Monday, January 19, 2026

Temple & Basketball

Thomas got to perform baptisms for the first time on Tuesday!  We went to the Newport Beach temple.  We went as a whole family and Catherine and I stayed in the waiting room while Brian took Lydia and Thomas back to do baptisms.  The temple workers were so kind and let me sneak over for a few minutes to watch while Catherine hung out with them.  It was a great experience!
Image


On Saturday, Catherine and Thomas had their first basketball practices of the season.  I think they enjoyed getting back into it.  It will be a good season!
Image

Image

 

Monday, January 12, 2026

Our Week

Last Monday, Brian and Tom took Tom's friend and his dad to a Clippers Warriors game.  It was an exciting ending where the Clippers won.  Tom loved hanging out with a friend.
Image

Basketball season is beginning!  Tom and Cat are playing this season, and they had assessments on Saturday.  Their first practice will be next Saturday.  It's fun to see them playing again. 
Image

Catherine was asked to speak at the Stake Primary Baptism Preview about her baptism experience last year.  She did a wonderful job!
Image


Monday, January 5, 2026

Happy New Year

The girls and I finished the NYE Times Square puzzle on New Year's Eve.  Lydia also went to the youth dance that night.  Catherine and Thomas fell asleep early so Brian and I got to play a game of Upwords.  The younger 2 woke up at about 12:30 am and were bummed to have missed the ball drop.
Image

On New Year's Day, Catherine made this oversized cookie all by herself!  She's becoming quite the baker.
Image

On Sunday, Brian ordained Thomas to the Aaronic Priesthood as a Deacon!  He's excited to begin passing the sacrament and participating in YM.
Image

 

Rancho Mirage

After Christmas we headed out to our condo in Rancho Mirage.  We found an escape room to for our whole family!  We've decided that we love escape rooms.
Image

We explored more of the trails around the condo.
Image

We also checked out the Air Museum in Palm Springs.  We were able to go into a plane from WW2.
Image

Image

Image

Image

Kids could sit in the cockpits of multiple planes as well.
Image

(some of them fictional)
Image

Image

We found the uniform my grandpa wore during the war!
Image

Image

They also had a stealth fighter!
Image

The next day we went to the Living Desert Zoo again.  We fed the giraffes this time!
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

walking around with the wallabys
Image

Image

We also had fun swimming, playing tennis and playing pickleball.
Image

Image


Christmas

We had a nice candlelit dinner on Christmas Eve.  We read the Christmas story from the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.
Image

Then we got into our Christmas pjs!
Image

Image

Christmas morning--bright and early!
Image

Robbie was able to call us and we opened presents with him!  At one point all the kids including Robbie were working on their new Lego sets together.  It was so fun to still have him be apart of our holiday.
Image


Then we had our traditional strawberry waffles.

Image

 

Christmas Break, pt 1

With the kids on break from school, we went to Knotts for a day.  Lydia's friend met us there and we had a lot of fun.  Catherine rode Silver Bullet for the first time!  She was so excited to finally be tall enough!
Image

Log Ride
Image

Berry 3D Ride
Image

One night over the break we fixed a hot dog roast for dinner with our firepit.
Image

We also went to see Zootopia 2 at the movie theater.
Image

We walked around a festive neighborhood to see the Christmas lights too.
Image

The girls helped me finish this Nativity puzzle.
Image