3rd week of break

The first two weeks of Christmas break always fly by. We have family in town. Then there is Christmas and New Year's and lots of cousins to visit. The last two weeks is when I have to put on my cruise director hat and entertain the troops. We have been off doing some stuff this past week.

Monday we had to run errands, Costco, (out of snacks and such) where we probably spent way to much money. We then went over to our neighbor's house to jump on their new trampoline. The pictures are blurry because the kids are in motion not because I don't know what I am doing.

Tuesday we hit Balboa Park and their free museums. We went to the Science center and learned about motion. We went to the railroad museum and saw the Lego city display. We had a picnic lunch at the fountain, which wasn't turned on, and then headed into the Natural History Museum. We watched the pendulum knock over some wood blocks as well as walked through the new Darwin exhibit.

Wednesday we headed to Miramar lake without Lily, who I felt needed to go back to school, and got some exercise. The boys did great. They rode the 5 miles around the lake in 50 minutes. They had to go slow and keep stopping to wait for their mom who was always running behind them. Next we need to walk the 5 miles with backpacks so we can start preparing for our 10 mile hike in Zion's.

Thursday we did go back to the lake and walked 3 miles with heavy backpacks on. Well, I didn't wear one, but the boys did. It was hard for them, but they pushed through and did a great job. We got ice cream later to celebrate surviving.

Friday was a big day for us. We headed back up to L.A. (I have decided I really don't like going there) and went to the La Brea Tar Pits. Noah was so excited when I told him where we were going. I didn't know he had wanted to go there so badly. He was so helpful that morning. The tar pits were fun and we really enjoyed the museum out there. It was weird to be standing in the middle of a grass field and have it smell like road work. We were done there by 12:15pm and I really didn't want to go home yet so we headed south and stopped at Disneyland.

It was a nice time despite the bad parking and shuttle arrangements which I am trying to forget about. We left at 6pm. That was a bad idea. The traffic was horrible. Even the carpool lane was slow. We kept trying to find a place to get off the freeway and eat dinner and ever off ramp I went on there was nothing there. It was a bit discouraging. One would think you can find a McD's off any exit of a major freeway, but not in Orange County. They must be above such things. We did finally find a Jack in the Box an hour after we left. We did make it home finally and the kids had a great day. They thought it was cool to have a double field trip.

Lily started ballet today. She was so great today. I loved getting her ready in her ballet stuff and putting her hair in a bun. Her teacher seems great and says already that Lily has some talent. I don't think I will inform the instructor about how often she falls down or runs into walls. That doesn't sound to graceful.
It's been a busy week. Only one more left before the kids go back to school. (YEA!)

Some of the old and Some of the New

Wow! 2010! That's amazing. We had a great 2009. It flew by. We have some amazing things planned for 2010 so I am sure this year will fly by just like the last.

We finished off 2009 at Mortensen Manor. The kids brought in the New Year at 9pm with sparkling cider and crackers. They watched the ball drop and then were off to bed. Our crackers had crowns and games in them.

The adults brought in the New Year by doing much of the same, just at midnight. Then it was off to bed for us too. The thing about getting older is that it is harder to stay up later.

The next day the cousins played outside most of the day and also watched the rose parade in Pasadena and football. Lots of football. It was fun hanging out with my sisters and brother. As I get older I realize that my own family time (sisters, brothers, parents) is really important for my kids. I have so many memories being with my cousins that I want my kids to have those same memories.

We returned home later on the 1st. I went out with some friends of mine to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. One of our dear friends, Melissa, who moved away, was in town. It was fun getting together and enjoying good food and great company. We went to a friend's house afterwards and played a game called, "Curses". It was a very interesting game to say the least. It take the ability to make a fool out of yourself which I have always had a hard time doing, but we had fun. (nice pic Heather. It must be from your new fancy camera.)

We are all looking forward to the New Year which is upon us and all the exciting things that will come our way.

A Few Days after...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AFUALO'S!

We had a lovely Christmas. The kids were pleasantly surprised by what Santa and their family had given them. The morning was relaxing and then we went to see family. We came home late that night. Saturday we did nothing. It was the best day after Christmas. We played with all of our new stuff and had together time.

Every year we have our picture taken by the tree. Usually we do it at night. We look much better then. I think we were just happy to have happy children.

Favorite Christmas memory this year... I have two. The first came a few days before Christmas and we were watching BYU in the Las Vegas bowl. All 7 of us were sitting on the couch enjoying the game in HD and cheering on the cougars. It was nice. The other one was hearing my ever not satisfied child yelling, "this is the best Christmas ever." Can't have a better response than that.

Sunday after church was more of the same. I am surprised that the kids even ate that day. They were so enthralled with the Wii. Lily put on a ballet show for us with all her new ballet stuff.

