Christmas 2015

Dear Friends & Family,

     We hope you've had a wonderful year. This year we've seen our kids growing and changing so much. Here's a little glimpse into our lives this past year.

On New Year's Eve the weather report was showing that with the rain we were getting, it'd be cold enough in Descanso for snow.  We put the kids to bed and saw the temperatures dropping.  On the early New Year's Day we opened the blinds and actually had a yard full of snow.  It was enough to build a snowman, throw some snowballs, do a little sledding down the driveway and enjoying our warm wood-stove.

     Hannah turned 2 in January and has begun talking up a storm.  She is in dance (aka: movement class) but will move on to tap/ballet this coming January.  Tutus and pink are fun to buy. She's now sleeping in a big girl bed, so no more cribs in the Huston house!!  Hannah enjoys cooking up treats for us in her play kitchen and playing with her baby dolls.  She loves helping Trish around the house, do laundry, dishes, cooking and helps set the table at dinner.

 

     This spring, we became a Little League family.  Jim was the coach for Thomas's team and Trish was the team mom.  Thomas played Catcher and was pretty good at it!!  His team was a step above T-Ball, so we spent a lot of time still teaching the boys about hitting balls, running, catching balls and throwing balls.  Our team didn’t place very high, but we had a lot of boys play their hearts out and never gave up!! Not quite sure it's our sport, but we had fun as a family.

     Thomas has become quite the little celebrity with Papa in the California Dept. of Forestry 1939 Ol' Jimmy fire truck.  He was in the rodeo parade, in Ramona, in May.  Two things he absolutely loves: 1) his Papa 2) wearing his cowboy clothes.........that day he had both!!

     We celebrated our 18th Anniversary in April, with a little trip to Hollywood, CA.  On our way up there, we had to stop and have lunch at the famous Clearman's Northwood Inn in Covina, CA.  It's famous for it's delicious cheese bread!! We got tickets to a recording of the Dr. Phil show. We were there for 3 show tapings (in the picture you can see us....middle of the picture, left side).  Hollywood sure is fun to people watch, as there are some interesting people walking around.  We had fun looking at some of the sidewalk stars on Hollywood Blvd.  We had breakfast at this little cafe near our hotel.  The artwork in the bathroom was interesting and was full of "graffiti" on the walls. Lots of people have written their names or phrases on the everything but the floor.  They actually gave us a marker and said, "add something to the wall".  Our saying to each other from the beginning has been Forever Baby Forever (can you see it in the picture).

Fire season kept Jim busy this year.  He's still the Superintendent of the Hotshot Crew, with 19 firefighters he's in charge of.  He stayed in California, and most of the fires were lightning fires. Most of the fire assignments were 2 week assignments, so he was pretty tired when he got home. Some of the fires, he came home from he was pretty dirty, too.  It's nice living on the compound, where he has a 4 minute walk from the station to home.    

Jim is the 2nd one, Left side, front row

After 2 days home relaxing, he was headed out early again, for another assignment.

     The kids took swimming lessons again this year.  Both kids love being in the water and Thomas is getting good at diving into the deep end.  Hannah wasn't to sure at first about underwater swimming, but got better by the end of lessons.  We spent a lot of time in Ramona at Grandma & Papa's playing in their swimming pool this summer, while Daddy was gone.

     We had a nice visit from the Huston side of the family for The Fourth of July.  It was great to have everyone together.  They really enjoyed the relaxing and enjoying the mountain air.  Jim's sister has 2 boys who are both of our kids age, so they all have fun playing together!!  

     Thomas started First Grade this year, and has a really great teacher.  She is very encouraging and makes learning fun.  Thomas is the top of his class for academics.  He's already doing things she hopes the other students cam do by the end of the school year.  He's a great reader and loves Math, too!!  He also has a very deep love for WWII aircraft.  His favorite plane is the P-51 mustang and he knows every detail about them, down to the engine (practically).  He really wants to be a Police Officer when he grows up, but tells us he's going to be in the military so he can fly planes, too.

