Orrin earned his Wolf Badge for Cub Scouts

Orrin finally earned his Wolf Badge for Cub Scouts. We are proud of him for working hard to achieve that.

Mormon Battalion Celebration

We attended our last Mormon Battalion Commemoration this year. The guy with the beard and his wife in the front right actually re-enacted the whole trek of the Battalion.


This parade was the largest we had witnessed of the Mormon Battalion Commemoration.


The kids enjoyed roasting biscuits over coals and eating them with fresh churned butter and honey.
Aleya tried a pioneer kids' game . . . stilts.


Joseph and Amara tried the stand on the log, rope-pulling game. Who do you think won?

We had another fantastic day of crafts and fun. We'll miss this wonderful celebration when we move to the East coast.

A visit from Guam.

Our friend, Jeff, came to visit us and went golfing with Christian. He's training at Camp Pendelton and will be deploying to Iraq soon. He and his family live in Guam, where he works as a doctor at the Naval Hospital there. He and his family have lived there for 1 1/2 years now. His wife, LaNita (and my good friend), flew in a few days before they deployed to Iraq. They came to church with us and also ate dinner with us. It was fantastic to see them and visit with them after so long. We've known them since day one of medical school: LDS, Navy, and with twin boys the same age as our son, Joseph. We've been great friends ever since.

Family Games

This is the new version of the game of Life. It has more modern occupations and ways to earn money . . . such as winning American Idol.

Our family plays family games, just like most families, but contention always seems to creep in, making it not very fun most of the time. Often the games last too long and we run out of time, so I take a picture of the board, so we can recreate it on another day and finish the game.

This is a family favorite, Settlers of Zarahemla, but we never seem to have time to finish it. We usually just call whomever is ahead at the end of the allotted time, the winner. In this case we finally did finish it and Joseph won.

North Carolina or Bust!

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Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo . . .

Christian has known for a week and didn't tell me. He said he had to sort it out in his mind, first. That's nice (sarcasm). Anyway, we're off to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina (I have no idea how to spell it). I guess I should google it or look it up. I intentionally chose not to learn much about it prior to now . . . other than that most military people say "oh, you don't want to go there." It is in the town/city of Jacksonville, North Carolina, on the coast.

We've fasted and prayed a lot about our future and I feel that if that's where the Lord wants us, then so be it. I'm fine with that.

The good news is that if Christian petitions the hospital, they'll allow him to do ERCPs, just like one previous Navy doctor did there. Prior to this, we thought he wouldn't be able to do them. Brooks Cache (GI Specialty Leader) says he'll try and protect Christian from deployment . . . whatever that means. He could just be trying to soften the blow.

Well, I guess I better find out a little about where we're going and where the best places are to live, etc. I do have some insider help (lots of Marines and their families in our neighborhood who have lived there).

Of course there's a slim to none possibility that we won't go there, believe it or not. It turns out that the GI doctor who's at Camp Lejeune right now, doesn't want to leave. The Navy is trying to force him to retire, but he doesn't want to go nicely and has hired a lawyer. Good luck suing the Navy.

I think they should either open up Camp Pendelton to a GI billet or turn the 1 year unaccompanied GI Navy billet in Germany to a 3 year billet. There's always hope, right? It won't happen in time to help us, though.

So, there you have it. We will soon be off on a new adventure in August 2009.

Love,
Andrea and Christian

Some ingenuity!

So, what do you do with some leftover Christmas tissue, a broken shoebox, a piece of rope, and leftover Halloween candy? Well, Amara's wheels were turning in her brain and she devised an ingenius plan . . . make a PINATA!

Way to think, Amara!

Aleya never even came close, but was satisfied with the candy prize, nevertheless.

Orrin gave it some good hits, but only a few pieces of candy fell.

Joseph finished it off for the delight of everyone. "CANDY!"

This made for a whole lot of fun on an ordinary afternoon.

Lame-O New Years

We didn't do much for New Years' Eve or Day, for that matter. Poor planning, I guess. We tried to wear our pointy New Years' hats, but they kept falling off. I woke them up for the countdown. The kids nearly made it to midnight, but conked out at around 11:30PM. I bought cool party poppers, but I forgot to use them. Dang.

The only thing we did do, worth taking pictures of, was we finally finished our Capener Family Gingerbread House. Better late than never, I say. We even had a Santa sleigh, to go with it.

The kids decorated their own Christmas trees.

Our leftover Halloween candy really spices up the house, each year.

Our Sledding Failure

So . . . we made an attempt to go find some REAL snow (the kind that falls from the sky, not from a machine) to sled on. We heard that there was snow in a town called Julien, about an hour away. We stopped in Ramona on the way to find sleds and tire chains, but were unsuccessful, so we decided to go on up to Julien anyway. We weren't the only ones with the idea, because traffic was backed up for MILES! When we finally got there, we discovered the snow was nearly all melted, with only little patches here and there, but not enough to sled on. We decided to buy a pie, so our 3 hour trip wasn't completely wasted. The kids did kick around some snow that remained and throw large snow chunks down into a ravene to crash and break apart on tree limbs. That was the best we could make of a wholesome recreational activity--gone wrong!

Wish I could say this was a picture of us having fun, but it's not. Sigh.

Wild Animal Park "Festival of Lights"

This is our final year to visit the Wild Animal Park Festival of Lights celebration. This is the last year they will have it here and we will likely be moving in the summer, so we wouldn't be able to attend, anyway.

The kids love the lights, the snow hill, and the crafts. They even had a fun Black Light Puppet Show as well as a Light and Magic Show.

I think the snow hill is a family favorite. There's not much snow in San Diego . . . except here at the Wild Animal Park.

IT'S CHRISTMAS!

Traditionally we have the kids line up behind the sheet (hanging to block the view) in order of either youngest to oldest, or vice versa.

The kids open up all their stocking stuff and Santa gifts first. The boys are blowing up Whoopie Cushions from their stockings and trying them out.

Amara had some fun surprises from Santa . . . lots of tiny presents to open. Doll clothes!

Amara received a doll closet with a complete wardrobe for her doll and her Webkinz.

Joseph received Nintendo DS games, which he greatly desired since he only had one game of his own, before.

Aleya received a baby buggy and a baby that coos, sucks a bottle and pacifer, and moves its arms.

Orrin received a RipStick from Santa. I'm not certain if he liked it. What do you think?

Santa gave mom a new set of pots and pans.

Santa gave dad the Joseph Smith Papers, vol. 1, book.

We took a break and asked if they wanted to eat breakfast, or keep going. We shouldn't have given them a choice. Breakfast was around Noon that day.

Aleya was spoiled the most, naturally. She received a new dress
and a doll to match (Barbie Diamond Castle).

Aleya received a cute new dance backpack to hold her dance shoes.
Yes, it's a ballerina bear backpack.

All Joseph wanted for Christmas was . . . you guessed it . . . a cell phone.
(What are we thinking?)

Orrin's dream came true! He has his very own electric guitar!

Amara received a lot of nice things, including scrapbook and art supplies and a jewelry box
to hold all her costume jewelry (not pictured).

Mom especially loved the gift card from JcPenney from all the kids. It had the kids' voices recorded on it, wishing me a Merry Christmas.

Christian finally has a set of golf clubs . . . including a small set for the boys to use.

The End. Whew!