Thursday, December 29, 2011

Arizona Christmas 2011

The day after Christmas, we headed to AZ to spend some time with Carly's family. Joey and Katie came too. They had been wanting to visit, so this was their chance to go without making a whole separate trip. We really enjoyed having the time to be together.
Joey is loving being a dad! Jackson is a pretty easy-going little guy with a sweet and pleasant disposition.
When he's getting sleepy, or when his mom is close by so he can hold onto her hair, Jackson sucks his thumb.
Carly and Rich took us all out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant called, "Brio". The table was set with very large forks, which didn't slow Bella down from eating her macaroni and cheese! It was a delicious lunch in a lovely setting, similar to Victoria Gardens, here in Rancho.
We stopped on the way home to have a look at the progress that's being made on the Gilbert Temple. It's going to be bigger than I thought. I didn't realize that not all of the new temples are small! This is the largest temple built since 1997. There are a lot of church members in the area. Carly said where they live it's close to 25% LDS.
We went to a train museum in Scottsdale where the kids got to play and have fun. This time of year the weather is beautiful in AZ. It was actually cooler there than in California this week.
More of the new temple.


Bella sat with us on the train ride. Soon after we got started, she noticed Evan and Audra weren't around, so asked where they were. They jumped into the "cattle car", which was too small for an adult to sit in or go in to get them, so they got to stay by themselves. This was a little upsetting to Bella, who doesn't like to be left out of anything the other kids get to do!
Grandpa with the girls.
Bella loves her babies!

Here's Evan, all excited about his gift from the Ellsworths.
We had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes the first night. Jackson and his dad have fun everywhere they go!
Joey's playing with Bella and her new toys.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

CHRISTMAS 2011

We got to have Joey, Katie and Jackson here with us for Christmas!
Chicken pants and leopard slippers!
Little Addy is getting bigger!
Jackson was pretty excited about his first Christmas present!
Getting acquainted with the cousins-





Look, he's petting a chicken!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

CSBA Conference, San Diego

Here we are at our fine dinner at Fleming's. It's not exactly a vegetarian's dream, but very elegant dining. The event was sponsored, so didn't cost the district anything!
Joan and I enjoyed lunch outside near the marina, off the boardwalk. We brought our own granola bars and apples for this picnic.
Here's the Hotel del Coronado where we went to another fine dinner. You had to know someone to get invited, but our superintendent, Donna, knows everyone. If we'd had to pay, it would have been $60.00 for valet parking.
Joan and I walked back to the hotel from Flemings. Allen is our new board member. I think Joan's eyes are closed!

Our first night there we had dinner at the Kansas City Barbecue, made famous because part of Top Gun was filmed there. Another firm sponsored this one, so we didn't pay for any of our dinners. The hotel made up for all the savings though, as it was very expensive.
These pictures got out of order somehow, but here we are at the Hotel del Coronado dinner. I was asked to dance by a board member I knew slightly, but had to get Joan to dance with him instead. Even if I knew how to dance that would have felt very awkward and uncomfortable! So it looks like all we did was entertain ourselves, but I just didn't take pictures during the day of us sitting in workshops, listening to presenters. There were some good ones though, including Salmon Khan and the founders of the Koegel Institute, specializing in treating autism.