Christmas 2015

Dear Friends & Family,

     We hope you've had a wonderful year. This year we've seen our kids growing and changing so much. Here's a little glimpse into our lives this past year.

On New Year's Eve the weather report was showing that with the rain we were getting, it'd be cold enough in Descanso for snow.  We put the kids to bed and saw the temperatures dropping.  On the early New Year's Day we opened the blinds and actually had a yard full of snow.  It was enough to build a snowman, throw some snowballs, do a little sledding down the driveway and enjoying our warm wood-stove.

     Hannah turned 2 in January and has begun talking up a storm.  She is in dance (aka: movement class) but will move on to tap/ballet this coming January.  Tutus and pink are fun to buy. She's now sleeping in a big girl bed, so no more cribs in the Huston house!!  Hannah enjoys cooking up treats for us in her play kitchen and playing with her baby dolls.  She loves helping Trish around the house, do laundry, dishes, cooking and helps set the table at dinner.

 

     This spring, we became a Little League family.  Jim was the coach for Thomas's team and Trish was the team mom.  Thomas played Catcher and was pretty good at it!!  His team was a step above T-Ball, so we spent a lot of time still teaching the boys about hitting balls, running, catching balls and throwing balls.  Our team didn’t place very high, but we had a lot of boys play their hearts out and never gave up!! Not quite sure it's our sport, but we had fun as a family.

     Thomas has become quite the little celebrity with Papa in the California Dept. of Forestry 1939 Ol' Jimmy fire truck.  He was in the rodeo parade, in Ramona, in May.  Two things he absolutely loves: 1) his Papa 2) wearing his cowboy clothes.........that day he had both!!

     We celebrated our 18th Anniversary in April, with a little trip to Hollywood, CA.  On our way up there, we had to stop and have lunch at the famous Clearman's Northwood Inn in Covina, CA.  It's famous for it's delicious cheese bread!! We got tickets to a recording of the Dr. Phil show. We were there for 3 show tapings (in the picture you can see us....middle of the picture, left side).  Hollywood sure is fun to people watch, as there are some interesting people walking around.  We had fun looking at some of the sidewalk stars on Hollywood Blvd.  We had breakfast at this little cafe near our hotel.  The artwork in the bathroom was interesting and was full of "graffiti" on the walls. Lots of people have written their names or phrases on the everything but the floor.  They actually gave us a marker and said, "add something to the wall".  Our saying to each other from the beginning has been Forever Baby Forever (can you see it in the picture).

Fire season kept Jim busy this year.  He's still the Superintendent of the Hotshot Crew, with 19 firefighters he's in charge of.  He stayed in California, and most of the fires were lightning fires. Most of the fire assignments were 2 week assignments, so he was pretty tired when he got home. Some of the fires, he came home from he was pretty dirty, too.  It's nice living on the compound, where he has a 4 minute walk from the station to home.    

Jim is the 2nd one, Left side, front row

After 2 days home relaxing, he was headed out early again, for another assignment.

     The kids took swimming lessons again this year.  Both kids love being in the water and Thomas is getting good at diving into the deep end.  Hannah wasn't to sure at first about underwater swimming, but got better by the end of lessons.  We spent a lot of time in Ramona at Grandma & Papa's playing in their swimming pool this summer, while Daddy was gone.

     We had a nice visit from the Huston side of the family for The Fourth of July.  It was great to have everyone together.  They really enjoyed the relaxing and enjoying the mountain air.  Jim's sister has 2 boys who are both of our kids age, so they all have fun playing together!!  

     Thomas started First Grade this year, and has a really great teacher.  She is very encouraging and makes learning fun.  Thomas is the top of his class for academics.  He's already doing things she hopes the other students cam do by the end of the school year.  He's a great reader and loves Math, too!!  He also has a very deep love for WWII aircraft.  His favorite plane is the P-51 mustang and he knows every detail about them, down to the engine (practically).  He really wants to be a Police Officer when he grows up, but tells us he's going to be in the military so he can fly planes, too.

     In December, we surprised Thomas with a trip to Disneyland for his birthday.  We first made a stop at Knott's Berry Farm for our annual Firefighters Christmas visit.  We also found Santa there!!!  We spent 3 days at California Adventure/Disneyland and had A LOT OF FUN!!  We rode many rides, visited some special characters and just enjoyed the magic that Disney makes happen.  Thomas go to be the Captain of the Mark Twain river boat, and that made him so happy.

 

     We really do love living in Descanso with the relaxing, slower paced life in the country.  It's nice to have lots of room to run, ride bikes, play in the yard, go on hikes, and just spend so much family time together.  As we look forward to the year ahead, we pray that you find peace & happiness in your year to come, too!!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas.......

                                               The Hustons

For those who could not make Hannah's adoption party, Here is a link to her 30 min video presentation.

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/Sa9uX4uZ