Christmas 2013

(Mason "froze" every time he sat on Santa's lap! It was so funny!)

Christmas is always such a fun day we all look forward to. As the kids are getting older, we've been trying to show them the true meaning of Christmas. I love it how they are understanding more and more about the birth of Jesus and about His life. Every year I add something else to our FHE or nightly scripture studies. I pray that I can help my kids to have a testimony of the Savior. 

They get 3 gifts from Christmas, representing the 3 gifts Jesus got when he was born. Of course I add more things to it, so it's not only 3 things, but 3 gifts (plus stockings stuff). I love it how they are content with 3 gifts and how they enjoy them! Wes and I take the opportunity to play with their new toys with them. Quality instead of quantity ... it works for our family :)

This year I started to give the kids a new ornament. Close to Christmas I was able to find a skinny 6' high tree for $5 (deal!) so they can decorate their own tree. They loved it! For our countdown to Christmas, I wrapped 24 gifts so they had one gift to open everyday. They were mostly Christmas books. Some other things were a date with mom or dad, ice cream gift card or a treat. They had fun guessing what the next gift would be :) 

Some pictures of our Christmas morning.

Then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for brunch and to enjoy Christmas day with our family. Always so fun!

The kids were attacking Joe! 

I've been trying to take the same picture every year of the kids in the same spot. Just for fun! Here's the last 3 years :) 

Mason turned 2!

I had this idea of having a movie night with the cousins to start off the Christmas season and ... why not celebrate Mason's birthday at the same time?! ;)

The kids had pizza and lots of sweets. We sang happy birthday to Mason and he opened gifts. He had blast! 

I am so grateful to have Mason in our lives! He's such a joy!! He loves to play, dance, run, sing, cuddle, kiss, hug .. and the list goes on! He's finally saying more words and can communicate pretty well. I love it when he includes me (or us) to something he's doing. I can tell he's a thoughtful kid. And ... full of energy! He fits in really well in our family!

We love you Mason!! 

ACT OF KINDNESS

Last year I wanted to focus on service and teach my kids the act of giving. I also wanted them to remember that serving is not only during the holidays, but on our everyday. We called it "Act of Kindness". We started in November, with the goal of doing an random act of kindness or just showing our love to someone once a week. We tried doing it weekly and, starting in January, monthly. Unfortunately I didn't keep track of what we did after February and by May, I think, we stopped it ... unfortunately. However, throughout the year, there had been many times when the kids did something for someone and referred back to the "act of kindness" that we did in the past. 

Even though we were not consistent throughout the year with the goal, I am pretty sure they learned a lot about giving. I hope to always teach them that giving is MUCH better than receiving. 

These are the things we did that I was able to keep a record of.

Nov. 12th 2012

Spencer wrote a note for the mailman and gave him one of his Halloween candy.

We drove to the Dollar Store and Isabella and Spencer left $1 by a toy. I bet it made a kid very happy.

Nov. 19th 2012

The kids took cookies to a fire station. The fire fighters were so excited and the kids got a private tour of the big fire truck. After all they got a batch and for the rest of the day they were fire fighters :) 

Nov. 26th 2012

The kids drew pictures and glued some pictures of them on papers and we mailed it to their grandparents in Brazil. They had no idea about it. 

Nov. 30th 2012

We took a member of our ward, who is blind, to Costco for him to buy some things. It was great for the kids to help a person in need, specially a person with a physical challenge. That night, during our family prayer, Isabella thanked Heavenly Father for our body in a very special way. 

Dec. 2nd 2012

Spencer turned to me and said "I know an act of kindness ... I want to write a thank you card to my teacher". Within 10 minutes the letter was ready to go! Here's his sweet letter with a little candy attached :)

Dec. 3rd 2012

The kids decided to give some of their toys to another kid(s). Isabella chose her friend Kaydence from our ward. She gave her a purse with a note and a lollypop. We drove to her house and she just put it by the door. Cute enough, the next Sunday, Kaydence brought a little treat to Isabella with a thank you card. 

