January 12, 2014
Dear Children,
With our lights already up before Thanksgiving, we
were fully decorated for Christmas by the end of the Thanksgiving holiday. That
always feels good and this year especially needful since it is a shorter time
between the two holidays and we would be gone quite a bit before Christmas and
in Las Vegas
for Christmas. There is something about the Christmas lights being up that
makes me thrilled!
Alina and Adam helped with the decoration boxes;
many of which we didn't EVEN open. That was such a free feeling! We cut down a
very small, almost Charlie Brown-ish looking tree. We went to a place closer to
the house but hesitated to walk around too much since we had Kyre with us. She
uses a walker for longer walks these days to keep herself steady. We got the
home decorated in time to wake up on Sunday morning with presents under the
tree for Kyre's family. We had an early Christmas celebration with them
including pull-aparts for breakfast. We also celebrated Kyre's birthday three
days early since they were here.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we played a LOT of games and with Morty, watched a LOT of football!
Besides going to get our tree, we also went to Chuck E Cheese upon Adam and
Klaire's request to play games. We planned a pizza night that did not include
Chuck E Cheese pizza but instead made some when we got home.
We also created a lot of holiday treats for our
neighbor and friend gifts once Sunhee and Meeja arrive to help with that
project in two weeks. We had a huge bag of pretzels so we thought of just about
every way to mix pretzels and chocolate! The grand children were very creative.
I already filled you in on our holiday travel plans
in the last newsletter. We added to it a bit but took out flying to New York. Instead we
added a few more doctor visits with Grandma’s fall and two funerals! I am the
person in the ward in charge of the family funeral meals; we had two prior to
the week that we were planning on flying to New York. It is just as well; Instead of New York, I went to
lunch with Jeannena Mitchell and
signed up and helped several more SendOutCards customers. New York will have to wait for a couple of
months.
We LOVED our trip to Cabo del San Jose. It is the quieter city next to the
one with the night life. We had an incredible view of the ocean and traveled
via city bus each day. It was a fun and quite inexpensive get-away in the warm
sun. Each day we made a breakfast of eggs scrambled with peppers and tomatoes
in a fresh corn tortilla that we purchased at the local grocery store. We
packed drinks and snacks and boarded the bus to a snorkeling adventure for the
afternoon. In the evening we would make dinner with shrimp or chicken and those
fresh tortillas again ending our day by soaking in the hot tub at the resort.
One night we taxied into town and walked all over the art district, watching a
local dance team perform on stage. One of the last days we ventured to Cabo San
Lucas and walked the wharf to watch the fishing boats come in. Dad wanted to
see a Marlin which he did get that opportunity. We also saw a shark. In Cabo
San Lucas we took a boat ride and snorkeled for a very short time by the Land’s
End, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean.
We had already walked all over in Cabo so we were returning back to our place
in the dark. I want to go back to Cabo San Jose again!
After returning from our Mexico trip, Sunhee and Meeja came
to visit for their annual early Christmas weekend with them. This time we were
all decorated so they helped with our neighbor and friend gift project as
usual. We always have tons of fun with them in the kitchen. I think Meeja was a
little disappointed that we weren’t making caramel corn this year as she loves
how good she is at using Aubrey’s recipe. They were here for our ward Christmas
breakfast so they both got to sit on Santa’s lap.
Before
leaving for Christmas, I had the fun opportunity to help wrap hundreds of gifts
for a Foster Families holiday party. I love wrapping gifts and this year, with
our travels, most of my gifts had to be given in gift bags. I think I gained my
love for wrapping gifts from my Grandma Helen when I used to go to her Colorado home at
Thanksgiving while I attended BYU. I would wrap all her gifts while I was
there. Come to think of it, I believe that I used to be the main gift wrapper
at home also!
