This Year so Far and Some of Last Year

Only a few weeks have gone by, but many events have happened. With Christmas, New Year's Eve, Mike and Eva visiting, the passing of my cousin, Carlo's birthday and our trip to California, I haven't been able to properly blog. So it's catch up time! Yea for all of you who get (or even want) to read a long post.

Here are a few pics of Christmas morning. I just happened to catch the picture of Coral right when she was stretching- of course she looks all laid back and ready for presents.



Daniel enjoyed his new tent, which he also used as his bedroom in our room while Mike and Eva were visiting.



And for the New Year, we spent it practicing Guitar Hero. WE ROCK! (I think I may start a band now with my mad skills.) Thanks to Mike and Eva for bringing Guitar Hero- many hours may have been wasted on other less important things . . .







We even ran into a "Free Hugs" mimic at Town Square. We all received a free hug. (This one is for you Amy!)



Daniel is now a Sunbeam! This has been a huge stepping stone in parenting; and I thought his first day of school was going to be the tear jerker- not Sunbeams! I admit, I did get teary-eyed a few times and even went to check on him his first Sunday. Despite his protest of not wanting to be a Sunbeam, he did very well and the only bad report I received was of him picking his nose! I asked him about it afterward and he informed me he had to get a big booger out. Well, of course you'd pick your nose if you had to get a big booger out! These little ones are just so logical and honest.

They had a pajama breakfast the day before and he had fun. Just this afternoon, he was insisting we build a train with our hands like they did that morning. We had them hold hands to get them from place to place and Brother Theurer made train noises as they walked along to make it fun for the kids. I am so thankful for the primary presidency and teachers for all they do to make the kids feel welcome. It's not an easy calling!



I just love it. Carlo and Daniel waxing Carlo's surfboard in preparation for California surfing! It was so cute. It will be fun when Daniel is old enough to learn.



Finally, our trip to California. We left late Wednesday night and arrived at our hotel around 2:00 am on Thursday morning. I put Coral in bed with me and she kicked me until she fell asleep around 3:45. Carlo was Daniel's kicking bag, but still got up at 6:00 am to go surfing. He came back to get us around 11:00 and we met up with his Aunt Roxanne, cousin Serena and her daugther, Julia and his other cousin Delana.

We walked out on the pier in Huntington Beach and saw a pod of dolphins hanging out. This is very rare to see so many, but it turns out a baby had died that morning and the family was trying to keep it afloat. The lifeguard boat finally came and fished it out of the water. A rare, but sad sight.





In the evening, we met up with Jason and Aubry to see their six month old daughter, BriAnna. It was nice to catch up with them and have some laughs. We had not seen them for awhile.

The next day we went to the beach (again) and a nice homeless man spoke with me forever and even gave me his email address, so I gave him a pass-a-long card. Carlo had to get out of the water to get the man to leave me alone. It was a bit awkward with my two young children. I'm thankful Carlo keeps a watchful eye on his family while he is out surfing.



We met up with some other dear friends, Cory and Greg, that evening and went to Mongolian BBQ. Yummy! Cory even made Carlo her famous chocolate cake for his birthday! And their 20 month old is so cute! It made me anxious to see Coral at that age. We also stopped at this place called Prehistoric Animals (I think) and saw some really huge snakes, lizards, iguanas, etc. I watched a snake eat a mouse. I know. Gross. But it was so interesting!

The next day was filled with Seaworld! We drove down with Mike and Eva St. Clair and arrived around 11:00 am. I was a little disappointed in the "Believe" Shamu show (thanks for the blog warning Brandi), but loved the dolphin and seal rescue shows.

We took Daniel on his first roller coaster. He is only three, but he's really tall! I kept asking him and he insisted he wanted to go. Journey to Atlantis has now been conquered by Daniel. He loved the first drop into the water (and even managed to look right at the camera for the picture- we bought it and I'll have to scan it sometime- his expression is classic). But after the twists and turns, with him ducking down into the car, he was done. When we slowed down, he immediately asked to get off, but never cried or panicked. He did ask to go on another ride in the park, so thankfully, he's not ruined. He did tell his Aunt Jenny that "It really freaked him out."





On the way home, we stopped at Pat and Oscar's. It is my new favorite restaurant. The next morning, we all slept in until 10:00 am! Contrary to our first nights stay, our kids were great every night after and our trip was a success. We ended it with our ritual afternoon luncheon with Carlo's Grandparents and Dad. Hopefully, we will make it back soon.


All in all, we wore our kids out.