Happy New Year!!!

Well, I kind of took a little vacation from blogging last year. Sorry about that. I let my life get too busy with things that are much less important than blogging (like work. :-)

But, one of my New Year's resolutions is to resurrect my blogs and try to keep a journal of sorts here. So, here is my first entry!

On January 1, Coryne's friend, Loch, was baptized. It was the perfect day for a baptism. January 1 is a day for new beginnings and that is the ultimate new beginning. The baptism was wonderful.

Sunday, January 2, Loch was confirmed and received the Priesthood. We are so happy for him and for our family. It has been a wonderful opportunity to follow him on his journey to Christ. He is so happy and filled with joy and light. He has strengthened all of our testimonies with his. It has been a perfect way to ring in the new year.

Yosemite and San Francisco Feis

Memorial Day weekend, we took Brenna and her friend Ryleeand headed off to Yosemite for a day. We left on Thursday eveningand arrived in "beautiful" Merced early Friday morning. We stayed inthe Marriott there. The hotel was nice, but the surroundings wereinteresting. This is a picture of the gas station where we stopped to get gasbefore we headed into Yosemite on Friday morning.

Luckily, the closer we got to Yosemite, the prettier the scenery became. As we pulled into Yosemite valley, we first tried to enter the parking lot forBridal Veil Falls. It was full and the ranger waved us on to the next stop. At first we were disappointed, but when we got there

this was the view. Amazing, huh?

That is Bridal Veil falls in the distance.Geologist Joe was in hog heaven. Just look at that contented face.

We headed back down into the valley so we could hike up the the foot of the falls. When we got
there, Rylee and Brenna found a little friend. Here he is on Rylee's nose. They named him
Frederickson and played with him for quite awhile.

Before we left, they had to let him go, but they decided that this beautiful meadow would be the best new home for him. Those two little dots in the middle are Rylee and Brenna.

Here is Bridal Veil Falls. We hiked to the foot of the falls. The water was hitting so hard that the spray was falling like rain. We were soaking wet when we came down to the car.
\

We saw all the high points of the park. Joe especially wanted to see half dome. There was not a good view point that we could drive to, so we parked the car and headed out to hike to a viewpoint. The sign said it was an easy 1 mile hike. On the way, Brenna and Rylee
posed for some great pictures!

There is pretty much nothing these girls won't do for a picture. This is both of them in one rotting log. Blech!

A couple of (pretty easy) miles later, this is the view we came to.
WOW!
Look how tiny Joe looks.

That night we stayed in Merced again. The next day we headed to San Francisco. Once we got settled into our hotel, we went to China Town to shop and have dinner. I can't believe I didn't
take any pictures there, but I didn't. The next morning, we took the girls to Fisherman's Wharf. They spent most of the day at Pier 39. Their favorite things were the SpongeBob ride
and the mirror maze.

We had seafood dinner and Joe was again, quite content.

The next morning was Brenna's feis. She won two trophies for a 4th place finish (out of 23) and a 2nd place finish (out of 19). This picture is her accepting her second place trophy.
You can barely see her. She is on the left in the pink and white dress.

Once she was done competing, we jumped into the car and drove straight home.
We made pretty good time and got home a little before midnight.
And that was the end of a very very fun and exhausting weekend.

A couple of weeks ago, Brenna had her first Wildcat Band Concert.

I got ROTTEN pictures, but I'll share anyway.

Coming in and setting up.

She was sitting in the second row, so it was very hard to get a photo of her.
This is the entire band during one of the numbers.

If you look very carefully, you can see her in the second row,

almost in the middle of the row, next to a bassoon.

There's one a little closer.

She did a great job. The band did a great job. I can't wait for the Christmas Concert!

CBU Water Polo Game

About a month ago, we all headed to CBU in Riverside to watch Eric play waterpolo. He's on a full ride water polo scholarship there. Brenna was the official water polo photographer, but since our camera is not any good at action shots, all we got were photos of Eric sitting in the water.

