Category: Family

Christmas 2008 at the Faceys – another perfect Christmas!

After a wonderful Christmas Eve at our house with Ed’s family, we spent Christmas at Carrie’s parents’ house, with Eric, Shirley, the Facey kids, Debbie, Taylor, and Millie coming in from Perris. As has been the case since we’ve been married, we had yet another wonderful Christmas day filled with holiday joy, great food, and quality family time – especially with the Facey kids!

We got to Larry and Mary Anne’s house a little before Eric’s family rolled in, so we went to town right away with our presents. We got so many cool things, not the least of which was our choice of a musical theater show in 2009, complete with dinner! Eric and Shirley got the same thing, so we’ll most likely make it a double date!

Here’s us with a very cool cocktail book (accompanied by what is quickly becoming a new tradition – two cool new martini glasses!):

And here’s Larry and Mary Anne with our present for Larry – a really cool Disney Christmas tree skirt. We were pleased to hear from Mary Anne that Larry had been eyeing it for the past couple of years, so we’re glad he’s now the happy owner of it!

After a wonderful Christmas Eve at our house with Ed’s family, we spent Christmas at Carrie’s parents’ house, with Eric, Shirley, the Facey kids, Debbie, Taylor, and Millie coming in from Perris. As has been the case since we’ve been married, we had yet another wonderful Christmas day filled with holiday joy, great food, and quality family time – especially with the Facey kids!

We got to Larry and Mary Anne’s house a little before Eric’s family rolled in, so we went to town right away with our presents. We got so many cool things, not the least of which was our choice of a musical theater show in 2009, complete with dinner! Eric and Shirley got the same thing, so we’ll most likely make it a double date!

Here’s us with a very cool cocktail book (accompanied by what is quickly becoming a new tradition – two cool new martini glasses!):

And here’s Larry and Mary Anne with our present for Larry – a really cool Disney Christmas tree skirt. We were pleased to hear from Mary Anne that Larry had been eyeing it for the past couple of years, so we’re glad he’s now the happy owner of it!

And then the Facey kids arrived!

Our present to the Facey kids was a weekend with us where we’ll take them to a cooking class. In the meantime, we got them these aprons, paint markers, and a Ratatouille cookbook to get them ready for the experience! We can’t wait!

We got Eric and Shirley a framed history of the Facey name. Hey, you gotta know where you’ve been to know where you’re going!

Jordan, ever working her way up to Master Magician status, got this great book of magic tricks! She took great care not to let any of us look inside the book – a magician must keep her trade a secret!

Here’s Kendall with one of her presents – a Disney cook book! Oh yes, those Facey kids are going to be master chefs in not too long…

And here’s Ella with some cute new duds:

Wow, there’s no doubt they share the same genes, huh? Look at the chin, cheeks, eyes, and eyebrows!

We have no pics of it, but Kendall is growing more and more into a lady each time we see her. She got a cellphone this Christmas! Pretty grown up, if you ask us!

Here’s Ed with the Facey kids (minus Ella)!

How cool is this? The girls (minus Ella) all got watches that look just like Auntie Carrie’s!

And the festive placesettings for dinner:

Ella’s expression here is priceless. Do you think she was having a good time?

Mikayla took this photo of us. Hmm…does she have a future as a photographer? Great pic!

Great pic of Carrie and her dad!

Ed and Mikalya!

Merry Christmas, everyone! We wish everyone a peaceful and wonderful 2009 too.

Christmas 2008!

Kim Family Christmas Eve

Tonight we hosted Christmas Eve for the Kims, and everything was just perfect! We enjoyed good food, great conversation, a lot of laughs and some pretty cool gifts!

To start things off, we had to get the ambiance right.  Here’s a few shots of our cozy Christmas setting:

I decided to make some little place cards for everybody with some peppermint sticks (because I’m nerdy like that):

And everybody really liked them!

The menu this evening was pretty simple – Ed’s mom, Kay, made a beautiful leafy greens salad with mango and raspberries (It was gorgeous!). We made the ham, my mom’s scalloped potatoes (Ed’s favorite), asparagus and wild rice. And for dessert, Ed’s aunt Grace brought a yummy cake from the Korean bakery! This cake is a big favorite of ours, it’s this very light cake with tons of fresh fruit on it … kiwis, pineapple, strawberries and oranges. Yum! Ed did most of the cooking this year, and it was delicious!

That’s a ham alright:

Preppin’ the asparagus:

Glazing the ham:

After dinner, we moved on to the gift exchange. I got a kick out of seeing Ed’s uncle, Luke, sitting on the floor, surrounded by tissue paper and presents. He looked just like a little kid!

