Preston's Blessing

My Mom and Dad came out for my niece's baptism in September.  Since they were planning to come out, we decided to have Preston blessed during the same weekend.


It is fun to live close to so many family members, that came to support.


Preston has the example of many great men in his life.


And while my parents were here, we had a little time to play.  That friday we went to the zoo.  It was fun to have my kids spend time with their Christensen Grandparents, since we don't get to see them very often.
 

Preston was all smiles.  While the big kids were watching the elephants, he was just excited about life.

Route 66 Parade

The kids look forward to this parade all year.  We drive this route frequently (like everyday taking Brielle to school) and Ethan loves to talk about how he was in the the parade and waved from 'right over there!'

The 4 oldest grandchildren got to ride with their Grandma and Papa Finlay

And since they were at the beginning of the parade, after they were done riding and waving, they still got to watch the rest of the parade from the sidelines.

Ethan still can't help but to get up and dance anytime he hears music.  He loved the marching bands.

And, it was a warm enough day, we cooled off in the swimming pool after the parade.  A fun way to enjoy the last few warm days left.

General Conference

What General Conference was about...from the perspective of the 6-year-old:

(this conference note-sheet available here)

President Packer: "Children are not good listeners now."

Elder Nelson: "Jesus made our heart, muscles and our body"

Elder Oaks: "The plan of happiness is a happy plan of God"

Elder Ballard: "Boys go on missions.  If boys do not go on a mission, Jesus will not like it."

Elder Scott: "People buried their weapons."

Elder Hales: "Jesus took the children to Israel"

Elder Holland: "Some people are sad, some people are happy."

Elder Bednar: "Tithing is important because Jesus asked us to."

Elder Cook: "Quentin Cook said over the woods to Grandmas."

Elder Anderson: "My Dad has Priesthood power and he does too."

 "Thomas S. Monson said A man died because he got too old"

"He said my Grandma and Papa, they had 3 horses.  He was talking about a fire."

President Monson: "People form the church went out on a ship.  There were 6 people on the ship."

President Eyring: "Heavenly Father sent us to the world to live and to have a Mommy and Daddy."

President Uchtdorf: "The church is true.  It is very, very, true."

"Joshua was a righteous man.  Jesus told us to pay tithing because it gives us money for the church"

"Heavenly Father and Jesus spoke to Joseph Smith.  The End."

Mt. Baldy Lunch

We had a fabulous 4-generation field trip going to Mt. Baldy's Top of the Notch restaurant for lunch.  It ended up being quite and adventurful day!
 
After a couple weeks of HOT summer heat, it was nice to get up in the mountains where is was a bit cooler.  It was a gorgeous day to go for a little hike.

 
We were then sitting outside about to have some lunch when the weather turned

 
Suddenly our nice, beautiful day turned quite soggy and foggy

 
We moved inside for lunch as it poured rain outside.

 
When there was a break in the storm we got on the ski lift to head back down, only to have it start raining again.

 
As we drove back down the mountain, there were rivers of water pouring down the street and evidence of multiple rock slides.  We got back home safely to the upper 90 degree weather again and quickly dried out and wished for the cool mountains again.  
Ethan is asking to go back.  He loves riding the ski lift.

Morro Bay for Labor Day

We were able to spend Labor Day weekend up at Morro Bay. We left early Saturday morning, so we could take our time driving up, stopping to see things we don't usually get to do.  
 
We stopped at the fish hatchery in Fillmore and had a picnic breakfast.

 
After a couple other quick stops (nursing Preston at a rest stop and getting fresh strawberries at the Stowell road stand), went to Avilla farms where the kids got to feed the animals.

 
Which, they obviously love to do.

 

 We then drove on the pier at San Luis Port and checked out the wholesale fresh fish market.

 
Once we got up to the house and got settled we headed over the beach.  Ethan was focused on collecting sand dollars.  We probably found at least 30 or so.  He was ecstatic!

 
The Warnick family was able to join us for the weekend.  The kids favorite activity was playing 'restaurant' where the adults served them out on the deck.

 
We did a lot of geocaching together and got to explore some new places.

 
And had a great time playing at Spooner's Cove.

We tried out the food at Sylvester's.  A off-the beaten-path place we found by geocaching.

 
James tried the 'Sylvester' burger, which is a 1 pound hamburger.

  
It was huge!  They also sell a 5 pound burger for any willing to take a challenge.

Orange County Zoo

Our family was invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Orange County Zoo.  This came because of a presentation James gave at  Cal Poly a couple weeks ago.  Everyone really enjoyed his talk and someone on the board of the Palms to Pines AALAS (American Association for Laboratory Animal Science) Branch invited him to join their get-together.  It was a great networking opportunity for James to be able to meet other people that also work in the Lab Animal Medicine field.  We got to see a lot of animals up-close and participate in their feedings.
  

A lot of the animals were getting popsicles that day.  The Mountain lions had a huge one that was made inside a large trash can.  It was a beautiful layering of red, pink and white (made out of blood, coconut milk and kool-aid, with whole mice mixed in).  They use the popsicles as an enrichment for the animals.

James was even able to help feed the bear! 

 

America's Cup

The week before school started, Brielle got to go on a trip to San Fransico.  Papa and Grandma Finlay took Gavin and Brielle for a quick road trip to the America's Cup races.  James' cousin, Jeannie works for the Coast Guard patrolling that area and was able to take family members on board for a very up-close view of the sailing races.


We got the pictures from those that were there.  I'll copy Brielle's journal entry to explain more about her trip.

"On Tuesday, I went on a trip with Papa, Grandma and Gavin.  I played with my activity stuff in the car.  I ate at McDonalds for lunch and I ate at Zachary’s for dinner.  I liked the pizza.  I got to sleep in the biggest room in the whole hotel!  I went in the big bath with my swimming suit on.  Wednesday I had cheerios and yogurt and boiled eggs for breakfast.  I went to the sailboat race, and went to the America’s Cup to buy a shirt.  I bought chocolates for my Mom and Dad.  The boat went fast!"


The pizza at Zachary's

With Aunt Jeannie (technically it is Brielle's cousin once-removed, but it's easier to call her Aunt)

Checking out the sailboat on land

view of the city from the boat

morning cartoons in the presidential suite (great upgrade on the room from the ever-traveling for business Uncle Ian)