HAPPY 2010!!!!

f

Well today is the last day of 2009 and I thought I would tell you what we did this year that we hadn't posted about yet. We will TRY to post pictures of everything soon.


In May, Robin, Jason and I took our Mom to the Aquarium of the Pacific. AofP is a HUGE aquarium about the largest ocean in the world. The aquarium in located in Long Beach, across the bay from the Queen Mary. We had a great time seeing the more then 12,500 animals including many varieties of sharks, rays, fish, seals, sea lions and otters (Robins favorite). We got to feed nectar to Lorikeets, pet some sharks and rays. We also saw a laser and light show about Blue Whales.


In September, my cousin Derek married Betsy in Ohio. Grandpa, Dad, Jason, Robin and I flew out for the wedding to join with the ENTIRE Meyerson clan. It was so wonderful to have the entire family together again. It has been YEARS since we have all been together. We were all busy getting ready for the wedding and going to all the social gatherings.


When we weren't busy, we spent time together enjoying each others company. We had a BLAST playing with Lexi, Ashlin, Tayley and Lucy!!!! We also spent a lot of time with the rest of the Meyersons.

One day while we were in Ohio, a group of us went to Kirkland to visit the historical sites. We visited the Kirkland Temple, which now belongs to the Community of Christ Church, and the Whitney Store. Although the temple was BEAUTIFUL, the spirit was defiantly missing. I felt so bad for all the hard work and sacrifice the early Saints put into it and all of it is for naught :( Thank goodness the spirit was amazingly strong at Whitney's Store. I gained a deep love and testimony for Joseph and Emma Smith. I also felt a deep love for the Whitney's and the love, service, sacrifice and friendship they had for the Smiths and to all who were in Kirkland.


In October, Dad, Louise, Grandpa, Jason, Robin and I took a 2 week cross country train trip. We went from Los Angeles to Oakland, Oakland to Chicago and Chicago to Alexandria Virgina. We spent 3 days in Alexandria and then took trains from Washington DC to Chicago and Chicago to Seattle. We then took a 4 hour bus ride from Seattle to Vancouver Canada where we spent 3 more days. We then went back to Seattle to take a train back to Los Angeles.


We went through many different types of scenery from oceans to mountains to farm fields to following winding rivers. All the scenery was beautiful in its own way. Louise, Robin and I took well over 1,000 pictures. We were shutter bugs, especially Louise and Robin. We spent all our time on the train in the viewing car. The viewing car has HUGE windows and the seats face the windows. Besides looking at the scenery and taking pictures, Dad, Louise, Robin and I played board and card games.


While we were in Alexandria Virgina, it rained the ENTIRE 3 days we were there. Although it was raining, we spent a lot of time away from the hotel. We took several walks around town and went to Christs Church where George Washington and Robert E. Lee went to church. We also spent a day in Washington DC where we went to the Lincoln Memorial (something I have been wanting to do since I was in Kindergarten) and The Smithsonian Institute. It was a GREAT DAY!!!!


We had a 4 hour layover in Chicago before we had to catch the next train so Dad and Louise took Jason, Robin and I to The Willis Towers (formally known as The Sears Towers). We took an elevator 103 floors up in 60 seconds and saw was on top of the world!!!! The sky was partly cloudy but we were able to see far. On a clear day, people are able to see 5 different states and into Canada. We walked out onto 4 Plexiglas balconies that hang out over the ledge. All that was between our feet and 103 floors down was clear plexiglas. It was a little nerve wracking but so fun!!!!


My favorite part of the trip was Vancouver Canada. We stayed right in Downtown VC and was walking distance of MANY sites. We all did A LOT of walking around town looking at the interesting buildings and beautiful scenery. Robin and I spent HOURS walking around and shopping in historic Gas Town. We also visited the Vancouver Aquarium. Although it was not even close to being as big as Aquarium of the Pacific, it was still very interesting. I CAN NOT WAIT until the Winter Olympics start in February so I can see the beautiful city again.


