Archive for December 2008

The Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland

originally posted at http://baylessnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/disneyland.html


The whole gang went to Disneyland on Saturday.

Cousins!

originally posted at http://baylessnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/cousins.html


Clownin’ around with the cousins. Jacob, Sam, Sarah, Bube (Mom) & KaylaSarahKaylaJacob and Benjamin KaylaHigh fives for GrumpaAunt Rebekah

Leo Carillo Ranch

Sam’s 5th Birthday

originally posted at http://baylessnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/sams-5th-birthday.html


Sam got to celebrate his 5th birthday flying to Bube & Grandpa’s house. After a very long & turbulent flight, Sam still had the energy to have a little party in his honor. Sam was super excited to find a cake and presents awaiting his arrival. We’re so excited to be in California for Christmas and have been having so much fun. Sorry for the long absence from blogging. It takes a vacation to have the time to do it these days. I have lots of pictures coming from our trip so far and we haven’t even been to Las Vegas or Utah yet ! Stay tuned…
5th time’s a charmSam got the “Horton Hears a Who” DVD, a Leapster, drawing books and a sweater. Nana also gave Sam a maganex set that he opened before we left.

Christmas Fun!

originally posted at http://myfoibles.com/?p=316


Here are a few pictures of us getting ready for Christmas.  We put up the tree and were a little relieved that Brendan still can’t quite crawl.  He can look at the tree and say “oh!” but that’s about it.  He really likes the train we put around the bottom of the tree.  We helped my mom put up her tree and took a picture of us and the cousins in front of it.  We also took a family picture in front of our tree.  We do this every year because we put the family picture in an ornament/frame and hang it on the tree.  Adam and I have discussed doing these family picture ornaments since we got married.  This is the first year they made it onto the tree.  It’s only been twelve years.  In our family picture, Jonathan is wearing the suit that he got when he was baptized.  He’s pretty close to being too big for it already.  We also had to teach Jonathan how to smile for this photo.  We had to practice not having the “crazy eyes” and the “glued on smile” that screamed, “I’m frozen in this position!”  He cried a little as we taught him this.  That’s why his eyes are just so darn “sparkly.”  Marissa is wearing the dress I made for her to match the headband in her hair.  Brendan is wearing the same off-white sweater that Jonathan wore at his age.  I can’t believe that we caught one where everyone is looking at the camera.

Why the guilt?

originally posted at http://thunkgeek.com/?p=356


I’ve read three or four blog posts around the web recently that detail people putting up Christmas decorations. They all seem to have an air of guilt about using artificial Christmas trees. What’s the deal? A decent artificial tree runs around $200. A decent real tree runs around $30. That’s a 7 year payback if you don’t count the added cost in headaches of dealing with a real tree. Are they worried about the environment? Do people actually throw away their old fake trees? Growing up I’m pretty certain we had the same fake tree for about 15 years, maybe more and it got donated to a needy family when we were done. The first 8 or 9 years we were married we used a tree that was donated to us after serving for at least a dozen years in other capacities. I certainly don’t plan on throwing ours away for a long long time, and I will definitely recycle it when the time comes. Maybe I’ve missed the boat, but I stand proud and tall, just like my 7.5 foot imitation spruce.