Calvary Chapel Kids

This morning the kids at our church sang Christmas songs for the congregation.

Happy Birthday Kelly!!!

It was 8 years ago yesterday that the Lord blessed us with Kelly Ann.  Last night we celebrated her birthday with our Friday night crew, the Seling's and Lou.  

Kelly requested apple pie instead of a birthday cake.  I talked her into apple crisp instead.

Kelly shows off her horse sweatshirt from Mom Mom and Pop Pop.

This beautiful sweater came from Mimi.

Mommy and Daddy got Kelly a digital camera and Lou got her the XD card for it.

Aunt JaNel and Uncle Billy sent a history mystery from the American Girls series.

Some cute flower earrings came from the Seling's.

Happy  Birthday, Kelly.  We love you!

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I found this funny post on my friend, Amy's blog and thought it was so cute.  I had to add one of me and my buddies, Rebecca and Kristin.  Thanks, Amy!

Annual Holiday Tea Party

Each year we attend a holiday tea party hosted by Kristin's mom, Dara, and her friend, Sherry. This year we went to a tea house in San Juan Capistrano.

Kelly stirs her ginger peach tea.

Emma, Annie and Kelly pose in the backyard.

Rebecca, Mandi and Kristin

Saturday night was our married couples progressive dinner and white elephant gift exchange. We got some nice photo coasters, but they were stolen!  Here's what we ended up with.

Our Trip to Yosemite

We decided to visit Yosemite on a whim. On Thanksgiving morning we packed up our truck and headed north. We arrived in Yosemite around 3pm and went for a quick hike before setting up camp. It was booked, but we were fortunate enough to get a site without reservations. We left on Friday evening around 7pm and got home on Sat. at 2am. It was a brief, yet fun trip.


Here we are at the bridge where you can see the Vernal Falls. It's another mile up to the top of the falls.


We hiked all day long on Friday. This was one of the stops we made along the way.


This is the Mist Trail that leads up to Vernal Falls. We're almost to the top!


Kelly and I posed for a picture with Nevada Falls in the background.


Kelly was such a trooper during the hike. She did a fabulous job keeping up with Mom and Dad. Daddy was kind enough to carry Kelly for a few miles!


Here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

Knotts Berry Farm

On Saturday we visited Knott's Berry Farm. Every November they have a special promotion in which veterans and one family member get free admission. Six more guests are admitted for a small fee. We had a great time and were pooped at the end of the day.


Kelly and Mandi rest at the entrance to Camp Snoopy.


Tom and Kelly enjoyed a ride on the ferris wheel after waiting in line almost an hour. We also rode the swings, a train and a coal mine cart.


Kelly panned for gold and took home a few nuggets in her bottle. Our friends from church gave her that cute shirt she's wearing.



There was a real steam engine train that we rode around the park.


This isn't something you see too often these days, especially at an amusement park. The entire park was already decorated for Christmas.


Tom and Kelly said hi to the Snoopy gang before we left the park.

We celebrated our 15th Marine Corps Ball on Thursday night. It was held at the Westin in downtown San Diego. We had a nice time.


The happy couple!


Tom played the Marine Corps Hymn on his bagpipes when the cake was being wheeled in. He's so talented!

The Birch Aquarium

On Thursday Kelly and I went to the Birch Aquarium for her friend's birthday party. We watched a shark feeding, touched sea stars and saw lots of sea life. Kelly had a great time.


This is one of the whale fountains out front. Our little girl is sure getting big!


There was a kelp feeding at the large tank. A diver is at the bottom feeding the fish. Notice the humongous sea bass with his mouth open. He weighs about 200 pounds!


The kids decorated wooden boxes. As usual, Kelly was the last one done. She loves arts and crafts.


The kids enjoyed touching sea stars at the tide pools.


Being eaten by a large shark!

Coastal Academy Thinkers Reception

Tonight we attended a "Thinkers Reception" at Kelly's school. Every teacher from each grade level chose 3 students who they believed to be great thinkers. Kelly was one among twenty-four to receive this award.


Kelly was very nervous about going up in front of the audience, but she did it. This is when she received her certificate.


This is a group shot of those students who received the award.


The picture on the certificate is Kelly's recent school picture.


Kelly and her proud Dad smile as Mom takes ANOTHER picture.

Happy 60th Birthday Lou!!!

For quite some time we've been trying to get Lou to tell us when his birthday was. Awhile back Rob Seling called Lou's brother and found out that it was on Halloween. Lucky for us, Halloween fell on a Friday this year. That's our regular night that the guys play music and Kristin and I play Scrabble. We told Lou we would be celebrating Annie's birthday to make sure he didn't cancel out on us. I even made a cake for "Annie". Imagine Lou's surprise when we walked in the door and everyone yelled "Happy Birthday, Lou!".


The kids sprayed silly string when we walked in. That's Kelly's head with the silly string attached.


Lou was giggling and so surprised!


As usual the Seling's made an amazing feast. We had smoked brisket, smoked chicken, salmon and homemade coleslaw. It was delicious!


Here's the birthday boy with the cake I made.


The girls enjoyed cake and ice cream, and there's our Scrabble board. We never finished our game that night.