Day 1, The Dinner After...

This is a little long, but Brody was exhausted and it was HILARIOUS! This was dinner after our first day in the park...

Disneyland Day 4, December 5, 2009

We headed to Newport Beach for our last hurrah...
It was beautiful, we loved the pier, we loved all the cute beach-houses, the fact that our kids played in that freezing cold water, and the smell of the ocean.

We are thankful that we had so much fun with our family and our friends! I could have spent one more week just laying on that beach! (That will have to wait)

After we fed some sourdough bread to the birds, we drove to St. George and stayed overnight. The best part of St. George was the In N Out burgers for dinner! Then we drove home. 12 hours in the car with kids is never a cake walk, but we loved our trip so much!!! Thank you Granny for helping us to go, we love you!

Disneyland Day 3, December 4th, 2009

Day three began with a few rides and a train ride to Toontown...

The best part of ToonTown are all of the photo opportunities! The kids were in hog-heaven, running around and touching EVERYTHING!

Mom's, too :)

Gracie was a little tired, so Minnie let her take a snooze on her very plush sofa.

While Brody made us some cake.

This picture is representational of the men for the whoooole trip. They were such troopers, pushin' kids and haulin' gear.

Amber and I made all the mad dashes for fast passes, we were "the man"!

I love how expressive our kids faces are, I love this picture!

Above is Avery in the very spot that my mom took a picture of me in 1992. I was 14 years old and Toontown had just opened.

So, of course I had to get my family on this same dogbed, 17 years later! Times sure have changed. (For the better...would anyone in their right mind want to be 14 again? NO! Especially in those socks? WTH was I thinking?)

Disneyland Day 2, December 3rd, 2009

The day started out with Cal. Adventure. LOOVED IT! That place has way better food, less lines, and rides that we loved. We went on Tower of Terror twice, Soarin' twice, Mulholland Madness twice (Brody's fav), and Screamin' twice (everyone else's fav). It was heaven.

And, we saw Santa!

We had a princess dinner, which was a lot of fun for the girls and surprisingly fun for Brody.

He said, and I quote..."I am going to marry her and then kiss her on the LIPS!" There really was a lot of emphasis on Lips. Rob's reply was, "Way to stick with the brunettes, Bud."

Avery met her fav

Gracie met hers...

And we had time to do some more Magic Kingdom! They did this neat ceremony to light up the castle, where a little boy asked for snow. My friend Amber turned to her son, who asked if it really would snow, and said "no honey, this is California". Right then they made it "snow" on Main Street, where we were standing, with soap bubbles. It really was magical and made me feel like crying a little.

P.S. I did pray, I'm loathe to admit, that the princesses we wanted would be at the dinner. (Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella) We had Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty. How is that, for an answer to prayer?

I really was very thankful that little Avery got to meet her favorite princess and we didn't have to stand in line for 30 minutes to make it happen. She is my little princess, I wanted it to be special for her. I loved every minute of this day.

Disneyland Day 1, December 2nd, 2009

This was actually December 1st, after many hours of driving. We are happy to be showered and comfortable. We are even more happy that tomorrow we get to go to Disneyland!!

On the shuttle, in the morning, we are on our way!
Boston, Brody, Sadie, Gracie, Avery...our crew of youngsters.

I love it when he pretends to like me. It makes me pretend to like him :)

Avery's own personal Fairy Godmother, at the character breakfast.

Gracie and Christmas Minnie. Seriously, there were a lot of variations of the characters running around.

Brody and his evil friend!

We are happy to be here! (I couldn't find my Watterson Family shirt from our family reunion this summer, so everyone but me was matching. I'm glad I didn't get stolen, no one would have been able to find me, with that non-descript t-shirt on!)

Finally, the part that Mommy and Daddy were excited for! RIDES!!! Brody NEVER stopped asking to go back on Buzz Lightyear, it was his favorite. (We did ride it three more times)

It was a long, but fun day! I really recommend the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland's schedules and tips, they totally worked. We did not wait for one ride, over 5 minutes, following that schedule. Sheer awesomeness.
Gracie was a little put out, you can barely tell.

First Tooth!

This little princess lost her first tooth and recieved a fabulous golden dollar from the tooth fairy!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Watch this, it will make your day.
I am thankful for Mormon Messages, they make me happy!
Most of all I am thankful to be a member of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Life couldn't be better!

Princesses on the rocks, please...

A group of little girls up here all have their birthdays around the same time...so, all of us Mommies came up with the brilliant idea of taking them to Princesses on Ice. We went out to dinner and then the show. I took all of the pictures on my phone, since mother of the year forgot her camera. The giggling was deafening and after an hour of it I was ready for bed :), but luckily Avery can't read this. The girls had a really good time!

All the Mommies and their princesses!

Dinner at Rumbi's...my hamburger was delicious, thank you for asking.

