christmas 2010

I know Christmas was months ago, but I have been so busy and have not found time to post all about our wonderful Christmas. Tyler's family came out to spend it with us and it was so much fun having them here. It was the first time in 3 years that we were with our extended family for Christmas. Our kids were in heaven! And so were we.

out to dinner at our favorite taco place, taco mamacitas

Christmas morning

sadie rocking out to her ipod while painting a gorgeous picture

cheesecake factory

opryland hotel

ICE! show. it was sooo cold inside. i thought it would be just below freezing, but no, it was like 7 degrees. cold! the ice sculptures were pretty cool, but i am not sure that we would pay $22 a person again to freeze our butts off

We rented a cabin up in Gatlinburg. It was a lot of fun! We had quite the adventure getting there though....

So, we weren't told that we needed not only a 4 wheel drive to get to our cabin, but we also needed chains. Well, we only had our mini van. It made it about 1/3 of the way up the mountain and we had to stop and get out of our car. A car pulled up behind us and helped us get to their cabin which wasn't too far away from where we were stopped. They said that we could park there and hike up to our cabin. So, we lugged EVERYTHING and our kids up the mountain (which seemed like about a mile) while it was snowing. I felt so bad for Tyler...he did most of the work! We had plans to go to an indoor water park, but we didn't make it back down the mountain until it was time to go home. We were stuck up there the whole time, but it was actually quite fun. We had a hot tub outside and it was so fun to sit in it with all the snow all around. It has been years since I have seen pretty, fluffy snow. We played games and made a yummy Christmas dinner. I love being with family!

walked around Gatlinburg and went to the famous pancake pantry

revamped!

Our house was really bare (and kind of still is), so I needed to revamp it a little. I wanted some new furniture, but I wanted to paint them myself and kind of make it my own. I was inspired by this website. Here are a few projects that I have finished. The dresser and night stands I got at goodwill (I payed a little more than I would have liked, but I really liked the style).

I got this bench at goodwill for $12

This little bench was free...

DISNEYWORLD

We went to Disney World a couple weeks ago with our kids and Tyler's family. It was so much fun. I was really nervous before we left because I wasn't sure how Ella was going to do with no naps and all. But she did great as well as Sadie and Parker. It was such a fun trip! Magic Kingdom is by far my favorite park out of them all. It was so magical! :)

I am so glad that Tyler's parents came out and Kim and Joe and their kids came. Our kids had so much fun together. I am so happy that Ems came too! Tyler had a couple interviews and had to leave early, so Ems and I drove the kids home (11 hours) by our selves. The kids did so awesome. Thank goodness for car DVD players and lots of snacks!

Anyway, here are some pictures of our trip to Orlando.

3d movie

sadie and her cousins, coleman and fisher

one of sadie and parkers favorite parts about disneyworld...all the characters. ella was terrified of them so we didn't get pictures of her.

these next two pics are my favorite...

race cars

because it was sadies birthday, she got a pass to be the 'skipper' and drive the boat on the jungle cruise. highlight of her trip!

animal kingdom

A Bug's Life 3D

Parker was pretty excited to go see this 3d movie. Well, in the movie it looks like the bugs are coming at you and it sprays you with a little bit of water....he was terrified! It was so sad, but kind of funny to watch him try to duck from the bugs "flying" out toward him. He started crying, so Tyler took him out.

What can I say....he is my tender boy.

It was a great trip! Disney World is magical. But, I do have to say....I like Disneyland a little better.