chris, the husband, drove us around! We wound up on two amazing streets, where every house on the block was decked out with Christmas lights! Even one house that synced its Christmas lights to flash along with the music of a local radio station! It was so much fun!

the city

Nolan and I headed up to the city on Monday night for a little city-like-christmas-cheer. I loved just walking around the streets. the city does my soul some good. diversity. hustle and bustle. street performers. real. people.

Suckers

I love baking. So much so that not having an oven in our little place won't stop me from baking. I made these chocolate suckers at 9am this morning! They are so easy to make and they make perfect little goodies to give out! You can pick up the molds and chocolates at JoAnn's. Merry Christmas!

New Art

Nolan has been working on some new art pieces and I finally got around to taking pictures of them! The first few pieces are part of this new art form he has been working on - wood burning. With these pieces he actually "burned" the images into newspaper! The images are done entirely with a wood burning tool and exist to represent Nolan's interpretation of several unsolved Civil Rights murder cases. The next piece is a face made up of water. And the last piece is a portrait of a local man in the Menlo Park area. Enjoy....

Wood Burning

Nolan has picked up a new art form - wood burning. And, it's absolutely incredible. Here is an image of the "first" image he burned into a piece of wood. Isn't this insane?

Goofy

The other night Nolan and I went to our favorite yogurt place (Yogurtland) and decided to be goofy! Thought we'd let you in on our goofyness!

Package

Last week we received a package from Maggie (Nolan's Mom) and it brought us so much joy! Thanks Maggie for thinking of us! We LOVED the goodies!

Almond Roca, table runner, new shirt (thanks Maggie - Nol looks GREAT in this!)

Growing up so fast

Our little baby is growing up so fast and changing colors ALL the time! We woke up this morning to find him brownish-red! Here is an update on the newest member of our family...

Saturday morning football

Nolan joined this pick-up flag football team here in Menlo Park. They play from 8am to 10:30am every Saturday morning. So fun! And I must say there is some true talent out on the field; one guy played about 4 years in the NFL and several of the guys have played college football. It's so great. I'm that dorky wife that goes to all of his games and even takes pictures! I just can't help but to be so proud of my athletic husband!

After the game the boys decided they needed some nourishment. So, we drove about 20 miles south to "the best donut shop in the bay area." It was pretty amazing. The donuts were like cake and fresh out of the fatty oil. The boys just posted up "tailgating style" outside of the place and ate about 4-5 donuts each. Amazing....