Christmas and JD's Birthday

It was a Merry and somewhat peaceful Christmas at the Egberts this year. We enjoyed a dinner with our friends on Christmas Eve and played a game while the kids sort of watched a movie but also played. I made my first turkey, which I think turned out pretty nice, even if I do say so myself. JD had Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after off, plus the weekend so we had 5 days together which was wonderful. Christmas Eve involved lots of baking and then the dinner. Christmas Day involved lots of face-time and lego building and hanging out. I made an over night french toast recipe which we ate picnic style and then had leftovers for lunch and then JD grilled us some hamburgers on his new grill, so I enjoyed a day without any cooking! The day after we went out to the beach in the evening and enjoyed a bonfire with several friends from the ward and roasted hot dogs and s'mores. It was beautiful weather. I loved the fact that it was warm enough for us to do things outside. Cami ran around kicking her soccer ball while JD grilled on Christmas and it was sweet. The only sad moment was when Cami ran to the window and realized there was no snow and then cried when Nana showed her the snow in Idaho on face-time.

This last week we welcomed the new year with a ward activity New Year's Eve at the church. Cami loved hanging out with all the kids and dancing and eating fun treats. I learned a new game and we had fun chatting and hanging out with ward friends! New Years Day we lounged around and spent the evening with more friends. JD enjoyed a couple fruitless, but still fun fishing trips over the holidays. I am so grateful for how welcoming and friendly people have been here. Our ward has definitely been like family in reaching out to us and involving us. It has been so nice to make friends, and made the holidays bright and fun even when so far from our families.

Cami and JD making treats...this is what happens when I send JD to the grocery store for butter and whipping cream and he comes back with pretzels and chocolate and a bunch of other snack/junk food...

Christmas Eve with friends! I didn't take very many pictures...

Christmas Morning! 

Look what Santa brought!

I love Cami's reactions. She is one of the most positive happy little girl I have ever met! She is so genuinely happy and smiley. I am grateful for her enthusiasm and energy!

Our breakfast picnic...

Building legos...this took up pretty much most of the day. It took us like 4 hours to put the boat together. Good thing we played along the way. We help, but overall I am pretty impressed with Cami and her ability to put these things together. She is a big fan of legos..as is mommy...I am not going to lie,,,this might be partly a present for me :)

These videos don't really do it justice, but I am pretty proud of this. I hid JD's present in the closet and he didn't have a clue so it was a good surprise. This is big for me since JD has very detailed lists for Christmas and his birthday so he doesn't usually get surprised, but I wanted to surprise him this year.

All assembled. JD says this was also a gift for me since it means I can get him to cook more now!

Christmas night hanging out outside grilling and kickin around the soccer ball. Yes Cami is in her PJs...she wore them all day and then to bed. I am an awesome mother!

Bonfire at the beach the day after Christmas. The first fire pit got flooded by the incoming tide, but we relocated and enjoyed more warmth and light :)

It was beautiful out! I will take this over snow!

Cami enjoying her s'more!

JD celebrated his 29th birthday! I am so grateful for my wonderful husband. He is always encouraging me and so supportive. I am grateful for how hard he is working for our family. We have lots of fun together and I can't imagine my life without him! So glad he was born!!!

Facetime with the parents on his birthday!

Yep he is one ;) JD doesn't like cake so we usually have cheesecake for his birthday, and quite frankly I didn't have enough candles or want wax on the cheesecake ;)

I didn't take any pictures of our New Years activities, but we are grateful for what 2014 brought us. It was a good year, JD graduated from law school, took and passed the bar, found a job, we moved to Portland, and many other wonderful memories and times with family. We have much to be grateful for and are happy to welcome a new year with a new chapter of our life here post school!

Tis the Season

December has been a good month for our family. JD was just called as a High Councillor and I was called as a Beehive adviser.  I am excited for a chance to work with the young women again. They are awesome and have such strength and faith. Cami and I have been finding friends in the ward and very are very grateful for how friendly everyone has been. We kept things pretty simple this year for Christmas and most of our shopping was online, since so much of it had to be shipped. Except for a cold day here and there it has been pretty nice weather and Cami and I have enjoyed playing at the park and being outside. I am loving a ground floor apartment so we can go play out behind our apartment and so that I don't have to haul groceries up stairs. 

Saturday we went to see the lights. I really only took one picture, but the lights were pretty awesome. Apparently on the weekends people sit outside their houses on these highly decorated streets and hand out treats, hot chocolate or play music. It was like a Christmas version of Halloween. People would park and walk up and down the streets and visit and see the lights and enjoy the treats. Definitely on our Christmas to do for next year!

After the lights we drove over to see a life-size nativity. It was pretty amazing. There was reverent music playing and such a sweet spirit there. It was a wonderful experience and reminded me that the true meaning of Christmas is not all the lights and presents, but our Savior. Cami is getting old enough that I have really tried to teach her this year that Christmas is about Christ and that we need to give to others and not think so much about what we get. 

We have enjoyed playing with friends! Scarlett and Cami get along so well. They are making marshmallow snowmen in this picture

Here is the Nativity

The library has been closed this month, which is a little tragic for our family since we love the library! Lucky for us they had storytime last week at the community center and Cami got to be a little pig in the straw house.

