Papa's 29 again!!!

Happy Birthday to my very wonderful husband! I hope you have a great day and know how loved you are.

Also, on Valentine's Day, it will be 35 years since Bryan proposed to me! WOW- 35 years! I guess that throws the "Papa's 29 again" theory out the window, huh? I'm thankful for the great 35 years we've had together and I look forward to the next 35. 
I love you, Bryan!

Counting my blessings

This might be a little depressing, but I've been counting my blessings all day after I ran across this blog http://patrickandashley.blogspot.com/ through another friend's blog - it made me so sad for this couple from Idaho. Their little 18 month old girl, Preslee, drowned last summer. She was the same age as our little granddaughter, Madie, is right now and I can't even imagine losing her. I just don't know if I could have gone on if something like this had ever happened to one of my kids - or to my grandkids. My heart goes out to them and to others who have lost their children. I think they will earn extra blessings in heaven for going through this experience. I feel extremely blessed and thankful for my family - and believe me, there are constant prayers said for all of them.

Happy Birthday, Holly!

Happy Birthday to our sweet daughter! It was such an exciting day on February 3, 1980 when she came into our family! She has 2 older brothers, so it was especially exciting to get a little girl! Holly was very easy to raise - she was obedient, happy, organized, loving, fun, patient, tolerant, righteous, the list could go on and on. Now, at 31, she's still all of those things and to add to it, she's a great homemaker, wife and mother! We couldn't ask for a more perfect daughter. Happy Birthday, Holly! We hope your day is wonderful and all your wishes come true this coming year!

Learned something new in a real estate class

Sitting through real estate classes for my license renewal can sometimes be pretty boring. However, I did learn something new last week from the instructor - and it has nothing to do with real estate! Did you know there is an easier way to peel a banana than this?

The easier way is starting from the bottom! Apparently that's the way apes peel them. Who would have thought? Maybe everyone else already knows this, but it was news to me.

Try it - it really is easier.

Fun for Ty, Scary for Mom

A few weeks ago, Tyler was at his regular SWAT training when they got an actual SWAT call to the Chandler Mall, where someone had fired shots at police officers and then ran into the mall. Since Tyler's SWAT team was already in their gear and ready to go, they were able to arrive at the mall very quickly and start clearing people out of the mall. Usually Tyler is the sniper, so I don't worry too much about him, but this time he was the shield guy, which means you are the first one in a building holding the shield. I'm glad I didn't know this at the time, or I would have been even more worried. Knowing he was at the mall, but not hearing from him all afternoon was a nail-biting experience. I followed it closely on the news all day, watching for glimpses of him when they would show live scenes on the news.

The shooter eventually holed up in a Baja Fresh, holding hostages in the restaurant with him. Tyler was right outside the door of Baja Fresh and they were trying to decide if they should go in. The shooter told his family by telephone that he was going to shoot any police officer in sight and he knew he would be killed. However, they were finally able to talk him into giving himself up. Tyler was sure it was going to end by shooting this guy, so I'm glad it was a peaceful ending.

These are some of the pictures that were in the local news. In the top left picture, Tyler is on the right side of the SWAT vehicle, looking into the camera. That is Tyler on the bottom left picture bringing one of the hostages out of Baja Fresh.

I'm so glad Tyler is okay. It's always such a worry when there are situations like this. Needless to say, it was a relief when Tyler finally called me at about 6 p.m. when he was on his way home. I asked him his reaction to the whole afternoon and he told me it was very exciting! I guess this is what they train for and I know he's smart and prepared for this, so I all I can do is PRAY!

San Clemente, CA

We had some timeshare weeks that needed to be used before they expired, so we invited BJ & Shannon's family to join us in San Clemente, CA for a week.

We left the day after Christmas and stayed at San Clemente Inn. It was pretty outdated, but it was clean and in a great location. There was just one room inbetween ours and BJ & Shannon's, so we were close. Here is a picture of the inside of our rooms. Behind the table in the closet looking things are murphy beds, which the kids thought was pretty cool! They were actually more comfortable than the queen bed in the master bedroom!

We bought a 3 park pass for SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, and the San Diego Wildlife Park, which was a good deal. The first day we went to SeaWorld. It was a perfect day. I loved this walkway over the whale pools where you could stand and observe the whales. They were pretty amazing!