The funniest gift of the evening went to Aunt Grace. Ed’s dad bought her a battery-operated megaphone! She’s quite the mover and shaker – she’s VERY active in many organizations and she heads up so many committees – so she needs her voice to be heard!

This year is a big year for Ed’s dad – he is turning 70 on January 1st. I thought that with the start of a new decade, he might enjoy a new “look” for his business. So I designed 3 different comps of a logo, business cards, letterhead and envelopes for him to choose from. I think it was a hit!

For some reason I didn’t catch Kay opening a gift, so here’s a shot of Ed & I with his mom:

All in all, it was wonderful evening. We thoroughly enjoy hosting Christmas Eve for The Kims! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve 2008

A little bit of bragging … and a lot to be thankful for.

Because Ed is such a modest guy, I am taking the liberty of spilling the beans on a very exciting thing that happened two weeks ago. He was in Germany visiting some of his European clients … BMW, Audi, Porshe, and Volkswagon. During his meeting at Volkswagon, the one of the directors was so impressed with Ed and his extensive knowledge that he asked Ed to return to Germany this week to be a Keynote Speaker at the Global Volkswagon conference in Hamburg! It was a really big deal. Such a big deal in fact that we ALL (all = family & every friend who heard about this!) insisted that he return to Deutschland to make his presentation.

The downside? The conference was during Thanksgiving. So we made the best of it. We got together with all of our parents the weekend before an had a lovely dinner at the Facey Parents house. Afterall, there was no way my mom was going to let him go without her stuffing this year!


That’s Dad carving the duck my mom made.


Our awesome parents with Ed!

Thanksgiving Day was delicious as usual, but we definitely missed Ed. The happiest part of the day was when I got a call from Germany …

And of course … here is me with my family!

Each year, I feel like the holidays get better and better. I am so thanksful for my wonderful family & friends!

p.s. Ed’s presentation went great! He’s on his way back from Germany as I write this!

Dad’s 60th is a success!

Today we celebrated Carrie’s Dad’s 60th Birthday with a bang! He has been planning this extravaganza for a long, long time – and our family was lucky to reap the rewards of his plan! Basically, we all checked in to the Disneyland Hotel on Monday night, enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Storybook Cafe, and woke up early this a.m. to go to the park. As hotel guests, we were granted access to the park an hour earlier than the general public. Then, at 5pm, we headed over to Goofy’s Kitchen, for a buffet dinner and party with some dear friends. It was a blast. We get to spend one more night here at the hotel, and tomorrow we’ll return to the park for another complete day of fun! Lucky us.

We’re beat, so it’s off to bed for us … but check out the album for Day One of the extravaganza!*

Dad’s 60th Birthday

*11/6/08 – the album now has photos from both days. Enjoy!

Visiting Shannon in Santa Cruz: Day 3 and Back Home

Ed’s 3rd day in Santa Cruz was all about experiencing a “day in the life of Shannon”. We started out by taking a morning hike in the forest right outside their backyard. Literally!

Gorgeous scenery was everywhere. It’s amazing that all this was literally behind Shannon and Mani’s house. We took the three dogs along for the walk.


Yogi Bear is such a cool dog:

Poor Spirit…he loves going on walks but because he’s getting old, he often drags his butt along the ground because his third leg is so tired. He kicks up a plume of dust whenever he does this!


This is a fairy ring. New redwoods grow around the dead stump of an old tree. Apparently, they grow from the roots of the dead tree, hence the circle of trees around the stump.

Afterwards, Ed tagged along with Shannon to her job. She takes care of these two adorable kids named Orion and Marina, ages 3 and 2, respectively. They are so precocious and talkative. They took to Ed really quickly considering he was a complete stranger! Ed also has to say that Shannon is SO good with kids…she knows how to be loving and fun but also knows how to lay down the law – while at the same time empowering them to come to the best decisions.

Shannon looks so domesticated driving the minivan, doesn’t she?

We went for a short hike in one of the many gorgeous state parks in the area. The kids absolutely love it – it really stokes their imaginations and gives them such an appreciation for the nature that surrounds them.

This is one of the biggest redwoods in the area. Look how big it is compared to Shannon and the kids!

Orion declared himself King when he climbed into this giant stump. He declared his little sister as the Princess.

And finally, here’s Ed and Marina! SO cute! She’s very talkative, but you can only understand maybe a quarter of what she’s saying. She’s definitely learning to talk…and since her brother uses such big words for his age and she copies him a lot, she’s probably trying to use words that are bigger than her developed level of speech. It’s adorable.

So that’s it! Ed had such a wonderful trip. Santa Cruz was awesome and beautiful, but most of all he got to spend some real quality time with Shannon. Ed can’t wait to get back there…only this time with Carrie!