Our Christmas adventures to Oregon!

Ahhh...I finally get a chance to update our family blog. As many of you may know...Brenton, Kingston and I attempted to drive to Oregon from Southern California for the Holiday season. However, our car broke down on us 3 miles from our house. I know...it could be worse. We are actually very grateful that it happened that close to home and not over the pass. On a positive note, our parents came together and bought us airline tickets so we could fly home...and yes the same day!!! We are very, very thankful for that! Once home in Oregon...we managed to stay extremely busy while trying to spend quality time with both sides of the family and squeeze in some time to visit old college and family friends. We some how managed to do it all and might I add it was very stressful at times. But we did it and Kingston FINALLY got to meet his great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends! See pics below for a brief highlight of our trip!

Kingston playing with a shoebox while opening presents!

Brenton wearing his apron Aerin made for him! We all know he is the cook in the family!

Mommy helping Kingston with his stocking! Thanks Santa!

Daddy loving on his baby boy!

What is this thing? Kingston investigating what Santa brought him!

The cousins!

Kingston sleeping while Maddy and Gavin are playing at the park. Tori was in school.

Maddy and Gavin with Uncle Brenton!

What a handsome young man! Gavin playing with Maddy and Uncle Brenton!

Maddy with Uncle Brenton! Look at that smile!

I had to report back to work on December 28th, so Brenton's parents drove us back down to Oceanside on December 26th with a slight detour through Fresno to see Uncle Sean. We had a nice visit with him and I think Kingston was happy we stopped. He was about done with the carseat thing by then. We ended up staying the night at Sean's place and took off for Oceanside on the 27th. We had a very nice drive down and Kingston did very well.

Once home, our life pretty much went right back into the full swing of things. I headed straight back to work on the 28th and have been working lots and staying busy every since. I am still working nights as a Labor & Delivery Nurse for the US Navy and loving every minute of it. Brenton is still staying at home with Kingston and taking classes online.

We want to thank everyone for having us in their homes over the holidays and for making our trip home so fun and enjoyable! We definately made a lot of memories! We love and miss you all!

xoxoxo

Brenton, Melissa & Kingston

Snow Sledding!

Definitely a reason why we love Oregon! The kids had so much fun we definitely will be doing it again sooner than later. We went to the Hood River parking lot of Mt. Hood Meadows. It ended up being a great place, the boys kind of made us a our own sledding trail on the side. Half way into our trip they made a ramp which spiced up the kids experience. Victoria, being the mild temper girl she is, didn't want to sled. I bribed her that she could have a sleep over with Emily (McNamee) if they would sled down the hill together. They did, but only once. Of course Blayne wouldn't have that so a little later he ran, grabbed Tori, jumped on the sled, and down the hill they went with Victoria screaming the entire way. Not like Maddy, who kept saying, "again Daddy, again!" I can't remember the last time I saw my kids have so much fun together, not to mention having Curt and Aimee with their kids and Truman, Shannon, and Lexi. Of course last year we had enough of our own snow we didn't have to go anywhere. Blayne took my kids sledding last year with Uncle Jacob and Emily, and Tony but I stayed back with Maddy and Ashley with Abram. It is great to have all of my kids at an age where nobody gets left out and they are all big enough to go and join in the fun.

Happy 2010 New Year!

Wow, 2010! It has been a hectic last few weeks! It was so fun to be almost all together for Christmas! We really missed Sean! Doug and I stayed Christmas Eve night at Blayne & Aerin's. Brenton, Melissa, & Kingston came over also. We woke up Christmas morning to happy and excited children and adults! After opening stockings, Brenton making breakfast burritos, we finally settled down to opening presents. It was so special to see the kids opening gifts and the adults also. Everyone had a great time! We were able to Skype with Sean after opening gifts. Maddy kept trying to feed him through the computer and he was very cooperative in opening his mouth everytime she would send the spoon in his direction. Gavin had a great time shooting his Nerf gun at Sean via the computer also. Doug, Blayne & Aerin went to see a movie in the late afternoon. Brenton & Melissa took Tori & Gavin to see the new Chipmunk movie, too. Maddy, Kingston, and I went out to visit G'ma Pauline and the family. We enjoyed Brenton's birthday dinner that evening and then went home to pack for our trip south the next day. Saturday, Aerin, Doug & I cleaned while Blayne & Brenton loaded the car. Doug & I drove over to Melissa's parents to pick the kids up and we headed south to CA. The day was beautiful and we had a great time going down. We arrived in Fresno at Sean's about 12:30am and spent the nght at his place. The next morning, we got up, went out for breakfast and headed south to Oceanside. Kingston was tired of being in the car by the time we got home! We had a great week visiting with the kids and celebrating Brenton's 27th birthday. Thursday, we drove back up to Fresno and spent the evening with Sean, and Doug's sisters' family (Scott & Sharon). We had a great time and then spent the night over at Sean's again. Friday was breakfast and on the road again. The roads were pretty clear and the drive was going well; so Doug & I decided to just drive on home last night. We are recovering today! :) We are so blessed to have such an awesome family and to get to spend time with them! I, of course, shed a few tears everytime we had to say good-bye; but hope to visit again soon. I love that we live close to our other kids and g'kids to see them and enjoy them often! We pray that 2010 will be a successful year for all and that we will always be able to appreciate all of our many blessings of the gospel, family, friends, neighbors, etc! Oh, Kingston had two front bottom teeth come in during the Christmas season!.............Mom





Brenton and Melissa











Blayne and Maddalyn









Gavin with his new snowboarding goggles from G'ma and G'pa











Uncle Blayne holding Kingston while Gavin dotes on him.








Victoria and Grandpa
















Uncle Blayne and Aunt Aerin with Kingston











Maddalyn with her new baby doll from G'ma and G'pa







Annual Family Christmas Picture
(less Sean) 2009