End of the year beach time

Thursday night, after everyone went to bed, I went to the back patio

to turn off the lights and was stopped in my tracks.

I had heard there were raccoons in the area but I never thought I would actually see one in my yard.

I guess that's what happens when the kids leave food out on the table.

The next morning, Uncle Dave and I took a few kids and went exploring.

fog again . . .

Today, Saturday, Lizzie had to go home but the rest of us tried the beach again.

It's been sunny at our house, but everytime we come off the hill, everything else is covered in fog.

It was cold!!

That didn't stop the kids.

Uncle Dave brought a wet suit that Rachel found to be very helpful.

Happy New Year!

exploring the coast

After recuperating from Disney yesterday (sleep and couch surfing), 

we spent the better part of today cleaning our mess from the last 4 days.

Our reward was to explore the coast.

But as I'm coming to discover about this area, you can never tell what the weather will be like.

Our home on the hill was in full sunshine, but as we caught view of where the ocean was supposed to be down below, all we could see were clouds.  

Nevertheless, we drove down the coast for a little bit and found the park that surrounds our lighthouse, 

which was perfect since Uncle Dave loves lighthouses.

"The flowers don't smell."

Our lighthouse looks like a house.

The sunset through the fog.  Once it went behind the clouds,
we left and decided to go up the hill a little to another park.
This is what we saw.

That's Catalina Island in left horizon.

Then home to have the scrumptious enchiladas dinner that Uncle Dave made for us.

Under our new cute lanterns was the favorite spot for eating.

Let the memories begin

I didn't post anything yesterday, cause we were busy enjoying our 

family at Disneyland!  Yes, I know that we just went at Thanksgiving.

But this time we had to share the experience with our visitors, Joseph's sister's family and Lizzie, Rachel and Bekah's friend.

Again, the our day started with a princess theme, but with as many girls as we have between us,

 it was a must, even for the older girls.

 Some lessons learned:  check all possible discount opportunities because 19 people is a lot (discounts for large groups are only available 2 weeks prior to your visit), make reservations way in advance, rent your stroller before going inside, don't go at Christmas time (it's insanely crowded! . . . 

do they have an off-season?), 

and take advantage of the fast pass and single rider passes.

Fast pass is like making an appointment to ride the ride, which really cuts down on waiting time.

But since those will run out at some point, get them early, but also use the single rider passes.

You go to the front of the line and wait til there is an odd seat open.

You may not get to ride with your group, but if everyone is doing single rider,

chances are you will be on the same ride and maybe even sit together.

We got to ride so many more rides by doing that.

Great discovery!! 

Unfortunately Abby got sick all over Dad.  Thankfully, it was at the end of the night and today she's doing fine.  Maybe it was all the excitement and food.  It was pretty miserable for her and Dad after that since they were wet and it was really cold.  So they ended up going home with Uncle Dave and the other young girls.  Me, Tammy and the older kids stayed a little while longer to ride some more rides.  

I love roller coasters!

Christmas, visitors, and the beach of course!

Christmas day: patiently waiting, presents, food, "Its a wonderful life" (a must have . . . we watched the nativity Christmas Eve), then, what to our wondering eyes should appear . . .

Tammy (Joseph's sister) and her family.

It's great now that we live closer to them!

We also get to have Lizzie visit who is a friend of Bekah's and Rachel's from NC.  

Gotta love a house full!!

What's a visit without the beach.

and some artsy photos.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas, what a beautiful opportunity to celebrate the greatest gift given to man, a Savior.

I love that it's centered around a the best of beginnings, a child, pure and innocent.

Through Him we find peace, love, redemption and eternal life.

He gave us families to learn about His love then made it possible for us to be with them forever.

I'm so grateful for the plan of happiness that makes all things possible.

I hope your Christmas is also filled with family, faith and joy.

Merry Christmas!!

vintage Christmas card from Graphics fairy

roof time

I'm usually willing to try anything once so look at what the

kids talked me into doing.

Pretty nice view.

Too bad we have to climb out of a window and risk injury to see it.

It's almost Christmas!

We'll be completely ready when Rachel comes home from NYC.

She's having a great time with her drama club but we miss her.

So tomorrow night when we pick her up, our family will be whole and ready for Christmas.

step it up guys

So, Joseph and I did what we normally do each year and sent Christmas cards with the picture of our family on them to friends and people at work.  We have been thrilled to open our mailbox and see that our friends have sent us greetings.  In the past, people from work have done the same.

But this year, much to our surprise, the other executives that work with Joseph at his new job

 gave actual presents.  So far we've received

 a nice cheese board kit with cheese & knives, a $50 gift card,

this scrumptious bunt cake, and a box of tasty treats in tin cans. 

Next year, we're going to have to step up our game a bit.

We're not in Kansas anymore.

AAA to the rescue

The big event of the day was a flat tire.

We were all loaded in the car headed to Target when it happened.

So we had Carl's Jr for lunch as we sat on the side of the road waiting . . .

for the nice man from AAA to save the day.

It was so much better than us trying to do it ourselves even though I know 

that we could have.

local lights

Back in North Carolina, our local park would decorate their trees and fields with lights and lighted figures.  We would turn on the Christmas music and drive slowly through.  Now that we live on the other side of the country, we needed to find a substitute.  What we found was a local neighborhood where most of the houses decked their houses out with strings of lights and fun characters.  

Although it wasn't as grand, it was very charming. 

The best part was having my college kids with us again. 

Dad counting who wanted hot chocolate.

This house even had a fairy wonderland.

down time from digging out

After a morning of "digging" out of the mess we made on Sunday, I took the

kids to a nearby park to explore and have fun.

Who knew that we have 400 acres of reserved land down the street!

(that's Catalina Island in the distance)

California beauty in winter.

Tag and hide-n-seek

Having Jacob home made the day so much more fun.

Sunday service

The Primary (children's) organization in our church has been know to do many a service for the church and others.  Today was the first time I've experienced it on a Sunday.  It's usually saved for Saturdays or other days so families can be together on Sunday, but performing for the elderly seemed quite appropriate.

  

Look at Abby in the front.  Whether she knew the song or not, she gave it her all.

We visited 2 "rest" homes to share the Christmas Spirit.

They sang several songs, played their instruments, the piano and even

a young man played a solo on his trumpet.

They even took turns playing the bells.

This adorable little one hand delivered an ornament and a card to each of the elderly.

Each time, she would run back and say "I want to do it again!"

Success.