     In December, we surprised Thomas with a trip to Disneyland for his birthday.  We first made a stop at Knott's Berry Farm for our annual Firefighters Christmas visit.  We also found Santa there!!!  We spent 3 days at California Adventure/Disneyland and had A LOT OF FUN!!  We rode many rides, visited some special characters and just enjoyed the magic that Disney makes happen.  Thomas go to be the Captain of the Mark Twain river boat, and that made him so happy.

 

     We really do love living in Descanso with the relaxing, slower paced life in the country.  It's nice to have lots of room to run, ride bikes, play in the yard, go on hikes, and just spend so much family time together.  As we look forward to the year ahead, we pray that you find peace & happiness in your year to come, too!!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas.......

                                               The Hustons

For those who could not make Hannah's adoption party, Here is a link to her 30 min video presentation.

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/Sa9uX4uZ

Christmas Letter 2014

This year has had many changes and lots of memories for our family. 

 Hannah turned 1 in January, and has been such a joy to our family!!  She's changing a lot, and beginning to use words and sounds.  Her giggle and her smile are contagious!!  She loves to play with her baby dolls, Legos with her brother and watch Sesame Street. 

 

  

 
 
 

 

This Spring we moved from Ramona to Descanso to live closer to Jim's work.  We are living on the government compound, so there's a lot of things that happen here, that our kids will have memories of years from now.  It's great having Jim walk 3 minutes to work, come home for lunch and walk home after work.  During the summer, the kids & I would put on our shoes and walk down the road to meet him when he got off of work.  Thomas would meet the firefighters at the volleyball court, and hang out with them while they played volleyball.  They all know his name and love to joke around with him.  The only traffic we see in front of the house is an occasional Forest Service pick up, or when the Engine turns around in our driveway.  Life on the compound is great!!! This community is really safe, quiet & family friendly.



Our new house!!!  So happy here.

 


Hannah watching the firefighters do a hose lay drill

 


Thomas riding his bike down the hill with some of the firefighters!!

 

Some of the Hotshots came up to help Jim doing the Cold Water challenge.

 
 


Making Memories!!

 

Checking out Daddy's truck

 

Walking down the driveway.  One of my favorite pictures.

 


Wagon rides



Down at the station with Daddy checking for mail.

 


"Look at me, Mom!!"

 Jim & I celebrated our 17th Wedding Anniversary in April.  What an amazing 17 years!!!  Wouldn't trade anything for everything we've done together. 

 

 

 

 

Fire season was a bit slow this year, but we were happy to have Jim home more in our new home anyways.  Funny thing is he had more overtime during the Winter/Spring months than the Summer.  In Southern California, fire season is always unpredictable!!  The nice thing is we took our first summer family vacation, ever!!  We went to Colorado to visit Trish's family.  It was a quick trip, but a nice time to see cousins, Grandma, Aunts & Uncles, too.

First Summer vacation EVER!!!  Colorado June 2014

 


 

 

     

 


















Thomas started Kindergarten at Descanso Elementary in the Fall.  He made a bunch of new friends, and even mentioned a few girls!!  He sure is a smart little boy.  He has nice hand-writing and is learning how to read.  At the Fall conference with his teacher, she showed us how he's "off the charts" when it comes to his knowledge.  She said most kids (at that point of the year) are about halfway to the high scores.  He's already there!!! He loves the freedom he has living in Descanso, too.  He enjoys riding his bike around here and has made friends with the neighbor boys, too.  They hop the fence between our properties and play with each other.  It's really fun watching them play "as boys" in the mud, climbing trees and chasing each other.  What a blessing to have such close friends!!  It'll be fun watching them grow and play together, too!! 

 

 

 
 
 

This month we finalized the adoption of Hannah.  So officially she's a Huston now!!!!  We feel so blessed to have our complete family now.  Our Social Worker doesn't want to believe us, but we are done with our journey of Foster Care/Adoption of any future kids.  A boy and a girl, just 4 years apart is perfect for us!!

 

 

 
 

We have been blessed this year with good health and many good memories. 

 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

As we celebrate this Christmas season may we not lose focus on the real reason for the season....The birth of our Lord & Savior!!  We hope 2014 has been just as good to you and pray that you'll have a great New Year, too!! 

                                                                                        With Love,
                                                                             Jim, Trish, Thomas & Hannah