A Christmas First

We had a Christmas first this year...I forgot to take any pictures or video of the kids opening their presents! I realized this AFTER all the presents had been opened:( I can't believe it because I am obsessed with taking pictures. Anyways, we had a great Christmas with lots of smiles and sweetness. I did manage to take some Christmas Eve pictures and of course our traditional "look at all my presents" pictures.

We went ice skating again this year for Christmas Eve. The kids did a great job, but after about an hour we were thoroughly exhausted.

After skating, we decided to go up to the temple and see the Christmas lights. It was beautiful and I thought how appropriate it was to be at the temple on Christmas Eve...maybe we'll have to make it a tradition:)

Here's the pictures of the kids with their loot! Gotta love Christmas...especially when you make the "nice" list:)

AND we can't forget...Christmas dinner!! Mike handed Tyson a whole turkey leg and he wasn't sure what to do with it:)

What a wonderful Christmas we had! I think next year our extended family needs to fly down to join us...then it would be absolutely perfect:)

Kya's New DO!

Kya has been asking for this haircut for a while now...we finally got it done and I think it looks BEAUTIFUL!!

Traditional Christmas Pictures

Every year I try to get 2 special pictures (okay, it's way more than 2 but here's 2 of the "many"): 1 with Santa & 1 on Christmas Sunday.

This one was actually taken at our ward party, so it saved me $20 AND Mike and I made it in the shot--bonus!!

I was really hesitant to ask my Mom if she had time to make new Christmas dressed this year (because I know she has 14 grandchildren who she is constantly making stuff for), but she agreed. Then, in about 2 days Mom called me and said they were in the mail!! Amazing. I think this is the best Christmas Sunday picture I've ever taken (I guess it helps that it was a beautiful 70+ degrees outside).

TEN YEARS

Yesterday Mike and I celebrated our TEN year wedding anniversary! We went to Disneyland (with no kids) and had a blast (of course I DID forget my camera). We talked about all our favorite (and least favorite--this was Mike's idea) memories from the past ten years. We both ended the evening feeling lucky to have each other! Marriage is hard work...but it is also one of life's greatest blessings. What would I do without someone to go on Splash Mountain with me:)

Soakin' it all in

I love Christmas time more than any other time of year (even more than summer...and anyone who knows me, knows how much I LOVE summer). With less than 2 weeks until the big day, we are doing as much as we can to "soak it all in"!!!

The girls got their Christmas dresses in the mail and have already got to wear them to church once. This year we are going to have them wear their Christmas dresses when we go see Santa...hopefully it'll make for a better picture:)

I made my Nanamo bars a little early this year. They turned out pretty well, except I messed up on melting the chocolate yet again this year...darn that chocolate--I can NEVER get it right!!

We've made a few crafts, including these colorful stables. Miley thought she'd like to drink the paint water...forgetting that she ISN'T allowed on the table!

Mike actually put up lights outside this year! So far it's just one strand of white lights, but we'll build up our collection one after-Christmas sale at a time:)AND the MOST exciting thing...we put up our tree this past weekend!!! It was Tyson's turn to put the star on AND the kids did a beautiful job of decorating the rest of the tree. I LOVE it:)

Christmas Memories

One of my favorite things to do is look at pictures. I sometimes pick the month we're in and look at the picture folder from that same month only past years. It's especially fun to do at Christmas time!

Kya and Dad 2008

Tyson 2007

Jordan, Tyson and Kya 2006

Tyson, Jordan, Kya 2005

Kya 2004

Jordan and Kya 2003

Switcheroo

Last weekend we did something I thought we'd never do...we switched the kids rooms! Jordan and Kya have been fighting A LOT! I thought maybe they needed some space, so when they came to me with the idea of Tyson and Kya sharing a room and Jordan having Tyson's room, I decided we'd try it. So now Jordan has her own room and Kya and Tyson share. So far so good! I have a little bit more decorating and organizing to do, but here's what it looks like so far:

Kya is now on the TOP BUNK--very exciting!!

Here's Jordan's new room...it just needs a new rug (she didn't want Tyson red train rug) and a few pictures up.

Jordan's first night in her own room! I think she was a little lonely...but Miley kept her company:)

Our Last Minute Feast

Growing up in Canada where Thanksgiving is in OCTOBER (the way it should be!!), I have always had a tough time with American Thanksgiving. I LOVE turkey, but it's just too close to Christmas for me to get excited about cooking a big meal. So every year I debate about what to do. This year Mike and I decided that we would take a quick trip to Vegas with the kiddos.

On Wednesday Mike left for work and I proceded to arrange hotel etc. for Vegas. After booking and cancelling at Circus Circus (because they didn't have any non smoking rooms left), I called Mike to figure out what to do. Well, I didn't quite get the help I needed. Instead I got a "oh, I was going to call you..."

Turns out he had a client in town from Australia without anything to do on Thanksgiving, so...my wonderful husband invited him over to our house for dinner. So now, not only was I NOT going to Vegas, but I had a Thanksgiving meal to throw together and there was NO WAY I was going to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving. After much sulking and complaining I started planning. I had cooked a turkey breast in the crockpot for Tyson's preschool feast and there was A LOT left over, but who wants to serve left overs to an important client?! I DO!! Here's how it all turned out:

THE TURKEY: I called my mom for tips on reheating the turkey and she told me to wrap it up in tin foil with some gravy and throw it in the oven for about an hour--it was the most moist and delicious turkey EVERY!!

