Our Christmas Card & Santa Pics

Rowen got to see Santa three times this year! First, we saw Santa on the beach in Laguna (he just looked at him like "who are you?").

Then we went to a local real estate office (he first smiled, then screamed his head off).

Mrs. Claus thought maybe she could get him to smile after screaming - but he just wasn't in the mood.

Then we decided to see him one last time while shopping at South Coast Plaza (he had a major blow out right before sitting on Santa's lap!). He still wouldn't smile - he just wanted to relax with Santa. 

Hope everyone had a fun Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Additional photographs in the near future...

The Bettendorf Latest

As you may or may not know, I (Lisa) had hernia repair surgery on December 6th.  There were some complications and I ended up spending a few days at Hoag Hospital. The day of the surgery was pretty rough as I was REAL nauseous from the anesthesia, but every day I feel a little better. For the first week or so, I was not supposed to carry/hold Rowen standing up. Outside of the pain, that was the most difficult part. I am now slowly healing and can't wait to FINALLY get my body back to normal (as normal as possible after a baby). I am really looking forward to 2012 and getting back into my non-maternity jeans!!

Jason's Birthday

Jason celebrated his 37th Birthday on Friday, December 2, 2011, at Bobby and April's in Chino. Grandma Pino and Honey joined in on the celebration. Grandma prepared her world famous macaroni with meat sauce (and meatballs and sausage). Jason received many fantastic gifts and we celebrated with homemade peanut butter cookies (instead of cake). We also practiced taking a few photos with Jason's new tripod.

Thanksgiving

National Lampoons Bettendorf Thanksgiving just wrapped up this past week as we (Bob, April, Jason, Lisa, Rowen, and Linda) returned from our trip to our somewhat annual trip to Colorado. We loaded up the Ford Explorer, strapped the luggage on the roof, barricaded ourselves into position, cranked up the Willy Nelson ("On The Road Again") and hit the road. We spent an awesome week and a half in Colorado, visiting all of our usual haunts, including Vail, Breckenridge, Denver, Boulder, Beaver Creek and others. Jason skied. Most of us ice skated. We all tromped around in the snow. Spent Thanksgiving in Vail and enjoyed our pre-made feast from Safeway. Rowen seemed to really enjoy the snow, although he wasn't thrilled about putting on his layers of clothing. The grandparents definately prefer warm weather. Below are a few photographs of the trip (in no particular order)...

 Vail Covered Bridge

 Rowen and His Beanie

 Vail Village

 Hitting The Slopes!

 Nature Walk

 Colorado Morning

 Its beginning to look a lot like...

 Ice Skaters

 Big Eye Baby

 1st Thanksgiving

 Snow Baby

 Breckenridge

 Bettendorfs

 Beaver Creek

Hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving!!! Looking forward to seeing many of you this month.