Newport Beach Temple

Tuesday morning we were able to attend the temple in Newport. It was beautiful. It was so nice to leave for a few hours, knowing that my kids were in good hands. Thanks to Navarre, Catherine, and Elle for watching my crew! Carly has a new best friend. I think Navarre probably had less time with his new wife than ever before, because Carly monopolized her time so well!

Christmas Take Two

While we were at the resort, my wonderful in-laws recreated Christmas for us. We had a gift exchange among the siblings, and Grandma Tess and Papa Steve spoiled everyone like mad. It was such a fun time. I got the creche for my nativity scene, which makes such a difference. Jarod got a new watch that he's eyed in his dad's display case for a while. We both had a few other gifts that were really wonderful. The kids also scored big time. They all got a blanket, book, and two sets of jammies. Carly got a baby doll that comes with pretty much EVERYTHING, and the boys each got a Tonka Truck and helicopter complete with moving parts, lights, and sounds. They were in heaven.

If you're wondering what gift Josh liked best, I think this picture says it all. On this trip, it was more than apparent the the older girls in the Valdivieso and Wilstead families are miniature mommies. Naturally they loved their babies. I love Carly's face.

L.A. Temple

After picking up Navarre and Catherine, and on our way back to Newport Beach, we took a major detour, by traveling north, instead of south. We knew we were going the wrong direction, when the L.A. Temple came into view. I was glad of the detour though, because we got to walk around the temple grounds while it was all lit up with Christmas lights.

I thought Papa Steve and Josh looked sweet hand in hand.

Here is our Together Forever family.

California Here We Come!!

Two days after Christmas we loaded up the car and headed out to California to spend a week with Jarod's family in Newport Beach, California. Mom and Dad V. swapped their time shares in Hawaii for Newport, so that we could all enjoy a second Christmas at the resort. Many thanks go out to them for hosting such a fun week. It felt like such a whirlwind vacation, and as usual, we felt like we didn't have enough time together.

Our first morning there we made our traditional trip to JCPenny for family portraits. They turned out really well. I'm excited to get them. Then it was over to South Coast Plaza for lunch. After waiting in line at the Rain Forest Cafe for over 30 minutes, we jumped ship and went over to Claim Jumper. Quite delicious. The best part of it all was eating for free...that's right. As luck would have it, we experienced really bad service. So much so, that my brother in law Damon complained, and ended up getting all our money refunded. Woo hoo!!

After lunch, we sent the Wilsteads and Elle home, and walked around the mall for a few minutes until we had to leave to pick up Navarre and Catherine at the Long Beach airport. I was glad we stayed because the kids got to ride the Carousel, and they LOVED it!

Christmas

We had our very first Christmas in our own home. The tradition has been to spend Christmas at my parents' house, but seeing as none of the other siblings would be around for Christmas, we decided to have Mom and Dad come to our house for the festivities, in order to avoid carting our belongings back and forth all week. It was a great time. We had the traditional Christmas program on Christmas eve, and a wonderful dinner. Then my parents enjoyed watching Jarod assemble the gifts from Santa. In our house, the gifts from Santa come unwrapped, and already put together. Who knew the kitchen Santa brought for Carly had so many parts!!! All in all, it was a great Christmas. The kids scored big time, and it was fun to watch them open the gifts.

I think Jarod was more excited at this gift than Josh was. Jarod got Josh big boy pants. Now I get to look forward to potty training Josh. I kept saying I wasn't even going to think about it until after Christmas...well, now I guess I'd better get on it.

Reed's kids picked out great gifts for my parents. They went to some function where the kids went into the "store" picked out gifts, and then had them wrapped and mailed. Dad got a real kick out of his calculator pencil box. We all had a good laugh at that one.

Mom got this pretty necklace from them. Stunning! Good job Emma, Spencer, Parker, Conner, and Quinn! You got great gifts for Grandma and Grandpa Skinner!

Raking the Leaves is Fun To Do, Fun To Do, Fun To Do!

On one of Jarod's days off he had the idea to rake my parents' front yard. The kids had a great time doing it. Carly is such a helper. She loves to help at whatever task is at hand. I couldn't ask for a sweeter daughter. We picked just about the coldest day of the year to do this little surprise service. I was reminded of why we live in Texas and not Alaska. Burr!! The kids got the biggest kick out of smashing the leaves down in the garbage can. I think they got a kick out of seeing Mommy do it, too. Thankfully, we don't have photographic evidence of that.

We had to take an aerial shot so that it wouldn't look like we just let our kids play in trash.

Cute Jumper

I thought Carly looked extra cute in the jumper I made her. It has tiny sequins all over it...I couldn't resist the fabric when I saw it...I just had to have it!! I think it turned out pretty cute.