Merry Christmas, family! To my siblings with kids, if you have a chance today, let the little ones go online and check out www.noradsanta.org. Norad tracks Santa and his sleigh as they make their way around the world today and tonite. My boys like to check it throughout the day, and especially before they go to bed tonite. We love you all very much and wish you a peaceful and happy Christmas Day and New Years. So to all the Laytons, Kilbournes, Nazzaros, Wellses, Ennisses, Turners, Leiffsons, our family and friends, please have a very joyful Christmas, and a safe and Happy New Year 2008!

Palm Desert

We took the boys out to the Palm Desert condo last weekend. Mom & Dad have had a lot of work done, and it looks terrific! The tile is beautiful, and the new BBQ is great! We made sure to

break it in for them.

On Saturday, the whole family went target shooting out in Berdoo Canyon, which is not too far from the condo. Here are our non-PC pictures of our kids with guns. and us teaching them about gun safety.

Look how thrilled Shane looks!

We all had fun shooting, and then came back to the condo to go swimming. It was fairly cold outside (for us, in the 50-60s) but that didn't stop the boys from enjoying their time in the pool.

I probably have no right to even utter the word "cold", now that half of my family reside in places where it really gets cold. I think they are forecasting 70 degrees, and partly cloudy for Christmas Day. We are so spoiled, weather wise. We will be missing all of you who are in other states this year, and wishing all a peaceful, wonderful Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. To my siblings here in So Cal, we hope to see you all at Mom & Dads on Christmas Day. We may not be there till desssert, but we hope to we get see everybody.

Camping trip pictures - June 2007

We never really showed any camping pics to anybody (except maybe Mom), so we thought we would post some other shots from our camping trip to Monache Meadows back in June 2007. We camped in an area so remote that the last eight miles down the 4WD road to camp took several hours, and the road ended just past our campsite. This area is only open for two-three months every year in the summer, because the rest of the year, it is under snow and the road is closed. It is surrounded on three sides by the Golden Trout Wilderness and South Sierra Wilderness. The river we camped next to is the South Fork of the Kern River, and the boys spent most of their days wading and playing in the river. They fished, hiked, had their dirt bikes, but didn't ride much (the trails were a little rough). We had deer come through our campsite. Tim's Dad, Jim came along with us, and had a great time. He taught the boys how to fish, and although we didn't catch too much, we did manage to have some freshly caught trout on two different days. Tigger got to chase deer and cattle, and she slept for a few days solid when we got home. The boys did also, so parents, take note, to exhaust the kids, a camping trip is a great idea. We were exhausted, too, but in a good way. We plan to do it again next summer. Our boys went all week with no electricity, games, TV, and they never asked about them once. Everybody is welcome, keep it in mind.!

View from our campsite

Fresh trout for snack! It was really good!

Border of South Sierra Wilderness, Tim had a great time on the trails! (Outside the wilderness, of course, except for this pic.)

Grandpa Jim, what a trooper!

If you can zoom in, the black shape in between the trees directly ahead is a deer.

Ready for Christmas?

Hello, all! We are all waiting to see if our remaining siblings are going to get their blogs up and running. Over all, we are pretty much ready for Christmas in our household. You will all be receiving Christmas cards shortly. We love all of you, and wish a happy, holy, and safe Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

After 20+ years of having a live, freshly cut 7-10 ft. Christmas tree every year, we have downsized. We really do not have a large empty spot to put a large tree this year, after giving Shane his own room, and moving some furniture around. So this year, we got a MUCH smaller live pine tree. It fits nicely on a table, which is the only extra space we have anymore, and after Christmas, we can plant it in the yard, and someday it will be 50 ft. high. One of these years, after Christmas, we will invest in one of the pre-lighted plastic trees, but so far, we haven't actually done it. We do enjoy the pine scent from fresh trees, but there are pine scented candles, right?

Shane and Kevin are preparing to be shepherds in our church's Christmas Eve Mass. They re-enact the birth of Jesus, and our boys will be shepherds. Hopefully, they will not give them shepherds' staffs, or the boys may decide they need to duel in front of the whole church. Just kidding, they are very excited to take part, and it should be fun to watch.

We were scheduled to have AZ family here from 12/22/07 - 12/29/07. Unfortunately, their accommodations (Shane's new room) are full, so they were thinking of staying in a hotel near us. However, they received a generous offer from the Layton Resort on Pinto (same place as Michael & Dyanamaria's tree lot). So, Jim and Nancee Kilbourne will be staying with Mom & Dad for the week of Christmas. Thank you, Mom & Dad, for your generosity, patience, and hospitality, and for the extra rooms at your house.

We also have a new member of our family. On Veterans Day, one of Tim's customers found a young dog running loose on Hamner Ave. in Norco. We agreed to take her home, and put a "Found Dog" ad in the paper and on craigslist. We have had no response at all, so we will probably keep her. So we now have our boxer mix, Tigger,

and our new rottie mix, Kelso.

We were contemplating getting a second dog for Tigger to have a playmate, and they seem to get along great. They have a wonderful time rolling around and playing in the backyard.

We are heading for the Palm Desert condo this weekend. We are looking forward to seeing all the work Mom & Dad have had done over the last few weeks. So, all of you have a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to seeing the CA residents of the family at Mom & Dad's on Christmas Day. To all the out of state siblings, we love you and miss you all. Have a wonderful Christmas, and make sure to send pictures. The pics below are just a few from our camping trip last summer up in the Sierras. Love you guys.

First blog

Okay, here it is. We will add more soon.