Polar Express

Thank you, Grammi and Papa, for giving us the train ride of a lifetime!  We LOVE the Polar Express movie, and it was so much fun for our kids to wear their Christmas jammies, eat cookies and milk, sing Christmas songs, meet elves, and even pick up Santa at the North Pole!!!  Each child also got a candy cane and their very own magical bell!  Daniel was especially excited about the bell!

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam!

I have had the true blessing of being the Sunbeam teacher in my ward for the past 8 or 9 months.  Those kids are so amazing!  Of course, things could get pretty crazy with 7-8 kids and one lone teacher (thanks to Lauren and Michalle for the times you came to help!), but it was just such a blast.  I am really going to miss those sweet kids when I get a new, older class in 2 weeks.  Yesterday I was able to capture a rare moment: they were all holding still!  (Bummer to miss Brandon--he doesn't always want to get in costumes or pictures.)  LOVE these kids!!!

Last week we made cards for Santa, Mrs. Clause, and the elves.  We decided to go see Santa and deliver them in person.  Steven was super excited, but Rebecca just wanted to watch from afar.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside of Santas house, but we got a couple good ones outside. 

  Oh, and, while we waited to see the big man, it snowed!!!  What fun!

 We loved getting to watch the fountains dance and ride a trolley, too.  Christmas is the best for fun (free) family outings!!!  Ho, ho, ho!

Manly Stuff

Ever since being called to the scouts with our friend Jeff, Adam has wanted to learn and do all the cool outdoor stuff Jeff does: hunting with a bow and arrow, catching hawks and falcons, hunting in general...  Today one of his wishes came true.  Pretty awesome, huh?!  (Rebecca saw this picture and said, "Oh, cute!")

Growing, Growing...

I swear, time is speeding up! Rebecca is 3 today! She is our beautiful angel princess girl. Rebecca is fun and sweet and crazy and energetic all at the same time. She is such a good sharer (MOST of the time) and so loving to Daniel, acting like a little mommy, and she loves to play along with Steven as he creates fun games and scenarios. She can also bust a serious cap and let us all know who is in charge (and no, it is not Mom or Dad). Haha, she always keeps us smiling and laughing, though. We love to watch our kids grow and see the amazing, unique personalities they all have.

Today my parents took the kids and I to the mall to celebrate--and to take our minds off the heartbreak of last night.  They treated us to corn dogs, ice cream cones, and a merry-go-round ride.  Thank you!  What a blast!  The outing ended so perfectly as we ate our cones by the fish pond.  Daniel really enjoyed the ice cream, by the way!  He would cry and scream as soon as he swallowed, not wanting even a millisecond without some in his mouth.  Thanks again for the special birthday outing!  We love living so close to so much amazing family.

(My mom loved that Rebecca picked the elephant--good girl!)

Tonight we had a quiet birthday dinner of pancakes, sausage, and eggs (the birthday girl got to pick) with our fam--Steven kept asking what family was coming and I had to keep naming us and explaining that it was just us, the people who sleep here.  Rebecca did get a few phone calls during the evening, though.  Thanks for remembering her, guys!  My kids live for getting together with our extended family, and I love it.


Happy birthday to my loveliest girl!!!  I love you so much!  The older you get, the more I love that I have a cute little fashionista girlfriend to spend all day with.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures of my girl.

Best Picture, EVER!!!

One Year!

I cannot believe my baby is already a year old! Last night I was remembering how crazy and amazing it was to suddenly rush to the hospital after my water broke during Rebecca's birthday party. The year has truly flown by!

I can't imagine our lives without our precious Daniel. He is always so smiley and happy, not to mention SUPER easy-going.

I love this baby boy. Oh, and I love how the next picture looks like he has a soul patch!

I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing our family with such an amazing gift.

Rainy Days Are the Best!

I LOVED seeing gray skies today! I go even more excited when I started to feel tiny sprinkles as I played on the trampoline with my kids. We sat outside for a couple minutes, then hurried into the house once we could tell it was starting to prep for real rain. Daniel loved standing up against the door and watching the rain fall. We celebrated with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate! Yum!!! Even Daniel got to have some of our rainy day treat. After a while thunder started, though, and poor Steven got so scared. Every time we would hear it he would bolt for the safety of his bed and bury his face into his small mountain of stuffed animals. To help all the kids feel better (the thunder actually got pretty crazy) I turned on "The Sound of Music" at the part during the storm when she sings "My Favorite Things." All three kids were mesmerized. We decided to keep watching and we all loved it--it was their first time watching it! Yay for cold, gray, rainy days when we can have special goodies and movies! Thunder, you are not invited to our next rainy day party.

Baby Charlie

We have a new cousin! Doug and Tamara are adopting this beautiful boy! Isn't he adorable?! As you can tell, he is super loved!




Now that these boys are getting a bit older, they can really enjoy each other! Daniel kept trying to give Charlie kisses, and the two of them were loving being together.

Newport Beach

Every year my family spends a week in Newport Beach. We are not always able to make it, but--besides Adam missing a few days in the middle--we were all there this year! Trisha and I each made chains to count down the days until our trip. The week was heavenly! We went to Knotts Berry Farm, visited the beach, had some birthday fun for Cher (the big 4-0), and lots more!!! Here are a few of the many pictures we took to illustrate our fun:

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for always providing such wonderful opportunities for us to all be together!