The sea lion show was one of my favorites!
There was a very long line for the 3D Polar Express adventure. We waited in line and didn't think we would make it in the show, but we were the last ones in before they cut off the line! Whew! That was an important one to see, according to Sam, the train lover! Here are BJ, Shannon, Sam & Brodi waiting to get into the theater.

Sam's cool 3D glasses.

And I love how Brodi put hers on upside down!

Inside the Polar Express adventure, they showed part of the movie and the chairs rumbled when the train did, we got sprayed with water and it was very loud! I'm glad we made it in- it was

definitely worth the wait.

One of the crazy things we did at SeaWorld was buy a day pass for food. It seemed kind of expensive at the time, but we knew we would be there for lunch and dinner and realized it was the better value. And - we could go back anytime of the day and get as much food as we wanted. So, this was a good thing and a bad thing - I ate way more food than I needed to, but it sure was fun to go get anything we wanted all day!

The next day we went to San Diego Zoo. We were all a little tired from the day before, so we decided to take the bus around the zoo and then we could walk to the areas we wanted to afterward. There was a long line for the bus - it was probably one of the busiest days of the year at the zoo and we had to park out in the boonies, but it really was fine once we got on the bus.

Sam on the bus.

We were surprised when we found a food place where there was hardly a line and there was an open table right outside the restaurant.

The next day was rainy, so we took the kids to the local mall and let them run around and play in the kid's play area. The mall had a little train that you could buy tickets for and ride around the mall, so I think Sam and Brodi went on it 3 or 4 times.

The next day we went to the Wildlife Park, which was amazing. I didn't really get any pictures of it - I left our camera in the car, unfortunately. We went on a safari ride and saw wild animals living in a more natural environment. It was pretty cold that day, but we really enjoyed it.

We decided to make the next day our beach day. Although it was cold, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We went to the San Clemente Pier and got clam chowder bowls, then found a picnic table on the beach and enjoyed our lunch! The train track is on the other side of the fence and Sam was delighted as the trains went right by us while we were eating.

Next, we went to Oceanside - one of my favorite places! One thing I LOVE in Oceanside is this place -Red Cup Yogurt. They have THE best frozen yogurt. When we stayed in Oceanside last year, we visited it quite often! Ummm - it's the best.
Oceanside is the place that Sam fell in love with trains and it was all because of Bryan & I! When we stayed in Oceanside last year, we would take Sam to the tracks to watch the trains - and it was after this that the obsession began! On this trip, we took him back to the tracks where it all began to get a picture of him watching a train pass by. Notice the fingers in the ears? He hates loud noises.

And this is pretty much how our trip ended and how our year ended, since this was December 31, 2010. This was the last sunset of 2010. What more could you ask for? Besides a wonderful family, good health, the church and so many amazing blessings, we got a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas 2010

Just to finish off the posts I'm behind on - here is my Christmas post - sad as it may seem! I realized I didn't really get any pictures of people on Christmas, but fortunately Tiffany got some pictures and I stole them from her blog. Thanks again, Tiff!

We went to see the Mesa Temple lights with Tyler and Tiffany's family on the Sunday before Christmas. The weather was beautiful, and it was crowded, but very nice. They had a bell choir performing that night and I love bell choirs.

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight. BJ & Shannon's family and Tyler & Tiffany's family came and Tiffany's brother, Marc Galbraith, also joined us. Here is a picture of the table before everybody arrived.

Then after dinner, we played Christmas songs with our chimes, read the nativity story and we opened presents. We gave the kids pillow pets, which they all loved.
We sure missed our family who wasn't with us.
I also took a picture of my village this year. I love my village and look forward to having it set up each year. I also took a picture of our Christmas tree.

On Christmas Day, we went over to Tyler & Tiffany's house at about 6:30 a.m. to watch the girls open their presents. There was much excitement and we love being able to do this. After that, we went to BJ & Shannon's to watch Sam & Brodi open their presents. They're a little younger and things were a lot quieter at their house, but the kids were also very excited!

A couple hours later, everyone came over to our house for our traditional German Pancake breakfast. Of course, we had to have orange slices too. Tyler and Tiffany & family headed up to the cabin after that and BJ and Shannon went home, so we had a very quiet Christmas Day! We got ready for our California trip, which I will post about next.