San Diego Sunshine

Usually the day after Christmas is lazy.  We all stay in our PJ's, watch movies, do puzzles and hang out.
This year Tyler's Basketball team had a tournament in San Diego, so we decided to take the whole family to support him.  We woke up at 4:00 am the day after Christmas to get him to the school.  Then we loaded our own car and drove ALL day to San Diego.  We arrived around 8:00 pm!
I love traditional snowy Christmas days.  This year, however, we enjoyed the Sunshine at Torrey Pines in Del Mar.


Chris spent his 45th Birthday in Lego Land!  We thought it would be fun for Brycen to get to go since he loves legos.  It was a disappointment, however, because they just have kiddie rides with
hour-long wait lines. 




We really didn't ride anything, and it wasn't worth the admission price,  but we enjoyed looking at all of the lego creations.

Harry Potter is always a favorite

Brycen especially loved the miniature Star Wars World

Does Kaitlyn even know who Elvis is?

The details in New York City were amazing!

The next morning we got up early and drove over to Sea World

We Enjoyed The Rides

We loved the Sea Lions

And as always......loved Shamu.  The girls sat down in front to try to get wet, but Shamu wasn't splashing there today.

I still remember these star fish from when I visited as a kid

I wonder how long starfish live?

After quickly seeing all the shows and attractions we quickly got in the car so that we could slowly  (think California traffic) drive to Ty's Game....

We always love to watch him play, even when they lose

The week was tough because they were playing Varsity Teams

But I guess the experience was worth it?  But that's a story for another day...

After the game they let us "steal" Ty away from the team so we could get some dinner.

Then we drove to one of the most Beautiful Spots on Earth......

the San Diego Temple with Christmas Lights....It's so fun to see the lights in palm trees.

We love to catch the first glimpse of the San Diego Temple from the freeway.  It is like a fairy tale castle and the whitest white I have ever seen--

definitely one of our favorites.

I think everyone would agree the favorite part of our trip was driving over the Coronado Bridge to Coronado Island

We walked around the old historic Hotel Coronado.

The gardens had Dr. Seuss Characters.  Would you like green - eggs and Ham?

It's was funny to see people ice-skating on the beach.  I guess

this probably only happens at Christmas Time

We spent the day soaking up the sun

                                                   
                            Admiring the Sand Castles

And the kids loved jumping the waves

    Jenessa loves the ocean and I love this picture of her  with                sparkling waves

     Many times during the day, I reflected that this would most likely
be our last trip before Ben's mission....it was a bitter sweet feeling, but so glad we had the time together.
We also missed not having Tyler with us for the day.  And of course Jordan.

Kaitlyn and Brycen loved the sand

This View of the Beach made me feel like we were back in Waikiki

San Diego Sun........We will always remember this day

Christmas 2011

Before the kids can open Santa's presents they have to line up on the stairs from youngest to oldest.

And then the magic of Christmas morning begins...

Of course one of our favorite parts of the day was the phone call with Jordan

Christmas Eve 2011

This year Christmas Eve was a lot calmer than usual.  Mom had all of the shopping done, the
neighbor gifts delivered and even the house cleaned.  This was an unusual year.
It was nice to spend the day at home making cookies for Santa and having our traditional fondue and
appetizers for dinner.
Of course everything couldn't be perfect.  Jenessa had the stomach flu and we all kept wondering who
was next (as it turned out nobody else was sick)


Frosting Cookies for Santa

Not sure why Kaitlyn is eating the whole plate?

We each got to open one present

Chris always spoils me....I love this Temple Square Christmas Village

And I think Brycen is the cutest shepard in the nativity

I am so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

That he came to earth in a lowly stable and then taught us the

way to return to our Heavenly Father

Merry Christmas!

Ty's Golf Banquet

Tyler played again for Bingham Golf and tonight we attended his banquet.  He received an academic award for his 4.0 grade point average.  What a great kid!

