Christmas

This year, Grandma and Grandpa, Dustin and Sheila and Kristal came to visit us.  They got a great hotel room at the Trump.  We rode the High Roller, sat in their hot tub, ate at the Stratosphere and played lots of games, shopped, acted out the nativity, opened presents and ate a lot!

Deans Visit

Our great friends, the Deans stayed with us on their way to CA and back.  And we met them for a day at Knott's Berry Farm.  The weather was great and we had so much fun. We even got to make our traditional candy trains with them.

Thanksgiving in Visalia

For Thanksgiving we went to Visalia.  Thursday we ate  and went to see the new Hunger Games movie.  And the dads took the kids to the Penguins of Madagascar movie. Friday we went to the coast.  We tried to go to Hearst Castle but all the tickets were sold out by the time we got there.  So we played at a park and walked on a pier and went out to eat. Saturday we went to the Fresno zoo.  We had a great time. 

 Anteater faces

 Flamingo legs

 Bob must have been magnetic. The kids kept sticking to him.

Utah trip

We went to up Utah to visit the Deans and so Bob could see some BYU games.  We had a great time at the Dean's beautiful new house. We played games and ate great food and watched movies.  It was freezing there that weekend.  I think we were all wondering how the Deans could have moved to a place so cold. Rachel and Savannah attempted a hot chocolate stand and the boys all played basketball in the backyard. Before we left we stopped for a quick visit at Temple Square.

Ruby is 4

What makes you happy:  presents
Favorite food: yogurt and quesadillas
Favorite thing to do:  play toys
What are you really good at: opening presents

Favorite Movie: Frozen

Favorite TV Show: Bubble Guppies

Favorite color:  every kind of color
Favorite song:  Let it Go

Best friend: Kloey Boyd and Lizzy Wagner

What do you and your mom do together: go shoppin

What do you and your dad do together: help him do stuff

Favorite sport: you know those things that go in the snow (skiis)

Favorite place to go:  Grandma's House

Favorite animal: puppies and kitties

Favorite Book: Dog Tails

What do you want me to be when you grow up: a fish man or a pizza man

Aaron is 9

Sunday was Aaron's birthday.  We got Krispy Kreme's the night before and he opened his presents in the morning.  Then we had white sauce and noodles and his funfetti birthday cake and ice cream after church. This Friday he'll take a friend and his brothers and sister to laser tag

What makes you happy:  going to the Buffet
Favorite food: white sauce
Favorite thing to do:  soccer
What are you really good at: soccer

Favorite Movie: Charlotte's Web and Mom's Night Out

Favorite color:  blue
Favorite song:  Centuries by Fall Out Boy

Best friend: Cannon Dean and Tyson Pettingill

What do you and your mom do together: Eat

What do you and your dad do together: play

Favorite sport: soccer, football and Basketball

Favorite place to go:  Aliante Buffet

Favorite animal: Funny animals like blub-fish and goblin shark

Favorite Book: World records 2012

What do you want me to be when you grow up: A GIS or  NBA player

Camping

The kids had a half day on Thursday and no school Friday so we decided it would be the perfect time to go camping.  It was still pretty hot so we couldn't go to our usual Valley of Fire camp spot (plus that place isn't so magical for us since Seth fell off the mountain).  So we went to Mt. Charleston.  That was the first time we camped there overnight.  We had a great time.  We enjoyed the fire quite a bit since it was colder there.  We made tinfoil dinners and s'mores in a cone, as well as the usual roasted marshmallows and starburst.

It was windy but we didn't really notice how windy until we went to bed.  In our family prayer Danny asked that the wind would stop.  I knew that prayer probably wouldn't be answered the way we wanted it.  So I suggested in everyone's personal prayers that we ask that people will sleep soundly. That prayer was definitely answered because it felt like we were sleeping in a walmart bag with a fan on it! The wind was insane.  Bob and I were up most of the night.  But the kids all slept perfectly! Aaron and Seth woke up once but went right back to sleep.  Ruby, who hasn't slept through the night in 2 weeks since her surgery, begged to go to bed and fell asleep first and was the last to wake up.

The next morning we made another fire and made some hot chocolate in Danny's empty soda can because we forgot the pot. The kids shot airsoft guns and we went on a little hike.