Third times a Charm....

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in the casting of Edward at the beginning. But just like the book, from the moment he stepped onto the big screen, he stole my heart! I LOVE this movie! It is so fun to go see and watch all the characters come to life. I thought I was being a little obsessive about the movie since I have now seen it 3 times, but I am no longer worried about myself. I found out last night that my aunt has seen it 8 times and she plans on seeing it many more times. It's just a fun movie to see and I can't wait for it to come out on video.

Thanks to my real life "Edward" for putting up with my silly obsession. I'm just glad I have someone real that treats me so good. And I don't even have to drink any blood for him. I'm a lucky girl!!

Holiday Fever

I am so excited because I think this year I am going to enjoy the holidays. Last year I hated everything about them. I hated the music, cooking, shopping, decorating. You name it I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I was a Grinch. I have to admit though, on November 1st when I heard Christmas music on the radio I found it a little irritating. But I have been trying to organize some things in my life and trying to find joy in the things I am doing, and it's working. We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of yummy food and great time spent with family.

The kids made themselves Indian headband and then gave themselves Indian names. Brayden was Squanto, Kaylee was Pocahontas, and Kade was Cheranimo (Brayden gave him that name and that's how he spelled it. Really it was supposed to be Geronimo.)

Mike cutting his first turkey.

Brayden and Kaylee pulling apart the wish bone.

They couldn't get it to break, so Mike and I gave it a try.

All the family, and their cute crafts they made.

I am ready now to get out the Christmas decorations and start the Christmas season. I have been playing Josh Groban's Christmas CD non stop and it just makes me so excited. I took the kids to see Santa and for the first year Kaylee wasn't scared of him. Brayden was telling my mom about it and he said that Santa was pretty famous and he thinks a lot of people know him. Then he thought about it some more and said, "Well he's famous, but not as famous as Justin Timberlake. Everybody LOVES him." It was funny.

Simplify

One of my favorite things to do is to go back and read all the conference talks after they come out in the Ensign. I feel like I am hearing the talks again for the first time, they speak to me differently. I have been doing this recently and a few have stood out to me, that didn't so much during conference time. There was a talk given by Elder L. Tom Perry, called Let Him Do It With Simplicity. I am really trying to follow the council given in this talk and I know if I do, my life will be blessed. He spoke about simplifying our lives. He says, "In our search to obtain relief from the stresses of life, may we earnestly seek ways to simplify our lives."

"Those of us who have been around a while—and Elder Wirthlin and I have been around for a long time—have recognized certain patterns in life’s test. There are cycles of good and bad times, ups and downs, periods of joy and sadness, and times of plenty as well as scarcity. When our lives turn in an unanticipated and undesirable direction, sometimes we experience stress and anxiety. One of the challenges of this mortal experience is to not allow the stresses and strains of life to get the better of us—to endure the varied seasons of life while remaining positive, even optimistic. Perhaps when difficulties and challenges strike, we should have these hopeful words of Robert Browning etched in our minds: “The best is yet to be” We can’t predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come.

As I begin to eliminate some things that are causing me stress I'm excited to see what this new journey will bring our family.

Our Family Vacation

***PICTURE OVERLOAD***

On Tuesday Nov. 11th we woke the kids up early and gave them some new t-shirts Mike had bought them at the Disney store ($ saver tip #1.) We told them we had a fun day planned for them. They all thought we were going to Boondocks for the day. Little did they know we had packed their suitcases and we were headed to Disneyland. It was fun to see the anticipation on their face as we passed different places along the way to the airport. They never guessed where we were going. Once we pulled up to the airport, I made them put the clues together.

1) we are at the airport

2) we have suitcases in the back of the car

3) you all have Disney shirts on.

They all said at the same time....We're going to Disneyland!!!!!

Things were going as planned until we arrived at the airport and we tried to check in. In all the excitement I failed to check my ID. I guess I didn't realize that my driver's license expired back on my birthday so they wouldn't let me on the plane. Luckily Mike's mom was off for the day and she was so nice to go over to our house get my passport and drive it all the way to the airport and we were able to catch the next flight. Kaylee was a little freaked out that we would never make it to Disney. The kids loved going on a airplane and seeing all the little things below.

