Disneyland

We had the best Presidents Day Weekend ever! We drove to California where we met the rest of my family and we played at Disneyland for three days. We had a blast hanging out with family, riding the rides, and meeting the different characters. We made a lot of good memories. Here are a bunch of random pictures that I took.

Here we all are at the entrance to Disneyland. We were pretty excited to be there.

Classic family shot with the big man himself.

Logi LOVES Mickey! He was quite excited, and a little shy, to finally meet him.


Autotopia was Tylers favorite ride. He kept saying he didn't need any help and that he could drive it all by himself. In reality he couldn't even reach the pedal.



Logi's favorite ride was the flying dumbos. Rick and I both rode it with him several times.





I told Tyler to give me his best knight pose so this is what he did.

The boys were so excited to see Lightning Mcqueen and Mater that we just had to get a picture with them.

We waited in a lot of lines. Here we are waiting to ride the spinning teacups.

Aunt Lisa and Tyler on the Rocketships.

Carson loved Grandpa

Logi and I were excited to meet Pluto

The boys with their souvenirs. They both wanted light sabers.

One big happy family

Sometimes my little family makes me feel I feel like I am in a cage with a bunch of wild animals!

These two little bums were worn out and tired from all the excitement

We went and saw a 4-D show starring the bugs from A Bugs Life. It was a lot of fun. The boys thought the 3-D bug eye glasses were hilarious.

Rick and Logi on the bumper cars.

Woohoo! We finally found Woody. We eventually found Buzz too but the line was way too long to get a picture. That army guy is real. He was covered from head to toe in Green!

The famous disney castle

Some of the family riding on the Mark Twain riverboat

Our family at the entrance to California Adventure

This is how the boys entertained themselves at the hotel. Jumping across the beds.

This picture was taken about 5 mins after they told me they were not tired and they were not going to sleep. :)

We played hard, laughed hard, and had a great time. Thanks dad for making it all possible.

Christmas

I am finally getting around to posting about Christmas. We had a really fun Christmas break this year. We went up to Idaho and spent the holidays with my family. The boys love going to Grandpas house. They love the snow and Tylers favorite part about being in Idaho is that he can see his breath when he is outside. Obviously he has not been around cold weather enough.:)

Anyway we played a lot outside in the snow.

We have to try and soak it all in as much as we can since we don't get that white stuff here in Phoenix.

That pretty little girl dressed in pink is actually Logan! Those were the only snow clothes that fit him at my parents house. But you can tell by the look on his face that he was actually quite excited to wear the pink outfit.

Tyler, Logan and Frosty


"What are you looking at"



Tyler and cousin Abby both smiling and getting along. Obviously this picture was taken at the beginning of our trip. They usually play well the first couple of days together and then it is all down hill from there. :)



Lisa had these cute little aprons made for the boys. My boys love to help in the kitchen so they were very excited to have their own manly aprons

We decorated gingerbread houses one night. Lots of fun but pretty messy. Plus I think more candy ended up in the boys mouths than did on their houses.

All the grandkids got matching pajamas on christmas eve. Here are my three boys.

The best shot I could get of all the grandkids.

Of course we decorated cookies for Santa.

These two were more interested in eating the cookies themselves then giving them to Santa

Christmas morning was probably the most fun we have had with the kids. The older they get the more they understand about Santa and the more excited they get. Santa really came through and brought the boys most of the things that were on their lists.

Carson with his gift from Santa

Logan posing with all of his Toy Story toys that Santa brought him

My boys have been wanting pillow pets for over a year. They finally got them for Christmas. They love their ladybug pillows and have slept with them every night since.

Carsons first Christmas

My sister Lisa gave Rick a pineapple for Christmas. It's an inside joke but the bottom line is that Rick hates pineapple. It gave us all a good laugh christmas morning.

The boys playing with their new toys

All the excitement from the holidays left these two boys worn out!

Cute Pics

I was just going through my camera and realized I had some cute pics that I hadn't put on the blog yet. They are just random pictures taken around our house.

Carson is still such a sweet, happy baby. We love his big smiles!


