Oh By GOLLY

We had SUCH a great Christmas this year- isn't it always though?? We started the week off by Cindy and I taking the kiddos up to Idaho on Monday morning, and Spence stayed here to work a bit at the office and then at the house(we had a few unfinished items to take care of from the 5 month ago remodel - ugh). He and Brent came up on Wednesday morning to be with everyone and then the games began, well I guess just one game began. We probably played Ticket to Ride(if you read this blog, you know that is my fav game) about 25 times - we LOVE it! I don't think we even played any other games until Sunday night! Even Kendalyn and Sara play now, so it is so fun.
We ate, we ate some more, we bowled (it's a family tradition that we LOVE),

we had our fancy Christmas Eve dinner at Troy and Heidi's (my bro. and sis-in-law)
which is always so fun and she really makes it beautiful and yummy,


we had a lot of throw-up going on - yep, Adri, Kendalyn, Grady, and Cindy all got the yucky bug and it was SO gross but short-lived,

Poor Adri trying hard not to still be sick..
we played Catch Phrase and laughed SO much, we put together a 1000-piece puzzle that I DO NOT recommend, and we gave Brent funny presents that he really doesn't want,
but that we thought were hilarious! Anyway, besides the sickness, it really was so fun and my mom and dad always make it that way - they give up their nicely run home for a bunch of crazy, loud people who make a HUGE mess.

They made a TON of food and did a lot of cleaning up (we DID help though:)!!! Thanks for a WONDERFUL Chistmas mom, dad and FAM!!!

Happy Birthday CIND!!!

I LOVE this girl! She is honestly my very best friend and I just LOVE being with her whenever I can. She loves my kids almost as much as I do and they love her equally - you couldn't get a better aunt and sister! Love you Cind and have a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!!

Monster's Inc. Anyone...

No really, she was walking all over Disneyland with these babies on. My guess is that she didn't have a full length mirror at home, thus preventing her from seeing her horrendous mistake!! Although, she did make it quite fun for the rest of us:)

They reminded us of Sully(spelling???) on Monster's Inc.

Money Well Spent...But Burrrrrrr.....

Our Disneyland Surprise was so AMAZING! We woke the kids up in the wee hours (wee to me means before 7:00am) and there was a HUGE box wrapped up in their rooms. An overzealous Santa (not me- Spence gets a little excited) put the boxes in their rooms and we had an excited visit from Kendalyn around 4:00am - next time they stay under the tree:) We brought them down to the tree and they unwrapped their huge box to find a small letter from Santa telling them what was happening and some tickets to Disneyland - it was SO cute to see their faces. My mom came with us, so she had come down the night before and told them that Santa had left a letter under her tree telling her to come to Kaysville where she would find another present - it was all quite planned out..
It took us 12 hours to drive down and I'm REALLY thinking that even though those plane tickets are ridiculously priced - they might be worth it. It was long, but we made it and we all survived.
We went to the beach and FROZE, well maybe just my mom and I - the kids never seem to be cold. They had a blast playing in the sand and running around. We also took the kids to USC and Spence showed them where he had classes, we went to the bookstore to get "gear", and just to see campus - it was fun..


We were planning on heading to DL Monday morning, but we woke up to CRAZY rain. We headed to the Science Discovery Museum (not exactly sure of the name, but it is in Anaheim) and saw all of the Gingerbread Houses on display - so cute and did some fun stuff - like Kendalyn and Spence lying on a bed of nails -
- it is a great option for those of you who find yourself on a rainy day there.

We did DL on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and amazingly enough, we had NO rain! We had been checking the weather report for a week and it looked like rain the whole week, but we got SO lucky. It was such a blast and the kids were in heaven. And guess what?? I didn't even end up using the "harness"!! I took it to the park everyday, but Grady boy was so awesome at staying in his stroller and holding someone's hand when he got out. He didn't even try to run away once - it was amazing! I decided that my new favorite ride is Toy Story over in California Adventures - it is SO much fun - if you go, you HAVE to try it. Santa decided to surprise the kids with a small present everyday while we were there, and they got some fun stuff - Disney dollars, books to read in the car, a treat to take in the park, movies, and the best was lunch at Ariel's Grotto. My cousins had told me how fun it was for their girls, but I was iffy on the price, but in the end, we decided that if we didn't do it now, they would be way too old the next time, so we did it and it was so cute.