Monday we woke up early and headed up to Los Angeles to see two more missions. Mission number 10 and 11. We have now seen over half and have two more trips planned to see the rest. (Yea!) We drove up to Missions Hills (on the north side of LA) to see San Fernando de Espana. It was a beautiful mission and to our surprise it is where Bob Hope is buried. The next mission we went to was San Gabriel. This was a simple mission, but set up nicely for touring. They gave us a map that had numbers on it and then there were numbers found around the place that we read about on our map. It made touring much faster.

It was a long drive home. I had 3 girls in the car. My sister took the boys and I got her girls. We have been having fun playing Wii, feeding ducks, having movie time and running errands. We are headed up to Mortensen Manor for the New Year. After that I get to put my cruise director hat back on and entertain the troups for two more weeks. Stay tuned...

The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the rooms, not a creature was stirring, only a broom. A broom that swept up wrappings and crumbs from all the clutter called Christmas fun. The children were nestled all snug in their beds and I, (of course it is always I) was running a muck trying to find my head. The Christmas Program was delightful the food was so yummy. Now everything is full, stockings and tummy. Were excited for Christmas and full of good cheer as we celebrate Christ's birth again this year.

We have had a lot of fun this week. We went to Sea World on Monday and had a relaxing time there. We had to come home and get the house ready for Nana and Papa's arrival. Tuesday we started having some fun. We made cookies, had a girls day at the spa, went last minute shopping, went carolling and went to the movies, where they started showing Sherlock Holmes instead of Princess and the Frog. Hopefully Lily won't have nightmares. The movie people fixed it after 5 mintues.

Tonight we decorated cookies for Santa and had our Christmas Program. The kids did a great job performing what they had practiced. Lily decided at the last minute to throw in a manger scene. Our dinner was provided by Chin's Chinese Restaurant. I believe that will become a new tradition. Everyone had to try chop sticks. That was funny.

All is ready for tomorrow. And now I say, "And to all a good night!"

Christmas Happenings

Yea!! School is finally out. We are all very excited to be on Christmas break. I can't think of a better gift from my kids then to not need to be anywhere early in the morning. Sleeping in will become the new norm.

We have been having some Christmas fun this past week. We delivered Christmas cheer to friends, had parties at school and I had my first piano Christmas Party. That was a lot of fun and a stress free activity. My students are so funny. No pictures from the party.

Friday Damon and I went to Lily's Christmas party at school. It was very funny. The kids had fun. The gift exchange was a little rough. All the kids got books, games, toys, coloring books and the like. Lily got homemade cookies. I tried to contain her sadness, but it was rough. I was a bit disappointed for her. I told her how exciting it was because she got to bring them home and share them with the rest of the family. That seemed to help, but she was still bummed.

That night we went to the place called "Christmas Card Lane". All the houses have gigantic Christmas cards in their front yards. We looked at lights and decoration in this 5 block area. The whole neighborhood comes out and people sell goodies and there were horse drawn wagons to ride. We even got to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. The kids had fun but were tired of walking around after an hour.

Today we are getting the house ready for our company. The kids will have plenty to say about that I am sure. I think tonight we may stay in and watch Christmas movies.

It's Finally Looking Like...

CHRISTMAS!

Due to all the rain we kept getting, going out to get our Christmas tree took some time. Then bringing it in the house took some time. Then decorating it took some time. So after almost a week of having our tree it is finally up and decorated. No ornament casualties this year. We were pleased about that and after the kids went to bed I spent some time rearranging the tree to give it more balance. Most of the decorations were on the bottom half. We are thankful that the tree is up and looks nice.

Last Friday I took the kids to Disneyland one last time for the Holiday Season. I love Christmas there. We noticed that depending on what part of the park you are in is what type of Christmas music you get to listen too. In Frontierland you get lovely bluegrass versions of it. Main Street has big band sounds and California Adventure has more of a rock tone. So fun. We took our babysitter with us and had lots of fun. It rained a little, but we were prepared so it didn't bug us. There were hardly any lines which is always nice. I went on Tower of Terror with Adam and honestly that ride terrifies me. I leave that ride with a cold sweat. So pathetic I know. We went to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We watched the Christmas Parade and Fantasmic. We were pretty tired Saturday.

All Saturday morning I was at the church with the choir that I was in and then the choir that I was directing. Both choirs performed on Sunday at separate events. So stressful and now that it is over I feel so relieved. My parents came down for both performances. The kids loved having them around. They think Grandma is the best because she told them that they could eat cake for a snack before dinner (I swear the woman who raised me would have never said that). The choirs, apparently, sounded great. We weren't any silent monks, but I was told everything sounded good.

I am so happy that there are only 4 more days of school.

Some of this

Christmas cheer has been getting in the way of life lately. We have been busy busy bees this week thus far. Here is some of the stuff we have been doing.

Noah had his first band concert. He is playing trumpet. It was a fun concert and the kids did as well as was expected.

Tonight we went out to get our Christmas tree for the house. It was super cold today and we didn't want to search to long. We found a great tree and brought it home. stay tuned for decoration pictures.

Have a great day!