December 2007 so far...

It's only December 3rd but we had a pretty busy & fun weekend so our December pictures are getting off to a great start. Saturday was the first big snow & Lorin took Polly on a walk in her sled around the neighborhood. She loved being outside, as all kids do, learning to sled, watching Lorin shovel & eating snow.






Saturday night was the ward party. We are still meeting people & we seem to be at a stage that no one else is. Everyone either has 6 kids or none. So we don't fit in with the big families, but the couples with no kids have tended to steer clear from us so far. It's a great ward & there is one couple who is expecting their first in April, so they might be our best bet. :) Anyway, as you can see, Polly had a hard time with Santa this year. She loves him in books & movies but not so much in person.



On another note, tomorrow is Erin's 15th birthday! I feel bad I didn't do a post for Ben on November 27th, but we all know he doesn't check the blog anyway. Erin is turning 15, right? Haha... Happy Birthday tomorrow Erin! I know she isn't as regular about checking the blog as she is myspace or facebook, but this way I can put up a cute picture of us for everyone to see. Happy Birthday! See you in 19 days!

More from CA Thanksgiving

Here's some more photos from our trip home for Thanksgiving

Jack of course had fun exploring every inch of the plane but when he crawled into his mother's lap and went to sleep we started to wonder if he was really our son. The last time he slept in either of our arms was probably a year ago.

Jack loves getting his very own apple or cob of corn. He puts those little teeth to work and is entertained for a while.

We made a couple trips to San Onofre to test out the new Gibbs Longboards. Here is Beth in her new wetsuit showing how it's done at Old Man's. There are now 9 surfboards at my parents place so if you ever want to come to Irvine we can outfit just about everyone who wants.

Jack was anxious to get in on the surfing action but was happy to settle for trips to the pool.

On Monday we went to Oxnard and Grandpa McEuen took us to lunch at Yolanda's.

The weekend wouldn't have been complete without a victory over Yewtah. GOOOO Cougars!

45 feet in the air...

My Dad requested a picture of me in a hard hat...so here I am on our jobsite in Burley, Idaho in a man lift 45 feet in the air. Behind me is a section of the milk plant that we are building. In this picture the steel is 52 feet tall, when we are done it will be 110 feet.

Thanksgiving 2007

The puzzlers really hit it hard today to finish the puzzle of Lake Powell. The built-in flash on my new camera doesn't work and apparently I hit the self-timer getting set up with the on-camera flash so Sam and the others were really laughing at me when the pictures were taken but at least it proves they were able to get it put together.

Second try with the self-timer on by mistake.

First try of getting the puzzlers with the camera set on "self-timer."

Proof that the Lake Powell puzzle was all put together.

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving this year with about 36 here for dinner Thursday evening plus 3 others later for dessert. The grandkids put a Charlie Brown puzzle together downstairs, Alex and Joel serenaded us via the player piano and the rest of us just visited and let the meal settle. Mary and her girls were up early on Friday to hit the sales at 4:00 am and Norda and I even went out to Kohl's at about 10:30 to buy three things but ended up adding an "impulse buy" of a sweater for me also. The only problem is that we got a $10 gift certificate that has to be used by December 1st so we may or may not have to make another trip there - spend money to save money I guess.

The food was a joint venture - many thanks to all who helped. Our hope is that everyone in the family enjoyed the holiday as much as we did. We are really looking forward to seeing you all at Christmas.

