After a long hard day...

When we got home today, Maddax ran to his room, grabbed his pajamas, got some chocolate from his Christmas candy, and curled up on my new chair to enjoy it. This kid is hilarious.

Christmas 2011

     Christmas came very quickly this year. With such a busy month, it was hard to believe it was upon us. We were able to see a lot of our family and friends this month between a wedding, funeral and regularly scheduled Christmas gatherings. I think that was my favorite part about Christmas this year. I loved being able to see so many of the people we love and enjoy being around.
    On Christmas Eve we went with my parent's ward to do their traditional 30 minute get together where we sang some hymns and heard a few testimonies. It was short, simple, no fanfare or decorations, just getting together to celebrate Christ. It is the best way to start Christmas festivities.
   Afterward, we went to my parents house for games and dinner. As always, we had fun and at times, got a little too competitive.

Maddax stole my camera on Christmas Eve and the following morning. Seems everyone was aware except for me!

   Christmas morning we had to wake the kids up at 8am. It was still early for us after staying up to 2am due to missing parts and uncooperative equipment....but Kolby's parents came over for breakfast. We had cinnamon chip french toast and it was DELISH. It will be our new tradition. It was very nice sharing the morning with them.

Peggy, Kim and Kolby

   The kids got way too many gifts and I can truly see how abundantly blessed we are. I think next year I will scale it down by at least half and give it to other families. Between grandparents, aunts & uncles, and santa, the kids are covered!

Baby brother got married

First half of the day...more to come!

Fa la la la

We are still around, living, breathing and taking it all in. We've each been super busy, and I don't have much time to update now, but I will in due time  :)  Here's a picture of us yesterday with Santa.

Sunday morning entertainment

He thinks he is funny, doing a dance with daddy's glasses.

Halloween

Mickey and Minnie Mouse

He is happy, but do you know why? Because he got a cheesy watch at the ward party (see on his left wrist??) It's always those cheap things that make their day, hmmm, something to think on when Christmas shopping!

Getting ready to surprise Gma and Gpa

Maddax would ring the bell, then knock while saying 'knock knock' at every.single.door.

It was cute, he finally understood it this year.

Driving through the middle of the night

We were able to spend a day in Disneyland with my entire family

(That is nobody we know in front of Mickey, but this lady was  adamant about her dramatic photo in front of the pumpkin, so we'll forever memorialize her here.)

A day in Huntington Beach. It was forecasted to be in the 80's. It wasn't even near 80 degrees. That is Hannah in the coat huddled in a sand hole to keep warm! But we had fun anyways-

Long (very long) drive home.

Jumping on the health bandwagon

We got a treadmill this week. It has built-in Wi-fi and links to ifit Live. It downloads workouts from Jillian Michaels who talks you through the workout and automatically adjusts the incline, speed, etc. It then reports back to the website how many calories you've burned, how far you've walked etc and you can track it by week, month, total, or day. You can even create your own map from google maps to run or join a race and race other users on the same "course." I'm looking forward to the possibilities, but as many know, I HATE running. So we'll see if this program can ease me into it!

Resourceful

Hannah can be resourceful when she wants to be. They are enjoying one of the last nice days of weather before Fall really comes. They've used that sandbox as nearly everything, except a sandbox. As they are being creative instead of glued to the TV then I'm good with it.

Gardens again this week

Kolby had a rare night off, we went to the gardens with some friends. All in all it was great, until we got lost in the dark and had to wind all the way around the huge waterfall to find our way out :)

Kick-off

For Young Women's we held a Personal Progress kick-off event. It was short, simple and to the point. My "kick-off" theme vision turned out pretty well. The program was listed like a roster and we began with a cheer, etc. The girls really liked it too.

Getting our $$ worth

We have really loved our pass to Thanksgiving Point. Whenever we need to get out, that's where we go. In early September I took the kids to the dinosaur museum and the next day I took them with my niece to the children's gardens. They always have a great time and the weather has been so nice this last month!!

Back to School

Maddax started pre-school. The bus comes to pick him up and drops him off. We aren't sure what he does at school because all he talks about is the bus, backpack and shoes!!

Hannah started 2nd grade - She was very excited!

3 Years Old

Maddax turned 3...can't wait to see what the next year will bring...err, actually, I am perfectly fine waiting!

Anyone who knows this kid, knows he loves to sing 'Happy Birthday' all year long and pretend to blow out candles. So this was the crowning moment in his day, blowing out his own REAL birthday candles.

He picked out this cake himself (after I told him 'no' on the Dora cake - mean Mom, I know.)

Favorite present that day, the box for the basketball hoop. Number of times he's played with the actual hoop since his birthday = 0!

That's the birthday smile I was waiting for, stitches and all.

We invited family over to swim to celebrate. However, apparently when you invite everyone over to the pool to celebrate, they don't assume that means to bring a swimming suit. Note to self - spell everything out, yes, everything.

The grandmas and grandpas.

5 weeks apart, 2 bugs in a rug