Such a big boy

This boy is all over the place and always wants to be part of the action. We have this cupboard that spins open and Isaac has figured out how to open it, so apparently that means he can help himself to snacks. He got the clip off of this bag of animal crackers and was in heaven! He stands on his own a lot now and has been really close to taking a step, but then gives up. Every time I try to get it on camera he just whines! Well, he also has a really bad cold probably an ear infection and he's getting another tooth, so he's just not in a very good mood in general.

Feel sorry for me

The high temp today is supposed to be about 15 degrees. The sun is shining though, so at least I can crank up the heater and let the sun shine through the windows and pretend it is spring. :) Rae is just barely too sick to go to school. Just a constant cough and runny nose. Blaise has the cough and runny nose too, but something else must be going on because he's been lying on the couch all morning, refusing to move. Isaac also has the cough, which is just so sad. Luckily I'm feeling pretty good, just tired. Maybe I'll catch up on some cleaning today, since we don't have to go anywhere. Or maybe I'll work on my talk for Sunday. Or maybe I'll be lazy and do nothing at all!

Some good news: Roy was contacted by a school that wants to do a phone interview. It's the first school he has heard from. It's a place I'd be happy to move to, but we'll be keeping the location a secret for now. If he doesn't get offered a position this year then we will just stay here another year, and I'd be okay with that.

Ummm, and to close, here are some pics of Isaac and his favorite face to make:

The rest of our trip

I don't know why I've been so bad at blogging lately. I just forget to update! I guess I do too much on Facebook. Here are some random pictures from the rest of our trip.

Driving to Las Vegas:
Isaac loves peek-a-boo.

Baerbel got a fruit bouquet for all the December birthdays. Rae had a hard time waiting to start eating it.

We had Christmas in Las Vegas on the 31st. Isaac liked all the wrapping paper.

Rae and Blaise (and Roy) made ornaments for Dale and Baerbel for Christmas.

After opening presents, the kids got a little crazy.

Then, we went swimming.


We spent another week or so in Las Vegas (without taking almost any pictures), then made the long trip home.

The facts of life

Interesting bit of our Primary lesson today...
Ashley: Jesus came to Earth because we needed someone's help to get to heaven.
Girl #1: I don't need anybody's help.
Ashley: Well, I do, and most people do.
Girl #2: Yeah, they need someone to kill them.

California day THREE - DISNEYLAND!

When we found out we were going to Disneyland, Roy immediately offered to stay at the hotel with Isaac. Roy didn't really care to go and knew Isaac would not enjoy being out and about all day. So a couple of weeks before we left we got Isaac used to taking a bottle occasionally and I left Roy with a cell phone and directions to call me if Isaac wouldn't eat or sleep. I know it was harder on me than it was on Isaac. That boy LOVES his daddy, so they had a great time together, and I was able to relax and have a great time with Rae and Blaise.

Posing for a picture before heading to the rides

In line for the Matterhorn

Hanging out in Toon Town

We waited in line for a long time to see Minnie Mouse, and as soon as we got up there Blaise FREAKED OUT and refused to go anywhere near her! He didn't even want to go into her house! The rest of the time at Disneyland he would look around and ask where Minnie was, afraid that she might be close by!
Minnie's bed
Minnie's kitchen

Minnie's wishing well

Blaise wasn't afraid to meet these characters!

End of the day

They fell asleep on the way home but we had to wake them up because they are too heavy to carry. But they were back asleep within minutes of getting to the hotel room.

We had a good time. It was way too crowded and I don't do well with crowds, especially when I'm worried about one of the kids wandering off. I would also prefer to do Disneyland without being in a big group (everyone in the previous post about Sunday dinner was there) I like to be in control and plan out day, but I wasn't able to do that in this situation. But it was fun to be with everyone. I forced the kids to go on Space Mountain (Blaise was just BARELY tall enough) and if I had to do it again I would let them do more of the kiddie rides instead of trying to get them to experience the "extreme" rides. The only ride Rae really cared about going on was Splash Mountain. The whole group got fast passes to go on it, but only a few of us actually went, so after we went on it once we grabbed the extra fast passes and Rae and I went on it again. (Blaise declined to go the second time) They still talk about it and I think it was their favorite ride. We left early, around 7pm and the rest of the group stayed till closing.

Thanks again Baerbel and Dale for taking us!

California day TWO

Monday morning we picked up my brother Aaron and headed to the beach! We went to Balboa Pier (where Roy proposed to me!). It was really nice to hang out with Aaron and get to catch up on his life. I just wish his wife Jamie could have been there, but she had to work. The kids loved the beach and Rae wanted to go swimming! The night before we were given a gift card to Ruby's and there is one at the end of the pier, so we went there for some ice cream - so yummy!

Rae loved the water.

Blaise preferred the sand.

Oops, we didn't move fast enough! I love the look on Rae's face!

This boy LOVES the sand!

Oh, I love the beach!

After the beach we dropped of my in-laws and headed to Covina to visit my grandparents.
They retired to a Masonic Home a couple of years ago, and before that they lived in Blythe, so we used to visit them every time we visited my parents. The kids enjoyed exploring their "retirement home" and my grandparents enjoyed showing us everything!

My grandpa always has a big jar of jelly beans sitting on his end table - the kids enjoyed that!

When Jamie got off of work we picked her up and took them out
to the Cheesecake Factory - yum!

Isaac was SO tired! When "strangers" hold him he just puts his head on your shoulder and kind of cuddles up to you!

California day ONE

We got to Orange County on Sunday and went straight to our hotel to clean up and relax. That night we had dinner at Roy's sister's (Sonja) house. Roy's mom and Dale were there, along with Sonja's husbands family. We had a delicious turkey and ham dinner and then opened presents. Sonja's in-laws were so kind and bought us all a few presents. Rae had a blast with her cousins and her cousin's cousins! There were two 11 year olds, two 10 year olds, two 5 year olds, a 4 year old a 3 year old, a 18-month old and a 7 month old. It was loud and fun! We called it a night at around 9 and headed back to our hotel.

Rae and her cousin Catrina (age 5)
Sonja and her husband Rick

Roy's sister is 13 years older than Roy, so Roy was just a teenager when she got married So, he's known his brother-in-law and his siblings for a long time. Before we got married Roy and his mom would have Christmas with Sonja's inlaws.

Rick's brother Kevin and wife Jessica

On the couch is Dale (Opa) and Sonja's FIL Rick Sr. and MIL Darlene
Next to the piano is Rick's sister Annette and on the couch is her
husband Norm. In the crib is their 18th month old daughter Violet.

Kassandra and Blaise, in the back Brianni and Jana, Catrina, Rae and poor Adam stuck with all those girl cousins! Not pictured: 4 year old Nicole (she was asleep)

And Roy was there

And I was too!

And Roy's cousin Ricky moved from Germany and is living
with Roy's mom

(All of these pictures were from my mother-in-law's camera - thanks Baerbel!)

Christmas morning

This is the first time that we have been home for Christmas, and it was so nice to do our own little traditions and do things on our terms. (Not that we haven't loved being with family in the past) Isaac and I woke up at around 6am and I think I was more anxious than the kids were! I pretty much ended up waking them up! There are so many pictures I wanted to share, so the easiest thing to do was to put them on snapfish. So, click on the link and play the slide show and you can select "show captions" and there will be captions explaining the pictures. I hate that the captions don't show automatically - ugh. So, make sure you select "show captions" during the slideshow. Oh, and I'm not sure if you have to have an account to view these - but it'll be worth making an account because I'll probably be doing it this way for the rest of our pictures!



Click here to view photos


Next up: Trip to California and Las Vegas!