Stories

We are almost done with this year. It’s crazy. A lot of things have changed this year and who knows what next year will bring.

Since we were in Southern California, we decided to take Luca and the kids to the Back to the Future filming locations.

We took him to the location that the DeLorean was destroyed, and also Doc’s house. Each time we would get out – I’d play the scene so he could see it for himself. Everything still pretty much looks the same – so it makes it easy for them to see it. Luca was begging to go inside Doc’s house, but sadly we couldn’t.

We also rented an Elantra for the trip (so we can pour the miles on that vehicle instead). A non hybrid was getting between 40 and 50 MPG. I was verrrryyy impressed.

The very next day we went to Universal Studios. Its crazy to think that its been nearly 9 years since we have been here. Arabella was 2 and we didn’t have any other kids at that time.

All of the kids have grown up knowing the Grinch as “Uncle Grinch” so we stopped by and said hello (yes, they loved being decked out in Grinch gear).

We were able to go on some rides and we stayed around for a fireworks show that started around Midnight.

Elijah LOVED the Jurassic Park ride, Ara thought the drop was a bit much.

Elijah didn’t so much love the Mummy ride (due to the dark), but Ara liked that one. So its has been a good trade off of different rides they each prefer.

Luca and Ezra were able to ride some as well, in the Despicable Me land.

All of the kids have enjoyed this experience, especially sharing it with my parents as well.

There was something about watching the fireworks go off over Hogwarts. Pretty cool experience.

Here’s to 2025!

Hey!

Christmas eve we spent at New Hope. Had a nice candlelight service. It was nice.

Christmas was a blur. Mainly a lot of presents getting opened. I have more videos than photos.

One of the videos was of us telling the kids that we are going to take a trip to Universal Studios for New Years. Arabella was so excited she hid her face. Elijah kept jumping around, and Luca mainly repeated what the other two were doing. They are now anxiously anticipating the event.

However, before we get to that – we went to see the Santa Clones (see photo below). We’ve been doing this for the last several years and its a bit of a tradition at this point.

We also took a trip down to Shore Acres State Park (near Coos Bay) to see their Christmas lights.

It did NOT disappoint.

After we got done with the lights we stopped by the lighthouse. It had been a couple of years since we visited- and with the fog the lights were picked up even brighter than before.

The next morning we made a quick stop to see the inside once again (since we have their membership due to the kids school)

B-e-a-utiful. It doesn’t get old.

Next up?! So Cal!

just Pray

hey again

We were invited to a Christmas party at work and made a point of going. Here are some “secret” photos that I took during the event.

You know what they say about having a blue Christmas? Well I found an image to go along with that.

I may have gotten a kick out of that.

Speaking of getting a kick out of something.. my daughter took it upon herself to ‘doll me up’

Not too bad if you ask me lol

So on a whole other note: I’ve been hearing about these Coke-a-Cola Christmas truck/caravan that happens each year. We missed it the last couple of years but this year I was determined to see what the fuss was about.

Luca LOVED the bear. Just throwing that out there- we also were given a few packs of Cranberry Sprite. They even gave us a polar bear ornament for our Christmas tree.

Super cute.

I’d say if you have the chance to go, do it. It’s worth the wait (as there was probably 50 or so people in line as we got here.

I’ll be off work for the rest of the year. I took the last bit of the year off to spend with the fam. It’s been that way for so long… (it is pretty much tradition for us to do at this point). I did that at LifeLock, at Amex, at P3 and now here too.

Getting closer to Christmas my dad went to his spot from when he lived in Portland previously (Bart’s).

And to leave things with a cute photo, Ezra was having fun feeling the stubble on his face.

just Pray

hey there

We started off December a little late – in the sense of getting a tree. We normally have it up before now – but this year it just didn’t happen.

Here are some photos of us getting the tree, decorating it and a nice view from a viewpoint that was nearby.

It was a nice clear (but chilly day).

The next day my parents had to leave to go back home. The kids didn’t want that to happen.

What else?

Basically a lot of Christmas events. We went to Rise Church for their Christmas craft stuff they had planned, took Arya along with us (Ara’s friend who she recently had a sleepover with).

Before we knew it– it was time to go to New Hope for a Christmas singing event with the kids. They did pretty well! Elijah even ended up getting into the movements of the song, singing along and everything. It’s more than he has done in other churches we have went to.

That’s it for now – much more of the month left.

just Pray

Hey again

Birthdays and Turkey Days! Yeah – multiple for each. Let’s dive into it!

We started off the events with Ezra turning 1. He had a Bluey-themed birthday- because well why not? The other kids love Bluey anyway, so it made sense.

Having 3 birthdays on the same day can be trying. This year it seemed alright. My dad and Sky both decided to go to Outback for a birthday dinner (score one for Ezra too).

Afterward, Ezra got a chance to taste some sugar (in the form of his birthday cake).

This kid is a bit like me. Unlike the other kids who would tear into the take with their hands and face – Ezra didn’t do that. No, he decided to only put his face in. He didn’t want to get his hands dirty. Once he realized some cake got on his hands he wasn’t very happy until we cleaned it off.

That was probably my favorite part of it all.

What else?

The next day we went to a birthday event for Gramps who turned 80 (on the 19th but we celebrated the day on the 23rd). Big turnout with a lot of the family present for it.

That night we went to church (Saturday night) followed by Sunday morning church. Afterward, they asked for help decorating the church for the upcoming Christmas season. The kids were more than happy to help out and got to work. (see below).

We also collectively decided to take a trip over to the coast for a day to get away. The kids were excited to have a swimming pool that they could spend a few hours in as well (if you couldn’t tell from the huge smiles).

Luca was pretty out of it during this time (the whole family has been fighting off some sickness for most of the month anyway) but he complained about his ears hurting.

Ironically his ears. Ezra (just a week before) had gone to the doctor after running a fever and we found he had an ear infection.

We took Luca to the doctor and he had a DOUBLE ear infection. Man oh man.

Thanksgiving then came and we took a trip over to Gramps sister (Minnie) for dinner. Sky also brought over birthday presents for her cousin who just had her birthday. Keeping track of the birthdays? We had 3 at our house on one day, and two others later on bringing the total to five birthdays.

After dinner, we stopped and walked through some Christmas lights.

The next few days were busy. We ended up having our own Turkey Day as well (on Saturday). A second one just that is a bit more intimate than the many people at the other event we went to. Anyway, the food was good! We spent the time eating and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Let’s not forget we also had some homemade apple pies and some Costco-made pumpkin pies.

Then on November 30th, we were getting ready to go to bed. Luca didn’t want to – and after taking his cars to put them away he stormed off (running down the hall)

A few seconds later we heard a SLAM.

The metal child gate was left open and Luca ran right into it.

I spent most of the night waking up and icing his head. The kid can’t catch a break.

Hopefully next time he will be looking when he runs. Thankfully no hospital visit was needed.

just Pray.