They also had Santa there...Cami is not  a shy girl. She has no qualms with taking to adults, although I can't say that it always makes sense...

Cami wanted to have a picture with Santa with a friend, so she was excited that her preschool friend Bryson was there. She makes friends really quickly which has been such a blessing.

Just another nice day after a rainy day, which means puddles!!! Who doesn't love splashing in puddles? Cami likes to "paint" the sidewalk with her wet footprints.

This last Wednesday was Cami's preschool Christmas party. I think the kids really enjoyed it...with some drama :) Here they are having an indoor snowball fight since real snow in Texas is not really very easy to come by. Cami told me the other night at dinner that there is going to be lots of snow on Christmas. I hope she isn't too disappointed when she finally accepts what I have been trying to tell her about the fact that it really doesn't snow here at all.

This year I got ambitious and made gingerbread for our houses. It took a long time and was a bit of work, but it kept Cami and I busy for a Friday afternoon making the house pieces. Saturday we put them together with JD.  It was fun to make, but if I hadn't had time to do it I wouldn't stress it. they turned out pretty well though. 

Cami and JD playing. Cami has missed having Daddy home, so we love our weekends when Dad is home.

We dusted off our Rock Band a week ago to play for a bit, thank goodness for no fail mode or it would have been a disaster.

I love this smile, and this awesome park in our apartment complex!

Fun with pipe cleaners. Sometimes we get bored...

Beginnings

It has been a bit since I blogged so I thought I would do an update before we hit Christmas! We are really enjoying it here. We have a wonderful ward that has welcomed us and we have been able to jump right in and make friends. Things that happened since I last posted... we got all moved into our apartment. JD started work on the 12th of Nov, and so far it has been a good experience. He is working hard and learning so much. Cami started going to a mommy preschool swap with some ladies in our ward and she loves getting to play with her new friends. Thanksgiving I neglected to take pictures but we were invited to the church with four other families and the elders. We all brought something and there was tons of yummy food. The kids played great together and we were able to play a couple games. It was great to be with new friends for the holiday. This last week we enjoyed a community Christmas celebration in Portland and in Corpus Christi. Cami and I have discovered the wonderful storytimes at the library here. JD had a work Christmas party which we were able to attend and it was good for me to meet people JD works with. 

Bike riding after a rainy night with our friends the Beardalls. Cami and Scarlett get along really well.

Community Christmas celebration in Portland. 

They had games and photo spots and treats. It was a pretty fun thing for Cami.

They had Santa! Cami was grumpy right before this because she wanted to be in Scarlett's picture with Santa :)

We compromised and had them take a picture with the snowman :)

They had a fun little hay ride. Cami insisted on opening her candy cane, getting it all sticky then handing it to me saying she was done....

This is our version of snow in Texas. It was fun for the kid to play in the "snow". I have a video later...

A beautiful Sunday a few weeks ago we went for a walk on the beach and took some family pictures. Here is just a fun selfie we took.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went for a bike ride and a picnic on the beach...which turned into a picnic in the car since once we drove to the beach after our lovely bike ride it got chilly and super windy.

Yesterday we went to the Harbor Lights Festival in Corpus. We watched the parade...which wasn't much...a few floats and such but Cami liked it. After some shopping we came back and let Cami play on some blow ups they had for the kids there and got dinner and went up to JD's office to see the lights, and sailboat lights. It was nice to have family time. Sometimes it is hard to get unplugged quality time, but it is easy if we get out of the house. We get to talk and build our relationships better.

At the Parade...

JD was sworn in as an official attorney! We were lucky to have met Judge Torres at the dinner we had during JD's follow-up interview with Branscomb. She was appointed to be the judge but will be returning to the firm after she finishes. It was a quiet quick little thing, but just another neat event that helps me realize how real this working thing is for JD. I am so grateful JD is done with school and was able to find a good job and support our family. 

Judge Torres is a juvenile court judge and she gave Cami a bear to celebrate. So sweet. 

This past week Cami and I joined her preschool buddies at the aquarium. It is a nice little aquarium and I think it will be a frequent activity for our family. Cami discovered the second floor and the kid activities they have up there.

Cami with her preschool buds...silly boys must think the girls have cooties already!

We decorated for Christmas! We usually decorate pretty early, we love the lights in our home! This year we decorated later..the weekend before Thanksgiving, as a result of moving.

Another beautiful bike ride. I love seeing the ocean! It is so beautiful!

We drove up to San Antonio a week after we moved here to get new phones. We checked out the Japanese Tea Garden and had a picnic in the park. It was a beautiful day!

The last few years we have made it a tradition in November to make a thankful tree. This was the start and we added more leaves throughout the month. We have so much to be grateful for.

Loving storytime at the library here in Portland. It is great!

Cami and I have had lots of playtime with Dad working so much. I am loving not working at getting sleep. We have been able to get into better routines for exercise and sleep and I think it has been very good for our family.

This is out of order, more pictures from JD getting sworn in.

Some fun videos..