I'll Be Home For Christmas

Ian and I traveled to Denver for Christmas.  We woke up Christmas morning to a snowy, white Christmas.  I don't know how I managed to get through a whole five days of activities and not take a single picture on my camera!!!!  Well, I was actually trying to be techy and take pictures on my phone but my phone had a glitch and all the pictures were erased.  We had a madrigal dinner where you sing songs in between courses which we really enjoyed.

The day after Christmas we went snowshoeing with Nathan, my Dad, the woman he was dating at the time Julie, and her two sons.  The trails in Evergreen were perfect that day.

Ian and I enjoyed being in the beautiful Colorado mountains and snow for a few days.  We have so many happy memories from Colorado.

My brother Nathan.

Stopping for some hot chocolate half way through.

A New Birthday

When my mom passed away in late October 2011, my dad said that the day she died was my Mom's "new" birthday.  The day she was relieved of her suffering in this life and moved on to grander things in the next life.  This year we had a party for my mom with peppermint ice cream on her "new" birthday.  All of us got on Skype at the same time and ate Peppermint ice cream and reminisced about her life.  My mom always had peppermint ice cream on her birthday because it was on December 6th when that flavor was out in the stores.

As a tribute to my mother, all of my cousins and aunts and uncles were invited to do a special act of service for someone.  Everything from taking cookies to an older woman to purchasing and donating clothing to a local shelter.  My aunt compiled all the services and shared them with us.  They all meant so much to me.  I think I would like to continue this tradition on next year with my own family in memory of my mother.  She was such a great lady.  She is missed daily.

Thanksgiving

Yes, I am really posting about Thanksgiving in April.  We enjoyed Thanksgiving with Ian's family this year at Morro Bay.  Morro Bay is a sleepy coastal town close to Big Sur.  It was wonderful from start to finish.

We had the whole immediate Finlay family, both grandparents, and an Aunt, Uncle, and three cousins up there.  We were quite a crew and pretty much overwhelmed our favorite frozen yogurt place as you can see from this picture.  We definitely increased their sales that night:)

Morro Bay is beautiful and known for the Morro Rock.  It is nice to walk along the beach and just enjoy.

The Finlays REALLY enjoy taking jumping pictures. No trip or occasion is complete without them.

One morning we all hiked Black's Hill which overlooks most of Morro Bay.  This is the whole Finlay crew at the top.

I tell Ian all the time how lucky he is to have all four of his grandparents living and healthy enough to hike to the top of a very steep hill!  Ian is named after both of his grandfathers which is pretty cool as well.  His two grandfathers were friends and coworkers who introduced Ian's parents to each other.  They are all such great people.  Ian takes after both grandfathers in many ways.  

My sister-in-law Megan always makes gingerbread houses to decorate the day after Thanksgiving.  She makes them from scratch.  So impressive.  

We took family pictures while we were all together. Here is the whole Thanksgiving crew.  

Here is Ian and I with his parents and grandparents.

School Starts

Ian started his FEMBA program at UCLA last fall.  He is loving it!  Traveling all week and then going to school all day Saturday in addition to keeping up with family and church responsibilities is exhausting, but I haven't heard him complain once.  He is doing really well and somehow manages to fit everything in.

I also went to school (well, online really) last fall to earn my ELL certificate so I could teach elementary school here in California.  After A LOT of money and effort, I was finally able to earn my California teaching credential.  I was able to get a long term substitute position at a nearby elementary school teaching 2nd grade.  I taught from the end of October until the first of March.  Since then, I have continued to substitute teach in the school district.  Teaching jobs here aren't as easy to come by as I had hoped, so we will see what becomes available for next year.

These are the 2nd grade teachers dressed up as twins (or triplets rather) on Twin Day.  The teacher in the middle is who I subbed for this year when she went on maternity leave.  The teacher on the right was my team teacher and honestly wouldn't have made it without her.

  

Welcome To Our New Home

After a few months of looking for homes in California, we finally bought one!  We feel so lucky to call this house our own.  With wealthy investors, houses were flying off the market so quickly with offers far above the asking price.  We feel we were being watched out for as there was no way we could compete.  This became our home November 11th.  Thank you to all the friends and family who helped us move!

We live in the San Gabriel Valley of California and love the warm weather.  Our neighbors are very nice and share their fresh avocados and lemons with us.  Most nights we hear Taps played on the trumpet by someone near the city hall down the street.  We are close to Ian's family and get to spend a lot more time with them now.  We are loving having our own space and not living in a one bedroom apartment any more:)

This is our backyard.  We have made some changes to it over the last few months, including the garden, but I will post about that later.   

This house was built in the late 1940's.  We are the second family to own the home!  The owner gave us the original blue prints for the house.  We are enjoying updating and improving the home little by little.   

A Visit From Whitney

Well, it has been far too long since I updated this blog.  So much has happened in our lives since the last post in October of 2012.  There really isn't any way to write and post about everything in my mind and heart.  However, this blog is somewhat of a family history for us so I am going to give you some highlights from the last several months or so.

In October, my sister Whitney came to California for a visit.  Yeah!  It was so fun to do craft projects, talk, watch movies, visit the beach, and chat.  Isn't she gorgeous?    

Whitney's first time at In N Out.

We stopped by the LA temple to walk the grounds.

Despite being a little chilly, we took a picnic lunch to the beach one day near Santa Monica. 

I am so lucky to have so many great sisters!

    

Fall Happenings

Here are a few things we've been up to lately....

For Ian's birthday we drove down to Santa Monica and got dinner along the beach.  Hors d'oeuvres were bread and cheese and Henry Weinhardt root beer (a little odd I know, but they are Ian's favorites).  

I went to Salt Lake City for Conference Weekend.  It was nice to spend time with family and as always, the weekend went so fast.  Almost all the sisters were together (we missed you Jennie). 

I got to babysit my darling nephew.  I was tempted to sneak him home with me.  

We stayed with my Anderson grandparents.  We always get the royal treatment at their house.  

This picture is a little bit unrelated but last year I made this costume for my little brother Nathan to wear for Halloween.  Kristen will be showing it off to her middle school students this year.       

The buzz this last week in Los Angeles was the space shuttle Endeavor making its way to the science museum.  Last weekend drove to see it as it was being pulled through the streets of LA.  This is as close as we were able to get but still very cool.