Night Lights

 We were able to visit some local spots during this Christmas season. The Mission Inn lived up to its reputation with the beautiful lights and great opportunity to people-watch. We also attended our local Christmas parade with several friends, which also did not disappoint.

Mission Building Fourth Grade Style

One of the expectations of being a fourth grader in California is that you will study the California missions in school. Part of this study involves building one of your own. Troy was able to work on this with a group of friends during the weeks leading up to Christmas break. Scott and I were able to visit during the building of the missions and document the progress. It was interesting to observe the boys working together. We realized Troy is quite the perfectionist and was kind of hard on his friends. :) Mission San Jose turned out great, however and all friendships are still in tact.

Thanksgiving 2013

We enjoyed hosting some friends at our house again this year for a Thanksgiving celebration. Scott successfully deep fried a delicious turkey and others brought wonderful things too. We did miss, Katie who was away at school. We had a beautiful day, so could be outside, which is always a bonus. In the afternoon, we took the kids to run around at school. It was a great day celebrating so many blessings.

Soccer on Saturday

After their win again this Sat., the Iron Eagles are back in the number one spot for their league.  The boys played well and had a pretty fun time playing soccer together.  The weather is getting chillier and thankfully the rain was finished for the weekend.  We had a nice spot to enjoy the fallish colors and beautiful clear mountains surrounding us.  Now we're off for a week of giving thanks and trying to keep kids busy without any school to go to!

Random Fall Photos

I finally cleaned off the pictures from my phone.  Here are some snapshots of our activities lately.  Kamryn finished up a successful middle school volleyball season.  (They made it to play-offs, but lost the first match.) Scott and I drove up north to attend two weddings of friends.  Scott and I also had a wonderful weekend away in Temecula wine country for my job.  :)  Troy is still playing soccer with his AYSO team. We're beginning new sports seasons for Kam:  softball at school and basketball in a rec league.  The fun continues...

Halloween 2013

We enjoyed a fun Halloween this year.  We came up with some last minute costumes and hit the neighborhood.  Our neighborhood is quite a hot spot for local (and not so local) children, so it was busy out there!  Scott readily agreed to "man" the candy bowl and joined our next door neighbors around their fire pit on their driveway.  The kids and I joined up with some friends and went farther than we usually do.  It was a fun evening!

A Little Trip

This fall Kamryn and I were able to fly out and visit Katie at college.  It was a fun, whirlwind adventure.  Flying went smoothly and we even got to fly with some friends who were on the same flight. During our time there we got to see Katie's room, visit family, hang out with Kamryn's friends from her old school, eat at some of our favorite spots, watch a swim meet, watch a soccer game, leave notes in our friend Aaron's office, attend Katie's choir concerts, shop, meet Katie's many friends, attend a choir rehearsal (my favorite), experience some chilly weather and much more!  (I had forgotten how busy college life is!)  We had a blast and it was great to see Katie and experience some of her college life!