New Years Eve

On New Year's Eve we went to the beach, stopping to see the elephant seals on the way. Josh and Megan had never been there, and they really enjoyed it. It's worth experiencing at least once, and it's always amazing to see so many huge animals on the beach.

We even got to see some mating in action, which is always a bit disturbing yet fascinating. We feel like we're somehow infringing on their privacy, but they don't seem to mind us. Actually the female really complains loudly about the whole thing, but the male doesn't get the hint and keeps chasing her all around the beach.

Then we headed down to our favorite beach and enjoyed hours of fun.

My parents had actually never been to this beach, since there were plenty of closer beaches where they used to live. But it's our favorite one, and we were so happy they came.

There was one lone elephant seal on our beach who must have taken the wrong turn at Albuqueque. He drew a lot of tourist attention - there was a huge crowd taking pictures of him. He was quite loud, probably wondering where everyone else was.

The kids buried Peter in the sand - he's actually standing in a big hole. This drew some tourists away from the elephant seals, and they started taking pictures of him also!

Jonathan provided the ambient beachy music. It was lovely.

Tyler was next to be buried.

We really didn't think we'd stay as long as we did, but it was so warm and beautiful and not windy (how often does that happen?!) that we couldn't pull ourselves away.

Several groups walked to the end of the pier.

Someone asked us if we were going to stay and watch the sunset. Dave said no, but then he realized that the sun was very close to setting. So we enjoyed the last sunset of 2011, and it was gorgeous.

After we went home, cleaned ourselves up and ate a quick dinner, we all met back at Kristen and Nathan's house for games and food

It's a good thing Dave and Nathan have each other to play games with, because Kristen and I would rather sit and visit and not play games.

We did our countdown to midnight at 10:00. We figured we were ushering in the new year with Jen and Uche and Ben and Barbara.

Then we left the party to put the little kids to bed. We let the oldest 3 stay up and watch a movie until the real midnight, but Dallin and I didn't quite make it.

What to get your parents for Christmas

It's always hard to know what to get parents and grandparents for Christmas, because they don't really need anything. My parents just moved and got rid of a lot of stuff as they downsized to a smaller home, so we didn't want to give them a bunch more stuff.

They have nine children, so my sister-in-law had the idea of pooling our resources to buy them each a Kindle. This seemed like a great idea, since they both love to read; plus they're nice and small and don't take up too much space.

My only concern was that it was such a perfect gift that one of them might already be giving it to the other. But they weren't, and they were very happy to get them.

It's fun to really surprise and delight someone with a gift. Thank-you, Megan, for the great idea!

I apologize for the use of flash in these pictures. They were taken before I got my new lens.

Tyler's baptism

3 Nephi 11:38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

Tyler was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints last Saturday, May 1st. We've spent the last few family home evenings preparing him for this big step.

He was so excited, literally bouncing off the walls. Then he didn't want to get out of the water. He tried to start swimming around until we let him know that wasn't really appropriate. Plus there was a little girl waiting to get baptized after him. Then while he was changing out of his wet clothes he told Dave he felt "warm and peaceful inside."

My parents were able to come up for the baptism, and Tyler asked my mom to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. Unfortunately Kristen and Ellen were still in Utah, but the rest of their families were there. Afterwards Dallin said, "Now I want to get baptized. I thought it would be scary, but after seeing Tyler do it, I want to do it too."

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! Here are some things you may not know about her :
1. She only likes chocolate with nuts in it.
2. Her favorite Easter candy is chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs (wait a minute - those don't have any nuts)
3. Her favorite birthday cake is coconut cake (the small square ones you buy frozen).
4. She loves Star Trek.
5. She's been with me for the birth of all my babies, and she is so good at calming me down.
6. She had 9 children and would have had more if she could.
7. She has "become the most patient of women."
8. She makes up statistics if she can't remember the exact #'s, and we all believe her because she says it like it's fact.
9. She loves funny cards.
10. She wouldn't go anywhere without being prepared with a book in her purse.
11. She makes her own soda.
12. She has taught me to be confident and stand up for myself.
13. She has been hard of hearing forever; sometimes I wonder how much of it is selective hearing, since she never seems to notice critical comments.
14. She used to try to talk me into staying home from school when she thought I was getting too stressed. She had no problem writing me a sick note.
15. She loves sparkley things.
16. Her most dreaded chore around the house is vacuuming, so she bought one of those automatic ones.
17. The way my dad gets her to the temple is by tempting her with fine dining and a nice hotel.
18. Her favorite getaway back East was Williamsburg. Her favorite getaway in CA is Morro Bay, and she spent 3 days there by herself for her 60th birthday.
19. She loves movies; she goes to the movies once a week (if there's a movie my dad doesn't want to see she just goes by herself), and rents 5 videos at a time from the video store.
20. She is the best mom I could imagine. Happy birthday mom! I love you!!