BREAKING NEWS

Deanna has been spotted in the kitchen!!

No seriously, this is Lance, and I am making a rare posting to our blog to express my gratitude to Deanna for finding such a great place for our family in Irvine. I give her a lot of credit for making it happen after telling me about her favorite park and "dream neighborhood" for so long. We love our new home!

Home Sweet Home

We moved to the promised land... Irvine!!! We've only been here 2 weeks now, and it's everything I was hoping for and more..
When I first discovered Sweet Shade Park, I knew it was where we wanted to be. For the past 2 years I've been driving Lewis out to this park. And now there it is, right outside our front door! The park, the pool, the great neighbors and schools and don't even get me started on the shopping. Hello, Whole Foods! It's everything a mom of a 2-year-old boy would ever want. Lance has taken Lewis to the pool and hot tub 3 time this week and it's February, people.. We're living the dream, baby!

It's 2011!!!

We're looking forward to a whole new year...

Let It Snow!!!

Ok, so maybe Lewis is still too young to fully appreciate experiencing his first snow fall. I know there will come a day when he's begging us to take him to the snow! The photo of me in front of the apartment building is West Cambridge, aka, Condo Row, just south of BYU campus. That 1st floor window is into the living room where "The Purdy Sisters" lived during most of college. Lance lived just 2 condos down at East Cambridge, and we were in the same ward for 2 years; however, we don't remember ever meeting each other. Now 15 years later we're married with a 2 year old, and life is good! Crazy how things turns out. Lance and I enjoyed visiting our old college stomping grounds together with Lewis and truly appreciate our family. It was worth the wait! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation in Utah visiting our families and look forward to seeing more of them over Christmas.

Our baby boy turns 2!!!

We had a great time celebrating Lewis's birthday with family and friends, but we decided we'll give Chuck E. Cheese a rest for a few years!
A little story about Lewis just before he turned 2 years old... Lewis and I were at the water park where I was feeding him fish crackers. To my dismay, each time I handed him a fish cracker, he would throw it into the water, then after a while pick it up and eat it. This is something he has never done before, and I was so worried he would get sick from the germs!
A few days later, we were reading a book together and it finally hit me... As I pointed to a page showing fish in water, I realized that Lewis had thrown the fish crackers into the water before eating them because he knew that fish belong in water!
This is one of the many examples demonstrating that kids know more than we think. There was a method to his madness. What an insight into the beautiful minds of children… I realize more and more every day that it's the small moments I appreciate the most.

Go Catch a Wave!

A couple weeks after Yosemite we went to Lance’s family vacay in San Diego. We stayed at a beautiful, big beach house with the whole family just steps from the beach. Lewis had a ball on the beach and loved playing in the waves. Even after getting knocked down a few times, he wanted to keep on playing. At the end of each day we had hot tubs to relax in while watching the sunset over the ocean. Alex and MK created a McKinlay family movie that pulled together years of family memories from video and photos With all the family activities, around the clock yummy food and CSB's (cold sweet beverages), and being surrounded by loved ones, we did not want this vacation to end!

"Go Climb A Rock"

Yosemite was incredible... We loved staying at Yosemite Lodge where we could walk right out to Yosemite Falls.. What a sight!
Here are some of our highlights:
Deanna: spending memorable time visiting and reminiscing with family in the beautiful outdoors, eating s'mores, hiking Vernal Falls and the talent show.
Lance: hiking Half Dome (not sure which was better, reaching summit or being received
by Deanna and Lewis .5 m from the bottom on the way down and getting hugs, kisses and fresh water.
Lewis: throwing rocks into rivers, streams and creeks, being surrounded by all his fun cousins, and getting dirty.
So many great memories made here, we will definitely come back again...