A Glimpse Into Our Christmas

Christmas Visits

Kyle's sisters flew out to see us this past week. We were SO glad that they did. We had so much fun with them!





Spencer had an art and poetry night at his school on Wednesday. It was really fun to go see what they've been working on. This picture is for Aunt Kelli and Katie because they flew out right before this.

We took a trip up to the temple to see the nativity.

The Temple again

We also went to the River of Lights at the botanical gardens.

I'm so sad that this picture is blurry. But I wanted to post it anyway because you can see how cute it would be clear.

Decorating gingerbread houses

And this is just one of the things that Parker does to make me crazy. It's a good thing he's so cute. I'd just gotten him out of the tub, put him in clothes, went to help Spencer with a homework problem, came back to find this... (Carly was still in the tub too) Guess he wasn't done yet.

A Little Child Shall Lead Them

So, this kid LOVES to bear his testimony at church.

Here's his testimony from this past Sunday:

"I'm going to bear my testimony. I know this church is true. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus love us and I know that we have Christmas because that's when Jesus was born."

He was so thoughtful about what he was going to say and I may have shed a tear or two. I'm glad that there are moments like this that cancel out some of the bad things that happen.

Sure love him!

California Dreamin'

Waiting at the airport for our plane to arrive. The kids were SOOO excited to fly and we were SOOO excited not to drive all day!

Our first stop was to the beach. Spencer has wanted to go to the ocean for a long time now, so we rented a nice Jeep and headed there.

It was rather cold for the beach, but we made the best of it. We even got to see some long lost cousins that were nice enough to meet us there! (No pictures though, what was I thinking?)

The family shivering on the beach

The next day we went to Disneyland. Here's a pic of us waiting for one of the parades to start.

Toon Town

Mater and Lightening McQueen

When we asked Carly who she wanted to meet the most at Disneyland, she said Cinderella. Well, as luck would have it, she was the only princess we saw (without having to wait in a huge, long line to see them) She was SOOO excited and was jumping up and down with joy! She gave Cinderella a big hug and wanted to talk forever. SO fun!

And here's Woody with the fam

We went to Mickeys house and met Mickey.

The classic shot at the entrance of Disneyland.

It's a small world. It was nice because they played a little bit of that song and then Christmas Carols. Yay!

This poor kid! We hope we don't scar him too much!

Spencer got chosen to be a Jedi at the Star Wars Show. Doesn't he look threatening in those Mickey ears?

He got to fight Darth Vader on stage! This is a shot moments after Darth hit Spencer's light saber out of his hands and to the ground! Spencer was the perfect Jedi and ran after his light saber and came back and defeated Darth Vader. We were so excited he had the force with him and got chosen!

Great shot of the kids cooperating to get a picture in front of the castle...

Cute Carly on Mark Twains island.

Okay, and seriously, is this not the cutest kid in the world? He was such a trooper the whole time (until the flight coming home).

At our hotel. I don't know if we'll ever be able to stay off of the Disney property again. It was sure nice being so close and getting to get into the park early!

Swimming at the hotel.













We had SO much fun, but it's sure great to be home! We're excited for our next trip there (in about 5 or 6 years) when everyone can walk and we don't have to worry about diapers!

Happy Halloween

The costumes:

Darth Vader, Wizard, and Witch

The witch and her cowboy dad

Bumblebee

Getting ready to carve pumpkins

The torture I go through to cut onions for the ward chili cookoff... (I won the best green chile chili if that's any consolation.)

The finished pumpkins (Spencer wore goggles so that he didn't get any pumpkin guts in his eyes.)

At the ward party- right before they went trunk-or-treating.

Fall Goodies

So, in my attempts at being a more creative mom, I have spent more time on snacks. Usually, snack time in our home consists of "grab an apple" or if they are really lucky, they get a bowl of cheerios. Yep, I know- Mother of the Year hopefuls have nothing on me.

But through some wonderful examples, I have decided to start planning my snacks a little bit better. Hey, they are only kids once and I need to have more fun with them. So here are some pics of my feeble, yet sincere attempts at being a better snackster.


She already ate the eyes of her fabulous Halloween Spider.

We are making zucchini bread together. (I might add that with one HUMONGOUS zucchini that my parents brought, we made 4 loaves!)

I've seen these on many-a-blogs and decided it was a must try for the kiddos.

Fall Pics

We went up to Paako Ridge golf course this week to check it out. Supposedly it's rated like number 30 in the nation of best golf courses. Anyway, it WAS really pretty.

We also did a little fall-time in the mountains. Here are some fun pics of the kids.

Kami, this one is for you. ;)