Christmas 2008

What a fabulous Christmas we had. Since I teach, I obviously had the 2 weeks off... but when it came to Logan's temporary security job, we thought our vacation would be cut short... FORTUNATELY, the company he is guarding, was going to have a shut down, and Logan was able to have the 2 weeks off . We were very excited for the full 2 weeks in Utah.

So, we headed to my parents and their new roomy house in Utah. I know I've shown some pictures before, but it's like a completely new place AND VIEW of the lake and mountains in the snow. While we were there, we had PLENTY of snow. A White Christmas!!! It was great. The trip started off a little rough when our flight was delayed, our luggage (full of Christmas gifts) didn't arrive in Utah with us, and then on our way home, at 3am, we pulled over to help someone who apparently had fallen asleep on the road, and was sitting there - asleep - with his car sitting in the opposite direction!
But, once we arrived, and finally got our luggage 24 hours later, all was well. The house was full of little darlings running and screaming all over the place!! It was AWESOME! Dad gave us another grand tour, showing us all his updates, including his big screen theater in the basement, where we spent quite a lot of time watching movies.

We spent some time playing in the snow. Logan spent more time playing in the snow.
The uncles got creative and made a snow slide down the staircase. The kids loved it!

SO DID LOGAN!

I got to read a Christmas story to the kids one night, and then Santa arrived for a quick visit.

We spent a lot of time preparing food, and also played a lot of card and board games.

Christmas eve, we read the Nativity story with the kids all dressed up.

Christmas morning was awesome! It was so great to see the excitement of all the kids.





And we made a trip to see the beautiful lights on Temple Square.

A few of us headed to the nearest cultural hall, and had a night of Laser Tag
(yes, Logan carried all 8 sets from Calif! :) I love him)
Logan had his first experience skiing! (what a hottie!)

We also went ice skating.

(yes, Logan had facial hair during vacation - LOL)

We had a great time with all the nieces and nephews - and the adults too :)
(but we missed Jeremy and his family this year)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

note our matching Christmas (Grinch) pajamas,
that ALL the other adults were completely jealous of :)

Updated...

So, it's been awhile, but this blog is updated. It feels so good. I don't know why I let it bother me when I don't keep it updated. I just feel behind when I see other blogs that are updated...

So, a quick update on US :)

I am still teaching. I LOVE my new school. It's just so much "nicer"... and I mean the people, the management, the parents, etc... everyone is just nice there. I get continual positive reinforcement, which is a nice change. And really.. the 13 students in my class couldn't be better (ahhhh).

Logan is STILL job hunting. Most of the law enforcement agencies he has applied and interviewed with have gone on hiring freezes (with this lousy economy)... so we're really starting back at square one. And, we're starting to apply to more agencies outside of Cali... So if you know your police departments are hiring Entry Level, let us know!!! We'd prefer to go where we know people.

Meanwhile, he is still working a security job in San Jose working terrible hours - 3pm-11pm Tues through Sat - so YES, we RARELY see each other now... and he doesn't get paid what a college graduate should be getting paid. He's looking into at least moving up in his security company until his "real" job comes along.

With the job search, and trying to become parents, we are really just trying to be patient and keep the faith and hope. We have started infertility, so I'm sure we'll have an interesting next couple of months (hopefully not too long :).

We're both really excited for the holidays. I have two weeks off, and Logan does as well. The building he works at is having a shut down, and so they're cutting some of the security workers for the holidays. Logan was flexible, and gave other people the hours that really needed it, and he got some time off. So, we're heading to Utah, to my parent's home for the holidays. We're really excited to see family and freeze or play in the snow.

Until then, we hope you all have a
MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thai

We found this REALLY cool Thai restaurant in San Jose, and took our friends Jen and Neal. We LOVE this place. The atmosphere is awesome, live music, amazing food, and the coolest part is you sit on the ground (with your feet hanging in an opening in the ground). It's sooo fun. The food is really good and decorative. It's right across the street from Comedy Sportz SJ and so we made it a night of food and entertainment. FUN!

Dinner with Missionaries

We have the missionaries over once a month for dinner... and it used to be 6 guys, but now we're at 8. It's A LOT of fun. We have a tradition of getting pizza and having root beer floats. Lately we've been creative in trying different flavors of soda with ice cream. Good Times.

Friends Forever

My really really really good friends Becky and Leslie came to visit. We had a wonderful Girls weekend. Lots of talking, having fun, watching chick flicks, eating out, getting pedicures, and just visiting. I can't wait for the next one. There's too many pictures to post, but here's a few...

Here we are at the airport. I greeted the 2 speshals with this sign - which was hilarious... Then we asked this older lady to take a picture of us. She was in shock, and said she had NEVER taken a picture before, so this was the shot she took. I didn't even have her retake it... pretty good for her first picture ever!

La Casita... MMMMMM!

Is this not So pathetic?
I was actually a little disturbed by how much the 3 of us were on our laptops at the same time.
And yes - we even IM'd each other (for the fun of it)... Sick yeah?

Our classic pic.

Another flower from my hubby.

We went to Chevy's for dinner one night,
and Logan got this flower made for me... sweet.

Halloween

Here we are carving pumpkins for Halloween. This year I found this cool pumpkin carving drill, and it was the bomdigity... It made carving SO much easier. Logan and I dressed up as a 50's couple. We actually had a 50's Murder Mystery Dinner.. but we forgot to take pictures at it. Here's our only Halloween pics this year :)

Chloe blessing

Our friends Bill and Christi had their baby Chloe blessed at church.
She's a beautiful little girl.Here we are with her at the church.
Wouldn't we look cute as parents?

