December

I think I made a record for the least amount of posts in one month. It's been a busy month! Some things I want to remember:

Eliza and Libby had their fun run at school the day we left for CA. Eliza didn't get first this time but got third. She did her best! Libby did great, too. She ended up getting fifth but ran so hard the whole time. She was pleased with her run.




Eliza coordinated every one's outfit (including my outfit and Brian's tie) to wear to church this past Sunday. She did a good job!



The other day, Eliza wanted me to curl her hair and she got all dressed up, so we took some pictures. I can't believe she'll be 9 in a couple weeks!


We had a fun ward Christmas party. It was the morning after we got home from our trip. It was a Polar Express theme. We met at the ramada and had hot chocolate. They we took a "train" ride to the building doors, where we got to see Santa. Then the kids colored pictures from the children who'll be in Phoenix Children's on Christmas. Next, we moved into the cultural hall for a big breakfast and singing, games and entertainment. A LOT of work was put into it and it showed. We had a fun time.

I got my braces off! After 9 months, it was time. Now let me tell you, it hurt so bad!!! I was ready to turn to the lady and do something mean. Not really, but it felt terrible! I guess the clear braces are nice on but a bear to get off. I can second that! Now I just have to wear retainers which is a pain but it's better than having braces.


This past Sunday we had our traditional Christmas dinner at my parents.


My mom always sets the table so nice. Everyone had a place card of a yummy rice krispie treat in a bag labeled with his or her name. Dinner was ham, potatoes, rolls, salad, stuffing, and lots of sweets! After dinner, we took the kids across the street to carol to Sister Clem. The kids really get into it and she loves having us come. We exchanged ornaments next. It was so fun for us to pick out ornaments for the person we gave to. We tried to find something that represented that person. I'll post pictures when I can get them from my mom *hint*. :) Then my parents had gotten an ornament for each grandchild and my mom made two pairs of flannel PJs for each grandkid, too. They all put them on right away! What a fun time!

And I had to post some pictures from our photo shoot in California. It was hard to pick favorites!

Disneyland

We spent four days between Disneyland and California Adventure. I should have written about it right away because I won't be able to remember anything. So here are the highlights:
First ride: Snow White. Ellie and Hattie were a little scared. They loosed up after that thank goodness!
Fairly short lines--longest wait was Toy Story in CA, but nothing else was very long.
Ellie and Hattie going on Big Thunder with Eliza and Brian. Didn't want to go again!
Eliza being brave and trying all the big rides: Tower of Terror, CA Screamin', Space Mountain, etc.
Ferris Wheel--this was scary! We went on the Ferris wheel in CA and we sat in one of the buckets that is enclosed and it swings big time. All the girls screamed! I think Brian was embarrassed and said we were the only people screaming. It was frightening though sliding back and forth so fast! Libby now says that was her favorite ride!
Silly Symphony Swings--I swore I would never go on a ride like this. But I did. It made me dizzy, but I survived. My girls really liked this ride.
Parades--of course, the parades were awesome.
Fireworks--nothing beats a Disney fireworks show. After the fireworks, it "snowed" in Disneyland.
Small World was all decked out for Christmas. It was way cute--I love that a couple of the rooms smell of gingerbread and sweets.
We spent more time than we have in the past in Toon Town. There are some fun things there--Libby LOVED the Goofy roller coaster and rode it over 10 times I think. Micky and Minnie's house is there, so that is fun to walk through. At the end of Micky's you actually meet Micky. Ruby wasn't so sure of all the characters.
The funniest was Indiana Jones. Ellie and Libby decided they wanted to go on it, so I took them and Eliza on it. I was laughing pretty much through the entire ride as I looked at them hold on for dear life. I was thinking, this probably wasn't the ride for them because it is pretty rough and a little frightening. I covered Ellie's eyes for some of it. They didn't want to go on it again (except Eliza).
We let our girls pick out one souvenir, so Eliza and Libby chose to have their picture done. We found a really talented lady in California Adventure. Eliza got herself drawn like the Queen of Hearts and Libby was Jessie from Toy Story. They are darling! When we got home from our trip, they set up a "studio" in their room and drew caricatures.
One tragedy of the trip was Brian throwing his phone away. It was our last day and we had eaten lunch. It was on the tray and got thrown away! He asked all around and was willing to dig in the trashes, but apparently after they take the trash, it goes straight to the compacter. So sad! He felt so lost without it! He ended up ordering another one just like it from eBay, so I think he's back to full function now!
We had a fun time--it was a LOT of work for Brian and I juggling everyone and making sure no one got lost.
Some pictures from our time...

They talked about this ride (Jumpin' Jellyfish) weeks before we went.

California

(I wrote this on our trip)

On Friday we took Eliza and Libby out of school an hour early and we headed out to California. The girls did great on the drive and we arrived at our hotel in Newport around 9. After getting settled in, it was time for bed. On Saturday, we walked around the hotel for a bit, then went swimming. Yes, we went swimming.



The pool was heated some. Ruby and I got in the baby pool for a few, then she got in the big grotto pool with Brian while I warmed up in the spa. That sure felt good. After a while we got out and warmed up in the room. We decided to have our family pictures taken while we were here mostly because I got my braces off on Thursday and I wanted to wait until they were off but wanted to get them done soon to have pictures for Christmas cards. So we had those in the afternoon, so we hung out the room and slowly got ready for those. We went to Balboa Pier and had them done by Heidi Ryder--a photographer I found on Google. Can't wait to see them! Everything went well until Hattie biffed it in the water as we were running from the waves. She was a good sport about it and took it well. After pictures, we were greeted with a parking ticket on our car!! Nice. We parked where there were meters and we put some money in--enough for about an hour and a half--when we saw all the other meters were blinking "expired" so we thought they didn't need to be paid on weekends. I guess we were wrong. We are trying to appeal it, so we'll see what happens! We went back to our room, changed clothes and went back to the pier to eat dinner at Ruby's Diner. After ending dinner with their yummy shakes, we headed back.


But first, I took Ruby's bottle out of my purse to look for the keys only to leave it on the bumper. I realized it right away, but not before it fell off and was run over. So we had to buy a new bottle. And the ring on that one fell down in the bottom of the dishwasher today and melted. So Brian is out getting her yet another bottle. Hopefully our luck changes! Haha!

Today we got up and ready and headed down to San Diego. We visited the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. What a great time we had! We took a tour and it was so fun and so well done. My girls LOVED it. Eliza kept saying, "This is so fun!" It's an interactive type tour and you go from room to room and kind of go from location to location learning about the march of the Mormon Battalion. At the end, we had our picture taken and the girls panned for "gold", learned how a brick was made, used a hand pump to get water and so on. We are so glad we went there--it was a fun time.








From there, we went to the San Diego Temple and walked around the grounds.




On the way back, we stopped at Crystal Cove Beach and the girls (and Brian) got their feet wet in the ocean.

(best photo I could get in the dark!)
I volunteered to hold Ruby since there was no way I was getting in the cold water!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving started for me with an early morning hike. I was home in time to watch our traditional Macy's Thankgiving Day Parade. We love watching that parade as we get ready for the day. I had made a couple dishes the day before, so I just had one thing to make that morning. We had Thanksgiving at Brian's parents' this year. Last minute I made some fun place cards along with a little "ice breaker" type of game. Food was yummy as always. If I could remember to document right after the event I wouldn't forget everything! And I don't have pictures because all of them were lost due to an unnamed child who hit all the right buttons on the computer to delete them forever. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we met up with my brother Brian and his family and my parents at a park in Surprise. The kids played, we had lunch and dessert and visited.