Spencer chose his friend Ian, also from our ward, and his brothers. He wrote a note for all of them and put one toy for each of them in separate bags with their names in it. We drove to their home and he put them by the door. It was cute to see him running so they wouldn't see us. Their mom told me later how happy the boys were with the new toys from Spencer. She was planning on doing the same thing to somebody else. 

About a week before Christmas, we went to temple square to see the lights and the act of kindness was to give away a merry Christmas note with a candy. Each of them had about 6 notes to give out. Below were Isabella's notes. 

They were a little hesitant to do so but I went with them and helped them. It was so cute to see the kid's face when they got it, and the parents face too :). I know some people were touched by it. Spencer and Isabella were a little "shy" but I think they will remember it.

From January on, the goal was to do an act of kindness a month. 

JANUARY 2013

The kids actually decided themselves what to do. Spencer wanted to write a note to Grandma and Grandpa with ten things he loves about them.

Isabella wanted to give her friends Cassie and Jordan a toy. This is her little note to them.

FEBRUARY 2013

We decided to take cookies to the nurses who take care of the newborn babies at St. Mark's Hospital. Our FHE was about service and then we headed to the hospital. The kids were very excited to see the little babies :) Isabella wrote the note this time. 

This holiday season has been quite crazy and, sadly, I haven't been able to make anything like this happen. 

I do, however, already have an idea for next year ... :)

California Trip & Disneyland!!!

On the 19th of November we headed to California for a treat! A treat that was giving to us by my father and mother in law! Wes's graduation and Christmas gift! WOW!! They took us to a 8 day trip and it was awesome!! 

First stop: Anaheim! Most people prepare their Disney vacation for months, I had to do it in 2 days!! Thank goodness for Pinterest :)

The kids didn't know about Disneyland until we got to the park. They thought we were going to the beach. Cars ride was a HIT!! I could go in that ride over and over again! We had so much fun! The weather was cloudy so I think it scared people away because the wait for the rides were about 20-40 minutes! Perfect!!!

Everything was decorated with Christmas stuff. So beautiful and magical! At night we watched a beautiful show with water. I had been to California Adventure like 12-13 years ago and, wow, it has changed a lot!! For the better, of course :) 

Here's some pictures of Disney's California Adventure.

The next day we went to Disneyland!! It was actually my very first time in Disneyland! About time! haha! There were more people in Disneyland, however, Doug had to get a wheel chair because of his legs and we were able to get on the rides faster because of the handicap line!! Hook up!! haha Still, the wait wasn't that bad for the regular lines. It rained a little on us but we didn't care ... we were in Disneyland!! I can be wet! haha

We all had a blast! Both Spencer and Isabella went to Space Mountain and most of the rides. They had so much fun!! Even Mason enjoyed a ton! He was great the whole time and he was watching everything with a sparkly eye :) 

Here's some pictures of Disneyland

The next day we played in the hotel's pool in Newport Beach and it was so fun and relaxing. 

After dinner, we went to Huntington Beach for a walk. We got to see the sunset and, WOW, what a sunset!! It was so fun walking with Wes and watching the kids finding sea shells. They were so happy!!

The next day we spent most of the day in the old town of San Diego. We saw the Mormon Battalion place and it was awesome! Great presentation about the Mormon Battalion. Then we ate at Fred's - Second time there ... I guess a family favorite :) Then we spent some time by the bay, before heading to Ashley's for dinner. 

Next we headed to St. George. We slept there and spent half of the next day there playing in the pool. I was impressed with my kids. It was not warm. The sun was out but it was cold to be wet! They just jumped in the pool and the hot tub and enjoyed themselves! Love that about them!!

Last stop, Cedar City. Wes got to go on a little adventure with Jacen. They each rode a horse from Jacen's house to the mountains and back. By the time they were back it was pitch black! Not sure how the horses (and them) were able to see anything but, oh well, they made it back safe! :) Despite being freezing cold, Wes had a fun!

Doug and Linda - THANK YOU! It was an AMAZING trip! We'll be eternally grateful to you for this opportunity! Love you tons!