CBU is a really beautiful campus. It was a very hot day, so after the game, we all went out to a shady spot on the grass to wait for Eric to get changed.

Then, we all headed over to his dorm to wait for him to shower and get ready so we could all go to dinner. The rules are very strict and the girls could not enter Eric's apartment. Plus, his air conditioning had just broken, so it was H.O.T. in there, so we all waited out on his porch.

We all went and had Mexican food. We had a great time.

Just outside of the restaurant was a fountain that shot up at funny intervals. Gavin and Parker discovered it and were fascinated. Kyle and Whit are such great parents, they let the kids play until they were soaked, then changed them into jammies for the ride home.

It was a GREAT day!

Eric's VHS Graduation

Wednesday, June 17, 2009, Eric Joseph Carnohan graduated from Vista High School! There was great rejoicing in the Carnohan home as there were times during the past four years when we were not sure this day would ever come.

Seriously, we are very proud of Eric. Not only did he graduate, but he has been offered a full tuition/books water polo scholarship at Cal Baptist University in Riverside. He will attend for one semester and play polo. Then he will return home and prepare for his two year mission. He plans to leave for his mission on or shortly after his 19th birthday on April 5, 2010.

Where's Waldo? (I mean Eric.)

This is my favorite picture. He looks so adult. (Don't let it fool you, though!)

Eric, Brenna, Mom, Gavin, Whitney, Parker, Dad

Kyle had to work, but Whitney came to graduation with both babies!

Gavin and Parker were exceptionally good even though it was very long.

Travis, Eric, and Mulheim

Matt, Eric, and Travis

Eric is an Eagle Scout!!!!!

Tonight was Eric's Board of Review for his Eagle Scout rank. This is a picture of him being very silly before he went. Although you can't tell from the picture, he was pretty nervous about the Board of Review. It is a pretty rigorous interview before a panel of 4-5 lifetime scouters. Eric knew it would be difficult.

Eric rocked it! He was able to express himself well. He answered all their questions and concerns. He showed the panel that he is, indeed, Eagle Scout material.

We are very proud of him. It is a great achievement and puts him in the ranks of the few who have made the necessary sacrifices.

Congratulations, Eric!

Fun Feis in Seattle

Brenna had a feis (Irish Dance Competition) this weekend in Seattle. Joe, Brenna, and I flew toSeattle on Thursday. We stayed with my cousin Frank and his wife, Kristi. Our flight didn't arrive in Seattle until 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night, but Kristi was a great sport and came to the airport to pick us up. I'm really bummed that I didn't take a picture of their beautil house. They live in Auburn in a quiet area near a big pond surrounded by woods. It felt like we were staying in a cabin in the mountains. It was wonderful.

Brenna didn't compete until Saturday, so on Friday, my Mom and Dad came with us and we spent most of the day at Pike Place Market on the Seattle waterfront. We had a lot of fun.

We saw lots of beautiful flowers! (along with just about anything else you can think of to buy.)

There was every possible kind of food to buy, but we, of course, opted for fresh seafood.

Joe was very happy.

This is why!! Clam chowder, Crab cocktail, Fish and Chips. Mmmmmm.

Saturday morning, we got up and Brenna got ready for her feis.
She was supposed to start competing by 1:30, but they were running a little late, so she didn't really get started until after 2:00.
The waiting is a little nerve-wracking.

But, finally, they were ready to start.

Brenna danced in 8 dances. In each competition, she had between 9 and 18 competitors.
In two dances, she took second place and in another, she took a first place.
Her last dance was a trophy competition with 18 competitors.

SHE TOOK FIRST PLACE AND WON HER VERY FIRST TROPHY!!!

At the beginning of the competition, I didn't realize that we were not allowed to take video while the competitors were dancing. After I had recorded two dances, an announcement was made that there was to be NO video recording during the competitions. Oops!! I stopped.

Here is a very short video showing part of one of Brenna's dances.

HOORAY FOR BRENNA!!!!