My favorite princess and I. It was nice to have a date night just for my poor little middle child, Avis. She is delicious. Girliness is definitely the way to her heart!

After All, Dear

Tonight I decided to tackle Direct TV. You see, they have mis-billed me and I have been avoiding calling them...simply because, calls like that are inevitably a huge pain in my butt. So, I was forced to call them, by time. The call lasted for an incredibly frustrating 45 minutes. Let me clarify that I made the idiot decision to call at 4:55. I put the kids to bed at 7:00 (there is a good 30 minutes of stories, prayers, and kisses/tuckin' in after that 7:00). I hadn't even started dinner. I had to keep moving between the computer and filing box and let the water for the potatoes boil, potato-less, for 45 minutes. What was I thinking?

So, at 5:40, when I was just starting dinner...my kids were crying in hunger and bedtime was relentlessly marching in my head; I lost it. The house was insanely messy, Gracie has strep, I haven't even looked at my assignment for the week, I wasn't able to work this morning and I have 5 yellow dots (that is bad), I didn't have a lesson planned for FHE, I had just paid the bills, I hate money, Gracie freaks everytime I go to shove Augmentin in her pie hole, and my husband was INSTALLING OULETS IN THE CLOSET! What to do when one is on the verge of having a life induced nervous breakdown. (Let me garnish these thoughts with the knowledge that I have of my own sissy nature.)


I pulled dinner together and we all sat down together.


Rob asked the kids to sing him their favorite primary song, sly dog. They did and it was lovely. I love their sweet raspy voices. He then proceeded to tell them the story of Ephraim Hanks. We learned a lot about this incredible man on trek. He was teaching the kids about obedience and I was appreciating every second of it. It was like any Family Home Evening with young children, sketchy and short; but, it happened. It got done. Check.

My sister and I were just talking about this very thing, yesterday. Sometimes, being a woman feels like you are a popcorn kernel on a hot cooktop. You feel like you are going to pop. Times like this, you take all the pressure on yourself.


Rob didn't feel the same pressure I did and was able to calmly orchestrate a totally decent Family Home Evening. It took about 5000 pounds off of my worrying mother shoulders. (Because did you know that if you don't have FHE every single Monday, of your children's lives, they will grow up to be pathological liars and murderers?) I would have given up tonight, as mentioned I am an emotional lightweight with stress, and that is when the power of another kicked in. I love that man. Not because he is perfect or anything, just because he is good and consistent and takes care of me. Thank you, Babe. You are a good friend, a better father, and my very favorite human being.

I know, right?

Really? Come on, take a little criticism...

(P.S. I had to look up criticism in the dictionary, because I spelled it like this: critisizm. Ouch. Going back to school and taking an ENGLISH class is obviously doing wonders for me; maybe, I should try Spanish?)

That was an entirely different tangent...sorry.

For all the guys out there in blogging world: Love, Rob

Yes, these are in fact...skinned, dead, deer; with their eyeballs shining in the light of the flash. We so enjoyed the smell, the hiking, but most of all; proving our status at the tip top of the food chain. We are lords over the whole Earth, thank you very much.

The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery.

We guided a lot this year. We helped this random man take this nice elk on Deseret. My wife was mildly miffed that I was more than a few hours later than I said I would be, but it wouldn't be hunting if my wife wasn't annoyed!

I took this picture, and yes it took every man pictured to haul this fatty moose out of there. Once again, I was later than I said I would be. Kris annoyed? Check. Hunting as usual.

I took one child with me, Gracie, so this was looked upon with more understanding. Do you think if I take all three kids, I can just take the entire month of October to hunt? Can you tell Kris has actually typed every word of this? Seriously, I am not that clever. Well, I'm off to kill more innocent animals. Love, Rob.

Halloween was really fun for our family. We used costumes that we had already, so we are a little ragamuffin...but, the kids didn't mind. Avery was Jasmin and rocked the red lipstick.

Brody was a dinosaur. He refused to wear the feet on anything but his hands, go figure. This was the party at his pre-school. I was the only mom there not dressed up. Oops, I completely forgot that I might want to dress up...I guess I thought it was just another day!

Up here the elementary kids all walk to the high school football field and walk around it while the entire community cheers from the stands. It is a sight to behold. This was the first year that I haven't been asked to march with the kids, so I got to watch from the stands! My mother was kind enough to come and cheer on the kids with me.

Gracie chose to be a Geisha for the parade and a witch later for the trunk or treat. Little changeling, she is.

Avery's wig would not stay on! She loved every minute of being on display for so many people!

On Halloween night our ward had a trunk or treat.

This costume was so fun for Avery. She was shaking her hips everywhere she danced, so that she could hear the jingle of the jewels on her belly!

Brody enjoyed hangin' with his buddy Ian.

We had a great Scary Season and have enough candy to spare...anyone want some?