Thanksgiving & Melissa's First Meal

For Thanksgiving this year, the girls and I went to my sister Alyson's house. My parents and my sister Lindsey were also there. Unfortunately, Lee had to work and wasn't able to join us. I had previously decided that since Melissa would be 5 1/2 months old on Thanksgiving, it would be the perfect day to feed her solids for the first time. My camera wasn't happy that day so I only got one picture of the event. Alyson took a few pictures for me, but I haven't gotten them from her yet.

 Since my camera wasn't happy, I don't have lots of pictures from Thanksgiving, but I do have two others. Isaac and Adam, Alyson's youngest boys, kept giving Melissa their play sword. She loved it! She kept attempting to fit it all in her mouth, much to the delight of the boys. Thankfully Aunt Lindsey was there to make sure no one got hurt. :) (In this picture with Melissa are Lindsey and Isaac.)

 It took Melissa a little bit to warm up to anyone that wasn't me, but eventually everyone that wanted to got a little Melissa time. Here is Melissa with Grandma Ross.

The best part about Thanksgiving at Alyson's house is their huge projection TV for football. Oh yeah! The second best part is that her house is big enough that kids can make a mess and make tons of noise in a whole separate part of the house than where the adults want to visit. I must say Alyson's homemade rolls were pretty delicious too! One bad thing about Thanksgiving this year is that I found out what is used to make the gelatin in jello. :( Oh well, that knowledge ought to save me a few calories over my lifetime...

Thanksgiving 2009 -- San Diego!! And a few other Roberts' family happenings...

Okay. I admit it. I totally forgot I had a blog. Finally fixed my computer, though, so I can now do blogs with pictures. Here's a quick summary of what we've been up to:

First, we got the Christmas tree put up. I like having it up by Thanksgiving (the Christmas spirit does amazing things for helping me feel more thankful). We did it when Lee was here so he could do it this year. The girls were big helps with getting the branches ready.

Grandpa Ross was visiting us for the weekend. He wasn't quite as much help. (He dozed on the couch and dreamt of flying while Lee and the girls put up the tree -- sorry, Dad, but it was too hard to resist!) :)

Morgan has been in an after-school theater club for the past 10 weeks. Just before we left for Thanksgiving, the club presented their play to the parents. Morgan was one of the narrators. She did a wonderful job! In fact, I think theater is right up her alley!!

We spent Thanksgiving this year in San Diego with my parents, my sister Lindsey, and my sister Ashley and her family. Ashley invited us down. Her husband, Derek, was given use of his family's time share right by Legoland. It was a brand new, super-nice place!! They even had an ocean view that was beautiful!

The first thing we did after arriving at the resort was drive to La Jolla beach. It's famous because seals lay out on the rocks by the beach. We got there just as the sun was setting and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! It was also perfect timing because the tide started coming in while we were there. That made for some fun water time for the girls.

While at the resort, we also played some fun ping pong. Who knew that my girls would love it?! Morgan was actually surprisingly good for her first time.

We also went to the San Diego Zoo. Below is Brynne, Morgan, and Marshall (being held in place by Grandma Ross) at the zoo. I would tell you what kind of animal they are sitting on, but I'd probably tell you wrong... (I will tell you that the animal is not real, though!) :)

We spent Thanksgiving afternoon in the swimming pool. What better to do while the turkey cooks? I got a picture of my cute Brynne in the hot tub with the beautiful view. You can see the ocean just to the right of the palm trees.

After eating turkey, we decided to take a nice walk down to the tennis court. We weren't there all that long, but it was long enough for the kids to have some fun. Brynne discovered that she had more success hitting with the big ball. :)

Morgan really enjoyed learning all the new games -- in addition to ping pong and tennis, we tried our hand at lawn darts.

Here is my attempt at getting a good picture of the beautiful sunset!

The day after Thanksgiving, we took a drive to the San Diego temple to do some sealings. I have always thought it was a beautiful temple, but I didn't realize how beautiful it was inside too! Did you know the temple has a garden on the roof that can be seen from the third floor of the temple? Beautiful!! They also had a basic nativity set up on the temple grounds in front of the temple. You can see Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus right behind me.

Friday night we went to Cabrillo National Park. I took a picture of everyone else in front of the monument there: Ashley, Derek, Grandma Ross (Mom), Morgan, Brynne, Marshall, Lindsey, Grandpa Ross (Pa).

While there we saw a beautiful area to the west where sunbeams were shining through the clouds and onto the water. We also saw the lighthouse that was used years ago. Apparently we visited the park when I was younger, but I don't remember it.

It was a really fun Thanksgiving vacation. To end it all, Brynne's second tooth came out on Friday night. It's a good thing the Tooth Fairy found us at Ashley's house in Fullerton! (And yes, the big owie on Brynne's face is healing...)

I enjoyed San Diego so much, but I haven't been able to adjust to being home yet. At least I got to come home to a decorated Christmas tree! :)