Irvine Railroad/Visit to Santa

So, we're this year has been a lot of trial and error when it comes to local family activities.  I'd heard fun things about the Christmas Train and the Irvine Railroad, so, we decided to try it out with our friends, the Smiths.  (Side note:  Our first Sunday in our new ward, back in June, Brian looked across the room and saw Matt.  I didn't remember him, but, apparently, they remembered each other!  While Brian worked in the Math Lab at BYU, he tutored Matt, an engineering student, regularly.  So, six years later, they picked up on a long-lost friendship!)

Here we are, waiting to board the train to see Santa!

   The cheesey, hold-the-camera out and snap a picture may never get old for Brian!

The kids were so excited to ride in the caboose!

Braden, Morgan, and Sadie

While Carson didn't scream when he saw Mr. C, he wasn't too interested in him, either.  In fact, when it was our turn, he ran straight for the toys (i.e. the display)!  

Then, he came up to the old man and checked him out.

And, finally, he sat on his lap, no problem!  

 After meeting Santa, the kids just had to climb into his sleigh!

Can't believe I got a picture with Carson actually sitting!  

Because, the whole time Mrs. Claus read the kids a story, Carson was doing this:

So, the girls took a picture with Mrs. Claus, who, I might add, is a very sweet lady!  She told the girls all about the problems they've been having at the North Pole with the mischeivious "Elf on the Shelf" department. (Last year, a few were put on probation for T.P.ing Christmas Trees and squirting toothpaste all over the mirror!)

Oh, and for those of you in cooler climates that still enjoy our blog...the heavy coats are just for show.  We would have been just fine in sweatshirts!  :)

December Fun

Among all the official activities and events we participated in during the month of December, there was still plenty of down time to just hang out and

cook,

spin in the bilibo (this toy never gets old!),

snap a few pictures (Carson:  cheeeeeeeee!!),

build a few towers,

and, last, but certainly not least, 

put on makeup.

Hope you've had a great December!

Christmas Cookie Decorating

I think this will become a new tradition at our house.  I can only handle frosting, sprinkles, and cookie crumbs all over the place about once each year.  This year, it happened to be in early December, when we invited our friends, the Johnsons, over to decorate gingerbread cookies.

And, it was kind of by mistake that it all came to be.  I had just decorated a cake for someone, so I had lots of leftover frosting and black, white, and red sprinkles, and, I had just made a huge batch of gingerbread cookies for Sadie's "preschool" the day before.  Add that to a free Friday evening and the kids had a blast!

Lake Trip with the Deans

This one's out of order, but, since I forgot my camera, I had to snag some pics from my friend's blog.  So, Shelley, thanks for the pics!

We had some friends from Colorado stop by to see us during their family vacation.  So, we took them to the lake!  Even in October, the weather was beautiful enough to enjoy a quick swim and BBQ!

Sadie and Stewart.  How great it is to be a kid.  These two haven't seen each other in almost two years, and, likely don't even remember being friends from when we were in Denver, but, in no time, were playing just like they hadn't skipped a beat!  

Me and my friend, Shelley.  We're so glad they stopped to visit us on their way to Disneyland!

Morgan and Sadie doing what they do best--playing in the water!  These girls sure love the lake!

Random November Fun

It's fun to finally download pictures and look back on great memories!  When it takes this long to actually post about things, it's kind of like waiting for pictures to be developed.  You don't always remember every one of the 24 pictures you took on the roll.  Then, you get them back from Costco (well, I guess it was Price Club back then!), and, surprise!  Fun memories!

So, here's from our November "roll" of film!

Thankful Tree

This year's Thankful Tree was a bit neglected.  Mostly due to the fact that we were super busy with family in town, followed by visiting family out of town shortly after that!  

So, here's a very small number of the many things we are so thankful for this year!  

Thanksgivng

I know I'm really behind.  I used to be kind of up-to-date with my blog, but now, I've decided it's better to record it at some point, rather than not record it at all!

What started as a quick "just us" trip to San Jose for a BYU football game turned into an 8-day family vacation to Northern California!  We saw the Joneses (sorry, no pic!), the Posts (no pics, again!), (Great) Grandpa and Grandma Miller, and the Heathcotes!  We had a great time!

Brian and Mackenzie at the game--we had fun with the Alie and Tyler, but will NEVER again buy a BYU tailgate ticket!  It took forever to get our food, and it wasn't even good!  Add to it that we lost the game!  

Look at this kid's eyelashes!  

My Grandpa (the kids' Great-Grandpa) celebrated his 78th birthday while we were visiting (November 19).  We wanted to do something fun to surprise him, so Brian and the girls went to get him donuts!  Later that evening, the Heathcotes came over for dinner and ice cream.  We had a fun day, but, all Grandpa could say at the end was, "Why didn't I have a birthday cake?"  We love you, Grandpa!

These kids LOVE to wash dishes!  

Leave it to Carson to dirty BOTH of his jackets on the same day.  As I'm recording this one month later, this "butterfly jacket" has now become one of his favorites!

Sadie, our cheerleader!  

Morgan, our daredevil!

What do you say about a picture of yourself?  Well, here I am!  

We played at the school playground in the neighborhood.  I remember playing at this school when I was a little kid!  And, my mom (Tammy), went to this elementary school.  It was fun to show the kids where Grammy Tammy went to school.

Brian, showing off that he can still do a pull up! (For the record: I've never been able to do one--ever!  And, I'm okay with that!)

Daddy taught Morgan to play chess a few weeks before our trip.  She wanted to challenge Great-Grandpa!  He was pretty impressed with her skill!

It's always been a fun tradition to have dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory the last night before we all head home from Sacramento.  So, we did.  And, for the first time that I can ever remember at this location, we got to eat in the main part of the restaurant!  Our group has always been so big (i.e. 25+ NOISY kids), that we've eaten in the back room.  I guess we've learned to behave ourselves a bit better as we've aged!  This is such a fun tradition!

Alie snapped this picture of Carson on Thanksgiving.  How she managed to get him to stay still for a picture is a mystery to me!  (She must have been dangling a piece of food by the camera!)

31

Brian turned 31 on November 15th.  Morgan was assigned to be the photographer that evening.  We had a great little celebration.  I bought a small cheesecake (his favorite, but we didn't want leftovers!), and he got a new polo.  Fun times!

Pretend City

I found super cheap tickets online a while back, so just before Thanksgiving, my old roommate, Maryn, and I, took our kids to Pretend City.  My kids favorite part:  the stage.  The girls loved getting dressed up, the stage lights, and singing along to the music!  Carson had a great time performing, as well!

Aside from the stage, the kids could dig in the garden, shop at the grocery store, make an art project, read in the library, and fill up at the gas station, among many other things.  Carson's favorite part was driving around in the Cozy Coupe!  I'm still kicking myself for getting rid of that when we moved from Colorado!

Morgan, Sadie, and their friend, Robbie (actually 3rd cousin), having fun on the fire engine!