We Made It to Tucson!

We are here in Tucson and doing great! It was sort of an ordeal getting here though. The morning we were planning on leaving the Grapevine was closed due to snow the night before. We were originally planning on leaving early in the morning, but because of the Grapevine being closed we didn't leave until 1:00 pm. We ran into traffic and two accidents, so what normally would have taken us 9 1/2 hours took us 12 hours and we didn't get here until 1:00 am. I was dealing with being sick and didn't know how I would do driving the whole way (since we had to drive both our cars), but I managed by eating chocolate and Skittles the whole way to keep me awake. I am just glad it is over.
We are loving Tucson. The first week we got here the weather was really warm. The last couple of days it has gotten cold. It even snowed yesterday (but didn't stick). We are pretty much completely unpacked and our house is feeling like home.
We had a great Christmas and it was fun doing things this year with family.

Crystal Palace Night With the Kidz

One of the kids last requests before we moved was to take them out to eat and one of the shows at Buck Owen's Crystal Palace. Since we've moved here it has been one of our family favorites. They have the best chicken fried steak, ribs, and rib eye ... as well as Amy's favorite ... their old fashioned green beans.

These are a few pictures I took with the camera in my cell phone. In the background you can see the Buckaroos performing on stage. It was a fun night.

David - Arrow of Light

David was awarded his Arrow of Light Tuesday evening. He has worked so hard to earn this, as well as his 13 activity pins. We are so proud of him.

One of the coolest things about scouting is that the mother gets an award, too. Amy was given her mother's pin for the Arrow of Light and David was able to pin it on her at the Pack Meeting. I don't know who was more proud ... David or Amy.


David graduates into 11-year-old scouts in January. We can't wait to work with him on his Boy Scout badges.

The Twins R 2

Elyssa and Joshua turned 2 years old today. The last 2 years have been lots of fun ... but absolutley CRAZY!!! We still look at them and can't believe that there are two of them ... and that they're not babies anymore.

We had cupcakes and ice cream for their birthday ... chocolate frosting for Joshua and strawberry frosting for Elyssa. We turned off the lights once we lit the candles and Joshua wanted to light his again and turn the light off so he could try and blow it out again.

Joshua got a train and Elyssa a little piano keyboard. It is so much fun watching them open presents. Christmas is going to be a blast this year.

Their big present for their birthday was a kitchen. They both played with the one at Grandma Doll's house for hours on end ... so they were so excited when they tore the wrapping paper off of this one. They've been playing nonstop since they opened it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELYSSA AND JOSHUA!!!

Disneyland

On our way home from Tucson we stopped at Disneyland. We rode all the good rides for over 12 hours and hardly had to wait in line. Davey and Kella are into the "big kid" rides now ... Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Star Tours, The Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. The twins were great ... AND ... way overstimulated all day long. They were so excited to see all the Disney characters in person that they see on TV every day.


Elyssa and Joshua definitely have "Mickey Mouse" as part of their vocabulary. The hardest part for Joshua was waiting in line to see Mickey. He was all worked up by the time it was our turn to see him.


The twins had a blast in Toon Town.

We're not quite ready for David to get his driver's license. This is the closest he'll get for at least 6 more years.

David and Kella had a blast. The last time they were at Disneyland David was 6 and Kella was 4. They remember going, but they had alot more fun this time since they are older.

"I'm a little teacup short and stout ..."

David and Kella rode Star Tours 3 times. This was one of their favorite rides. They only had to wait in line for 15 minutes once and then walked on the other 2 times.

Joshua loved all the Disney characters. He didn't quite understand why he had to wait in line and couldn't run in front of everyone else (which led to a few meltdowns during the day ... we worked through it just fine). We invested in backpack "leashes" for the twins, which worked out great. We would let the twins run around on the leash for an hour or so and then put them back in their stroller.

It was a fun day and we will definitely go back when the twins are a little older.

Our Trip To Arizona

We spent last week in Arizona looking for a house and hanging out with family. We spent some time one afternoon going up to Mount Lemmon to have a picnic and let the kids run around in the forest. As you can see from the pictures ... everyone had a great time.

