January 2013

Happy New Year 2013!

 It has been a lovely 2012, and we are happy to welcome in a new year with a lot of new experiences. To celebrate the change, we went to a party at the Leger's home. They hosted a great party and the kids made it all the way until midnight. Tanner and Parker had blast with the kids and dads as they banged pots and pans, and popped the poppers all over the front driveway and street. Tanner loved playing all of the card games and board games. Parker kept up with the older kids all evening and we hardly saw him. Alyssa faded quickly and ended up curling up in my arms around 10, but woke up to all of the noise outside when the festivities began.  We had a great time as usual with the Leger bunch.

 Eva Valdez has a birthday on January 2nd, so it's always fun to keep celebrating. This year we made her a German chocolate cake (since she is our favorite German) then we popped some noise makers and confetti out in the back yard. She is a wonderful friend and we love the Valdez clan.

  I hosted a fun activity with the moms club this month. We had an indoor picnic and "fishing for new friends" party. The new members of the club came over to share snacks, pic nic in the living room, and play games with the kids. It's a fun way to get to know more of the ladies and I was happy to have so many fun people come over.
Parker's preschool group planned a field trip down to the Stockton Children's Museum. My kids always love it there. It's small and unique. Parker and Alyssa played the most with the cow, the ambulance, and the suction ball tubes. I could hardly peel them away when it was time to go home. My favorite part of the day was when the kids performed a puppet show for me. Parker and Alyssa have a lot of time together, so I love it that they are buddies. Most of the time Parker wants to be there to help her and make her smile. Parker said the cutest thing when I gave him a chocolate square. He said, "the chocolate is a whole lot of scrumptious!"

Darryl and I have a new hobby. In preparation for our trip to Hawaii in February, we became scuba certified. We took a class from Sports Chalet and learned to dive in their heated pool. We did 3 dives at the shop, then got all the gear and went down to Monterrey Bay to scuba in the ocean and try our out skills. It was a bit of a stormy weekend and the water was choppy. We had the maximum amount of neoprene and dove 4 times in open water to get certified. I got to see an octopus, and Darryl saw some really cool fish. It felt like we were inside the tanks at the aquarium and it was amazing! We went down to Monterrey with the Legers, but unfortunately Suzette got really sick and stayed at the hotel on Sunday so she couldn't complete the certification. I think it was for the best because we only had to do one dive on Sunday and the water was crazy choppy. We got in and did our skills then got out and went home. I'm so glad we had this chance.
 The best event of the month came during the Utah deep freeze. For about 3 weeks the Rocky Mountain region had a deep cold settle in and the temperature dropped so low, everything froze and the snow stayed deep and dry. Josianne Ennaisoj Petit got married during all that cold. I flew in for the joyous occasion. Her reception and ring ceremony took place before the marriage ceremony. It was held at a reception center in Bountiful. Josy and Mark decided to have the ring ceremony in order to include Josy's family that could not go into the temple for the marriage. I was very impressed with the wonderful words from her former Bishop. He performed the ring ceremony, and he had so many nice things to say about Josy and her choices. The other most moving part was when her new mother in law expressed her love and welcome with open arms. I know this is a good match, so I am so happy for their wonderful life together. It was fascinating to get to sit and talk with her half brother that only recently made contact with the family, but flew out for the wedding. The temple ceremony wad beautiful and I'm so glad she is joining such a strong and wonderful family.