Starting in the middle of November, we had most of the ceilings in our house replaced. The earthquakes we had earlier this year, created large cracks in the seams. While we got the ceilings replaced we decided we would repaint most of the bedrooms too. Grandpa painted his room a pretty color of light green. In Jason's room, we painted over the sun and rainbow that has been there since before we moved in. His room is now a nice shade of tan. Also, since Jason wanted a Disney themed room, he got the Matterhorn drawn on one wall and his (and Walt's) favorite Disney train on another wall.

For Robin and my room, we got clouds painted on the ceiling with countless glow in the dark stars. The ceiling is beautiful at night with all the stars. It feels like we are outside away from the city lights. Our old bedroom also got a makeover. The wall that has the closet in now the same color green as Grandpa's room. The large main wall is blue with sun, moon, clouds and stars. The window wall is now a pastel purple and the wall with the shelves is 2 shades of pink. The shelves are blue, pink, green and purple. On the bottom half of the walls (except for the wall with the shelves) has white Wyans Coating (wood paneling). All the rooms are GREAT!!!


We had a wonderful Thanksgiving over at Dad and Louises apartment. It was the 1st time in their 17 years of marriage that they have invited us over for a cooked meal. They invited us over 2 other times but that was for cold cut sandwiches and cinnamon rolls. We watched 2 movies while we were over there and we had a wonderful dinner. Louise said she enjoyed having us over so much that she will invite over again soon. We will have to see if that ever happens.


December was filled with many Christmas activities and parties. A group of us from our YSA ward went to the Los Angeles Temple to put up Christmas lights. We spent over 4 hours putting up lights on the LONG front wall and a tree next to the front lawn. It took a long time to untangle the strands of lights. I spent over 45 minutes untangling 1 strand of lights. I was SOOOO proud when I finally got the strand untangled (one group of people worked on the same tangle for only about 10 minutes and gave up). I couldn't wait to show everybody the work I did to make sure the stand of lights was worthy of being on temple grounds.


Several weeks a go, Grandpa, Jason, Robin and I went to see the lights at the temple lights at night time. The first lights we saw as we were driving towards the temple was the lights on the front wall (the ones I spent SOOO LONG untangling). They were SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!! The white lights were so bright, they took every ones breath away. We spent an hour walking around the grounds seeing all the lights. I was able to show everyone the strand of lights I worked on. I also showed them the tree I worked on too. I was disappointed when we got to the tree to see that not a single light was on. All the other trees were were blazed with lights, but not the tree I worked on. I really wanted to see the tree all lit up because we had to put over 30 BOXES of lights and hanging icicles. It was suppose to be a 'burning bush'.


Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Mike, their dog Dodger and my cousin Jodi came down from Utah for Christmas and spent a week with us. It was great having them here!!!! We have missed not spending Christmas with them for the past 10 years. While they were here, we went shopping, saw Christmas lights and saw a movie among other things. We got to also spend time with Jodi's boyfriend Chris who was also visiting his family in Huntington Beach. (Jodi, Chris is a keeper!!!! :) We are so glad they came for Christmas. We wished they could spend longer. Hopefully they will come for another visit soon. I also hope that the rest of the Meyerson clan visits us soon too.


We hope you all have a WONDERFUL and safe 2010!!!!! We promise to update this blog more often, even if we have nothing to blog about. We love and miss you all!!!!!!

Our St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The past 3 months. Pics will come in the next post.

Once again we are so sorry for the delay in posts. A lot has happened in the past 3 months. Stay tuned for the next post to see picturs of all our activities. First off in October Grandpa, Jason, Robin, Dad and Louise and I went on a 16 day road trip to visit Northern California and family in Idaho and Utah. We spent one week driving through the redwoods. It was AMAZING to see the GIANT trees, I now know how ants feel when they are by us. These trees are more then 5,000 years old and over 300 feet high and each tree drinks more then 200 gallons of water a day (I'm glad I don't have to pay that water bill. HAHAHA). We really enjoyed walking around them and seeing all the touristy things along the way including The Skunk Train.


