Looking Back on the Year That Was

I actually meant to get this post up on the 21st, but with having to finish up my Christmas shopping and running errands to help AJ out with his secret santa gifts for work the days just went by a whole lot quicker than I had planned.

This time last year AJ and I were moving and settling into our house. It's hard to believe that it's been a year already (seriously - where does the time go?). We closed on our house at 4:30 on Dec. 21st and then I picked up the keys the morning of the 22nd (from the shadiest real estate agent I have ever known). It was so completely overwhelming at the time to think of ourselves as homeowners...and I guess if I'm being completely honest, it still is an overwhelming feeling. We joked at the time that this was our Christmas gift to each other for the next 30 years (yeah, there's a lot of truth to that statement). I was as big as a house (literally) and really frustrated with how little I could actually help with the whole moving process. My sister Val was a rock star and made sure that we were packed and ready to actually move in...not to mention helping me paint Keegan's room, along with painting his bathroom all on her own (and yes I painted even though I was only a month away from delivering) and the members of our ward we totally amazing. The youth helped paint our bedroom and they had us moved and ready to go in no time a few days later.

Home ownership brings a whole new set of worries, problems and issues that we never had renting. There's also a whole lot more stress over plumbing problems and utility bills and mortgage payments, but it's pretty rewarding as well. I recognize that AJ and I are pretty lucky even owning a home at this particular stage in our life, and we feel really blessed that we were lucky enough to even get into a house, let alone one that is as big as ours is and in San Diego nonetheless.

I looked for pictures of our house from when we were moving in and I couldn't find any (I think my sister Val has them somewhere since she was really the only one who had the foresight to take pictures). Not too much has changed from when we moved in...there's a little bit more furniture now, and some of the windows have changed, but essentially it's just like the day we moved in...and yet there's a different feeling to the house every time I walk through the door. Maybe it's because there is more furniture, or because there aren't boxes everywhere, or because we now have a year's worth of memories, good and bad, to look back on...but the house just isn't a house anymore. It's our HOME, and I have to admit...it's pretty amazing.

Let's Go Surfin' Now...

While the rest of the country deals with snow, floods, rain and ice, San Diego gears up for MASSIVELY BIG SURF. I'm talking HUGE...like 12+ feet waves. The funniest thing about this...people don't get scared about the waves. They get excited for it. Granted, they board up windows if necessary and put up sandbags, etc., but the beach is almost as crowded when the surf is huge as it is on a warm and balmy summer day. Seriously...people love this stuff. So, I figured I would go and check what it was all about (and get Keegan out of the house while I was at it)...and take some pictures to document it while we were there.

If you look really closely at the top of the following picture you will see a bunch of surfers out in the water (no AJ isn't one of them...although he did go out earlier in the morning with our bishop). I personally thought they were all nuts, but I guess with the lifeguards in a boat right in the middle of them all they figured that they were relatively safe.

Most of the day was actually beautiful and sunny and clear, but towards the end of our little walk the mist and the fog started rolling in. It was actually kind of pretty.

Welcome to winter in San Diego!!

Christmas in San Diego

Sometimes with all the hustle and bustle of this time of year, it's hard to remember why we are doing all that we are doing. While we haven't had any snow, and the weather is actually once again unseasonably warm, it's still nice to have little moments throughout the day to remind us about Christmas and what we are really celebrating this time of year.

Last night AJ, Keegan and I met some friends at the Temple in order to enjoy the musical performance that they had going on there last night. For the third year in a row the San Diego Temple is having a musical performance of some kind on the temple grounds every night for the month of December (maybe all the temples do this now, who knows...but I think it's really cool). Last night's performance was a bell choir. It was so fun to go and listen to the different Christmas Carols played on bells while sitting with friends and family and drinking hot chocolate. The best was when everyone in the audience sang along to "Away in a Manger".

And while it wasn't quite like the lights display at Temple Square, I think the temple looked beautiful.

So, Merry Christmas from our little family to yours.

Here's hoping that this time of year brings you all that you are wishing and hoping for.

10 months and going strong...

Keegan has now officially been out of my belly longer than he was in it (what with the whole actually being pregnant for 10 months and not 9, and him deciding he wanted to come a few days late). I can't believe that it's been 10 months already. Seriously, where has the time gone (and why do I still look like I'm pregnant?)?

I can't believe how much he's grown and changed and developed in the past 10 months. He definitely has a personality and he's not scared to share it. He's learned the fine art of temper tantrums (already, at 10 months...are you kidding me?), and his favorite past-time seems to be head-butting anything, anyone, and everything. He actually gave me a fat lip the other day because I wasn't quite fast enough and didn't get out of the way when he decided to head-butt me. He loves to say "Dada" and "Go" (although I'm not sure he really knows what he's saying on that last one) and loves to cluck his tongue on the top of his mouth. He's not walking yet (THANK GOODNESS for small miracles) at least not on his own...he'll stand up behind his diaper box and walk all over the house while pushing his stuffed animals and some random toys in his "train" (AJ always pushes him in the laundry basket, which Keegan loves, so apparently he's decided his monkey, bear and Boone the dog need the same treat). He loves to throw his toy balls (and daddy's volleyball and basketball), along with pretty much anything he can, around the house. He gets his whole little body into it, since he knows that's how he can get them to go the farthest distance.

Yesterday Keegan and I needed to get out of the house, so we went to the bay for a little playground fun.

It was so much fun to watch his face light up when he would go down the slide. He didn't want to wait long enough for me to get to the bottom to catch him half the time and would launch himself forward...thankfully, I was fast enough to keep him from face planting on the slide or tumbling down the slides rather than sliding down them.

He was not happy when I put him back in his stroller for our walk back to the car (hey, I have to get some exercise in somehow...so I walked the mile and a half to the playground and then the mile and a half back).

Thankfully, he calmed down pretty quickly and actually fell asleep for a little while in the stroller.

Busy Busy Busy

It always seems that this time of year brings so many things that need to get done that I have the constant feeling that I will never complete it all. There is shopping to be done, decorating to do, cards to get sent out, stockings to make, not to mention the normal day to day tasks of cleaning, laundry, bill paying, cooking, and taking care of my family. It's a good thing that Keegan is starting (finally) to sleep better at night because I'm so exhausted I'm not sure I would hear him if he did wake up.

So now I get to do a lot of catch up...

Thanksgiving was great. It was spent with AJ's grandparents, Mom and Dad, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ross, his sister Des, and her daughter Maddie. I cooked my first turkey (and tried my hand at brining it before it got cooked), and I have to say it didn't turn out half-bad. I meant to get a picture of it before it was all consumed, but I never actually got around to getting the photo taken. I think AJ's Aunt Kathy did manage to get one of AJ and his dad cutting it up, but since she hasn't made the change to a digital camera yet it could be a while before I see the photos.

The next day, there was definitely no time for a turkey coma. There were windows that needed to get put in:

and letters to get put up:

and it's only just begun. AJ wanted to wait until December before we got a tree to put up, so that's coming this weekend, which means more decorating and rearranging and chasing after Keegan to keep him out of everything.

Here's to the season!!