Christmas Part 1

We had a few fun activities to fill our pre Christmas time.  My parents went up to their cabin and brought us down a tree.  (I was so sick we didn't make it up, but they brought us down a tree)  Darren went all out and decorated two trees.  Hanging lights on a 12 foot tree was a new experience.  

Tyler and Ella both sang in their school choir. My friend Sarah Snowder directed it and did an AMAZING job.  Ell is in green in the front row and Tyler is on the second row on the left corner.  Tyler played a song prior to the performance starting.  Believe. From the Polar Express.  He also had a solo part to sing.  He loves music.  Ella loved being one of the few 1st graders in the choir.  We had all the Grandparents there to cheer them on.  

We had an amazing ward Christmas party.  I have been so impressed with this ward.  Nothing is too over the top. But they do some fun simple events 7-8 times a year.  Traditions that go on every year.  Everyone helps so there aren't those 10 families who do it all.  

Our fantastic neighbors made gingerbread houses for my kids.  Then she invited them over to decorate the houses. They came back fully loaded and Abby loved to eat off them all day long.  They brought over Christmas presents for the kids.  Abby was so excited to get down on the ground and open it.

My dear old neighbor Tom would give us an amaryllis every year.  I went to visit him this year and he gave me another one.  The flower was bigger than my whole hand outstretched.  And there were 3 blossoms on it.  Love it.  The kids helped  me plug in lights every night.  Its so magical.   And we even hit the slopes a few times.  The reward of having kids old enough to finally ski where ever I want to go is amazing.  

We spent our break slowing down and enjoying. One morning the kids all climbed in bed with me and we just cuddled up.  But there were other times we had things to do and places to go.  The Balls family all came to our house for Christmas.  I told the kids we needed to set the table and Abby jumped right in setting bowls on the table.  Nolan and Corie came for lunch and we loved it.  We opened some gifts.  We played with cousins. And enjoyed the company.

Then we headed over to my parents house for a live Nativity. Darren and I got to be Mary and Joseph this year.  Abby was the angel who kept stealing our Baby Jesus.  She just wanted to give him loves and hold him.  We sat around and sang songs and played my dads famous white elephant game.  I love love loved seeing my mom grab Abby and start dancing around the room.  I remember my Grandma Hatch doing that all the time with us.

Christmas Day we low key and relaxing.  We got to sleep in until 7:00.  We opened presents.  (Ella is wearing the pjs my Grandpa Harston brought me from China when I was her age)  My parents and Rachel and Rob came over for a little bit.  We went and saw a movie with everyone.  We ate good food and enjoyed the day.  

Anheim and Santa Clara

After leaving southern California we headed up to Anaheim for two nights.  My Aunt and Uncle live there. They had a huge meal prepared for us on Sunday and three rooms for us to use!  It was heavenly.  Aunt Patty said she wanted to keep Abby home with her the next day.  (I was going to stay home with her because I was worn out, and a day at Disney with a toddler seemed like death!).  But Aunt Patty took her.  We had a great day.  I enjoyed myself so much.  I remembered all day long how nice it was to not have a busy little toddler to take care off.  

Tyler got to be a Jedi.  He fought Darth Vader on stage.  He had to buy a great light saber after that.  

We did some fun rides.  My stomach was turning in circles after the second ride.  But I loved seeing Toontown.  I have my picture with my sisters at this same spot 20 years ago.  And I loved Tarzans Tree house.  Which use to be the Swiss Family Robinsons place.  I still love the idea of living in a tree!  Disneyland was covered in lights and (fake) snow.  It was magical.

The kids both loved this ride.  Driving their cars around.

After Anaheim we headed to Santa Clara.  Darren had to go to a conference for two days.  So we went to a great Childrens museum one day.  (Abby got her shirt totally soaked)  and we explored for several hours.

The next day we went to a park and played and went to the intel museum because its sounded cool.  Pretty high over our heads but still cool.  We spent sometime in our hotel room, watching movies and playing games and taking naps.  I loved all of it but Abby not sleeping at night.  One night at 4 after battling with her for over an hour... I finally went out to the car and slept with her.  She slept great until 7.  But something about cribs and seeing us in the bed next to her makes her want to not sleep!  It was so bad by the end of the trip we opted to just drive home straight the 14 hours.  we arrived home at 5:30 AM and all went to be for a few hours.  Why pay for a hotel when we knew Abby would keep us awake anyway.

This vacation was amazing.  Something about peace, love and the beach.  We didn't argue or fight.  we just all relaxed and it was great.  We needed time with our Daddy.  Time to just play and run around and have fun.

San Diego

We decided to head to California for a  long vacation.  It started off with saying hello to our Aunt Nellie and Grandma and Grandpa for a quick lunch.  Then we said good bye and headed out on the road.

 We stayed in Oceanside. And with kids not quite on California time we got to see some great sunrises since we were all awake then!

  

 We arrived in Oceanside on Thanksgiving afternoon. We headed right to the beach.  After all those hours in the car we were ready to play.  It was a happy moment for me, relaxing.  Watching my kids.  Watching my husband play with the kids.  We say our family motto is- Work Hard- Play Hard--- I was ready to play!  We spent 3 days playing on the beach.

One day we went to San Diego to Point Loma and saw the lighthouse there.  We were off on the tide pool times which was so sad.  There were tombs grave sights from the veterans lining the road.  It was beautiful.  We rented a bike and rode around Coronado.  I LOVED Hotel del Coronado.  People were out iceskating next the beach.

We headed north after a few days but we stopped at Laguana Beach and walked around.  We had great weather while we were at the beach.  We were so grateful.  It was cooler the next few days.