2014 was not for the faint of heart

 2014 started out fairly normally, but things transpired during the year that none of us could have possibly guessed!  It was a fabulous year, but not for the faint of heart as we watched Valerie change course in the most major way possible.  Here is a fun look at the year.

We started the new year heading down to the beach to play volleyball.  Katherine thought it would be fun to throw a seed pod at Valerie's backpack while she hiked down to the beach, but she ended up piercing Valerie's leg.  Valerie was not pleased.  We also celebrated with the Palmers at the beach for a bonfire, volleyball and frisbee.  Valerie headed out not long after that to Spain with BYU Study Abroad, living with a Spanish family in Alcala de Henares.  Pretty fun stuff for an 18 year old.

Katherine turned 25 and we celebrated at home and at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

In February, we headed up to Utah and did some skiing at Alta and watched Marshall and Kat's DigIt volleyball team win the gold at their tournament.

Winter brought some fun events for Whitney going to Winter Formal with Luke Taylor and receiving her third "Top 25" award at Mission Viejo High School. 

 

Paula took several business trips all over the U.S. (including Chicago and Florida shown here) and Katherine, Mark, Taylor and Marshall all played in multiple beach volleyball tournaments.

 

Valerie opened her mission call while in Barcelona Spain on her study abroad and she got called to Salta Argentina!  Her boyfriend, Ryan, that she met in Spain was there for the opening of the call.

Our dear brother-in-law and uncle, Mark Peterson, died in March of this year and it was a sad day for all of us and the Peterson family.

When Valerie's study abroad came to an end, Paula and Stan went over to Spain and traveled with her for two weeks.  We even got to travel for a few days with Ryan in Italy. We traveled through Spain, France, Italy and Monaco. Paula fulfilled a lifelong dream to hike the Cinque Terre. It was an amazing two weeks!

 The Live Oak Canyon Ward young women's group came and stayed at the house during youth conference and the young men found us and nailed us with TP.  No one got much sleep.

I asked to go down to Laguna Beach for a picnic for Mother's Day and it was a beautiful day with three of my kids. 

 Mark and I played in a coed beach volleyball tournament in Carlsbad and because it was a recreational tournament, we won the title by beating two men in the finals, how does that work?

Whitney went to the prom with Tommy and wore the same dress as Valerie had the previous winter formal.  They both looked lovely in the dress!  

Valerie received her endowments in the Newport Beach Temple over Memorial Day weekend in preparation for her mission  and everyone was in attendance.  Later that weekend, we went to Catalina Island together.  We got to do some snorkeling out at Church Rock because the water was so calm.

For the Fourth of July, we headed to the traditional barbeque at Grandfather and Grandma's in Point Loma, San Diego to join the extended Kinnison family.  We had an unexpected visitor, Ryan Durrant, who drove all night from his internship in Phoenix to be with Valerie.  It turns out he asked her to consider postponing her mission to Argentina (just one week before her farewell).  After a 3 day weekend together, she agreed and a meeting with the Bishop and a conference call with the Stake President was all it took to put the mission off until December.  

The summer continued with Katherine and Mark playing in the traditional father daughter beach volleyball tournament.  During all of this, I found a few moments to grow a garden and I ate tomatoes nearly every day during the summer.We had our "Swiss Miss", Leandra Schneider with us for 3 weeks as well.  She got to watch all the drama unfold with Valerie and Ryan.

We got to Lake Powell twice in the summer -- we had planned an extra trip so that Valerie could go with us one last time before her mission in Argentina.  After she postponed her mission, we decided to just go twice anyway.  Ryan joined us for a long weekend each time and the first trip was with the Petersons and Valerie's friend from HEFY Belize, Amanda.  The second trip was with the Palmers.  We encountered a rattlesnake on the hike in Labryinth Canyon and Paula and Mark both got injured innertubing.  What joy to go to the Lake twice in one summer!

 

Everyone lived at home this summer for probably the final time in our nuclear family.  We spent the summer visiting the beach, watching the giant waves that hit Orange County on "Big Wednesday" at the end of August and watching Valerie and Ryan fall deeply in love.

 

Whitney started her senior year in September of this year, our final year with children in the public schools here.  It seems like just yesterday that we sent Katherine off to Kindergarten here, where have the last 20 years gone?

The big moment of the fall came on September 10th when Ryan Devin Durrant asked our Valerie Kay to marry him.  I guess she was destined to not be heading out to Argentina after all.  They are so happy together!

That started a whirlwind of activity with September bringing a bridal shower at the Coopers' in Dove Canyon, wedding dress shopping in Utah and engagement photos in Laguna Beach. 

We spent the next two and a half months kicked into high gear getting ready for a November wedding.  We took a trip during this up to St George, Utah to watch Mark win a silver medal in the Huntsman Senior Games with old buddies of Paula's from Westwood, the Peterson twins, as well as Kent Smith here from Rancho Santa Margarita.

Whitney went to Homecoming with Josh Neilson on a picture perfect day.

Fall was also Whitney's senior tennis season at Mission Viejo High School.  She and her teammate, Vivianna Nguyen, made history by going undefeated in league and going all the way in the League Finals to win the double's gold medal, a first in the history of the school.  Her team swept the medals in both singles and doubles.  CIF team playoffs were next in Arcadia and although Whitney and Viv won all three of their matches, the team was defeated. Whitney and Viv went to CIF for doubles; they beat a tough team from Valencia in the first round (third set tiebreak!) and lost in a third set tiebreak to Yorba Linda.  What a fabulous season Whitney had! Whitney and Viv were named Most Valuable Doubles Team. The whole season was ground-breaking stuff for Mission Viejo High School and we enjoyed every minute watching Whitney excel.

The wedding quickly arrived and it started with a family dinner on Friday, November 21st at our house with many Kinnisons, Carmacks and Durrants here. 

On November 22nd, Valerie Kay Kinnison and Ryan Devin Durrant were sealed for time and all eternity in the Newport Beach Temple.  It was one of the happiest days ever!  The sealing was at 10am, then the reception followed from 5 to 7 in our backyard.  It was a beautiful day and evening and Valerie and Ryan were incredibly happy as we all were.

We had nearly all of the Carmack Family in town and we went up to La Canada to celebrate Grandma Carmack's 80th birthday and Thanksgiving.  This was also the week of CIF individual competition for Whitney and Viv.

December brought Christmas celebrations.  Brian and Lisa came down for the ward Christmas program that I put on as ward music chairman (7 musical numbers!) and we went down to Dana Point to see the first year of Illumniocean.

 

Christmas Day brought a trip to Ramona to be with the Petersons as well as Grandfather and Grandma.  Valerie and Ryan were on their second honeymoon on a cruise to the Caribbean.

We had our annual Kinnison Christmas party on December 27th and nearly everyone made it.



Before the year ended, there was a freak snowstorm that brought snow to Dove Canyon and blanketed Orange County.  Valerie, Ryan, Mark and I trekked up to Holy Jim Falls through ankle deep snow.  A day later found us on the beach playing volleyball.  What a way to end a crazy whirlwind year that was truly not for the faint of heart!