Our Family Christmas Letter, 2010 Edition

We interrupt the Disneyland blogging (we'll resume recaps after the holidays, I promise!!), to bring you our family letter, that gives a general outline of our lives for the year 2010. Enjoy reading, and happy holidays to you all!

Merry Christmas!

Our family has been pretty darn busy this year. We took 2 major vacations in 2010—to Colorado/Utah in the summer, and to Disneyland at Thanksgiving; we had a blast! Also, we just found out that we will at last become homeowners; we close on a lovely home in Sahuarita at the end of January 2011! We're excited to see what lies ahead for our family. Here are some “individual” highlights from this year:

Nathan—Keeping up the good work at the Planning Department of the San Xavier Indian Reservation. In January, he finally dedicated the newly refurbished San Xavier Mission Plaza—a project he's personally overseen for several years now! His next assignment—the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Santa Cruz River, to improve safety for the residents. Nate also serves on the Planning Commission of the Town of Sahuarita. In church, he serves as Elders' Quorum Secretary. In his spare time, he reads lots of books, plays lots of video games, serves as Dungeon Master in his newly formed RPG group, and teases/cuddles with his 3 daughters.

Adrianne—One busy mama. On January 15th, she had Baby #3—Aurora Leigh Barrett. Adrianne also participates in a weekly exercise/baby-sitting swap, a monthly book club, and various church activities (on Sundays, she plays the piano in Primary). At home, she cooks (she was especially proud of her home-canned salsa this year!); updates the new family blog; and earns a little spending money on the Internet. She also teaches piano lessons; this fall, she taught four students! Adrianne is very proud of how far they've all come, and hopes to continue teaching in the future.

Lorelai—The eager student! After a fun winter in preschool, Lorelai started kindergarten at Great Expectations Academy in the late summer—just before her 5^th birthday! In the last 6 months, Lorelai has learned to read & write better than anyone expected, and her imagination has taken off! It has been a joy to read the books she's written, and listen to her crazy stories that make us all laugh. She is quite the jokester! Lorelai also joined a Kinderchoir this fall, and she loves it as well.

Celeste—Our little diva! Celeste just turned 3 on December 13^th, and we celebrated with a “Wizard Of Oz”-themed party, after her favorite movie! Celeste has an excellent memory, and can sing songs very well after only having heard them a few times. She loves playing dress-up, “Mama,” and “princess.” She can charm her way out of many a jam, but her “terrible twos” sometimes get her right back in again! However, she is very sweet and brings so much joy to her family.

Aurora—The newest Barrett! She is a big, healthy baby, who is less giddy and more “serious” than her sisters. She loves to people-watch; to take rides in the car; to cuddle with Mama & Daddy; and to follow her big sisters around—she idolizes them! She has beautiful blue eyes, blond hair, and a big smile that lights up the room!

We hope this, the end of 2010, finds you all happy, healthy and prosperous. May the Lord bless you & keep you in the upcoming year!!

Our Disneyland Thanksgiving, Part 1

Some people travel to Disneyland several times a year; we are not those people. Before marrying Nate, I'd only been to Disneyland once--when I was 1 year old (just guess how much of it I remember). Nate & I went together in 2003; despite having some reservations, I LOVED our time there, as my inner kid awakened. We vowed to return again someday with our own children.

Flash-forward to 2010. The time is right for another trip. We've got 3 kids now (and the oldest will remember the trip); we recently bought a new minivan, to make the drive more comfortable; we only have to pay for one child (Celeste's 3rd birthday was 3 weeks away--ha!); and, Nathan and I had each performed some community service earlier in the year that gave us a FREE one-day voucher to the park for any day in 2010. Yay!

In other words...we'd be able to do this Disneyland vacation on the cheap...at least, "cheap" by Disneyland standards, which is still pretty pricey. Nevertheless, we felt ready! We planned to visit the park at Thanksgiving, to have a change-of-pace holiday, and to enjoy the decorations & holiday-themed events the resort was known for.

 On Tuesday, November 23, off we went!! We spent most of the day driving (luckily, it's only about an 8-hour drive). And, seeing as how we have 3 young kids, MANY potty breaks were taken. One of those potty breaks, by odd coincidence, occured right next to the General George S. Patton Memorial Museum. I'm not a big "war" person, but hey--think of it as our late observance of Veterans' Day! Besides, look at this baby...

...the one BEHIND me, that is, not the one in my arm. This tank and at least a dozen others were parked around the museum; we didn't pay to enter, but we got a nice little look through the fence, satisfied our American lust for large weaponry, and stretched our legs all at the same time!

There were also several Memorial Walls outside the museum as well; a "West Coast Vietnam Wall," as well as the one pictured above, which commemorated the men & women who have given their lives fighting in Iraq & Afghanistan.

After this brief detour, we headed out again. On to Anaheim--and Southern CA traffic, yuck. At last we made it to our hotel room...

...where we unpacked our coats; it was time to go on a walk & stretch those legs! Lorelai and Celeste also danced along to some music on TV, to get their wiggles out.

We stayed at the Anaheim Del Sol Inn, which is just a short walk away (1/4 of a mile or so) from the park entrance. It was GREAT to be so close to the park; it made coming and going pretty easy (which would prove important the next day, as it turned out)...

We took out our stroller and walked everyone to Downtown Disney--basically an open-air mall featuring many upscale shops (often with a Disneyland theme; the World of Disney store in particular was a huge behemoth that took up a whole building). It was chilly and rainy; however, while our hats were damp, our spirits were high. Lights were on all the trees, Christmas music was playing, and the air smelled strongly of caramel popcorn...mmm.

One of the stores we visited was a huge LEGO store, which had a lot of giant sculptures throughout--including this cool Woody statue made entirely from Legos!

We also watched through the window of a candy store for a while, and saw cute little custom cupcakes being made; they were shaped like Mickey Mouse snowmen! (sorry I didn't get a picture).

Now that our legs were stretched, it was time for dinner!

We ate at the IHOP right across Harbor Blvd. from the Disneyland Resort entrance. This IHOP proudly proclaims that "KIDS EAT FREE" every night. Of course, they can afford that because every entree is at least $15! Yikes! Oh, well...we were too beat to look for anything else. At least Aurora was still in good spirits. We ate, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for bed. We were so excited to see Disneyland the next day, it was hard to get to sleep!