Clap Those Hands

Here is Kai first getting to break in to his other new Leapfrog toy- it has legs it can stand on or it can be flat like this. As you can tell he was very excited. Yeah for toys that make learning fun!

Merry Christmas

We had a great trip and Christmas Day in San Diego. We spent the last few days in San Diego enjoying the great weather, going to Sea World, going to Church, talking to great-grandparents in IL on the phone, enjoying great feasts prepared by my Mom, and watching Kai dance and play. Kai was apparently a very good boy this year because he was swimming in cool gifts- a bike, tons of puppy stuff, some super neat Leapfrog stuff, and on and on. In my family we go around in a circle opening gifts. Since Kai is the youngest he gets to go first. When it would return to him he would often seem a bit confused about having to put down his latest tressure to go on to the next. The present part of Christmas really is so much more fun with little ones around.

We flew back to SLC late Christmas night and are now looking forward to our second Christmas celebration with Lance's family tomorrow. Lance and his 2 siblings all have spouses from out of state so this year we were all able to coordinate our holiday schedules. It is nice to be able to stretch out the holiday a little longer after all the anticipation.

We've enjoyed getting home and finding more holiday cards giving us updates and photos from friends from the different adventures life has taken us on so far. It is great to hear what everyone is up to. We feel very blessed.

Sunny San Diego

Lance joined us last night and boy was it great to see him. Today we hung out at a park by the ocean, ate some yummy food and just had fun hanging out. Another beautiful day in sunny San Diego.

San Diego

Kai and I arrived in San Deigo on Sunday afternoon. We are having a good time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Whitney. Yesterday we went to the Poinsettia Bowl- Kai's 2nd Poinsettia Bowl. Kai is already swimming in toys and we haven't even had Christmas yet. That is the joy of being the oldest/ only grandchild I guess.

Santa

We had our Church Christmas Breakfast this morning.

Santa made a visit.

In theory Santa is super wonderful. In reality Santa is super scary.

Christmas Prep

Last weekend we put up our Christmas decorations and Kai has been loving it. So far he has been fairly gentle with the tree and ornaments which has been a bit of a surprise. He loves helping Lance water the tree- he gets down just like Lance and likes to look like he's doing something important under there.

Last night the 3 of us had dinner with Wes and Amy and then went and looked at the lights at the Gateway and Temple Sqaure. It was great- not too cold and beautiful. Afterward we went back to their house to check out Wes's new under the tree Christmas train. Kai thought it was super cool.

It hasn't snowed here since we got back from our Thanksgiving trip so Kai and I have really been hoping that it would before we leave for San Diego. After Kai's bath tonight he and I took a look out the front door window to do a snow check and it was snowing. YEAH! We took this picture of Kai looking which we think turned out really great. So.....let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Kai's Latest Stats

Head Circumference - 60th percentile
Weight - 50th percentile
Height - Off the chart

And, best news of the day, Kai is expecting a baby boy cousin in April. "Finally, someone littler than me."

Was that your tummy rumbling?

On Thanksgiving morning we were sitting by the beach when a 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck, the epicenter of which was virtually right under us. I've heard earthquakes before in the sense of windows rattling and what not- but this one I really felt - my chair was bouncing along the ground. Anyway, no tsunami warning, thank goodness, I wasn't up for a swim.

I'm impressed with modern structural engineering - a 6.3 magnitude struck the same spot about a month ago, and we are more worried about the damage the little cousins could do to the place than the earthquake. I guess nothing is completely earthquake-proof, but its nice to know that modern buildings are relatively safe.

Home Again

We're all back in UT safe and sound. We had a fabulous time in HI and tried to soak up as much of the warmth as possible. Lance's parents accompanied Kai and I on the red-eye trip home. Once again he was quite the little traveler. We had to fly from Kona to Honolulu and then from Honolulu to SLC. The first flight went by quick with the help of some of his favorite puppy boooks. Then on the long flight he fell asleep as we were taking off and woke up about 10 minutes before we landed. I was very grateful. We returned to snow on the ground in UT which has really helped put me in the mood for Christmas.

Many thanks to Lance's parents for a magical trip. Kai had a great time playing with his cousins Jake, Kennedy, and Emmeline. His favorite memories are probably swimming, playing at the Beach Club, the Turtle (which he says quite clearly), the boat ride at the Hilton, the kid fridge, riding in the elevator at the Condo, and anything he did with his cousins- "Come on Emmyieee, it will be fun to go in the water I promise".

Turtle

Today we were swimming in the ocean and this turtle swam up right on to the shore.

Some Sample Pictures

Lance is back to work in UT, but Kai and I are still enjoying the good life in HI. Here are a few sample pictures from our trip.

Happy Birthday Lance!

Happy Birthday Lance!

We hope that this is a great start to another exciting year of life for you. How nice to get to celebrate in such a fun place.

We love you very much!

He Did It!

Last night Lance was able to check his CA Bar results which said that his name appears on the pass list. YEAH! We are all very proud of him and so grateful that all of his hard work has paid off. The pass rate in CA is like 50% or something so it is quite an accomplishment. Last summer he took and passed the UT Bar and now this summer the CA Bar. I would like to request that next summer we find something else more fun to do. So why did he put himself through such torture twice? Here is how I have heard him answer people- For fun.....because my UT firm encouraged me to for their benefit.....because I've always thought I should after going to school in CA. So congratualtions Lance! We love you!

