February

We were so happy to have Grammy visit for a week in February.

She got to stay an extra day due to the bad weather in Wisconsin, so she was able to come to Christopher's bridging ceremony with Nana. Christopher earned his Emblem of Faith and his Arrow of Light and is now a Boy Scout!

The families in the cub scout den gave Dave a plaque and photo book to thank him for leading the den for the past five years...it was very touching. What a great group of boys. They have all been in the same den since first grade!

And here are Shayla and her friend Julianna dressed up for "Twins Day." So cute!

January

And continuing to get caught up, here's January!

January began with a super exciting trip to the Rose Bowl game for Dave and Shayla. Thank you, Grampy, for the tickets!! They both had the best time and Shayla is the biggest Wisconsin fan in our house now.

We also traveled to San Francisco for a law school conference and visited Popie for a long weekend.

And at the end of the month, it was Pinewood Derby and Girl Scout cookie time!

Other December Memories

Here are a few other snaps from December...

Shayla and Christopher both earned awards at the school awards ceremony: Shayla for "Respect" and Christopher for "Outstanding Effort & Achievement in Math."

Here is Shayla at her first piano recital in mid-December playing "Jingle Bells."

And here is Christopher playing "Oh Holy Night" at our Christmas Eve church service.

And here we are on Christmas morning!

Rose Bowl Floats

We got to help decorate Rose Bowl floats in Pasadena again this year, and our friends Helen and Matt and their children joined us. This was especially exciting for Dave because we got to help with one float in particular...

It's Been Awhile...

Where did the fall go? Holy cow, it's almost Christmas. Here is what we've been up to lately...

Dave trained for a 150-mile bike ride (fundraiser for MS) all summer with several friends in our neighborhood. Lots of bike riding was happening around here...hours and hours and hours of it!

Here's the whole group: "Team Most." They raised over $50,000!

Crossing the finish line in the rain. It rained the whole weekend! Dave and his bike were both full of mud.

Way to go -- he did it!

Grampy and Nana Judy visited for a week in October and came to cheer on Christopher during a tennis match.

These guys sure love a good read!

Ready for candy? You betcha!

Visiting the Happiest Place on Earth, courtesy of Uncle Arpad. Thanks, Arpad!

The kids got way into pumpkin carving this year. Fancy, huh?

And Christopher has been playing lots of tennis on the weekends, usually with Dave. They love it.

Here we are on Thanksgiving visiting the Hotel del Coronado before our feast at John and Irma's house. They always have the most amazing tree.

We took the kids skiing for a day over Thanksgiving weekend and they loved it. They especially loved the goggles we borrowed from our friends and wore them all the way there and back.

It was a gorgeous day, but COLD! In the teens and super windy. This is the view of Big Bear Lake from the top of the mountain.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school...finally! Christopher and Shayla both got great teachers this year and have lots of friends in their classes. They didn't seem nervous at all this morning, which was a nice change. I enjoyed a cup of coffee in a quiet house by myself after they left!

Kauai

We were invited to join our neighbors and friends, the Padillas, at their timeshare in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai. We spent the first week of August in paradise and none of us wanted to come home...

This was where we spent most of every day...the pool!

And this is where we ate every day, just outside our room and near the pool. Margie and Jerome are great cooks, and Dave and I are good at cleaning up, so it worked out well. The kids were good at eating, then running to swim, then eating, then running to swim, over and over.

Dads and kids at the pool working on their tans.

Kids showing off the leis they made and the sunburns they got.

My favorite snap of Chris and Shayla at Hanalei Bay.

Here we are at the end of a five hour catamaran tour of the Napali coast. We saw dolphins, sea turtles, beautiful beaches and sea caves. It was a great way to end the trip!