Merry Christmas

Here in California real snowmen are hard to find. The other day Brycen suggested that we make a "rainman." Zac and Brycen thought it was pretty silly to add a carrot nose and paper eyes and a smile to a bucket of water.




Still, even without having true Christmas weather our town knows how to have a great Christmas. We have an adorable little skating rink in old town. My sister Ali and her boyfriend and I all took Brycen skating while Grandma watched and took pictures (the other boys were still in school, just one of the perks of half day kindergarten!) Brycen was kind of like a wet noodle in skates, but it was a lot of fun.




A couple weeks before Christmas, Santa rides through town in his sleigh pulled by his reindeer and a firetruck. They are escorted by the other firetrucks, and police cars and motorcycles--all decked on with Christmas lights and sirens blazing. They stop to hand out candy and collect can foods for the needy. Brycen was the only one who wanted to take a picture with Santa.

On Christmas Eve we invited my parents, one of our neighbors and the pair of missionaries from our church over for dinner. The missionaries are young men who leave their families for two years to serve their missions. Without them knowing, I contacted their moms and got their favorite Christmas recipes. They were very excited to have a bit of home away from home.



We ate and ate and ate and then we sung Christmas songs around the piano.

We had a very Lego Christmas this year. Lance and I stayed up until 2am putting together a Lego train and helicopter. The last two days have been spent putting together other Lego sets with the boys. Even my niece got Legos this year. Her brother has lots of Legos and little Hannah was just thrilled that there are finally Legos for girls.




Zac snug out of his bed on Christmas Eve to check out the toys under the tree. After that Lance slept on the couch by the tree to protect the presents.




Brycen was thrilled to see his lego train on Christmas morning.



Zac got a robot dinosaur in addition to legos.



Scott and his bongo drums.


Even Shay got a present


Lance and my brother playing Lance's new wii football game.



Lance got his big present a few days early when I surprised him with a weekend in Las Vegas to go watch BYU play in the Pioneer Bowl. We watch and froze as BYU lost badly, but we still had a great time.

Happy Belated Lump Day!

Yesterday in the car Brycen kept saying "Happy Lump Day, Mommy!" I asked him what Lump Day was. A look of amazement came over his face and he said, "You mean you are as old as you are and you don't know what Lump day is?" (Looking back I should have been astute enough to figure it out, but I wasn't) SO he explained "Okay you know what you get when you add three plus three, then you add one more and you get seven. Well there are three days before Wednesday and three days after Wednesday so Wednesday is LUMP DAY." SO happy-belated Lump day to all!

Wild Pup

Zac was sitting on the couch playing Lance's guitar when our puppy, Shay, discovered the reflection the guitar was crreating on the wall. Some dogs chase cats our chases lights!

Click to see the video of Shay the Wonder Pup vs The light spot


Shay vs The light Spot

You Light Up My Life!

We spent the weekend getting our Christmas lights up. I think Lance did a great job. Brycen and Zac and even our dog Shay had fun helping out. My contribution was hanging these pretty balls in our pine tree.For a more psychedelic Christmas, just have Brycen take the picture for You!

Oh how I love Christmas!

It Wasn't That Big in the Forest!

So we knew we had picked a very tall tree and that we would have to trim it to get it to fit with our 11ft ceiling, but in the forest it didn't look 8ft wide! Brycen says it is the first perfect tree there has ever been, it is growing on me, of course it has also grown on , or taken over, the entire family room.

Brycen wants this to be our Christmas tree in about 10 years.

Zac made some new friends while we searched for our tree.

I am so happy to have our home all decked out for Christmas. I just love this time of year. It makes me even feel extra hopeful about adoption. What a gift it would be to find out we have been matched with a birth family.

We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We found this bunch of monkeys up in the tree--we think they are all cousins!

Uncle Jason looks like swinging Scottie is hard work, but Scott thought it was great fun. After dinner we started a movie and the kids all jumped up on Auntie Ali. She pretended to complain, as we all streached out on the couch, but we know she loves it. And all the kids are just crazy about their Auntie Ali.

Monterey Bay

We took Bycen and Zac to Monterey Bay for the weekend. Scottie stayed home with my parents because he would not have been able to go on the whale watching boat and he doesn't like being in the car for long periods of time, plus he loves being spoiled by Nana and Pappa. We went to the aquaruim, played at a wonderful park, swam at the hotels indoor pool, went whale watching, and splashed in the waves at the beach. I absolutely love the ocean and I am thrilled to be able to share it with my children. The boys just loved being on the boat, feeling the wind on their faces and the ocean spray. The whales were really cool too, I kept telling them they were seeing things that most people never get to see--including two huge blue whales. It was so much fun--I think we might have to add Monterey to our list of annual trips. All and all I think this was one of our best trips, we crammed a lot into two days, but it was still relaxing and we always love exposing the kids to the incredible and beautiful aspects of the world.

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween was a blast! I was able to be with each of the boys for their school halloween parties. On Halloween night we had three other families over for pizza before we headed out trick-or-treating. The kids all got tons of candy. A lot of people in our neighborhood give out full size candy bars--the kids were all thrilled.

Lance won first place at work for his Indiana Jones costume

My little California Surfer boys.

All Aboard the Brycen train.

Happy 10th Birthday ZAC

I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the past 10 years with Zac. The time has just flown by--I can't believe he is already 10 years old. He is growing up to be such a charming young man with the biggest heart in the world.

Zac and I looked his baby book and quickly relieved how much he has changed over the years...

Then I noticed how much we have all changed...Zac and Daddy visit Alcatraz Mommy and Daddy kissesNanaGrandma Carolyn

Grandpa LowellPappaAuntie Ali

Uncle JasonAuntie LindsayAuntie AmandaCousin JonasSecond cousins from UtahMommy, Zac and Beka crossing the Golden Gate BridgeMy old roommates.

Some people who love Zac are now in Heaven...

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma JonesGreat-Nana

Mammaw

The most amazing thing though is how much Zac has changed each of our hearts. He has taught us so much about love and never giving up. I love you my sweet birthday boy!