Wrapping up 2011

As we end 2011 we are grateful for our many blessings. This year was again another great year for us. Below are some highlights:

As we opened the year we spent many weekends down at the beach and loved it. We continued our adventures around LA going to the Science Center, renting a four person bike, and going to the park most days.

Jared surprised me with a birthday get-a-way to Embassy Suites. We also went to Travel Town, The Huntington Library, and the Natural History Museum as a family.

We celebrated Tanner's first birthday at the park. We went on an overnight trip to Newport Dunes as a family. We stayed in a one bedroom cabin and enjoyed the sand and beach.

Dad, Laurie, Danny, Molly and myself went on a weekend trip to Yosemite. Jared was able to go to Lake Powell with us this year and it was such a treat! It was his first year back in many.

We celebrated our seventh anniverary by going on a cruise to Alaska. We played card games multiple times a day, ate when we wanted, played hard and rested until our hearts were content.

Ethan started his second year of preschool at a new school. Shortly after, we celebrated his fourth birthday with a family pirate party.

We closed the year by going on a Christmas cruise to Mexico with the whole Goodman clan. This year has been good to us. We are grateful for all we have. We look forward to the many adventures 2012 has in store for us.

An early Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas a few days early since we will be going on a cruise to Mexico with the Goodmans from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day. We made sure to write Santa a letter to let him know of our plans and asked him to find us before we left at Nana and Papa's house. He did just that!

Ethan's one and only request from Santa this year was a Mega Man toy. Over the last several months Ethan has gotten to know about Mega Man through his video game playing with Danny. Mega Man is a video game that my brothers played when they were kids, but the game and action figures are no longer sold in stores (which makes it difficult to come by - but nothing is too hard for Santa!)

My parents and Danny spent many countless hours trying to make Christmas special for our boys. Mega Man has a blaster that shoots and they wanted to make Ethan one of his own. They went all over town to find the material they needed, and not only surprised Ethan but Jared and me as well. We were impressed!! It was made with a water pitcher, the top of a salad dressing shaker, all kinds of wiring to light it up that had to be soldered together and finished with blue fabric. Not an easy task! It looked like they bought it from the store it was so nice and well done. It lights up on the side just like the real Mega Man blaster.

This year the boys also got a Batcave and Batmobile and that was a hit. Tanner got a doctor's kit, a puppy, a tractor and his favorite crayons with a coloring book. Our day was spent playing hard and eating yummy treats.

We are so grateful for the work everyone put into our Christmas this year. Thank you!! Jared got some new dress shirts for work along with some new church books. Jared surprised me with a new BBQ that we have been thinking about for our food storage as a way to be able to cook in an emergency situation and for daily use.

We ended the night with the nativity story, ringing the bells, and the little boys dressed up as shepherds and wisemen. It was neat to see the excitement on their faces while opening gifts, but at the end of the day what was even more special was knowing that they have an understanding of what Christmas is really about. We are grateful for the birth of our Savior, for his life and perfect example he showed us and for his atonement that makes it possible for us to return to him again someday. 

Preschool Christmas performance

This morning Tanner and I went to Ethan's Christmas performance where they sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah. Ethan has really blossomed this year and will still get shy when preforming but has come a long way from his last Christmas performance when he wouldn't sing or even look up at the audience. After they sang, a special visitor came - good old St. Nick. Tanner was in heaven! He kept vigorously waving to get Santa's attention and as the class took a group picture with Santa, Tanner kept running up into the picture to get Santa to look his way. The teacher had different stations set up with gingerbread houses to decorate, a wreath to color, and cookies and hot coco to end a fun morning.

The temple all aglow

Last night we went to see the LA temple lights with Christina. Last year we went and it was a big hit with Ethan so we were excited to go again. As we got out of the car Ethan immediately said, "this place is lovely!" I love how sweet he is and the love he has for beauty and spiritual things. After looking at the lights we went into the visitor center to listen to some Christmas music and watch a few short church videos. We first sat in the area where they have the huge Christus statue and the message was playing in Spanish. When we first sat down Ethan said, "What language is this?" I told him Spanish and then once it went into English he said, "He's speaking normal now. But when will he be speaking Farsi?" We get a kick out of his cute comments. We had a nice night!

