Ward Christmas Party

We just had our ward Christmas Party tonight. Here we are in front of the tractor Santa arrived on. We were told to dress warmly for this - and a good thing too because it was outside where it was a 'chilly' 72 degrees!

Who'da thought?

We just recently discovered we have an orange tree in our yard! The fascinating thing is that not just a month ago I used the fruit off this very tree to make a key lime pie to take to my friend's house for Thanksgiving. I ate that key lime pie, my friend and even some of her family ate that key lime pie, Ryan ate that key lime pie, and my visiting teachee also ate that key lime pie and I received compliments all around on that pie (I don't even really like key lime pie very much but I thought that pie was pretty good). At the time, I thought I had picked all of those limes off the tree because I thought some of them were about to burst and some were even losing their bright green color for a faded yellow/orange. A few days ago we pulled into our garage with Marissa excitedly exclaiming "Mommy we have a lemon on our tree!!" Naturally, I thought she was grossly mistaken only to find this on the tree (see picture). It still took some convincing me that it was truly an orange but when Ryan cut into it and gave me a slice there was no mistaking it. I guess what I really made was a "key orange" pie and in my book it was better than any silly key lime pie anyway!

Phoenix and Mexico!

I've been about a month behind on all my posts so I figured it was about time to write about our vacation. Ryan had his two weeks off the first part of November. For the first week, Ryan's parents came out and we drove to Phoenix to stay at a resort there. The second week we drove down to San Carlos, Mexico. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights from our trips:

*The weather in Phoenix was even a little warmer than usual for the time of year and we spent several afternoons at the pool.
*Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us in Phoenix which means I only saw my kids about 65% of the time:)!
*We also got to go golfing in Phoenix, which was great because we hadn't been able to go golfing since we'd left Ann Arbor.
*Our resort in San Carlos was right next to the beach and the kids had a blast at playing in the sand and seeing who could find the best seashell.
*The taco stands really make the best tacos ever - I just had to be careful not to watch the preparation of them or it ruined the whole experience.
*Ryan was able to visit with some friends from his mission - Marissa enjoyed this as well because every time we left one of his friends they always liked to give the kids some little toy.
*Unfortunately, Devon spent at least 50% of time either crying or throwing a fit
*Best of all...we all came home with a tan that will last us through the winter!


Devon and Marissa enjoying the resort pool in Phoenix.




The kids and me at the beach in San Carlos. Devon favorite thing to do was throw rocks into the ocean. Marissa's favorite thing to do was float on the raft with daddy to go snorkeling.




The kids at the resort pool in San Carlos. The kid pool is behind them and there was that nice little ledge in between them that Devon could use to jump into the kid pool and Marissa could use to jump into the big pool!




Devon is wearing Marissa's goggles. In the hot tub he started getting down low enough so the water covered his mouth and nose. Occasionally, the water would also reach his eyes so we put the goggles on him to see if he would go farther under. He thought he was pretty cool!




Since Devon spent so much of his time like this, I thought it only fair to include a picture.




It was at taco stands such as this that we had many a dinner!




We drove to Hermosillo where Ryan served his mission to see a few people and also walked around the temple grounds.