Disney on Ice

We took the kids to Disney on Ice the other day.  It was really fun and the kids really enjoyed it.  It was all about Toy Story 3 and was fun to see all the characters.

 The kids quiet and enthralled :)

 They had flash backs to the other Toy Story movies so here is a scene from Toy Story 1 when Buzz is escaping the toy machine at the pizza place. (Aren't the aliens cool? I thought it was so smart that they had the skaters on their knees to make them short, but then I started feeling bad for their poor frozen knees!)

 Of course we got the snow cones, next year we are going to have to buy three.  Hayden was very offended she didn't get her own.

 Barbie and Ken :)

 Jason got so much flack from me for taking pictures of the Barbies.  As you can see they were in very tight outfits and there were tons of them.  I look over and he has his phone out taking pictures.  I wouldn't have given him so much crap if it wasn't the first time he decided to take his phone out and start taking pictures. He still says he was taking them for his daughter because she likes to look at pictures on his phone.  Sure, she does...

 For some reason Taylor could not keep her eyes open when I was trying to take pictures of the kids at intermission.

 After 3 pictures of no eyes I told her to open her eyes.  Here she is doing just that: priceless!

 The end of the show and the final lap by all the characters.

Yeah for Disney!!!

Sledding

We went up to Mt Charleston with a couple other families from our ward for a bit of sledding.  It was a blast!  It was very cold, of course, and as you can see, we look like a bunch of crazies with our jeans in the snow. (My family anyway, the other families were much more prepared)

 Hayden loved that she was finally allowed to put things on the floor into her mouth.  Such a nut!

 We only had one doughnut so we brought up Jason's boogie boards.  I know we are ghetto sledders.  Here is Jason's solo expedition to see how the boards hold.

 And here is his lovely wipe out!  Is it awful that I chuckle every time I see this?  *Side note* No one was fatally injured in this sledding experience :)

 Tyson, finally being brave.  The problem is Tyson got his jeans wet and was wanting to change his clothes the rest of the time (We have since invested in snow pants so we don't have to hear the whining for next time)

 Daddy and his girl.  Taylor has decided that she is Daddy's girl and Hayden is mine.  She will tell me all day long how much she loves Daddy and misses him while he's at work.

We had a ton of fun and can't wait to go again now that we have bought some proper supplies.  Jeans and boogie boards not allowed next time :)

Christmas 2011

Christmas is always a little crazy around our house but this year it was double the fun because Taylor got admitted to the hospital on Christmas Eve for pneumonia.  Her asthma was flaring up and we were doing breathing treatments at home but nothing seemed to be working so Jason took her to the Quick Care and they said she was so sick that she had to take an ambulance to the hospital.  I ran down there with a brother from our ward and they gave her a blessing before her ambulance ride.  They let me hold her in the ambulance so she wasn't very afraid and they didn't have the sirens blaring so that was nice.  She was so exhausted from having an IV put in her hand at the Quick Care that she slept the whole ride.  When we got to the hospital they could not get her oxygen levels to stay up so they said she had to stay overnight.  Jason came home to do the Christmas Eve things with the family and I stayed overnight with Taylor (one of the longest nights ever!)  We shared our room with a brand new baby who had to have surgery in the morning and was not allowed to eat.  Awful night!!  The only good thing about spending Christmas in the hospital was in the morning the hospital staff brought Taylor the hugest bag of presents you've ever seen!  She was in heaven, she was so worried about Santa finding her in the hospital, it was really cute.

 I always go a little over board with the Christmas presents and this year was no exception.  I had been buying presents all year and had them all wrapped in August when the kids went to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  Next year I am seriously considering the 3 gift limit.  It's sad when kids get bored of opening presents!

 I found this lego police space ship for Tyson, he loved it!

 Hayden loved her new baby dolls and Taylor's unicorn pillow pet, she will have nothing to do with the pillow pet we bought her.  What's wrong with lady bugs, I ask you?

 Mark gets a little too excited on Christmas and has to open every gift as soon as possible.

 Darrell on the other hand is as slow as a turtle and will start opening other people's presents and gets just as excited over the kids presents as his own.

 Have I mentioned how girly this girl is?  She loved all the nail polish, chapstick and hair bows she got.

 After opening presents Jason and I passed out while the kids trashed the house with their new presents.  Jason was running on 3 hours of sleep and I was running on maybe an hour.

After we got up and threw something together for Christmas dinner I helped Tyson put together his space ship.  6 bags of legos and 3 books!  It was a monster but well worth it, just look at that face!

Christmas fun

Christmas pictures are always a holiday tradition for our family.  Never fun and always ends with cursing (usually by me)  This year I believe I finally broke down and was yelling I don't want any of you in a picture!!  Here I am yelling at Jason because he is smiling at the camera even though you can clearly see the kids are crazy.

 We even tried to do a "silly" picture and we couldn't even get that right!

 Taylor needed to burst out of her spot right before the timer went off.

 Next year if you only get a card with no picture you will know I finally gave up :)

 We are "real" tree people.  I have no problem with fake trees, I have no problem with real trees.  I'm just putting it out there that we have decided the best thing for our family is real trees.  It's a personal preference, please keep your "tree murderer" comments to yourself. 

 We love going to the lot and picking just the right tree.  We have to inspect it from every angle!

 Taylor also had a Christmas party with her preschool class.  They decorated gingerbread houses.

 Isn't she darling with her Santa earrings?

 The kids also made reindeer candy canes.  Our little parties are always so much fun and we are having the best time with Taylor's preschool.

 Tyson had a school Christmas program.  We really love his school and are having a lot of fun with all of their fun activities.

 Tyson is usually pretty shy but after going to Mrs Aubrey's preschool last year he was all ready for his kindergarten program :)

 We got cookies from our favorite Bountiful Baskets.  The kids are becoming quite the little professional cookie decoraters!

The Elf

This Christmas I had gotten so many fun crafts and activities for the kids to do that we had our elf come to visit us on December 1st.  Every morning he was in a new place and brought something for the kids to do.  Moon dough, always a favorite.

Frank, the elf hiding on a shelf.

The kids love to paint so we had quite a few painting projects.

 This was one of our favorites, you plant grass in Santa's head and then it looks like his hair is growing.  The kids loved checking their Santa each morning to see who's Santa was winning the hair growth race.

More painting

 This was also a fun new toy.  I found these washable frogs and the kids loved coloring on a real toy.  Hayden, however has now started coloring everything, I blame the frogs!

We decorated these snowflakes with glitter and hung them in our kitchen windows, I loved pulling up to the house and seeing all the kids creative work.

Hayden was hit or miss on the crafts, she did love painting though (she's in the right family!)  Here she is painting a Charlie Brown scene.

Frank, the elf, only had to stay away one night because the kids were naughty.  It gets to be a little much every morning to find the elf new spots to hide and get their crafts done each day but the kids are only going to be this little and this fun one time.  Soon enough all these fun crafts and activities are going to be lame, so I am milking it while I can!!!