Duncan's Big Day

Sunday, December 27th.

Duncan's baptism day had finally arrived!

Here is Duncan in his new suit, shirt and tie, along with the other kids, Sunday morning before church. Jennan is wearing a necklace she made from beads given to her from grandma Foutz. Liam is wearing the blazer and tie Duncan used to wear. And Tegan is wearing her favorite dress- It has Mickey Mouse on it.


There he is... our eight year old.

Daddy and Duncan before we headed out to the building for the baptism.

Duncan and Dad with their white clothes on. Duncan is also wearing the white robe that Grandma McAlister gave him.

Duncan was so excited to be getting baptised. He said many times that he felt "happy tears" coming during our getting ready and the program, before and after his actual baptism. We are so proud of him.

After the baptism, we had family come over for some food. Here are a bunch of our kids' cousins eating around the coffee table in our front room. A great picture.

Here's Duncan opening some of the gifts he received that day.

Here's Duncan looking at a book Anna made for him with a bunch of candy in it.

Brand new scriptures with his name embossed on them from mom and dad.

It was such a special day. Anna and I had decided early on, that we weren't going to stress about all the details and such from the day. We made our plans and we let them happen as they did. That really helped us to enjoy the experience as well.

As for the program:

Opening prayer- great-grandpa Letterman

Baptism talk- grandma Foutz

Musical selection- "I Am a Child of God", sung and signed by Tegan, Jennan, Liam, and Duncan

video presentation- The Touch of the Master's Hand

Confirmation talk- grandma McAlister

Closing prayer- Richard Bocanegra (family friend)

Auntie Sara conducted the music

I had the privilege of baptising and confirming Duncan that evening. In the confirmation circle was myself, great grandpa Letterman, grandpa McAlister, grandpa Foutz, uncle Kevin, uncle Ken, uncle Josh, uncle Danny, and Bishop Denkers.


Thank you to all that came to share the experience with Duncan and our family.

Christmas at McAlisters

We went to Anna's parents' house on Dec. 26th for some family Christmas. It was a great time of visiting and food eating.

The white elephant gift exchange was a bit less "crazy" this year. Quite tame actually.

But there were still some highlights!...


One highlight was watching Allen open the sibling group gift.





It's a mounted JACKALOPE!!

Another highlight was watching Josh open his present from Allen... it was a year's worth of toenail clippings inside a clear glass Christmas tree ornament.

Also, Anna had some presents for Josh as well... here he is opening one of the best ones...

...It's a gummy and candy severed foot!! Complete with protruding bones, and lacerations. Josh is a big fan of feet, so he was super happy to get all the foot themed gifts he got this year.

So yeah, we had a fun time.

Christmas

Christmas Eve evening, after returning from an awkward extended Foutz family gathering, we got the kids all in bed.

Here is a picture of the sleeping arrangement. We needed to have the girls sleep in the boys' room, so we put out the air mattress, and called it a "sleep over". The kids got new pillows and Pjs for Christmas Eve.


CHRISTMAS MORNING! The kids were up pretty early (though they're up pretty early every morning). We had them wait until 7am for mom and dad to get up so we could start opening presents.

Here is the reason we needed to the girls to sleep in the boys' room. The girls were getting bunk-beds for Christmas! Luckily Anna had the foresight to have all the gifts wrapped before Christmas Eve, because we would be putting a bunk bed together. With the bunk bed, and last minute wrapping, I think we got to bed around 2am? (or was it 3am?- I don't remember.)

Here's mommy with a snow hat daddy made for her.

Here are the kids enjoying the new beds.

The glorious aftermath of Christmas morning. (And I think we had already even moved some of the wrapping paper out of the room.)

Tegan and Jennan had their stuff on the couch.

Duncan had his stuff next to the piano.

Liam had his stuff by the bookcase.

I had stuff all over.

It was a fun morning of opening presents. We tried to reinforce the idea that because they had been good all year, they got presents they wanted. And that they needed to be good all of the next year coming up too.

Presents of note this year:

The girls got bunk beds- with bed sets and comforters

Duncan and Liam got DSs- with games and accessories

Anna got some items made of corduroy that I made for her.

I got 5 bottles of "Dads" orange-cream flavored soda! (I did get those, but the really cool gifts I got were throwing knives and a throwing axe.

There were tons of other gifts too. Too many to mention.

We also want to remember how blessed we've been this year. We've had some troubling times, but through it all, we still have so much to be thankful for.

