Bring in the experts

 I decided this move was going to require expert help while Damon was gone.  Who better to have help than the person who has helped me move 2 other times already.  Julie came down to visit from Oregon for a few days and helped me pack.  We managed to squeeze in some magic as well.

 Love this place at Christmas.  I could go once a week and not get tired of it.  Really I could.

 We also decided to stop by the Hotel Del Coronado while Julie was here.  She had never been to Coronado before and she loved it.

A week of "Normal"

We spent a week up in Salt Lake and St. George with Damon.  It was wonderful.  The kids got some extra Nana Camp time too. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Damon's birthday with a lot of his family.  We took the kids and some cousins to see "Rise of the Guardians".  We ended up laughing just as much as the kids did.  It was a great week.

A change from the beach and Motorola to mountains and Fusion-IO.  It's a big change for all.

 Carving the turkey for Thanksgiving.  We always talk about the Cosby Show episode when Cliff teaches Theo how to carve the turkey.

 Damon was able to blow out all the candles with one breathe.  There weren't that many candles though.

 It kind of became a joke about everything we can do with leftover turkey.  We did turkey pot pie, turkey sandwiches, turkey fajitas and turkey primavera.  We were done with turkey after that.

A week of change

Lots of changes are going on in the house.  Hopefully come January things will settle down.

We went to Lake Miramar to watch the sunset and go on a family walk.  We also fed the ducks.  I don't care how old I get, but feeding the ducks is one of my favorite things to do. It was a fun family outing.

One of the bigger changes was saying goodbye to my parents.  They are going on a mission for our church down in Fiji.  They will be there for 2 years.  We are all very excited for them and glad they are going, but a part of me will miss the calming influence of my mom and the support of my dad.  We drove up to spend one last weekend with them up at Mortensen Manor before they flew to Fiji.  I really do have the best, amazing and sometimes weird parents.

This week hasn't been to bad.  There has been lots going on to make the time pass quickly.  We have had field trips, an election, scouts, pack meeting, swim practice, piano, tennis and a swim meet.  Plus it rained. 

One of Lily's races from the meet last week.  It was our last meet as Ned Baumer Seals.  The kids have really enjoyed swimming.

Family Disney Trip

Damon wanted to do one last thing for fun while we were all still together in California.  We voted on Disneyland (no surprise there).  We also were celebrating my birthday since the day sort of got overlooked with the house going on the market/open house.

We started off the day nice and early at PCH Grill.  We had breakfast with Mickey and the gang.  Eating was hard because we wanted to keep taking pictures with everyone.  I also got sang to because we were celebrating my birthday.

The only family picture of the day.

We headed over to California Adventure to get passes to go on the new Cars Land race way.  Our tickets were good for 6:40pm.  We had a long wait, but we filled up the time.

Every time!

A new Walt & Mickey Statue.  A man, a mouse and an idea.

Lily got to have a conversation with Ariel.  She was so excited.

I told Noah every time he crashed that I would add a year to when he could get his driver's license.  I think we ended at 30 years old.

Our most favorite ride ever!!  Damon was taking action shots during the ride.  It was hilarious to see the kids expressions during the ride.

We ran into Cinderella who was on her way to the Castle with the Mad Hatter.

The Best ride of the day.  It was amazing and well worth the wait.  I'm glad we didn't have to wait the 75 minutes in the normal line.  

We had a great day at Disneyland.  We loved spending time together as a family.

Halloween Fun

 Halloween came up quick this year as we are all preoccupied with 100 other things.  We still managed to have a little bit of fun and enjoy the time together.

 Some pre-Halloween crafts are always a must.  This year they got mixed in with homework as well, but we had fun anyway.  Trunk-or-Treat at church is always fun too.

 Trunk-or-Treat and pumpkin carving with spooky houses!  It's like gingerbread, but for Halloween.

 Noah's cell.  He had to build this for science class.  I've been in heaven this year with him in the class.  It's right up my alley.  It was a cookie cell with candy representing the different organelles of the cell.

Halloween Night we had one of the old Tree Kids come over and celebrate with us.  We had pizza and witches brew.  It's become a tradition at our house.  Our Trick-or-treating group has gotten smaller this year, but we still managed to have a lot of fun.  The kids especially liked trading their candy after we got back home.