Christmas 2013

Our first Christmas at our new home was nice.   We had originally planned to go to Montana for Christmas, but with my brother not making his flight, and other issues we decided to stay in Calgary.    

I love getting a Christmas tree set up, and our kids do too.  

We had a nice Ham/Turkey dinner with the Stanford side which was very good, and we opened presents after.    We do a white elephant type of gift exchange which is fun to do.    

Kids having a playdate with their close friends painting ornaments

We had a great ward Christmas party.   The dinner was really nice, and then they had a magician show for the kids so the adults could have some quiet time for a bit.    Santa also made an appearance.

Christmas Eve ready for Santa with cookies & egg nog

This has always been a family tradition in my family.  Kids all wake up and have to sit on the top of the stairs while we get lights on, fireplace turned on and early morning pictures.   

They should just be happy they don't need to wait till a wood-burning fireplace is all ready, and an ancient camcorder with batteries and tapes all put in place beforehand.  

(I might be speaking from past experience) 

Christmas morning gifts from Santa

More presents - these kids are spoiled (mostly from Grandparents!)

My brother's family ended up getting a flight to the cabin, so we decided to go just after Christmas and spend a week there before school started back up.   It is sad that the cousins don't get to see each other much, but when they do they love spending time together.

We were able to spend a few days in Montana skiing which was really fun.

We had a huge disaster of a morning the first skiing day though.    We decided to try out a ski hill that we had never been before called BlackTail, it's a ski hill that you actually drive to the top of the mountain and ski down that way.    When we got there all the lessons were full till the afternoon, and we could not see any bunny hill around.     We decided to attempt going down the hill on our own without lessons...    Keep in mind I just switched back to skiing from snowboarding and I hadn't ski'd since I was about 12 years old.   Our older two kids have never been skiing before this and were unable to even stand up sideways on the ski hill.   It took a PAINFUL hour and a half to get down a green hill, with us lifting up Zoe and Dreyton while trying to ski down with them.  

At the top of the chairlift getting off we noticed the bunny hill just up above that hill, around the corner from where we started from...   Luckily by that time it was lunch time and kids were able to go through a ski lesson which helped HUGE!

To top off this crazy day we had a bit of a scare driving down the mountain at the end of the day.   There was a section that was all pure ice and our van just sped up and we had no control of the brakes, the scary part was it was just before a big turn and we were going straight for the edge of a cliff.   Luckily Lee saved us by turning the van before the edge and hitting the snowbank on the edge which helping us slow down enough and we were turned to be able to make the big turn.  

Kids loved taking the toboggan for a ride behind the quad.

The next time we went skiing, we went to the mountain that I have gone many times as a kid (Big Mountain) and put the kids in full day ski lessons!

Our New Years Eve tradition,  fondue dinner! yum.

Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this winter, very mild weather which was nice.

Tenley's first time going trick or treating, she loved it.    She tried so hard to catch up to her brother and sister

The Incredibles & a butterfly

Just wondering when the kids will find out where all their Halloween candy went???

Disneyland!!!

Now on to my favourite post!  going to Disneyland!

I've been wanting to take my kids to Disneyland for a LONG time, I remember loving it as a kid and I wanted to go before they were not as excited to see all the characters and all the "magic" as you get as a kid.  Unfortunately I knew it would cost quite a bit of money to go.

When my brother Ryan had booked a conference for his work close to Disneyland, my parents decided to try make it a family vacation and since they were willing to pay for the housing, it was going to be feasible for us to go.

So we found this awesome house very close to Disneyland that had 9 bedrooms and the kids room were all decked out in nice theme rooms, so we booked that for a week.

Lee and I wanted to go a few days just with our own family, so we left a few days earlier then everyone else and stayed in a hotel in San Diego.

(On our Way!)