Once we arrived in California we headed over to California Adventure. We were already so tired from a long day at the airport and it was SO busy (I think everybody in the state of California celebrates Veteran's day) so we only spent a few hours there and then we were done for the day! They had a fun High School Musical show that Kaylee loved and a fun Pixar parade. After that we went over to Costco to stock up on some food for the rest of our trip ($ saver tip #2.)

The next day we spent the day at Disney with Becca and Gerry. The kids had so much fun. I love the look on Kaylee's face in the picture below when she saw the princess castle for the first time. She was so excited! We just had the best time. The park wasn't crowed and we were able to get in on all the rides.

The kids loved walking around the park finding all the characters and having them sign their books. Kade was especially happy to see Mickey. He told him like 5 times that he had Mickey ears. Every time we would try to take a picture Kade was just staring at the character.

Thursday morning Mike's mom and aunt flew into town to spend the rest of our trip with us. After we picked them up from the airport we headed down to Santa Monica Pier for a day. It was so beautiful! We thought it was going to be cold so we didn't take swim suits or anything. The kids were so excited to be at the beach that they just jumped right in without bathing suits. I think they quickly figured out if they ruined the outfit they were in it meant they got a new one (non-money saving tip #1.) Becca and Gerry also met us here and we all had lunch at Bubba Gumps. Unfortunately due to the high traffic in California we couldn't spend more time with them, but we would have LOVED to spend more time here.

One of the things on the girls TO DO list while we were in Cali was to find the American Girl store. This place is so fun, and I think one of the highlights of Kaylee's trip. We probably could have spent a lot more time here if her 2 brother's weren't with us. I don't think this was a highlight for them.

Friday we spent another day at Disney. We got the traditional Disney pictures.

For lunch we went and had lunch with all the Disney princesses. Kaylee was in HEAVEN!

Kade's favorite part of the day was going to Toontown and seeing Mickey's house. He waited the whole trip for this! He was so good waiting in the stroller while everybody went on all the rides. He just wanted to ride everything, he kept saying, "I bigger" and he would raise his hands above his head. So finally this was his time to be able to get out and play around. He loved it.

And finally our last day we drove down to San Diego to go to Sea World. The weather was perfect (90 degrees!!!!) and we had so much fun! We got in to see the shows (Kade got to see "shampoo.) And the kids got to feed the dolphins. This was one of my favorite days. When we got back to our hotel it was still early enough so we decided to go out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. YUMMY! After that we came back and got ready to head back home bright and early the next morning.

The kids learned to chum up to the pilots and let them know that their Grandpa might be directing our flight. The pilots always treated them so nicely and they evenly let them get in and sit in the pilots seat. This made the kids feel pretty cool!

We had an awesome time but I think we were all ready to come home. I think this is how we all felt by the end of the trip. Just plain tired!! I think next time we will cut the trip short by a day or two. Now here's to recovering!

Birthday's, Anniversaries and more...

This past 2 weeks have been so crazy I haven't had any time to sit down and document anything. So here is what has been happening in our life over the last couple of weeks. The weekend of the 8th is a big weekend for us. Mike's birthday is the 8th so we were actually able to go out to dinner the night before to Tepanyaki. It was yummy! He is now the big 28! He thinks he is so old now, on the road to 30...feel free to tease him. Even though he acts just as fun and young as the day I met him.

On his actual birthday his whole family, even his brother and his family was in town from St. George got together for lunch at The Grille from Impanena. This was a time for us all to get together and celebrate the life of his dad, who passed away one year ago, on Nov. 9th. It's hard to believe it's already been a year. This year has really flown by. It really makes you sit back and reflect on what you're doing with your life. We miss you Bill.

On Nov. 9th we got together for lunch at Sonia's then went to the Cementary to visit.

On Nov. 10 Mike and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversay! We were so busy all day getting ready for our trip that we really didn't get a chance to do anything super special. I didn't think we were doing anything for each other because we were going on a trip but Mike came home with flowers and a couple shirts for me. I sure felt stupid! He is always so sweet to me. Obviously he could care less if he got anything.

Kade topped the day off by falling off the kitchen chairs and requiring 6 staples in his head. He was so tough, they didn't even numb him! If you don't recall, he did this to his head almost a year ago....here's to anniversaries!