We found a house close to Target and even closer to the elementary school Davey and Kella will attend. We are sad to leave Bakersfield, but also excited to start our new adventure in Tucson. The kids asked if they could stay in Tucson until we moved in December. They had a great time with relatives and look forward to more fun with the family.

Joshua and Elyssa found the stumps around the forest perfect little chairs. Elyssa went from stump to stump and liked trying out all the "chairs."

The kids had so much fun together playing in the forest and climbing on all the logs and rocks. I'm actually amazed that we were able to get them to sit still long enough to take this picture.

Kella slept on an air matress at Aunt Jenn's apartment. We were glad that we could stay at Jenn's and had fun making her downstairs neighbor mad with all the noise of 12 additional feet on her floor.

Elyssa didn't have any problems warming up to family.

Trick or Treat

This year was a real "treat" for the kids. We drove to Arizona (to look for a house) and the kids were able to go trick or treating with their cousins. The twins learned quickly that people will give you candy ... Elyssa walked door to door for over an hour and Joshua only lasted for about a half-dozen doors. His attention span is very limited. It was a great night and Davey and Kella really enjoyed being at grandma's house for halloween.


We think Davey may have found his college and career path this Halloween. Then when we get older we can live in the guest house behind his mansion during retirement.

Have you ever tried to get one 2-year-old to pose for a picture ... much less two? You should try it and see if you have any better luck than we did.

Kern County Fair

We went to the Kern County Fair on Friday. We thought it might be busy because it was Friday, so we got there as soon as the kids were out of school. We were surprised because there was hardly any other kids there and David and Machella were almost the only ones riding the rides. They didn't have to wait at all. They had a lot of fun riding all of the different rides and eating all of the fun fair food (funnel cakes, fried s'mores, etc.). Joshua and Elyssa had fun seeing the goats and the cows. They know a lot of the names for animals and the sounds they make so it fun when they saw the cows and kept saying "Moo, Moo". I thought Elyssa would cry when she got close to the animals, but she loved it and tried to pet the goats. I am so glad we went as early as we did because as it got later more and more people came and by the time we left about 5 hours later it was pretty crowded.





This is a picture of David and Machella waiting for the Viper ride to start. It is funny because Machella loves to go on all the fast rides and David is not so convinced it is a good idea. Machella has a way though of persuading David to go with her and he usually has a good time when it is over.

Back to School

The summer really flew by. It seemed like yesterday that the kids were just getting out of school. Davey and Kella were ready to go back ... they love school and I'm sure that the summer was too long for them. Davey is excited to be in the 5th grade and it's hard to believe that Kella is already in the 3rd grade. When we moved to Bakersfield she was only 4 years old and still in preschool.

More Pictures From Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

Joshua and Grandpa really got along well. Joshua's preferred place at the beach was as far from the water as possible (I think he rode on someone's shoulders as much as he could).

Grandma and Grandpa walking the 100 stairs down to the beach from the hotel with Elyssa. Going down was the easy part.

The hotel also had a game deck with ping pong, badminton, and a large chess board. Davey and Kella liked the ping pong and wanted to play all the way to check out time.

Lyssie figured out that riding on Grandpa's shoulders was more fun than the stroller and much easier than walking herself. She was happy most of the trip, but we couldn't get her to smile for the pictures. As you might ascertain from the look on her face ... she's actually the one in control.

Lyssie is such a good hand-holder when she's not running or riding. This is her and Grandma on the pier at Avila Beach.

We have a hundred more great pictures from the trip. If anyone wants to see them, let me know and I can burn you a disk or send more in an email. Just let me know.

We really enjoyed everyone who came out to visit for Kella's baptism. The older kids played well with the younger kids and liked hanging out with the rest of the family. It was nice to just sit around and shoot the breeze or just enjoy each other's company. Hopefully we'll have more opportunity to do this more frequently down the road. The kids liked being around their grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins. Thanks to everyone who came out to California!!!