Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas 2013

So I survived my first Christmas away from my parents.  Pretty impressive to go 40 years spending every holiday with them...especially given that for the past 13 of those years Jeff and I have also been spending the holidays together.  Well Mom and Dad, I definitely missed you, but we still had a really nice few days.  We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house this year.  Our friends Suellen, John, and Emily joined us.  We ate like kings: Jeff made macadamia encrusted steelhead and mashed potatoes, John and Suellen whipped up some fabulous brussel sprouts, and Emily brought some delicious dips and an amazing coconut lemon cake.  It's a good thing we don't eat like this every day.  


After dinner we went out to the fire pit where Jeff read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to Quinn.  He loved it!



Quinn must have been a VERY good boy this year, because Santa was very good to him.  After running out to the livingroom to see if Santa had come he rushed back into our bedroom super excited exclaiming, "He came, he came, come and see, come and see what he brought me!!"  As he opened his gifts he kept repeating what a lucky boy he was.  He seemed to love everything, which was a pleasant surprise!  




For Christmas dinner we wandered up north to Wildomar to join the Sheas along with Kelly and Lee and her parents.  We spent a good part of the afternoon playing with the boys and then had a lovely dinner of homemade manicotti, meatballs and sausage.  Somehow I managed to not take many photos while we were there, but managed to get a few shots of the boys enjoying their Christmas gifts.  

Kellan with his new ball


Kyan and Quinn on a scooter ride!


Jeff with Lee, his father-in-law, and John 


Cannot resist taking the opportunity to play with lights and slow shutter speeds!


Hope you all had a very merry Christmas!!



Saturday, December 7, 2013

Mom's Birthday in SD

This year we celebrated Mom's 70th birthday here in San Diego at Don and Janet Smith's house in Mission Beach.  Bonnie Williams also joined us.  It was great to have everyone together for a week under one roof.


We got to see lots of amazing sunsets!



Quinn and June got in lots of quality cousin time



I swear I have the cutest niece ever!  

Quinn also enjoyed building elaborate castles with these cool blocks at the beach house!


We did a little bit of exploring while everyone was here.  We watched the Star of India set sail.  The Star of India is the world's oldest active sailing ship.  It only sets sail once a year at most.  I think this was its first voyage in a couple of years.


We of course spent lots of time at the beach.  The boys (Jeff, Andy and Quinn) even did a little bit of swimming in the chilly November waters.


One morning we headed to Torrey Pines State Park.  Andy, Colleen, June and Quinn had a nice hike from the bluffs all the way down to the water.  When I returned a couple of hours later to retrieve them I found my son drenched from head to toe from jumping into the water.  Gotta love it!


Of course on any visit we have to visit Balboa Park.  This year we went to the Mingei International Museum (Museum of folk art).  This photo is of a portion of an impressive blown glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly that is now a part of the Mingei's permanent collection.


On our last day in SD we gathered Nana and the grandkids together for a little photoshoot at the beach. These are a couple of photos from my cell phone.  I'm sure Andy's film photos will turn out much better, but these still make my heart sing.  :)  



Happy Birthday, Mom!  Team Diane is always behind you!  We love you!  Thanks to Bonnie for the awesome T-shirts!  :)