Who is John Basilone? - Turkey Day surf trip

Our annual Thanksgiving Day surf trip to San Onofre takes us south on the 5 freeway to the San Diego county line. The freeway exit on the way to favorite surf spots like Old Man's, Church's or Trails is Basilone - the northwest entrance to Camp Pendleton. Today I asked Brian and John if they knew who John Basilone was. This is tougher than the 'name that band' game they like to play by switching radio stations. Since neither one knew who John Basilone was, I took a minute to tell them that he was a Medal of Honor and Navy Cross recipient. He won the Medal of Honor in Guadalcanal in 1942 while serving in the Army. After being discharged, he grew restless and joined the Marines. He returned to action and was killed in action on Iwo Jima in 1945. For his heroic action on Iwo Jima he was awarded the Navy Cross. He is the only man to receive both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. Much more here: http://www.ocregister.com/news/2004/basilone/
Brian wondering why John didn't wax the nose of the new Randy Gibbs' board. Does make you wonder where Annie picked up her "Karate Kid" surfing style (you'll have to go to the very first post on this blog to compare Brian and Annie's surfing styles).
John leaning into one of the nice waves of the day.
John goes right, Brian goes left. It's good they lined up in the right positions.
OK, so I didn't make the bell today. Before John came in and picked up the camera, I added a few seconds to my season total of about 45 seconds standing on a surfboard. Even if I can't keep up with the boys in the waves, it's a great Turkey Day tradition to get in the water and give it my best shot.

Jack's Back ........in Irvine

Jack, Beth John and Brian flew in to Los Angeles on Monday night. It has been fun having the family home for Thanksgiving. Jack loves the pool, but was willing to climb out and make the long crawl over the cement to see Grandma. Brian showed his skills as a multi-tasker by texting and staying upright on the Huffy at the same time.

Riley's Apple Farm

I spent Saturday Nestled in the apple growing foothills of historic Oak Glen, Riley's Farm is a working apple orchard and living history farm featuring pick-your-own fruit, living history education, dinner theater, group banquet facilities and extended, historically-themed overnight stays. The season ended Oct 10 so there was not much going on. Usually they have everything apple to do for the day. We did enjoy a good lunch, a yummy caramel apple and brought home an apple pie. Most of these pictures were taken by a 4 year old. It was a wonderful day and so beautiful just to get out of Orange County.

This is your calling, to proclaim the gospel...and move the saints.

Ben will need to learn to turn dressers so the drawers are facing inside before he becomes a worthwhile member of any elders quorum.


His pizza, however, looks like that of an experienced pie maker. Pizza boa!

Another Blog Anyone?

Just wanted to let everyone know that if you would like to spend/waste (you can fill in the appropriate word) more time reading another blog, you can check out "Wiffleball Wednesday". It is a blog I started, for the main purpose of a place to keep our stats online somewhere. We also decided it could be a place to write about our weekly games. My roommates, friends, and I play every Wednesday night and last week we started keeping stats. One of my roommates created an Excel spreadsheet so we have had a lot of fun with that.

Here is the link: www.wiffleballwednesday.blogspot.com

Home Sweet Home

We made it! Following Bob's wishes, I thought I would put up a quick post. We got into the house yesterday, the last box unloaded at about 10:30 last night. I wasn't there, I was too busy hosting a Tick Tock Collection clock party. Emily & I both made some pretty sweet clocks & Mary was the designated babysitter for all of the crying children. It was a pretty busy day & still lots more to do!

Recent surgery

I know I have already sent this along to most of you but decided maybe I needed to post it on the blog for the record. Norda actually took two pictures with the new digital camera (we are both still trying to figure it out) so I am including both of them. The surgery went well and I don't have any real pain but Dr. Sharma, who does most of the melanoma surgery in the state, must have decided it was too awkward to bandage so he has just "let it all hang out." I am wearing a pull over with a high collar todayso it won't offend anyones sensibilities if they happen to see me. I will probably do the same thing tomorrow at Rotary, the CVCA board, and The Irving Mayfield New Orleans Jazz orchestra presentation at the Ellen Eccles Theatre. At least I will be able to wash my hair when I shower tomorrow. I will have the stitches removed next Wednesday and get the path report then but in the meantime I am assuming that everything will indicate no residual tumor. More news later on that. After the scar has fully retracted I will probably have Norda take an "after" picture so you can see how much improvement has taken place. Stay tuned for further details!

It's beginning to look a lot like FALL

Halloween, Mac as the cutest clown, Sam being herself, Alex as a nerd (just like his dad)




Alex moving on to the next sport, basketball. Coach Emmett can't help his skills...



McKinley's Halloween concert at the middle school, she is always clowning around.


Sam's last soccer game, lost to Judge 0-1 who went on to win state.