In other news........ we made it safe and sound to Kona and are already having a great time. Kai did great on the plane and was a trooper about it all. Today there was golfing, swimming, eating, playing with cousins, and shopping. Fun for all.

Getting Ready To Go

Tomorrow we leave for our big Thanksgiving trip to Kona, so Kai and I have been working on getting everything prepared. When I first brought a suitcase in to his room he promptly put in about 10 stuffed animals while I was in the other room grabbing something else. He is also very good at pulling things out about as fast as I can put them in. Here are a few other pictures of how helpful he can be.

Wheeler Farm

Today Kimberley and I took Kennedy and Kai to Wheeler Farm. We checked out the cows, horses, sheep, pigs, turkeys, geese etc. which the kids loved. This place was great because it was free, not crowded, not far from where we live, and easy to see all that you need to in a short time. To top it all off it was a beautiful morning. They are saying that some cold weather is on the way here so it was a great to be outside and soak it in. Thanks for the invite K & K!

Happy 1st Birthday B & H!

Happy 1st Birthday to my buddies Beckham and Hudson!

Hope you are having a great day and getting to enjoy all the perks of being 1. Congrats to your parents for making it though the first year-and with twins! I hope I get to play with you in person sometime soon. Maybe we'll have to meet up in Malibu sometime and see Jackson too. Have some cake for me!

Love, Kai

Raining Leaves

Party Day

Today was a super fun party day. This morning Kai got together with a bunch of his little buddies from the neighborhood for a Halloween party. There are about 6 other kids within 2 months of Kai's age which is neat. The party was super fun and the kids were so cute. They read stories, had games, decorated bags, and collected candy and other treats. The older kids were all in school so it was just the little ones which made it great for the ones Kai's age that are still a bit wobbly and taken back by chaos. I tried to take some pictures but it was nearly impossible to get more than 1 child to stay put in any picture. Kai kept his costume on and didn't seem bothered by it which was a happy surprise. I was especially shocked that he kept the hat/ears on. Needless to say we had a good long afternoon nap afterwards.

Lance's parents go out of town tomorrow morning so we went over to their house to show them the kids costumes and have dinner. Kennedy was a great bumble bee. After dinner the two of them had a fun time playing. Kennedy is so cute and does a great job taking care of Kai- after all she is 8 whole months older. She really is sweet with him and is going to be such a good big sister come late April.

Pumpkin Carving

Volleyball Game & Kir B'Day

Tonight we drove with Lance's parents down to Provo to watch Pepperdine vs BYU in Men's Volleyball. It was a pre-season match and thus not as super crowded as it can be at BYU Volleyball games. Pepperdine lost in 4 games but we still had a great time. It was fun getting to see some familiar Pep faces. Kai did well and had a lot of fun playing with a volleyball after the game when we were visiting with the Pepperdine people. He also got to sit in between grandma and grandpa on the ride home. See what happens when grandparents are in charge? He sure likes a super big gulp coke- well really just the end of some lemonade. It was a fun night despite the outcome of the game.

In other news- HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRSTEN! We hope you have had a wonderful day and got to enjoy a fun night out from the kids with Dave. We miss you guys and can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving.

S-N-O-W

During Kai's mid day nap today I was running around the house like normal trying to get 5 million things done. Suddenly I looked out the window and did a double take. There were white flakes falling from the sky. Our first snow sighting of the year. The flakes continued on and off during the afternoon but melted before they hit the ground. Then, tonight when I went outside to put something in the car I was suprised to see that the ground had a slight white dusting. The weather people say it will get nice again before the snow is here to stay but I guess we are getting close. The CA girl in me still thinks this snow stuff is pretty cool. I may be the only person here thinking that in October though.

First Tie

It wasn't until around Kai's first birthday that we finally gave in and started having him regularly wear shoes. That was really only out of necessity since he was walking around everywhere. So today we tried something else new. Kai sported his first tie for Church. The super cute tie and shirt were a gift from his CA grandparents. We convinced him that it was ok to wear by having Lance do the same. I wondered if he would rip it off within the first 5 minutes but he was a trooper and didn't even touch it the whole time. You just never know with this kid.

Tuesday Deals

We ate at Rubios tonight for 1 dollar fish tacos. Almost as good a deal as Taco Tuesdays at Del Taco. I've noticed that many such fine establishments offer deals on Tuesdays - must be the slowest night of the week. I am hereby soliciting information regarding any good Tuesday restaurant deals you may know of.
Here's a start
Dukes - Fish Tacos on Tuesdays
Albertos - Free Horchata all day Tuesdays
That Sushi place on Zuma beach - some Tuesday deal
Sugarhouse Movie Theaters - 1 dollar and sometimes .50 movies on Tuesdays
Send in your suggestions and I will amend the list

One Wild and Crazy Guy

Working in the Yard

It is cool out today and seems to be hinting that Winter is approaching. In my opinion it is a great day to throw on a sweatshirt and work on some projects.

This morning we (well mostly Lance) did some work in our yard. As you can see Kai was a big help. At first he wasn't sure if he liked the leaves too much. He mostly just likes to follow Lance around and look busy. Every now and again he will stop to point out a bird "Bir" flying low.


He loves his big yellow outside truck that he can push all around. I was trying to convince him to put leaves in it this morning but he was more interested in having it crash in to things.