Temple Square

The Monday night before General Conference, my sisters and I, (and Bryan), took our kids to Temple Square to walk around and see the Visitor Center and Conference Center. My twin sister couldn't be there, but we took her two kids with us. Thanks Gina for the family picture!

The kids had fun climbing up all the stairs of the Conference Center and seeing the waterfalls. I love the expression Kyle is making in this picture. He looks so mischievous, like he's about to take off running or something. :)

Hurray for cousins!

Now that we are back in Utah, Ethan has a handful of cousins to play with, as most of my family is here. Here they are just a week or so after we moved back with Layla and Millie. Layla is about two years younger than Ethan and Millie is about two years younger than Austin. Both Ethan and Austin get along really well with Layla. She cracks me up. She is always smiling and happy and just takes charge of all the kids she plays with.

Magic Carpets

I'm not crafty in any way, but I admire people who are, and I enjoy following one of my sister's friend's blog The Creative Homemaker, who amazes me with her craftiness. :) My oldest sister, Gina, came down from Colorado for a visit and I convinced her to help me make these magic carpets that can be used for Family Home Evenings or General Conference. My sister picked up the carpet samples from Home Depot, where you can just ask if they have any expired carpet samples. Apparently everyone else must be making these too because the guy working there said he saves them for moms that come in asking for them. I had two different sizes, so I made the smaller one for Austin. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Moving Day

On the morning of our moving day we woke up to pouring rain. Our prayers were answered, though, and during the hour and a half that we had many great volunteers from our ward to help us load the boxes into the truck, we had no rain!

While Bryan was getting the tarp set up, I ran with the boys to the store to get some rain ponchos, (just in case), a plastic cover for my queen bed, when I realized the other package didn't come with two like the twin package did, and some donuts for our helpers. I couldn't believe my eyes when I came back and there were about 20 helpers, AND they were just finishing up! I missed the entire move! It took them only an hour to load everything, even though we were on the top floor of a third story apartment, and there are four flights of stairs to get to the top! Bryan said they made a line-up on the stairs and just passed the boxes along. Thank you Camarillo 5th ward, you're amazing!!

Bryan's dad using his engineer skills to pack the truck just right! Thanks Jeff!

This is how it looked when I walked in after returning from the store! It's empty!

Trying to entertain the boys while we cleaned the place, with the help of my amazing mother-in-law! Thanks Barbara!

Ethan's Goodbye Party

Ethan's Kindergarten teacher was so nice to have a goodbye party for Ethan before he moved. The kids all signed a card, a few students made goodbye cards of their own, his good friend Joshua gave him a present with all sort of fun things to do while traveling, and the class gave him a framed photo of the entire class. They also got to eat cupcakes. Ethan will miss his great class and teacher!

Farewell Camarillo

Well, we moved to Utah. I have mixed feelings about the move, especially now when I glance out the window and there is snow everywhere, and then I look at pictures of our time in Camarillo and think of the great weather it always had! I know it's the right move for us at this point in our life, but I hope that sometime in the future we can call Camarillo home again. We are currently in Alpine, looking for a place in Provo. The only thing negative I can think of about California is the cost of living. We are hoping to buy a townhome or home here in Utah and will be paying less on a mortgage payment than renting a two bedroom apartment in Camarillo! Here are some pretty shots of Camarillo and the area where we lived. A lot of these were taken with my iPhone, so not the best quality.

A drive I often took going up and down Potrero Canyon to teach piano lessons in Dos Vientos

I loved driving down and seeing the Channel Islands and the beautiful sunset.

There's something very cool about fog.

Our water fountain outside our place

Love the Spanish architecture

The huge field in our community

This is a picture of the almost-completed new pool and gym. This is looking out of our bedroom window. They already had one pool and gym on the other side of the community, but it was going to be so nice right across from us!

Farewell Camarillo, hope to see you soon!

Bryan's Going to Jerusalem!

Bryan has had many great opportunities with his talent as an artist. He had a Light Source podcast interview by studiolighting.net, he has had his work published in the exclusive Black Book, he has been a VIP spotlight on Dynalite's web site, and he has even been interviewed by a London Photography Magazine, Digital Photographer, to name a few; but I think the latest project he is about to venture on is by far the greatest opportunity and the biggest blessing of his career. He has been chosen by Artist Guild International to be a part of their Art of the Restoration exhibit. To explain what the Artist Guild is, here is what their web site says,

"Artist Guild International is a cooperative of 60 plus outstanding Latter Day Saint Artists. They are commissioned to create a masterpiece in their style of art, based on their own vision and interpretation of a gospel theme, with emphasis on Christ’s ministry for this exhibit. The Buyer’s purchase makes it possible for the artist to have the time to produce the art work that otherwise may not have been created."

You can click the above link to see the other artists who will be working on this exhibit and to read more about each one. Bryan will be traveling to Jerusalem to create this great piece of art early this spring and then the exhibit to display the artists' work will start off in Los Angeles the end of 2010, and then travel to Seattle, Washington; SLC, Utah: Denver, CO; Chicago, Ill.; Nashville, Tenn.; Atlanta, GA; New York City, NY; Washington, D.C.; Paris, France; London, England; Madrid, Spain; and Rome, Italy. I am very excited that he has this opportunity and I know it will be his greatest piece of art!

Family Christmas Newsletter 2009

I ended up just emailing our newsletter out, I think the day before Christmas. Sorry if I missed anyone.

Beach in December

Bryan's sister, Jessica, came home for Christmas break and she came with our family to the beach, and for some kayaking. It was a PERFECT day: nice weather, no wind.