San Diego Confused... and more

I must say we live in the best city ever. It am not partial to cold weather, so it is perfect for me. It has gone from being cold and rainy to beautiful 70-80 degree weather. The past few weeks have been beautiful! The trees outside our apartment are getting a little confused though. We have autumn leaves and spring blossoms. Kind of funny to see.

Last Friday we got Ryan to ditch school for the morning and the 3 of us enjoyed the warm rays at the beach here in La Jolla. The weather was just too perfect to pass up.



We are enjoying the beautiful weather while we can because in a month and a half we are moving to a colder climate and a different coast. Washington D.C. here we come! Dr. Ryan Darby is graduating with his PhD and will now be gainfully employed. Hurray!!! We are very sad to be leaving our perfect little beach town-La Jolla and especially sad to be leaving our family here, but we are really excited for our new adventure and Ryan is beyond excited to be done with school.

Here are a few pictures to catch up from the holidays (sorry, not the most punctual blogger)

Happy Halloween

Kate (China Doll) and Jenna (Minnie Mouse) had fun running door to door together

Decorating the Tree

Making Christmas Treats

Darby Tradition (Rice Crispy treats with crushed candy canes inside-- Yum!)

Visiting With Loved Ones

Christmas Fun
"Santa is scary" We love Santa from afar.

San Diego snow


Christmas Eve with Poppo at the fire station

We had a wonderful holiday season and hope you did too. This year will be filled with loads of new adventures for the Darbys. I will try to keep you posted.... we'll see.

Existential Safety Commission

For a change of pace, I'm posting a music video by my brother and his band. They are called the Existential Safety Commission. Enjoy!

China...6 months late

What an amazing trip! We went from Bejing to Xian to Guilin and finally to Shanghai (with lots of small towns in between). I could write a novel about our trip, but I won't because it would never get posted. So here are some of our favorites... The Great Wall, the beautiful gardens, the majestic scenery, the Terracotta Soldiers, the delicious food (however we didn't not want anything to do with Chinese food for several months after we got back), the unique culture, and last but not least the people. We met some wonderful friends on the trip, who really made our trip memorable. We had many wonderful adventures that we will never forget.

The Great Wall

Beautiful China

The Dragon Spine Terraces (my favorite)

Terracotta Soldiers

Real Terracotta soldiers above (fake ones below)

Ancient China

Dumplings Anyone?

These dumplings were shaped like what was inside. This one was duck. Super cute.

We love China

Ryan making friends

We saw an acrobatic show in Shanghai. Amazing!

Shopping in Shanghai (I am the world's worst barterer)

Our morning calisthenics with the locals

Friends

If any of you are interested in visiting China check out ChinaSpree, great company.
It was our favorite vacation by far. You gotta go to China.

Kisses

This kiss is for Grandma Darby. We have been trying hard over here to keep posts up on our blog. Just for you. We love you!

Our Little Angel

After a day full of tantrums, it always makes me happy to walk in and see this... Our Little Sleeping Angel. After 2 years of watching her sleep, it still hasn't gotten old. She'll probably think I am creepy when I am sneaking in to watch her sleep at 16, but oh well.

Yucky!

You should see my and Ryan's skin. We look ten years younger. Last week we had a very intense exfoliating mud bath. Actually it was the San Bernadino Sheriff's Department 5K Mud Run. It was a blast. Along side with some great friends we trampled through mud pits, weaved though obstacles, ran up and down muddy slopes, and got dirt, sand, and mud in every crevice imaginable. You can see from the pictures below that we got just a little dirty. We can't wait to do it again next year. So much fun! Thanks Kent and Nellie for inviting us.

Looking Forward to a Beautiful Summer

My little brother Chris is marrying this "Beautiful Summer" in August. We cannot wait!