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..