THE STUFFING: I managed to make the stuffing in the crockpot. I mixed a recipe I found online with my regular recipe and it turned out pretty well. I over cooked it a tiny bit, but once I took off the burnt bits it tasted pretty close to my normal "in the bird" stuffing.

THE EXTRAS: I made some veggies, mashed potatoes (10lbs bag=84 cents), freezer rolls, pickle tray, and sliced ham.

DESSERT: I had a pie crust in the fridge, so I made my very first apple pie! It turned out yummy too:)

I did have to go to the store Thanksgiving morning to get some vanilla ice cream and Martilnelli's.

We ended up having a nice visit and I was actually really grateful to have a yummy turkey dinner...even though it was unplanned and very last minute:)

I couldn't wait!

It's still a week before Thanksgiving, but I HAD to decorate for Christmas! I'm glad I did:) Let's see what Mike thinks when he gets back from San Diego...

Got $15?

Here's how my 8 year-old decided to spend $15 that she has been saving for months! Not exactly what I would imagine, but apparently everyone has them (I mean, I know everyone MY age has one, but in 3rd grade?). I guess I shouldn't be surprised...she has a "thermos" on her Christmas List! Also, is there a way to brush your child's hair through photoshop (hee, hee)?!

How did we EVER manage?

Last week I realized our home phone wasn't working. I called AT&T and surprisingly enough, they weren't too helpful. I could pay $55 for someone to come look at it or...figure it out myself. So after trying every phone jack in the house Mike suggested we try a different phone. What a brilliant idea:)

I went to Target in search of the cheapest phone I could find...perfect--a $7 phone. Did you know they still make phones that have cords?! Sure enough, the phone worked!

Now came the funny part...living with a corded phone! My kids looked at it like it was from the "olden days". Jordan picked it up to use it and said "how do you turn this on?", Tyson just left it laying on the floor thinking it was hung up, and Kya had no idea how to talk on the phone without walking all over the house. For me it's just impractical...when do I have time to sit in one place and do nothing but talk on the phone?! It makes me think back to the "olden days" and my LONG phone conversations (mostly from my youth).

A cordless phone is just one of the very small luxuries we have today, which makes me think "how did we ever manage?"

(Me on the phone at college--notice the red cord?)

My Beach Wall

I've been envisioning this project for a while and finally got it all put together. I did end up getting REALLY cheap frames (to save money) and spray painted them to match my dining room, but they turned out great! They are right above our table, so we can eat and enjoy scenes of our family at one of our very favorite places....the beach:)

Happy Birthday Grandma Cindy!

If you need a good cry....

...watch The Locator!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G8zIIHQKqo

What a Halloween!!

I'm not sure if it's because the kids are getting older or what, but Halloween seems to get busier and busier every year. This year we were: a Doctor, an 80's girl, Hermione, a Bride, and Darth Vader.

Here we are at one of the Halloween parties (where Tyson had an "accident" in his pants so we had to leave a little earlier than planned).

It still was a lot of fun!

Kya had a parade at school on Friday, so I brought Tyson. They had fun showing off their costumes and getting sunburned in the HOT sun!

They all got a lot of yummy candy. Tyson and Kya were done after two streets...Jordan kept going!
Here's Kya and her friend Brielle at the ward party. We later found them on the stage swinging from the curtains!

Jordan and Mia with their vampire fangs at the ward party. These girls can't get enough of each other!

Tyson and Jackson stood still for two seconds so I could snap a picture...seriously they were running around the entire activity!

We also found time to carve our pumpkin--oh, and roast the seeds YUM (excuse my nudist).

Jordan was brave enough to enter a "find the gummy worm in the pie plate full of whip cream" contest. She didn't win, but she sure got messy:)

Kya and some friends from school after the parade.

Mike and I...you can't see our costumes much but awesome make-up right?!

I don't think this was in the job description...

If "Mom" were a job in the bussiness world, the list of responsiblities/duties would be endless. Here's another to add to my own personal list of "duties" as the Mom in my home: Fish Protector!

Can you see her tougue in this one?

3 Activities and 2 New Additions

We had 3 things going on this Saturday...

Our Ward Emergency Preparedness Activity was first. I signed up to make cream of bean soup which turned out COMPLETELY DISGUSTING. I ended up not even taking it to the activity because it was so gross. But that is how we spent the first part of our Saturday. Then we headed off to...

Jordan's Fall Festival! We all had a great time jumping in the bouncers (okay, Mike and I didn't actually jump), playing games and winning prizes.


We were not prepared for 2 of the prizes we won! We now are the proud owners of a couple of gold fish...hopefully they'll last more than a day this time:) Tyson named his fish "Juice" and Kya named her fish "Goldie". Then we were of to...

The Westchester Harvest Festival! We didn't play any games or jump on any bouncers at this festival (much to Kya's dismay). Kya's tap class got to preform for us!! She has only been in dance class for about a month, but she did such a great job AND she LOOKED so darn cute I could eat her up:)