Good Times

We just returned from a fun trip to California with Jake, Hannah, and their girls. We stayed in Newport Beach at a very nice resort thanks to Nathan's partner Donald who shared his time share with us. Thanks Donald! We spent three fun/hectic days at Disneyland and California Adventure and one glorious day at the beach soaking in all the sun we could. Note to self and others who think going to Disneyland around Christmastime will be uncrowded: Disneyland at Christmas is the opposite of uncrowded. It is at max capacity...not even kidding. The first day was wall-to-wall people and thankfully the other days were considerably better. We created quite the stir and stare fest with our plethora of little girls in tow. And when the parents would take turns to ride the "big kid rides" without fail we'd get at least one onlooker to stop and ask, "Are they ALL yours?!!!" Ha ha. Most of the time we really felt like we were on display with someone announcing in the background, "Come one, come all, and look at the freak show." Anyway, we really did have a good time together.


Libbie in Toon Town.

We even got to see Santa at California Adventure. And doesn't Claire look thrilled about that?

The little lady.

The big guy.

A quick snack while the moms and dads took turns riding The Tower of Terror.

The girls found this couch and decided to pretend they were asleep.


We were able to go to the beach in Newport one day. The weather couldn't have been nicer! Ahhh, heavenly. The kids played and played (without even fighting) for hours. It just could not have been any more perfect. Anyway...here are some hi-lights.
Jaren enjoyed the sand quite a bit...at least the taste of it anyway. Which is why we had to hold him the entire time we were there.

Claire sat in one spot nearly the entire day at the beach. She loooved the sand so much.




One of our many attempts to get a good photo of our crew at the beach. At least it is an accurate representation of our trip...a little crazy but a lot of fun.


All the girls with Ariel.

Claire and Annie patiently waiting in line to see the princesses.


Many an hour spent in line holding our mini line-backer.

The Holidays and Some More Fun Stuff

We headed to see the lights at Temple Square this week. The weather was decent and so was the crowd size. We had a fun evening together. Never mind the picture below where it looks like Libbie could drop Jaren at any second. To her defense he is quite large.


The evening wasn't complete without a "silly" picture.


Such a trooper in the cold and in the stroller.

The Setting Up of the Tree


As a tradition every year we set up the tree, all the girls take a turn trying to put the star atop the tree. Mom is not usually included in the "all the girls" category, but this year they all insisted I try it out. Here I am in all my glory. And I am happy to say Nathan didn't spin really fast with me on his shoulders like he does to our little ones.

Nathan found Mallory silently torturing/loving Jaren. He was laying so still and being so patient. Awww...

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year with a good-sized crowd. I was a ding-dong and forgot to get a picture of our whole group, but here are some of the fun highlights: many a fashion show, dance party, and music concert.




Cousin story time under the table. Pretty darn cute!

Will you just look at what my baby is doing lately...pulling himself up into standing position. Makes me happy and sad.

Jaren is somewhat of a picky eater and is very leery of anything we try to put in his mouth. He's getting the hang of the whole solids thing slowly but surely.

We've had some great snow...at least great for the kids anyway. I just stay inside where it's warm.

Spook-a-licious

Although it rained on Halloween this year, the kids had a great time trick-or-treating with Dad and some fun friends. Mom and Grandma Jill held down the fort. Here are the cuties in their costumes...we had a pirate, a black widow, a cowgirl, Nemo, and a pumpkin.

This family is weird part II...

But we clean up pretty nice sometimes. Our friend Amy was nice enough to take some photos of us this summer. Here we all are looking summery, just in time for it to start looking gloomy outside.

This family is weird...

But we sure did have a fun time carving pumpkins this year.

Claire was pained by the innards of her pumpkin. She thought it was quite disgusting.

Jaren checking out his first pumpkin. He liked it...for licking anyway.