Camping in October

I personally thought it would be too cold to go camping at the END of October... but nope - not in California. It was a beautiful weekend at Lake Chabot. We didn't even need to wear a jacket at night!!! We had a very relaxing time. Went on a great morning hike. Felecia spent a good 4-5 hours in a hammock, and read a book, and took some naps. Logan played with wood pieces, and went trail running - and got lost!! But, he made his way back. Logan's mom Patty came along too, and enjoyed some reading and napping as well. We also had a hilarious moment with a racoon... Rocky Racoon I'm sure had quite the sugar rush and hangover :) ha ha ha

a visit from Simon

of course, Amanda and Scott came too...

Isn't he cute in his Halloween outfit?

October 2008

Roses from my hubby

Just Because - isn't he great? and aren't they beautiful? :)

playing with our niece and nephew

We had a visit from Katie and her cousin Jesse... a fun afternoon.

And reading to Katie.

Some highlights from the past few months...

We went and got Taco Bell one night, and played croquet with our friend Jenni. She moved to Utah a few days later... we're sad to see her go, BUT we're excited for her new adventures and opportunities to come..

Way to load the taco Logan!!!

This is a tribute to Catherine.
That's all that needs to be said :)
We love you Cath. Felecia and Logan

Whale Watching

Logan and I have ALWAYS wanted to go whale watching. Our friends JoAnne and Steve Lorda called one day, and asked if we wanted to come with them to Monterey to see some whales, and we JUMPED at the opportunity. It was great. I was really nervous about the boat ride, that I might get sea sick, but luckily it was a BEAUTIFUL and very calm sea day. The weather was just right, and I couldn't believe how peaceful the ocean was. Whenever I'm out at sea, I am amazed at how big and beautiful the ocean is. It's so amazing. To see just a small glimpse of the ocean, and how big it is. Our world is just so huge.

We saw some very cool things. Hundreds of dolphins. Tons of Sea Lions. An amazing jelly fish. THE strangest and oddest looking animal, a Sun Fish, several Humpback Whales AND a BLUE WHALE. The Blue Whale was the biggest deal. Our tour guide said we were EXTREMELY lucky to have seen a Blue Whale, because it is VERY rare to see one. We saw a young one... 60 feet long (1 ton per foot - 60 tons in weight!!!) - and that was a YOUNG Blue Whale!!! I was absolutely amazed at the length of this animal. Of course, we couldn't get too close to it, but it was close enough that we could really see the size and some details on it. It would come up to the surface and dive back in, and it seemed like forever for the whole back side to come up and back into the water. Absolutely amazing. Here are some pictures of our day on the boat.

Logan and Felecia

JoAnne & Steve

Sea Lions

Here it is... the BLUE WHALE!!!

Look at the length of it!! and that's just PART of the back.
Amazing..!

The BLUE WHALE exhaling

At one point we saw a school or a pod of dolphins.
About 500-600 dolphins.
It was sooooo cool!

Some of themn got much closer to our boat as well.

It's hard to see this picture of the Sunfish.
But google it, and you can see how strange looking this animal is.
I guess it lays flat at the surface of the water,
waiting for jellyfish to go by, to eat.
Then when it wants to swim (which we saw), it turns sideways, or right side up, and swims. WEIRD...

Here's some of the Humpback whales we saw.

exhaling

Humpback's tail

look at that!!! so close....

I would recommend it for everyone!!! it was a great experience.
I just hope if you do go, the water is as calm as it was for us.
Maybe we were lucky, we didn't get sick
(but there were a few people who did get sick....- I can't imagine them if it WASN'T calm!!)

Tag! I'm It!!!

How fun is this to be tagged!!! I was actually going to update my blog tonight, but after getting tagged, I decided to do this, and I'll update another night :) Thanks Weswie ;)

3 Joys:
1) The weekend - I love my job - but I love home too. We've been on some great dates lately, and those only happen on the weekends :)
2) Sleeping in. Although, on weekends I tend to not be able to sleep in any later than 7:30 or 8am, but it's still nice to not wake up to an alarm.
3)ALL Holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patty's, Memorial Day, 4th, Labor Day, etc... It's just nice to have a day that's different every once in awhile.

3 Fears:
1) SPIDERS
2) Bad News about a loved one
3) Moose (when I'm within 50 miles of where they live)
4) Cabo San Lucas boat ride to Lover's Beach (long story, and terribly frightening) {I added #4, I guess I fear a lot}

3 Obsessions:
1) Being organized (there is a place for everything!) - my poor students...and husband!
2) Shoes
3) Checking my sisters' and Leslie's blog with hopes that they have updated (yet, I rarely update mine)

3 Surprising Facts about me:
1) I can't stand handling raw meat (chicken, beef, pork, especially hamburger.... it's just gross and nasty)
2) I lived in Mexico on my own for 6 months (fun, scary, and probably wouldn't do it again).
3) I burp and toot in front of my husband. He loves it, and I love the freedom of it!!! aaaah

Ok, now I tag my sisters Amanda and Lea (Cath, you already did this right??? if not, you're tagged too)!

My Classroom

I'm really excited about my classroom this year.
Full of color and liveliness!!!
I had a lot of fun being creative and setting it up.
Notice, 14 desks :) LOVE IT!!!

Our Home

Some of my family wanted to see pictures of what our home looks like now that we have our own stuff and decorations... here's a few...

The living room.






















The Dining Room





















The Kitchen (with my apple green kitchenaid :)

















Our Bedroom
















My car fits in the garage :)