Christmas

We got a late start with our Christmas festivities this year because of our trip, but we caught up by making Gingerbread houses and toffee, seeing the Layton lights, and having lots of Christmas parties.

Jack & Kire making houses

My family white elephant party

Trevor, Megan, Skye, Jack, Trevor, Amy, Grady

Erik, Kire, Julia and Lauren

A few highlights were the Snuggie blanket I brought, a christmas sweater, a dog clock that has a different dog bark for every hour and Erik received some socks that say "want to shag?"

Christmas morning was so fun in our house with 2 little boys. We didn't get a ton this year because the trip was our big present, but each of the boys got a couple of toys that they really like. Jack got this awesome bouncing horse that he got handed down to from his cousins, and 2 books and a fun puzzle. Kire got a couple of boxes of legos, a game, and a matchbox race track with cars. But Kire's favorite present was a .97 cent wallet I got him and $1 that his uncle Cam gave him to put in it.

Kire was so funny opening presents. He took his time and wanted to look at everything. He was opening his stalking and would say, "Oh did Santa get this out of the basement?" because he had seen some of his presents downstairs after I'd bought them.

For mine & Erik's present we got the family a Play Satation 3. Our dvd player died about a month ago and we decided to get this instead since it's a blue ray player, it streams Netflix, plus the boys can play games, so I think it was a good decision (except now the boys have taken over the tv with NCAA football and Starwars Legos).

Lots of parties with the Thompsons. We had a Santa visit and had the kids dressed up for the nativity; well Kire refused to dress up and Jack chose a Tiger costume.

Jack & Kire building their hotwheel track with grandpa bart.

Kire with his Legos

Christmas has come and gone so fast this year, but I'm exhausted and ready for it to be over. I want to put away all of my Christmas stuff right now because I feel like my house is so cluttered, but I'll try to hold off for a couple of days.

Disneyland

Erik and I hadn't been to Disneyland since we were little kids, so I was so excited to go and take the boys. We went for 2 days, and that was perfect. We were able to do everything we wanted in that time. Disneyland was fun, but I think we're like a once every 5 years kind of family. The atmosphere was fun and the kids liked the rides, but it's crowded and we've been on much faster/funner rides at other parks. So I'm glad we went, but I prefer the beach.

Kire rode every ride, even Space mountain and the other roller coasters. I was surprised but he lOVEd the big rides best.

San Diego

Last Thursday we headed down to San Diego. It's our favorite place. We love the beach and have gone just about every year. Erik just finished up the football season so we were ready for a trip together.

We went to Legoland the first day we were there. It was a fun place, and I got cheap tickets, but I wouldn't recommend it. Kire loves legos so he had fun, but there weren't any adult rides and Jack couldn't go on anything.

The next couple of days we spent going to the beach and Old town. We went to La Jolla and saw tons of sea lions right on the rocks in front of us.

Sunday was beautiful, 80 degrees, so we spent most of the day at Coronado beach. The sand is so great there and it's wonderful for families. The water was cold but the boys played in the sand and we saw dolphins a few yards out.

Grandma Donna

My sweet Grandma Donna passed away last weekend while we were out of town. She had recently been diagnosed with cancer but had been relatively healthy until just after Thanksgiving when her health began to deteriorate quickly. She was such a wonderful woman and I am grateful to have had her in my life for this long, but I am happy she is with her husband now.

My sweet husband and boys dropped me off in Las Vegas on our way home from our trip Wednesday so I could fly to Arizona to go to her funeral. I was so glad I did. I rarely get to see my family who live there, and now with my grandma gone I won't have much of an excuse to go, so it'll be a while before I see them again. Then I drove home early this morning with my brother and sister, what a long week.

Amy, Skye, Dad, Lauren, Grady & Trevor

Casket Bearers

Kire's 5!

My little buddy turned 5 yesterday! Kire is awesome. He is so quirky and strange. Yes, I get mad when he won't eat food because it's "ugly" but OCD can be a nice trait to have. He is very organized and takes great care of everything. He will fold all of the clothes in his drawers and line up his toys and things neatly. He even yells at Erik when he tries to eat food on the couch. We are a lot alike. I'm so grateful for him. He makes me laugh everyday and is a great big brother.

Right now he loves cowboys so he wanted a cowboy party. We played lasso the horse, shoot the indian, pin the tail on the donkey, and had a pinata. We got him a leapster system so he can play games and I found some sweet leather boots at Savers for $3. He got a pillow pet, clothes and lots of toys, mostly guns from friends ( he got 4 guns, I guess they know him pretty well).

Guitar cake