We also really enjoyed all the family we got to see. In Utah we got to see my Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Mike, my cousins Chad, his wife Meagan and their 2 daughters Ashlin (3) and Tayley (4 months) and my other cousin Jodi. We also visited one on my Grandmas brothers family. We did a lot of fun things including the Heber Creeper and the Kennecott Copper Mine. We also visited a wild mustang and burro ranch, went to Gardners Village and went to one of Ashlins dance recital (she did such a great job). We spent 2 days visiting my Grandpa's family in Idaho. We saw more then 75 relatives living in and around Rigby. It was SO nice to see everyone again.


4 days into our trip, our outside water main pipe broke, allowing water to get into our living room and dining room. It was a HUGE mess. Luckily we had neighbors and members of our ward who cleaned up the mess which allowed us to continue on our vacation. They vacuumed up the water, moved all the furniture, pulled up the carpets and had high powered fans going.

When we got back, we spent the next 6 weeks getting the house back together. We had to repaint the walls, get new carpet and move the furniture out of the family room and kitchen back to where they belonged. Thank goodness the same people who helped clean up the mess while we were gone, helped us get the house back together.

On November 15th, 4 devastating wildfires swept through Southern California, including Yorba Linda. Robin and I were out to lunch at Disneyland with one of our church friends for her birthday. When we first arrived at Disneyland, ash began to fall like snow. After lunch not only was the ground covered in ash, but the sky was the overcast with dark brown smoke. We immediatly left and went home. We learned that there was a fire in Brea (about 8 miles away) and there was another fire at the Yorba Linda/Corona border (3 miles away).

Roads were shut down except for emergency vehicles and 100,000's of people were evacuated, including us. Dad and Louise took our 2 cats and 2 birds while we spent the night in a hotel. While we were leaving our neighborhood we saw flames coming over the hills that was 1/2 mile away from our house. The hotel was filled to capacity with fire evacuees and their pets. We spent the entire night watching the news, seeing streets we know engulfed in flames.


Our house and all the houses in our neighborhood withstood the fire (even though when we got back home live emberes were still in our yard). 118 families in Yorba Linda were not that lucky, including a bishop in our stake. The rest of Yorba Linda are doing all we can to help and support those who lost everything.

The radio station Robin and I listen to was having a private Christmas party at Disneyland on the 20th. For the entire month of December Robin and I had tried everyday trying to get tickets for the party. We went several places where they were holding raffles to win tickets. Finally at the last raffle holding (which was held the day before the party) I was the first name that was pulled and won 4 tickets to the party. Robin and I surprised Jason with the tickets. Robin, Jason, Mom and I had a wonderful time playing at Disneyland from 9 PM-1AM. We can't wait to do it next year.


On Nov. 22, Jason turned 30. We had a family get together with cake and ice cream. We all chipped in to buy Jason an i-Pod. Robin and I put about 50 songs on it for him and a Mickey Mouse skin for it. We taught Jason how to put songs on it and now he has over 100 songs on it. He really likes his i-Pod. He also got some games for his gaming systems.


Robin and I went to our 1st concert (I know... we are almost 29 years old and going to our 1st concert. How sad!). We went to see Celine Dion. We had a WONDERFUL time!!! We thought Celine Dion was great on the radio but she is even more AMAZING in person.


We had a great Christmas!!!! As usual, Dad and Louise came over Christmas Eve and had dinner. After dinner, Robin and I read stories that share the true spirit of Christmas. We also read a poem we found on the internet entitled "Christmas In Heaven". We dedicated it to all the family members we have lost especially Jacob and Grandma. Then we spent several hours unwrapping presents.


We also had a great new year so far. Dad and Louise invited us over to their house (the 1st time they have ever invited us over to their house in 16 years). G-pa, Robin and I (Jason was at work) got there around 9:30 so we could watch the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl. We had hot chocolate and Cinnamon rolls YUMMY!!!! There were BEAUTIFUL floats (as always) this year and USC won the bowl game.