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn Noelle

This year Kaitlyn let me know weeks in advance that her birthday was going to be on fast Sunday, I said that it would be hard to fast, but I knew that she could do it, and bless her, she did.

After church we had Birthday dinner and cake and ice cream.

and no we don't usually suck cups onto our face at dinner...

Kaitlyn turned 10 this year  so we invited her friends and  celebrated with an ice skating party

I started the day by baking Tye-Dye Cupcakes.  Kaitlyn loves bright colors

She was surprised when she opened it and she loved it

All of her friends met at the Ice Rink

It was a perfect day for skating and it was almost 40 degrees, so no coats required

We opened presents and enjoyed The Pie pizza and hot chocolate with whipped cream

tommy gave Kaitlyn a GIANT sock monkey and she loves sock monkeys

The 10 reasons we love Kaitlyn:

1 - She has so much energy

2- She loves to plan and create fun

3 - She is loving to read like her mom

4 - She wants to obey and choose the right

5 - She is a great student at school

6 - She has funny voices that imitate:)

7 - so she always makes a laugh

8 - She likes to learn especially from Mrs. Bowman this year

9 - She is a good friend

10 - she loves her family and helps us so much

Kaitlyn's Birthday List (see #7 above)

Thanksgiving Blessings

Jenessa wrote about our Thanksgiving Day service and I loved hearing it in her own words:

For my project I wanted to do something special. I thought doing it on a holiday would make the project even more meaningful. What I decided to do was to deliver meals to the poor on Thanksgiving. My whole family ended up going, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. At around 11 o’clock on the morning of Thanksgiving my family headed to Salt Lake City. I was really excited for what we were about to be doing for others. I was hoping to learn something from this experience.

 The organization we were doing the service project through was Salvation Army. When we got there we had to wait in a long line, because many people were also lined up to serve others on this day. When it was our turn, we grabbed about 5 meals a person. We had to load up a plate of food. The food that we were going to serve to them was just about everything that made up a Thanksgiving meal. There was turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls, and even a pumpkin pie. Everyone seemed to be really happy and ready to serve.

After getting all the meals we needed, we put them all in the trunk of our car, and drove all around the valley to deliver these meals to those who were less fortunate than ourselves. Some were up in Ogden, and some in Sandy. One family I went to did not speak a word of English. We got to their shabby looking apartment, and knocked on the door. A young girl, around 18 or 19 answered the door. Following  her up to the door were five little children, all with big, brown eyes. I felt sorry for all of them. It must have been difficult for the girl to have so many children. There was no husband in sight. We told her to have a good Thanksgiving, even though she didn’t understand us. Then, we set the meals on the small table and left.

Another house we delivered the meals to was in Draper. This was the smallest, dirtiest, saddest, run-down house I have ever been in. The woman had about six yapping dogs in her tiny yard, and the house looked like a shack. We went around to the side of the house were the door was. Outside of the house were old televisions, lamps, sofas, you name it. This woman was a hoarder. She wouldn’t throw anything away. When we got inside, the house smelled of smoke. The wood floors were rotting.  The woman had only two children that I knew of. One of them was a little autistic boy wearing superman footy pajamas. He was really cute and was very thankful to receive the meals.

Seeing these people and how they lived was an amazing experience for me. Doing this service on Thanksgiving made it even more special. These people taught me to be more thankful for what I have been given. I have been given so much. I know now that some people are carrying many burdens and have many hardships. We should try to do more to lift the burdens of the poor and needy by helping and serving them. Doing this service taught me so much. It made that Thanksgiving the best one I have ever had.

         

 

Halloween

Our Annual cousin's Halloween Birthday Party was another fun event!

Meet Frank:

Spooky Pumpkins

The Kids love the scary apothecary jars

Kaitlyn and Tommy were hilarious as  Santa and the Elf

Kaitlyn had 2 costumes this year because she wanted to be a vampire for school

Mostly because she thinks wearing the teeth are so cool...