Tide Pools

My brother Jeff and his family came from Utah a couple of days after Christmas.

One of the things we did while they were here was go to Moss Beach for the Tide Pools.

The weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed exploring the tide pools together.

 

Kaitlyn and Ruby became fast buddies.

 

Emily, Kaitlyn, Ruby and Caroline.

BYU Bowl Game

 

My cousin was able to hook us up with some tickets to the BYU bowl game at

AT&T Park in San Francisco.

 

 

It was a pretty bad game, but still a fun experience.

Christmas

The traditional Christmas Eve presents...

 

 

 

new pajamas!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

I'm sure they are both hoping for more exciting gifts on Christmas Day.

 

 

 

 

It was different to not have cousins visiting for Christmas this year, but it was great to be able to have the California Gwilliam and Fontaine families together to celebrate the day.

 

Time for dessert!

 

Christmas Greetings

 

 

This is the picture we used for our Christmas Card this year.

Logan loves that he is officially taller than Kaitlyn!

 

Another Teenager in the House

 

Logan got a remote control car for his birthday from mom and dad.

His grandparents from Connecticut set him a 49ers beanie, shirt and gloves.

On the morning of his birthday he headed out into the backyard to drive his car around wearing all his new stuff.

The day before Logan's birthday Mike took him to an RC park with some of his RC buddies.  They have been teaching Logan how to fly an RC airplane.  They were very nice and gave Logan one of their old RC Airplanes.  Logan is becoming a very good RC pilot!

 

We had his California grandparents over for dinner on his birthday -

they gave him another beanie and new hats.

 

He had a great birthday weekend!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Elder Gwilliam

My nephew Andrew is the first of the Gwilliam grandchildren to go on a mission.

I was lucky to be able to attend his farewell in Utah.

He went into the MTC on August 28th and is headed to the mission field in St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

 

I'm so happy and proud of Andrew, but also can't believe he is old enough to be a missionary!

We all love reading his blog and hearing about his experiences in Russia.

 

Back To School

School started so early this year none of us were ready for it.

 

Kaitlyn's 1st day as a Junior in High School.

 

 

Logan's 1st day as a 7th grader.

 

Fortunately, whether we were ready or not, we all survived

the first day of school.

Trek

For Youth Conference this year our stake did "Trek". 

The youth dressed like the Mormon Pioneers and spent Friday night and

Saturday reinacting the life of the pioneers. 

The youth from our ward that attended Trek.

The handcarts the kids loaded their stuff on and then pushed and pulled around

Briones park for the weekend.

                                 Each company was given two babies to name and take care of.

                          Sadly, just like the real pioneers, not all the babies survived the trek west.

                                              I loved seeing all the kids in their Trek outfits -
                                                                  they looked great.

Julie, me and Deanna.

Deanna and I went to help with the dinner on Friday night.

Julie was in charge of Trek this year and stayed for the whole thing - overnight and all!

                                               Hailey with Kaitlyn and their companies baby.

Matt and Julie worked so hard to make Trek a memorable/spiritual experience for the kids.

They did a great job and I know it was an adventure Kaitlyn will always remember.

Hwy 1

 

 

 

 

 

We decided before school started we wanted to take a quick trip down Hwy 1.

We stopped at Monterey and took advantage of the scenery, shopping and food.

 

 

yep, that's Logan climbing the rocks.

I think Mike and Logan sampled every restaurants clam chowder
before we finally picked a place to eat.
 

 

The next day we drove to Pfeiffer Beach.

It took awhile to find it, but it was a beautiful place to relax on the beach.