Family Pictures

We took these family pictures in December and I'm just getting around to posting a few of them now. They were so much fun. We went to the Point Pinos Lighthouse in Pacific Grove for a look I love. Our photographer was very cool. It's so hard to get four kids to all look at a camera and smile! I'm so grateful to have yet another great family picture though.

(Micah stuck his hands in his pocket of his own accord...too funny.)

Took some of just my sweet Albert and me.

Took some individuals too.

So vintage-vibe cute! What a heart breaker!

Gavin is our ninja boy. This is so him!

Sweet Linnea. Notice how her hair is starting to curl up!?

We got a smile out of Jacen! Yay! Not an easy task to do with an almost 16 year old.

New Years Eve

We invited Tera and her kids over and started with dinner and dessert. Then I got out these crackers that I had bought for Christmas and forgotten about them. Apparently they are a UK tradition. They were fun. When you open them, they crack pretty loud and spark. Then inside are jokes and trivia and a game piece in which to play games. So we did that for a while.

Micah was kind of hesitant to open his but eventually did.

We played a guessing game that is called Some Dum Goy (a family game) that is similar to Guesstures or Catch Phrase. I think Gavin looks transparent here becuase he was jumping up and down in his excitement. The girls won. (:Sparklers...but don't tell. They are illegal here.

Then we toasted in the new year with sparkling apple cider.

Looks like Micah has had enough.... (:

Christmas Years Past

I scanned a few pictures from years past for a video collection our ward put together so I thought it would be fun to post them here as well.
Christmas 1999 Isn't Jacen little? I love thinking about those days when he thought I was his everything. He was a Christmas tree in his preschool play.

This picture jumps to 2002. Albert and I look so little! We were really just kids ourselves! And look how curly my hair was?! My brother recently asked me how come it wasn't as curly anymore. Well, it is still plenty curly if I blow dry with a diffuser but with each baby it has relaxed quite a bit. Weird. Hormones do strange things to a body and hair.

This is 2003 when we went sledding with Grampa Jim. I was very pregnant with Gavin and although Linnea is sledding in this picture with Jacen, most of the time she would only go down with me. I would arrive at the bottom of the hill in a heap and have to roll over and struggle to get up despite my very round tummy. It's a great memory though. Their faces are priceless. We don't get to the snow enough as I really don't like it much at all (seriously way too cold) but fun for the kids every once in a while.

This is also 2003 at our ward Christmas party. Linnea was scared of Santa and I am pregnant with Gavin. I played Mary that year. Fitting I guess on one account.

Christmas Letter

Christmastime 2011

Our Family and Friends,

Another year comes around with joy and humor, trials and experiences. Much has changed through growth and life’s processes. At the same time we experience sameness through our everyday routines: work, school, soccer games, orchestra performances, beach trips and family bike rides. And now another year draws to a close and we love to wrap it with a bow as we focus on the birth of our Savior and His gift of life to each of us. We love life with its ups and downs.

Albert continues to work for Nova Management in Monterey doing human resources, recruiting, staffing and government contracting. I am ever grateful that he has a good job and works hard to provide for our family. As Micah stands at the balcony deck waving goodbye every morning with tears in his little two year old eyes, I futilely remind him that we are blessed that Daddy has a job and can take care of us. Albert continues to work on his Ph. D. I love that he has a love for continuous learning. When he’s not working or doing school work, he finds time to play soccer, basketball and weight training. I am so very grateful for Albert and his love and support and leadership in our home.

I am finally finished with my Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in English. I have completed all the classes, that is, and my student teaching will complete both my B.S. and my credential program. With mixed feelings I have put that student teaching off for a later time so that I can continue to stay home full time with my two year old. He, and all my family, is my first priority, much higher than anything else. My days start with running and Insanity workouts, getting kids ready for school and their various activities, outings with Micah, running our household, music (flute and piano), my ward callings, blogging here and there and enjoying the limited quiet moments with Albert. It’s just a good thing that children come one at a time and not all at once! I feel I am continuously being stretched but grateful that I can stretch. (: Being a parent is no easy task and this past year has proven that to its fullest on many levels. I am grateful to be a wife and mother.