You get to go have this AMAZING food (really, it is SO good) and then the Princesses come in one by one and stop at each table to "chat" and take a picture. Adri was DYING and even Kendalyn who thinks she is too old for Princesses decided it was pretty cool!!!




Friday decided to be super soggy and we were lucky enough to be in Seaworld - if you could only hear the sarcasm as I write!! Normally I would be all over Seaworld - well maybe, but I'm sure it would've been fun had it not been POURING on us! We sat at our shows with our wet bums and our umbrellas on our heads, trying to eat popcorn and shivering - you get the picture! We laughed as we watched Adri constantly tripping over her poncho and laughed even harder when at the end of the day, I finally gave in and let Grady jump in every puddle he could find - he was SO enjoying himself
All in all, it was a great trip despite losing and then recovering our stroller (someone had taken it thinking it was their's and parked it somewhere else), leaving the Wipes container in the bathroom and then someone throwing it in the trash (thank heavens it was Spence and he had the joy of digging through the trash and then sanitizing the container), the crowds - we thought it was supposed to be the BEST time to go and I think so did everyone else, and the freezing weather - seriously, I wore a jacket, coat, hat and gloves everyday ALL day! I know it was in the 50's, but as warm as that sounds, we were IN it ALL day long and I'm just not used to that!
Anyway, we LOVED it and I can't wait to go back!!!

Got It and Going to Use It...

Spence laughed his head off when I showed him what Grady did with the "harness"(we're not calling it a leash - too many dog images come to mind)! He said it was like watching someone being pulled by a huge dog walking down the sidewalk - oh well, at least we'll get our exercise - we are going to put it to good use next week!!!

Naptime..

Can you guess how Naptime is going at our house this week??? Grady has decided that naps just aren't his thing and that destroying his room is more like it. Oh, and around 5:00pm is when the "fun" really begins - maybe this is just a phase(fingers crossed and eyes rolling)!!!

Should I LEASH??

Does this picture make you cringe like it does me?? Ugh, I never wanted to be "the parent who couldn't handle their kid", and I know that is a total judgement and a rude one at that, but this is how I have always felt. I would see these parents and their wild little "animals" at Disneyland and think "seriously, just WATCH them"!!

And then I had Grady... Now I totally get it.

We are headed down to that Magical Place soon - SHHHHH... it's a SURPRISE - and I can't decide if I can live without this Leash for Grady. I mean, sure we'll keep a good eye on him at all times, but what if...??? I don't want to just leave it to chance - so what do you think?? Leash or no Leash? And, what kind and where do I get them?? I need thoughts y'all!!!

Halloween Hoopla

WARNING - Picture OVERLOAD Below -


The always popular "Pumpkin Carving" night turned out great and we got some cute pumpkins out of it. Grady just loved squishing the pumpkin and seeds in his pumpkin and Kendalyn designed her's and Grady's pumpkins. Adri changed her mind about 10 times and finally came up with a "fun, but not too scary" face..









Our Halloween was yet again a success and finally over. I swear, it builds up for SO long and when it finally gets to the actual day - I'm so over it! But, the kiddos LOVE it and if I am really honest - I love the actual trick or treat part and hearing Grady say "hank u" - his version of thank you - too cute!! The girls got to go with their friends and so Grady and I took our sweet time (thanks to Grady getting super distracted at everything) and went by ourselves. Spence took care of the candy part and I didn't know why he was so adamant that it was my turn to take them, until I came home and saw that the Utes and USC were playing - nice Spence!
We had a good one and our costumes seemed great until I saw amazingly creative and hand-made ones walking all over - come on people, can't you just forget your talents for a bit and shop at Target with me???