Jennan's eye today

It's almost been a week since Jennan gave herself a black eye (with the help of a wall and window sill). It's been just about every shade of blue, black, violet, maroon, then greens and yellows as it continues to get better.


Yesterday the kids had some friends from church over, and in the course of their visit, we noticed that the scab was gone. Jennan said it was better so it came off. She had been messing with it earlier, so we figure she just popped it off. It's got that "fresh skin" pink color to it.

So yeah, Liam will have his cut, and Jennan the eye for their Christmas day pictures. Oh the memories.

Duncan had a party

Duncan's birthday party was last Saturday, and if you missed it, you missed out.


Here's Duncan with his birthday cake. It's a Mario cake, so he really liked it. Anna did a great job.


There was a pinata at the party. Anna made some small modifications, and it became a Mario style star. They beat the star till is bled candy.

I had to put this one in because the kids were wearing the star's cones as party hats. You can kind of see some of the face painting that Duncan had at hid party too. A big thank you goes to our good friend Melissa for bringing her face paint and doing that for the kids.

This was probably Duncan's favorite birthday present... a Mario Kart Wii tshirt. It says, " This is how I roll." It was the first thing he asked for the next morning.

It was a fun little gathering at the park for the party. Thank you, to all who came out. The kids had a great time.

eight years ago today

Eight years ago today, we fulfilled our commandment to multiply... Duncan was born!

It was an exciting day. We were parents. Our work to raise a child in the gospel had begun.

Here we are. The beginnings of a new family.

Shortly after Duncan was born, he was blessed. In that blessing, a whole life's worth of blessings are/were mentioned. Soon, one of the first blessings, to be baptised, will happen. Duncan has chosen to be baptised. The anticipation for such an important event for our eight year old is almost overwhelming. We pray that it will be a day he remembers for eternity, and something he can recall in times of struggle that will strengthen him.

Happy Birthday Duncan!

monday music 12.21.09

One of the Christmas songs you won't hear on KOST 103.5 FM...

... But I like it. (can't remember if there are any bad words)




Good song.

Jennan's black eye

While the kids were at Grandma McAlister's house Thursday, Jennan at some point was jumping on the bed in the front bedroom. And just like the monkeys, she fell off and bumped her head.

Actually, she jumped right into the wall, and the corner of a window sill. It scraped her eye socket really bad, and gave her a huge black eye. I guess it also got really swollen. By the time I picked the kids up, it had been a day, so some of the swelling had gone down, but it was black and blue for sure.

Once we got home, I took a few pictures. OUCH!

The ones above are from Friday. The ones below are from today (Saturday).

That's one nasty scab she's got going. Hopefully it doesn't scar too bad. Also you can tell in the more recent pictures, that the bruising is still spreading. It's gone toward her hairline, and a little further down her eye.

It doesn't seem to bother her at all. She her usual energetic self. So that's good.

Oh poor widdle Jennan.

Anniversary Day Date

Just as in years past, we spent a day at the Disneyland parks without the kids. Instead of staying at a hotel near by, we stayed at home. The kids were at Grandma McAlister's house for a sleep over (Thank you so much Bonnie!). We got up early and went to breakfast at Denny's (we had a BOGO coupon). It was actually pretty good. Once breakfast was eaten, we made the drive out to the Magic Kingdom(s).

The long part of the drive was normal. Once we got to the parking structure, that's when things got crazy. We were diverted away from the parking structure (which was mostly empty, by the way), and toward the back-lot parking area. I think it used to be Timon and Pumba or Simba parking, but it's all under construction, and we drove right past it and then was directed to cross Harbor Blvd. and then to go to a parking structure for the Anaheim Garden Walk. They were still charging for parking too. From the time that we would have pulled into the regular parking structure, to the time we were parked was about 45 minutes. Lame. They had a shuttle buses to take people to the entrance plaza. It took a little wind out of our sails for the day, but we were still in pretty good spirits.

Anna decided to say something about it all to guest relations, and got us a single use fast pass to use during the day, to make up for the time used by the parking situation. The person at the window said the reason they redirect the traffic the way they do, is so there isn't too many cars blocking and causing traffic on the streets as people are showing up to the parks. They said they get fined by the city if they don't manage the traffic. Whatever.


Here we are as we're about to exit the Toy Story Mania ride/game. I totally spanked Anna's score.

Guess we don't have any other pictures from Ca. Adv. We went on Soaring Over Ca., Toy Story, and Ca. Screamin, before heading over to Disneyland.


Here we are in front of the tree on Main St.