(Dreyton was SUPER nervous to fly in the plane, this was during take off.  Luckily he realized really quick that it was actually fun and he was happy and relaxed)

(This was a perfect moment that didn't last too long, but for the most part Tenley did good)

We first stayed at a hotel by Disneyland for one night so we could go to Disneyland the next day after we got there, but it was a disaster!

We got this groupon deal for a hotel close to Disneyland, and figured we didn't care if it was cheap since it was for one night.   We didn't know we'd have carpet cleaning next door to us till 10pm at night (we actually switched rooms, so I have no idea how long they actually did it for that night).   Also the crib Tenley was in had these hard flat metal bars that every time she would move she'd bash into them and cry, there were no bumper pads on them at all to make them softer.  Let's just say we will NEVER stay at that hotel again.

Anyways after that night we spent the day at DISNEYLAND which was awesome, and then we drove to San Diego and stayed at a hotel there.   We got an awesome deal on a hotel room with a separate bedroom (oh my goodness, bliss!!!!!), that hotel was great.   Will be hard to stay at a hotel without a separate bedroom from now on, worked so much better and they had a playpen for Tenley instead of the hard metal jail crib.

(It was set up for Halloween since we went in October)

We went to SEA WORLD the day after that which was AWESOME, it was one of my favourite days there as it was just relaxing!   No rushing, and no crowds.   Dreyton loved just sitting and drawing in his book the sea animals he was looking at, Zoë got to ride some rides there (Dreyton is very nervous on the bigger rides).    We also saw the penguin exhibit which Dreyton is an expert at as they studied penguins his kindergarten year at school.  He knew all the different kinds, and what they ate and everything about them.   We'd sit behind in the chairs just looking at the penguins while he'd just continue talking a mile a minute about them, haha, our own little tour guide.

(Tenley loved being in the aquarium building, she would just stare in amazement)

Tenley did SOOOO awesome on this trip, she'd just fall asleep great in the stroller whenever she was tired, she was so happy all the time.

(Zoë really wanted a picture by the castle, she got in trouble though standing on the ledge for a decent pic, oops!)

The third day we were supposed to go see the ocean but only Lee and the kids did while I was passed out in the car with strep! I was SO out of it with a really high fever, I woke up once with a policeman starring inside the car at me, since I was in a car with no windows down, and the car turned off in extreme heat (I was SOOO cold).   I was very sad to have missed my kids first time seeing the ocean, but Lee took some pictures for me at least!

We headed back to Anaheim to meet my sister and kids and my parents, and to get in the rental house.   Luckily for me the next day was a stay at the rental house, let the kids play in the pool ALL day, so I was able to flop from the couch, to the bed, to the couch and wake up once in awhile to see the kids playing.




                                (this is on a very rare occurrence we got them to sit down)

Between Ryan being able to check in my throat (I think I scarred him for life), and my dad with his random meds he brought, we were able to get me on some meds and I was able to get better.

Some of the pictures of the house

(the boys room had 3 bunk beds!)

  
(the games room)

 

(the girls had this carriage bed with the trundle & another bunk bed

We then went to DISNEYLAND two other days. Before going to California I didn't think there was any possible way I'd want to go three days, but I wish I had many more days there as they went so quick and we didn't get to see MANY rides.   With me being sick still, by suppertime I was done.  

We went to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS as well with my whole family which was crazy and fun too.    I loved the transformer ride, coolest ride i've ever been on!   and thankfully Dreyton actually went on it, and he loved it as well.  He got to meet Megatron which he was SUPER excited about.    Dreyton liked all the characters from universal, they were old school, like Beetlejuice and Scooby Doo.  He loves watching the retro channel so he knew all those characters well too.   They also had a great play area for toddlers to play around which was great for Tenley.

We also were able to do another Ocean day where I was able to go and with the cousins!  

The 10 days went so quick and it was an AWESOME family vacation.

(the eight cousins and a few extra!   we were able to meet up with a couple of my cousins, these are my cousin Amy's kids Maddy & Cece)