His brothers LOVE him. I thought the excitement of the new baby would wear off but it hasn't. They still get so excited whenever Carson is awake.


Tyler and Logan were playing really good one day. Tyler even let Logan up on his top bunk. They hauled plenty of toys up there and were having a good time.

Carson was in the kitchen watching me make dinner and his brothers wanted to sit by him, so they got their stool and I had a little audience watching me cook. Carson can't get enough of his brothers. He watches them very carefully.

Iron Man, Spiderman, and Bumblebee. Dress up occurs at our house almost everyday. It is always a battle of the superheroes. It is not unusual for Rick to get in on the action.

Spiderman and Carson

This is how we commonly find Logan after church on Sundays. We have church from 1-4 so he misses his nap. It doesn't take long after we get home before he crashes on the couch.

Carson is getting so big. He loves his swing.

He also loves his jumper. He hasn't quite figured out the jumping thing yet but he likes to just stand in it and look around.

Tyler and Logan by our christmas tree this year. :) A little pathetic I know but we are going to Idaho for Christmas so we didn't want to spend the money on a tree when we weren't even going to be here. We still wanted it to feel christmassy though and so the boys and I made ourselves a paper tree to hang on the wall. The boys really did LOVE it!

We also cut out paper snowflakes to try and get excited for christmas. If you want a white christmas in Phoenix you have to make it yourself!

A close up of Carson. He will be 5 months next week!

This is what happens when I ask the boys to play with Carson while I leave the room to go change the laundry. I came back to Carson with more toys than he knew what to do with. He was loving all the attention from his brothers though.

Thanksgiving!

We had a really fun Thanksgiving! My family all came down to Phoenix this year. This was my first year hosting Thanksgiving and there is no way I could have pulled it off without my two sisters here to help me.

The three chefs for the big day.


Tyler and Abby giving a thumbs up while waiting for the turkey to cook. Tyler and Logan were sure excited that Abby and Ben were coming to their house. That is all they had been talking about for the past month.

Rick pulling the finished bird out of the oven.

Everyone eating Thanksgiving dinner. Rick set the timer and then ran back in. That is why he is front and center in the picture. The food all turned out great if I do say so myself.




We did a lot of fun things while they were here, including my first experience shopping on black friday. Wal-mart was crazy but actually ended up being pretty fun and we got a lot of good deals. I should have gotten a picture of us shopping but I didn't.


We played a lot of games.


Grandpa playing dominoes with the kids

Tyler, Logi, and Abby had been so ridiculously excited about having a sleepover together. They had been talking to each other on the phone about it weeks before and everything was planned for a great time. Little does everyone know that despite the smiles on their faces this sleepover only lasted about 15 mins before our guest, Abby, was crying and wanted to go back to the hotel with her mom and dad. I tried to be a fun aunt and make the party fun but I guess I failed. Her daddy came and got her. We will have to try again next time.


We went to the train park and rode the train

We also had a picnic while we were at the park. How often can you say you ate your Thanksgiving leftovers on a picnic? Love Phoenix weather in the winter time.

We went down to the Mesa temple to see all the Christmas Lights.

We rode the lightrail downtown and ate at the Spaghetti Factory for dinner one night. Here is a pic of me, my sister Jill and her son Ben.

Rick and Logi on the train

My dad with all his grandkids!


So not only was the great weather a selling point for having Thanksgiving in Phoenix this year but also the fact that the Arizona Cardinals had a monday night game the monday after Thanksgiving. Yes, I know the Cardinals stink this year but it is still so much fun to go to the games. It is a fun atmosphere and fun to say that you went.

They played the San Fransico 49ers.

The band "Lifehouse" did the halftime performance

Rick and I at the game. Go Cardinals!

As hard as we tried to get a group shot with all of us in it, it just didn't work out. I guess the multiple people we asked to take pictures for us just didn't understand the concept of making sure that you can see everybody in the picture before you push the button. :) Here is me, my sister Lisa, and my dad.

Overall it was such a great weekend. It went by so fast and we had such a great time. Thanks everyone for coming and thanks dad for making it all possible!