Second Christmas and Paul's Birthday

My parents came down to Texas to spend some of the holiday time with us.  They left Utah the day after Christmas and arrived here in Austin late on the 27th.  They brought a few things that we had left there, being unable to fit them in our tiny trunk, and they also brought Christmas and birthday presents.  We set up the presents under the tree, and it really was a second Christmas!

San Antonio Zoo

Friday December 27th, we headed down to San Antonio.  We met with Paul's aunt Bonnye, uncle Mark and cousin Steaphan at the San Antonio Zoo. 

Christmas

Christmas Eve

My Christmas present came early on Christmas Eve--a new washer and dryer!

Photos with Santa

We had a ward Christmas party in which a special visitor appeared!  Glenn wasn't wearing the cutest clothes for this photo op, but I still love his cute face!

Fun December Pictures

It was so great being in our own place again!  We took some time unpacking and getting settled, but that didn't stop up from having some fun along the way.

My favorite picture of Glenn this month was this one!  He had been in his room playing and I was in the living room unpacking and organizing.  Next thing I know, he is running towards me looking like this!  Hahaha!

Our New Apartment

Tuesday December 10th did not turn out how we wanted.  We were excited to move in, but were kind of disappointed with how long it took.  That morning in the hotel we had breakfast, loaded the car with our suitcases and such and then headed to the apartment complex to sign the paperwork for our new apartment. We got that all squared away and then went inside.  We found a friendly welcome there--too bad we couldn't drink it.  :D

The Long Drive Back to Texas

After our visit in southern California, it was time for us to head back to Texas.  When we first drove from Texas to Utah and also from Utah to California, we used a roof bag on top of our car--we have a pretty tiny trunk, plus we had Gramma J with us.  Well we wanted to see if we could pack everything into the car and not use the roof bag...here was the result.  As you can see, it worked, but it was pretty tight quarters.  Paul drove almost the entire way because he didn't fit in the back so well.  I think of the 20+ hours it took us to get home, I only drove an hour.  

Disneyland!

Monday December 2, our little family went to Disneyland!!

Another Visit at Cheryl's

Sunday morning--December 1--we went to Sacrament meeting in Paul's parents' home ward.  We then headed to Cheryl's house for the rest of the day.  On the way there, we noticed a camel riding in the back of a truck!  That's not something you see every day! :D

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving morning Glenn had fun playing games and relaxing before our delicious meal started.

California Adventure

We made it safely to Paul's parent's house Tuesday November 26 at around 10:00pm.  We first stopped at his sister Cheryl's house to have dinner, dessert and games.  It was nice having a break from traveling.  We were pretty worn out though and wanted to have a good start the next day.  We made plans to go to California Adventure!  Glenn had been so good to be dragged all over Europe and seeing things that were mostly for us.  We decided that we'd make this vacation and holiday a treat for him.

(I forgot to take a picture of the sign when we walked in, so I got one as we walked out.)

On Our Way to CA

After getting every packed and in the car after Glenn and I returned from his preschool class, we hit the road.  We made our way down to St. George and stayed there for the night.  We stayed at Gramma J's house, and then brought her along to California.  

I continued to take pictures of the different states we passed through because it's pretty cool to go back and realize how many we've been through.  

Last Day of Preschool

Monday November 25th, Glenn had one more day of preschool.  He was excited to have Paul walk him down to class.  While he was there, Paul and I packed up our things and got ready to head out.  Miss Laura called around 10:15 or so saying that Glenn didn't feel well and wanted me to come get him.  So I headed down the hill to get him.  I was sad that he wasn't feeling well.  When I got there, his head was on the table and I could see that he was a little pale.  He wasn't feeling the best, but after seeing me and getting some cuddles and kisses, he perked up a bit.  Instead of leaving, I encouraged him to stay--and that I'd stay too.  I wanted to take some pictures of him with his friends and classmates.  

Last Visits

Paul finally returned from Spain on Friday November 22nd in the evening.  We had already made plans to get together with his sister's family in Salt Lake and two friends down in Utah County on Saturday, and then have my extended family come up to Layton on Sunday.  We had to pack it all in one weekend because we were heading out to California for Thanksgiving on Tuesday.  Paul wanted to see and visit with family and friends before we headed out and so this was our only time.

Saturday morning we had breakfast with Clarisse, Matt, Evelyn, Felicity, and Arik.  We had a fun morning with all of them and it was good to see them again.

Spanish Immersion Course at San Lorenzo de El Escorial

One of the great opportunities I had was to spend a week in a Spanish immersion course.  It was at a hotel that my company, Ferrovial Agroman, rents out for this kind of thing in this beautiful small city, San Lorenzo de El Escorial.  This really helped me to dive into speaking Spanish and figure out some of the grammar.  It also makes me appreciate how simple English is without elaborate verb conjugation and gender nouns.

The Huber's, sightseeing, and bulls

One of the best parts of visiting Spain is seeing friends.  The Huber's were my lifeline to get me through the three months that I was apart from Kayley and Glenn.  The live north of Madrid a few miles and I would visit them and spend the night in a little room behind a small storage room and laundry room.  It was likely a maids quarters.  We joked that I came to be their maid on the weekends.  They were only missing the outfit, so instead we played games and saw stuff.

Museo Naval

My favorite museum so far in Madrid is probably the Museo Naval.  There were many models of the different styles of ships and various artifacts throughout the centuries of Spanish exploration and conquest.

Spanish Halloween

Halloween is something that the USA is exporting through the media, much to the chagrin of my coworkers.  But the kids there love it.  They focus on more traditional images and costumes of monsters, vampires, witches, etc.  The lobby of my hotel had decorated.  I also made up a mummy costume to send to Kayley and Glenn.  

Barrio Cinco

I have grown to really love the Madrid 5th ward.  They have given me the opportunity to bless the sacrament, give a talk, and teach a lesson, all in Spanish.  These were great challenges to stretch and push my confidence in Spanish.  The members are friendly and multi-cultural.  We had a ward activity where people brought food from their home country, and since there are only a handful of Spaniards in the ward there were many countries represented, mostly from the Americas.  I brought Guarana.  The best food to me was from the Peru and the Philippines.

Paul Going Around Madrid

For the past several posts, 22 to be exact, after going to Utah with Kayley and Glenn, I unfortunately had to work in Spain.  But I made sure to have fun as well.  I saw many different places around the city.  Here are things I remembered to take pictures of with my phone.