The children are growing way too fast. I’m sure they must be aging more quickly then me when I see the astonished looks of people when I tell them I have four children and my oldest is fifteen. Jacen is a sophomore in high school and earned a 4.0 GPA his first report card with a weighty class schedule. He is preparing for his Eagle project and a combined humanitarian aid trip to Fiji in the summer. He is collecting children’s books to take and set up a library for the children there to use and will also be building bathrooms in homes where there is currently no indoor bathroom. He is an outstanding student and great reader. He wakes up each morning at 5:15 to get ready for seminary (an early morning scripture class). As much as he loves his sleep, he wakes up on his own each morning and appreciates starting his day in that manner. It is an exemplary behavior for a teenager. Linnea is eleven and in middle school. She is such a great sister and daughter. She is a peacemaker and always looking for ways to help. She loves her family and friends, having her own room!, playing her violin and loves crocheting. She is currently crocheting small soft blankets to donate to the local Animal Shelter for the kitties. She is a great student achieving the honor roll. Gavin is seven and in second grade. He loves anything active including sports. He plays every sport that he possibly can and excels at each of them. He is happy and a good student and excited to turn eight and be baptized in March. He loves to read his scriptures and talk to people about Jesus Christ. Micah is two and loves life! It’s so fun to see the world and life through the eyes of a two year old wherein everything is new and exciting and every outing is an adventure. I want to be more like him and find joy in every little thing.

We hope your year has been full of joy and peace and we cherish our friendship with you. We think of you often.

Merry Christmas!

With Love,

Albert, Jaime, Jacen, Linnea, Gavin and Micah

Our Christmas Season

I accidentally downloaded these pictures backwards so they are backward chronoligically. So we start with Christmas morning. We spent Christmas Eve in Coalinga with both Albert's family and my whole extended family and Jacen wanted to stay so he was there for Christmas morning.

Gavin was the first to wake up. We had gotten home late the night before so we were pretty tired Christmas morning. Gavin woke up about 7:15. Micah woke up by 7:30 and then we woke up Linnea so that they could all investigate their stockings together.

We had church at 9 a.m. so we weren't sure if we should unwrap the family gifts that morning but we did and had time (barely). Here Linnea is holding up an apron that had been previously made by her great-grama and Marilyn many years ago and Marilyn gave to her now.

Gavin got a new scooter that is so much harder but more adept for stunts! He is already so awesome on it!

Micah got a new kitchen that he just LOVES! Thanks to Albert for spending quite a long time putting it together.

We had a nice church service in the morning and then came home for home made cinnamon rolls and cocoa. We relaxed while the kids enjoyed their new gifts. I finished reading Brisingr. We went on a lovely walk in which Gavin was super excited about trying out his new scooter. We had a nice Christmas dinner. We read the nativity story from the Bible and did our candle lighting activity that we do each year and watched Joy to the World. Then bedtime. It was a beautiful restful Christmas Sunday.

Friday and then Christmas Eve we spent in Coalinga. Linnea and Gavin loved riding the horses and Micah loved feeding them carrots and petting them.

Christmas Eve morning we went to see Albert's home of his young childhood out at the Ranch.We enjoyed a breakfast at Harris Ranch Christmas Eve morning. It was so good and so enjoyable to just visit without the hustle and bustle of having the children with us.The kids loved decorating the sugar cookies that Grama had made and then they took them to the Senior Citizen home to deliver and carol to.Micah so carefully decorated his cookies.I loved decorating sugar cookies this year. We made some for Linnea to pass out to her friends, monogramed.Gavin made this cool gingerbread house.We celebrated Winter Solstice with our friends who are originally from Iran and this celebration comes from there. It was really fun.The kids enjoyed decorating gingerbread boys (and girl).

Fiji

Jacen is going to Fiji!
He will be going in June 2012 on a humanitarian trip to Fiji where he will work alongside local villagers in building bathrooms on homes that are currently without plumbing. He will also be completing his Eagle Scout project in donating and establishing a library for local children to use. Jacen is currently raising funds for this trip. If you'd like to donate, text HEFY + JZB to 20222. You will need to text YES to the confirmation text you will receive. Each text will donate $10 to his trip and will be added to your cel phone bill. Thanks!!

Streets of Bethlehem

Every year I want to take the kids to see the Streets of Bethlehem in Salinas and every year we are too busy. So this year I finally did. I met some good friends there and my great aunt and although we were quite cold, it was so worth it. It was amazing to feel like we were actually in Bethlehem seeing the Roman soldiers on horses and see the Christmas story re-enacted. The kids could do things like make clay pinch pots to fill with spices used in that time, make bead bracelets, stamp in leather and feed the goats and sheep. The volunteers bore sweet testimonies of the birth of Christ.

Thanksgiving

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year. I enjoyed cooking up a small feast for us and decorating the table with my china and crystal that I so rarely can use. After eating, Albert and I just both crashed on the couch asleep and I was thinking that its strange because I really didn't eat a lot of food but I guess its just the kind of food I ate.... heavier than my usual. I'm glad I don't always eat like that because I just really didn't like that slugglish feeling afterward. I was anxious to go on a run the next day. We'll see what I do for Christmas.

Point Lobos

Before Thanksgiving we had some friends come over for a couple days and we went with them and also met cousins at Point Lobos. It's such a great place for hikes and tide pooling. The weather was perfect and we found lots of cool critters.

Isn't that a beautiful/crazy looking crab there?! God must have had fun creating that one!