The holiday
party was planned by the DHS Child Welfare of Washington County so that the
biological parents would be gathered with their children who are in foster care
and have Christmas fun together in a fun environment. One of my business associations
volunteered to make HUGE snowflakes for their decorations. Our photographer in
the group volunteered her time to take photos of the children and their parents
with Santa and even our hairdresser offered to cut and style hair for the
photos! It was a hugely successful event
We
watched flights closely to find the most open holiday flights to Las Vegas. Just before
going, we planned a quick gift drop off in Oakland on the way. Aunt Denise met us at the
airport, we went to lunch and then she took gifts back to Antioch for herself and for Shawn and
Aubrey’s family. We got back on the plane and went to Las Vegas where Katie arrived shortly before
us.
We
had a very fun visit in Las Vegas.
Aaron arranged a comedy show for us, we played lots of games (Five Crowns being
a new favorite) we walked around the Bellagio decorations and gardens and of
course, stopped at the fountains (my idea), had big ice cream sundaes in
Serendipity (Adrianne’s idea) and Nate took us out to lunch in the heart of the
Downtown Project while giving us a tour of all their renovation ideas. We were
there a whole week; it was very relaxing. Do you know what time we got up on
Christmas morning? Not until 10:00!!! I was so happy to walk in and see the
boys had gotten a real tree. It made their home look so comfy. It was actually
probably from Oregon!
There was one lone ornament, a 49er figure!
On
Monday, Aaron took Morty and Nicole (his Duck game friend) to the airport very
early to go to the Oregon Duck bowl game, Adrianne, Dad and I loaded her car to
travel back to Eagle
Mountain but first we met
Aaron for lunch. I guess I forgot to mention that Katie could stay in Las Vegas only a couple
of days and Adrianne got off work to drive down the weekend after Christmas
while Blake stayed and worked (and was sick after all).
On
the way to Adrianne’s home, we had hoped to stop and see Grandma Bitter but
Adrianne had to pick up the cutest puppy for a friend who had to travel away on
an emergency just after buying a Christmas Eve puppy and we were running late.
So, unfortunately, we were in Utah
and didn’t even get to see Grandma! But the Oregon,
Oakland, Las Vegas,
Eagle Mountain
and then South Jordan and back to Oregon
holiday trip got us seeing lots of family!
Heidi
and the girls came and picked us up the next morning so we could play for the
day at their home and then fly out on New Years Eve but we were having so much
fun playing with the girls that they convinced us to stay over and fly home the
next day! Twist our arm! So we went with them to a friend’s home for a New
Years Eve party. The girls were so excited to be staying up past midnight; even
William and Ainsley made it for the fireworks at midnight! Although, the next
morning when we walked into the airport and saw the security line, we wondered
what we had done to think that we could fly standby on New Year’s Day. Luckily,
we looked down and saw that our boarding passes had the Pre-TSA stamp so we
sailed right past the line. Thank goodness!
We
were expecting wedding guests (ward friends who had family coming into town for
a reception) to stay here at the house on the day we arrived but plans got
changed so we just were lazy the day we came home. It felt SO good! Although, I
did have to get busy the next morning to make a ton of sugar cookies with an S
on them for their last name for that reception.
Since
being home in January we are trying to lose our holiday weight gain; boo hoo,
so we can fit into our clothes for warm weather for the Panama
Canal cruise. I can’t believe that it is around the corner! I am
so excited. This is like doing my family
history work! SMILE! Jose Antonio, my grandfather, didn’t even know about the United States until he left his little village
in the mountains of rural Spain
to work on the Panama Canal. While working on the canal, he heard that the
United States was paved with
streets of gold so upon returning home, he packed up himself and Feliciana,
boarded a ship to be indentured servants in the pineapple fields of Hawaii, and then worked extra years to pay for passage to
the San Francisco
port. We will travel through the original canal on this cruise ship before they
start using the new one under construction. Our family’s Panama
Canal!
Everyday
has been busy while getting ready to be away for two weeks without much
technology. I am working on a work incentive to add ten more customers before
the end of January (for me until I leave on January 17) so I can just relax
while away having met my goal! Dad has been able to spend more time getting
things ready for the trip as there hasn’t been any work since Thanksgiving. We
have got to get him retired so he can stop riding this rollercoaster!
I
hope that you all took the chance to watch Scott’s Christmas video. Aaron made
it possible for us to share online. We love you and are excited for the coming
trip. We wish you all could be with us! Love, Mom and Dad