Thank heaven for little boys

I love being able to stay home with my little boys. There is nothing I would rather do. I know it makes a huge impact on their life and I count my blessings every day to be in this situation. I love watching them grow up. Ethan is getting sweeter by the day. He is so loving, and has such a tender heart. He hugs each family member multiple times a day and tells us he loves us. I love seeing him put his arm around Tanner and rub his hair as we read books or they watch a show together. The other day as Ethan was kissing me he kept doing it over and over and I told him that was enough since he was starting to get a bit crazy. He said, "But you are so adorable!" We all got quite a laugh out of it. Ethan is doing so well in preschool and loves it!! Today I went to his teacher conference and his teacher only had great things to say about him. She said if she didn't know his birthday she would never guess he was one of the youngest children in the classroom. She said he is doing so well that if Kindergarten started tomorrow he would be totally ready. She said he loves to play with the blocks and play with the toys/dress up in the dramatic play area. She talked about his friend Alessandro and the neat friendship they have together. She said she has never seen two children play so well and have such a mature friendship. These are all things we have known but it was nice hearing it from his teacher. I couldn't be happier with the program and what he is learning.

Tanner is becoming more of a big boy every day. He is starting to put two words together like "bye daddy," "love you," "hi Ethan." He is still very sweet and knows it. He also loves putting a show on for people. This week he has started calling out mama or dada when he is awake in the morning or from a nap instead of crying for us. It's cute to hear it start out as, "mama!" and then go to "maaaaaaa-maaaaaaa." He loves to say hi and wave to people. His new favorite trick is to take our Tivo remote and throw it in the toilet. He sees the remote and goes straight to the toilet. He has been successful twice but attempted many other times. Luckily we were right behind him so it was just a quick dip and it still works. Crazy boy! We love having little boys!

Holiday Music

I love Celine Dion! She truly sings to my soul unlike anyone else. I love her style of music and always have. I have loved listening to Christmas music the last few weeks. I have been listening to Josh Grobin, Micheal Buble, Celine Dion, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir along with many others. I love a good mix, I like some of my favorites belted out but then sung in a little more peaceful manner as well. The boys and I have been listening and dancing during the day while decorating. I love the holiday season!

Out of the mouth of babes

On Thanksgiving Ethan woke up and said, "It's chicken day!"

On the way to school Ethan asked me how Heavenly Father created us. I said he is our Father in Heaven and can create anything. The conversation then went as follows:

Ethan: I know what happened. He created the earth and then everyone on the earth.

me: Yes, that is right.

Ethan: He thinks for a min and says: If we are going to live with Heavenly Father again that means we will not be living on earth. How does that happen?

Me: When we are down living on earth we go to heaven. People go to heaven when they get old and someday Jesus will come to the Earth again and we will all live together again. I reassured him we will always live together as a family.

Ethan: What about our house? Will someone else live in it?

Me: When we live in heaven our home will be in there and it will be very nice.

Ethan: Will there be toys?

Me: I think there will be toys. You will like it. 

I was surprised at all these insightful question and the connections Ethan was making. It was a very grown up conversation and he seemed to understand what I was saying. It was neat to have a conversation like that with him.

As we pulled up to the Goodman's home they had their Christmas nativity on the lawn with Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. Tanner surprised us by saying, "Hi Jesus" while waving to him. We were pleasantly surprised to see that he knew that was baby Jesus without anyone saying so ahead of time, and it was the first nativity we had seen for the Christmas season. Kids are so smart!

Picture recap of Thanksgiving weekend

Happy Thanksgiving!

My last thankful post will be on one of the most important blessings and that is Jared. I am grateful to be his wife and for his love and support. He truly is my everything and I don't know what I would do without him. I am grateful for his testimony of Jesus Christ, and for the example he shows to me and the boys. I am grateful he honors his priesthood and we can call on him to bless our family at any time. I respect his work ethic and I'm so amazed how hard he works and never complains. Residency is not an easy thing but Jared makes it look easy. Even though he has put in a long and hard day Jared comes home and is so engaged with each of us. He is so humble and smart. Jared has a lot he could brag about but he never does. He gives all the praise to God and realizes everything we are or have comes from Him. I am grateful for our happy marriage and that we will be together forever. I am eternally grateful for him. I am one blessed and lucky girl.

I am also grateful I once again got to come down to Tustin today to spend the week with family. I am grateful Heather and Doug came down for Thanksgiving and we got to spend this evening playing games and visiting as a family. I am grateful that Keena is spending several days with us. I have many many blessings! I am excited for our big Thanksgiving feast tomorrow and am extremely grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with such a rich life. Happy Thanksgiving!