Hiking

We did a gorgeous hike with our friend, Sophia.  It's called Valencia Peak in Montana de Oro State Park.  Now that it's green here, it was so beautiful. Unfortunately, it's hard to see in the foggy pictures.

I was so proud of the kiddos! It was nearly 4 miles round trip and about 1,300 feet up. The Boy made it all the way to the top and down on his own without complaint.  The Girl made it 3/4 of the way up! After that, she was a little worn out.  She got about 1/4 of the way down on her own before she hitched a ride on Sophia the rest of the way.  

Nice way to spend a morning.  We rewarded the kids by replacing all the calories we had just burned at McDonalds.

Baptism

The Boy had a wonderful baptism. Since he and his friend, Finley, have a birthday near each other, they wanted to have their baptism together!  I was happy to share the responsibilities with her mom and my friend, Melissa. She is a very talented lady.

It was too far for my family to travel, but they sent their love and congratulations. From The Man's family, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jamie and Uncle Eric, and Uncle Michael all came.  Grandpa baptized  and confirmed the Boy and Grandma spoke about the Holy Ghost.

A very talented girl in my Young Women's group named Kyra sang "When I am Baptized" with her ukelele. It was so sweet!

Speaking of sweets...

There were 130 people in attendance! Many friends came and some bearing gifts. The Boy was beaming.

 It was a very special day indeed. I feel so blessed to be a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am so proud of you, Boy!

It's Great to be 8!

I finally threw the Boy his first, real birthday party.  He turned eight and that's a doozy.  So we hired a laser tag system and went with the camoflauge theme.  Now, I can count on one hand the number of times it has rained in the last year or so around here.  The last time it REALLY rained was on Halloween.  So of course, it was due. On his birthday party weekend.  That did not stop us. We carried on with canopies and ponchos and the kids enjoyed an "authentic" experience of playing soldiers in the rain.

Happy Birthday, buddy.  We love you so much!

Serial Chess

Last night the Boy tried to teach the Girl to play chess.  During the course of his instruction (which was not going that well) this exchange took place:

Boy: And now my guy is going to kill your guy.  (The Girl becomes upset and is about to start protesting).  But wait, Sis! Now your guy can kill that guy.

Girl: (quite properly) Oh! Thank you, Bubba. I've always wanted to kill someone.

Upon reflection, I do not think she got upset that her pawn was taken.  I think she was annoyed that the Boy was doing all the killing and she hadn't dont any yet.

Scouts

Turning eight means you get to be in Cub Scouts!

He is so excited!

Remodel

We did it! We started with the downstairs bathroom. We moved on to the kitchen and flooring.  It tooks months and months, but we did it.  I'm so over remodeling that I'm not even going to caption these pictures. It's obvious they are before and afters.  Enjoy!

 So much more to do. But this is a really good start.

Friends in the Sand

Sometimes January is nicer than July here.  Thank goodness for friends and the beach.

Christmas 2014

We stayed home this year for Christmas. We are missing a kitchen, but that didn't stop us from preying on the good nature of our friend, the Rileys.  They were kind enough to invite us over for Christmas dinner. We also had our traditional Christmas Eve Bethlehem dinner on the floor, which, as luck would have it, requires little to no cooking.  Here are some other things we did:

 The kids got to decorate their own tree this year.  That was a good idea for everyone.

 We made a gingerbread house (not from scratch, but who cares).

 We went to the ward Christmas Party.

 We caught the lights a day after they turned them off.  At least they left up the tunnel.

And of course we opened presents! We are grateful for the most wonderful gift given by God centuries ago.  Merry Christmas!

Some Unrelated Memories

I love this picture.  The Boy let his sister come sit with him when she got a little sad during primary. His teacher thought it was so sweet, she took this picture and texted it to me.

Here is the Girl with her two little friends that she just loves. I hope they can be close all the way through high school and beyond. They are totally adorable!

And finally, a friend from church owns a shaved ice business.  They serve them at the Boy's school on Friday during let out.  Sometimes we just can't help but grab one.

Letters from the Kids

Just a few of the many letters my kids write me. They aren't always this sweet, but usually.

Brian Regan

I love Brian Regan. He is absolutely hilarious. So when I saw he was coming to town, I quickly jumped on the opportunity to see him.

We went with some friends of ours and ended up with fantastic seats! It was a fun night.

YW Presidency

I will always remember these girls.  They are not only my presidency for Young Women's, they are my friends.  And thank goodness I have them - as both.

Thanksgiving

We headed down to The Man's hometown for Thanksgiving this year.  Since we were going to be hanging around a while, we decided to get tickets to see a Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas with some of the fam.

  

It was a great show! So was the food, of course.