We got in line for Star Tours. They put us in the row they wanted us in, but they miss-counted, so I ended up in the row behind Anna on the end. She thought it would be funny to take a picture of me with the guy I went on the ride with, instead of her. I chose to dramatically enhance my interpretation of our ride experience.

We made plans to eat at Cafe Orleans, so Anna could try the 3-cheese Monte Cristo, to see if she liked it better than the regular Monte Cristo, which I planned to order. So here is our lunch. Two Monte Cristos with a side of Pomme Frites (french fries) with garlic and parmesan cheese topping.

At first Anna liked her sandwich ok. She said it was definitely better than the regular. But as she got about half way done, she was sick of it. Nope, even a 3-cheese Cristo is not that good. I liked mine enough to finish it, but it was a bit of a chore to finish. The service was less than stellar. Long story short, Anna got her sandwich taken off our bill, and they gave us a 10% discount on top of that. Lame service.

Here I am, about to chow down.

Right after that, we headed over to Blue Bayou, where we had reservations. We had to have the cookie boat dessert. It's our favorite thing on the whole menu. We checked in, and asked for a water-front table. The maitre'D said it would be about 45 minutes to an hour, but that they ask that we stay in the lobby the entire time. We said ok, but that we needed to use the restroom. And we did use the restroom, but came back via the Pirate's ride... it exits right next to the Blue Bayou, you know. We were gone about 40 minutes. Anna asked if we had been called yet, and they said they called us about 10 minutes after we checked in- that's why they ask people to stay- just in case. They put our names back in rotation, and we were called in less than 5 minutes. The hostess took us to a table that was not water-side. We said we requested a water-side table, and she took us back to the lobby. They said we might have to wait a while for one of those tables, but that was fine with us. We were pretty full still, and the cookie boat was worth the wait.

In just a few minutes, they called us again, and we got a water-side table, right in the middle. Great table.

They gave us menus and took our drink order (water). When the server came back to take our order, we confidently asked for the cookie boat. We just wanted dessert. And to our shock... they no longer offer the cookie boat!! What?! Turns out, the company they ordered the sugar masts and sails from, for the cookie boat dessert, went out of business. So they took it off the menu. Nooooooooooo! That's the only reason we were there. The server was a really nice guy. We ended up choosing a chocolate mousse cake instead. It was pretty good. He offered us some bread even though we were only having dessert, and that was a big plus for Anna.

We had to just laugh at our luck this day.


We went on a handful of rides. Used our "free" fast pass to go on the Indiana Jones ride. Walked around a bit. Took our picture with the lit castle behind us. Below is one of my attempts to take it myself. Just as this picture was being taken, and guy offered to take it for us... but that one is so boring. This one is much better...

As we made our way down Main St. to exit, we walked through some of the stores. We spent a few cents at the penny arcade too.

All in all, it was a fun, eventful, day.

Next year, for our 15th anniversary, I think we'll try and go on a cruise. We're looking forward to it all ready.

18 years ago today-friday flashback 12.18.09

It was 18 years ago today that I flew out to Provo, Utah to report for my mission. I was pretty excited and nervous at the same time.


Here I am, just about to enter the meeting room where missionaries leave their families and friends, and start being on their own (quickly followed by receiving an official companion). I said my good-byes in CA, so it wasn't as big a deal as it was for others that day.


That means it was 18 years ago this month, that I went through the temple for the first time. That was a special day. I really felt like an adult this day. I think this is one of my favorite pictures of myself. I also really like it as a picture of me with mom and dad.

It was also 18 years ago this month that my other two best friends went through the temple for the first time as well. I was able to go and be there for their first time. It was so very cool to be doing the same things together- preparing for a mission, receiving calls, going through the temple and so on.

It was also 18 years ago this month that I said good-bye to all these great friends of mine. They played such a big role in me becoming the person I am today. They were, and still are, so important to me.

So crazy to think that this was all about half of my life ago. My friends and my mission were so life changing for me. I'm a lucky guy.

(In other news- This was my 400th blog post!)

Happy 14th!

Fourteen years ago today, Anna and I were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles Temple.

She was 19, and I was 23, and it was awesome. I'm one lucky fellow.


Here we are, exiting the temple as Mr. and Mrs. Foutz.


Here are all the people that were waiting for us. Many of them were able to witness our ceremony as well.

I like this picture. Anna had a beautiful dress. She worked very hard to make it that way.

We had a fun reception! Burger King Whoppers, tater tots, and an ice cream sundae bar!

It was a special day. We still feel so much appreciation for those that helped to make it an easy day for us.

I'm so lucky to have Anna as my eternal companion.

Happy 14th to us!