The 2nd is Grandmas 1 year anniversary since she died. It has been a year full of ups and downs with out her but we know that once we get her temple work done (which will probably be in the summer) we will be together with her again. Grandpa has been stuggleing with is knee pain a lot more then usual. The pain is not only in his knees but in his entire legs and hips. He can barely walk without using a walker now. His pain wears him out and spends days on the couch because he cant walk or is too dizzy to move. He has had several testings for a pain pump to be inserted in his spine which will give a contestant flow of heavy pain medication into his spine. All the kinks have been ironed out for him to receive the pain pump on Feb. 27th. Please keep him in your prayers that the pain pump will work and he will be able to enjoy life again.

Hope everyone had a happy easter

we hope everyone had a "Hoppy" Easter, we sure did. Robin and I spent several months planning a special birthday party for Grandma. Grandma was born on Easter Sunday in 1928 and this was the 1st time since she was born that her birthday fell on Easter. Since we are sure that Grandma never had a 1st birthday party and it was also the 1st time that Easter was on the 8th, we decided to throw her a 1st Bithday party. We decorated her entire room with 1st birthday and fun to be 1 decoratons and banners. Robin and I also gave her an easter egg hunt on her back patio. We also had a pin the egg on the rabbit game and The dice game. The party was a blast!!!!!

Robin and I also went all out on buying her presents. We got her a cute Princess hat that she can wear when she goes outside; a Build-a-Bear that says 6 different things; a ball that she can throw (which she did several times yesterday); several books that we can read to her when we visit her; an MP3 player that we downloaded music that she use to listen to when she was a teenager; a picture frame that says "Then and Now" that has a picture of Grandma when she was 1 year old and a picture of her that was taken of her on the 7th ;and many things that went in her Easter basket. Grandpa bought her several outfits and he and Bonnie and Chad bought her over 6 dozzen roses. They are absolutley beautiful!!!!

There were many people who came to the party. 10 people from the ward dropped by, Our best friend and her 2 daughters, Dad and Lousie came by for and hour, and of course Grandpa, Jason and Robin and I. We all had a lot of fun.

Long time no post

We thought it was about time we updated our blog. I am adjusting to wearing contacts instead of glasses (now people are going to have to find a new way of telling us apart). On Monday and Tuesday it took me an hour to put them in and about 45 minutes taking them out. Yesterday it took me 1/2 an hour putting them in and 5 minutes taking them out. Today it only took 5 minutes to put them in. Hopefully I will keep getting better.

We are busy planning a special party for G-mas B-Day. She was born on Easter Sunday back in 1928 and this is the 1st time her B-Day has fallen on Easter since the day she was born. She has been waiting and hoping that she would be around for her B-Day to fall on Easter again. Since it will be her 1st B-Day/Easter we are giving her a 1st B-Day themed party. We are giving her 1st B-Day cards, balloons and put signs up. We hope she will have a good day so she will be able to enjoy and remember it.

On Monday G-ma had the best day she has had in years. When G-pa and I went into her room she said "I sure was mad today" and I asked her why she was mad and she thought for a while and responded "I don't know, but I was sure mad about something". Later on, G-pa was shaving off G-mas whiskers and trimming her eyebrows. During the trimming G-ma sneezed and it scared G-pa. G-ma burst out laughing and laughed for a good 15 minutes. she hasn't laughed so hard for so long in a very long time. She was also talking really good and understood all that G-pa and I were telling her. we told her about her party and she is getting excited for it.

G-pa recently took a trip to Utah to look at homes and property. There are several homes that he likes. Soon, we all are going to drive to Utah for a few days to look at the homes he likes and look at others. Hopefully we will be in Utah in the next couple of months (but we have been saying that for the past 3 years). Well that is all the news from the Thorntons. We will update again soon.