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."

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch for family home evening this week. Luckily they still had plenty of pumpkins left. Thanks for the cute hat and socks, mom. We got lots of compliments.

Brennan knew just what he wanted - a tiny pumpkin. Works for me!

They don't look too bad in these pictures, but Spencer and Tyler got attacked by poison oak while camping this weekend. Every morning they wake up with their faces so swollen they can barely open their eyes.

Thanks for coming with us dad! When we first got there Levi screamed and had to eat. Unfortunately he is not a quick eater. So I was stuck feeding him for awhile as my dad took the boys around to see the animals. Dave joined us after work just as we were ready to head out to the pumpkin patch. But Levi continued to be fussy, so dad took him while I helped the boys choose their pumpkins. What a huge help!

Spencer and Tyler chose their pumpkins right away, but it took Dallin quite a while to settle on one. I don't even think this is the one he ended up with, but I made him pose for a picture anyway.They had already stopped doing the hay rides, so we (well actually Dave and my dad) had to carry the pumpkins back to the barn. Luckily we were at the closest field, and their pumpkins weren't too big.

Finally asleep, just as we were ready to go home.

Posing for a picture on the way out. I made caramel corn (minus the M&Ms) for our FHE treat, and we ate that when we got back to the car. It was so incredibly yummy. Then we went to Hometown Buffet for dinner, using free coupons they got there the night Levi was born.

Jacob's baptism, Dad's birthday

Saturday was my nephew's baptism, and he was so cute and excited. They did this thing I'd never seen before but really liked. While they were changing out of their wet clothing, we wrote messages on little note cards to the 2 children who got baptized. Wouldn't that be a cool thing to have from your baptism day? Then the whole weekend felt like a holiday - what with all the family around and not feeling like we had to do anything but eat and hang out. The baptism was in the morning so my dad could be there before heading off to work. Then we went over to Kristen's house for pizza. The kids played together happily all day, the men played sports and games, and the women visited and copied our favorite recipes to give to a friend for her wedding. Whenever one of the husbands came into the kitchen, he'd say, "You're still doing recipes?!" Actually, it was a lot of fun, and we only stopped because we had to get dinner ready before leaving for the reception. The kids hung out all evening watching movies while the men played more games (it's a good thing they have each other or else they'd never get to play their games) while the women enjoyed a beautiful wedding reception. It felt like girls night out, and we decided we need to do that more often. Then yesterday was my dad's birthday, so we all got together again after church for french dip sandwiches and cherry pies. You'd think by this point the kids would be sick of each other, but we went to the park this morning with a mom's group from church, and they were all excited to see each other there. Cousins are awesome.

Fathers and Sons Campout

Why do I love the Fathers and Sons Outing so much? Once a year all the men from church go on an overnight camp out together, leaving the women home to do girly things. For many moms this means watching preteen chick flicks and painting fingernails and shopping with their daughters. And I'm sure they are enjoying themselves. But since I have all boys, I get to enjoy being home alone, shopping alone, and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I think it should be a quarterly event. Our family rule is that the boys get to go once they're potty-trained, and since Brennan is successfully out of diapers, he got to go this year. My dad went with them this year and took my nephews Ethan and Jonah, who are visiting from Maryland. Eating S'mores around the campfire is always a big hit. And I'm always happy to hear there were no fire mishaps.
Spencer stayed busy making face paint out of rocks (a little Chumash Indian trick he learned from school), finding abalone shells and breaking rocks to find crystals inside.
It was a cold morning, and apparently Brennan just froze. I'll have to remember to pack warmer jackets next year.

There was an old firetruck there for the boys to climb all over.

They went to a new place this year, and so far we haven't discovered any poison oak rashes or mosquito bites. There weren't even any thistles in their socks, so I'm liking this place.

There were lots of trees there, which is kind of amazing for around here.

After breakfast they broke camp, went on a hike and ate lunch. They couldn't have had better weather; I think it was in the uppper 70's. Imagine if they had it last weekend with our 105 degree Saturday??