Family Pictures 2012!

Playmates

Kate and Max are at an age that they play so well together! I LOVE it! About a week ago they were playing nicely, so I decide to get some things done. After awhile I come in to find this!

It's perfectly fine that they were playing with the face paints, that's what they are for, but it still surprised me!  And asking for permission would have been nice! 

They were having so much fun drawing on each others faces.  They were covered!

I think it's even cuter that they were in dress up clothes when they did this. 

While it's not technically makeup, I think Max will be mad at Kate on day for this...

just know that you drew a lot on their yourself buddy :)

I love these kids so much.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we spent it an my family's house in Snowflake.  We had a fantastic time with family and stuffing our faces.  This year my brother Andy surprised us by coming down from BYU.  Normally he only does Christmas because it's expensive for a college student to come down for both holidays.  We haven't celebrated Thanksgiving with him since before his mission!  8 years ago!  So that was really really fun.  Can't wait to see you again in a couple weeks Andy!

My kids LOVED playing outside.  If they weren't playing outside, they were begging to.  They loved getting all bundled up and playing in the leaves. 

A lot of this happened.

Thanksgiving meal was awesome!  We ate so much!

 The star of the meal was this:

That is a turkey covered in 5 packages of bacon. Yes, it was awesome! 

Over the days we had lots of fun just hanging out as a family, playing Quelf, Killer Bunnies and Scattergories, and Andy even introduced Alex to stage sword fighting. It was a great holiday. Now bring on Christmas!

500th post!

That's pretty momentous isn't it?

And to celebrate I put up my Christmas tree!

Okay, not really, but it is a happy coincedence!

Last year after Christmas, I bought a tree from hobby lobby when it was 80% off. I bought the biggest one they had! It is 12 ft tall! I've been waiting ALL year for Christmas to roll around again so I could finally put it up. I know it's really early for my tree to be up, but I couldn't wait anymore!

Dustin usually hates anything Christmas before Thanksgiving. So much, that it is the most annoying thing about the season. haha.  He complains about it every year! Well I wore him down and we put it up yesterday. Our kids are so excited for our tree to be up already! Kate keeps asking me to put up the rest of our decorations! I will wait a little while for those though....maybe :)

Sorry about my shirtless kids, it was a spontaneous picture!

I'm so excited for the Holidays!  Best time of the year!!

Kate

I think this picture sums her up perfectly, don't you?

Oh Kate, where do I begin?  You are the cutest, smartest, silliest, funniest and most dramatic 3 year old I know.  You crack me up all the time, and make me want to pull my hair out with your tantrums.  You are so sweet, but also so stubborn.  You are such a momma's girl, so much that it hurts Daddy's feelings a bit.  You love to sing and dance, play outside, do preschool, play pretend and dress up.  You change your clothes at least twice a day.  You love to help mommy with whatever she is doing, especially when mommy is cooking.  You are a great big sister and you love Max very much.  You love Princesses and Tinkerbell and still talk about Disneyland all the time even though it's been a year since we went there.  You love to be the center of attention.  You make everyday hilarious, and I love that about you.

A couple days ago I asked Kate what she wanted for Christmas.  She replied, "Movies, towels, and a shower."

My mom is visiting today and she asked Kate, "Kate, when are you going to stop being to silly?"  Kate replied, "18".

Last week at our Halloween preschool party, the host mom poured Root Beer over dry ice and said "Oooh look it's a magic potion!"  Kate immediately freaked out!  Like full on throwing a screaming tantrum because she thought that the soda was truly magic potion and that she didn't want to drink it.  Some other mom that was there at the party made a joke about about how she turns into a witch at night (haha) and that didn't help the situation.  She was so afraid that the potion was going to turn her into a witch.  She kept on yelling at everyone, "Don't drink the magic!"  After a while she had calmed  down and I not thinking, poured my self a cup of the "potion".  Kate's eyes got wide as I took a sip, and she screamed "NO MOM DON'T DRINK THE MAGIC!".  I had to try to explain to her all over again that is was just soda, but she didn't really believe me and she kept a close eye on me all day to make sure I didn't really turn into a witch.

In the picture above (you were waiting for an explanation weren't you?) it was the day after Halloween and I had left my face painting crayons out.  Before I knew it she had done her makeup like this!  Can you guess what she is?  She's a tiger.  Obviously.

As many of you know, I do hair.  Well, a couple weeks ago it was finally time to get my hair done and my friend Kendra came over to do it.  When Kate realized that it was mommy getting her hair done she freaked out and threw a tantrum yelling "I don't want you to change!"

She also threw the same fit when I did my mom's hair today.  Sometimes the things she chooses to freak out over baffle me.

The other day the whole family was in the car and we were in a bit of traffic.  Dustin was trying to let a guy in and he says out loud, "You go ahead".  Kate then says, "You go to heck Mom!"  obviously trying to repeat what Daddy said.  Not quite Kate...not quite.

I really need to get better at writing these things down as they happen because now I'm blanking on other stories to tell you all.  But they are there, and I promise to get better at blogging them.  Until next time...

Sea World Day 2!

This was our 2nd day at Sea World and last day of vacation. On this day Sea World had a Halloween celebration.  The kids wore their costumes, and we trick or treated throughout the park all day long. 

 We played at the Sesame Bay of Play, watched a halloween show there, fed the sea lions, visited all the aquariums, touched the sea stars, and took pictures the with mermaid and pumpkin princess.

I love the pirate that's photo bombing our picture (top left)!

We also went to the 4D theater to watch Pirates!  I remember this movie from when I visited Sea World with my family when I was about 14 years old.  It's a little 20 minute movie that stars Leslie Nielsen and it's about a boy named Davy who is seeking revenge on Captain Lucky and his crew of pirates.  That doesn't sound scary does it?  Well, it scared the death out of Kate!  I think it was because it was a 4D movie and the first thing they do it shoot a canon at the audience, which means a big puff of air is blown at your face.  There's also parts when water is shot at you as well.  I thought Kate would have thought it was funny, since up until now she hasn't really been afraid of anything!

Well after we watched the movie, there was a little trail they had set up where you can go hunt for Captain Lucky's treasure.   Again, not something I thought Kate would be afraid of.  She was crying her eyes out because she didn't want to go in there.  I knew it wasn't going to be scary so we made her go in.  All it was were people dressed as pirates and a few silly scenes from the movie were set up in there.  But she did not like it!  She still hasn't forgiven us.  She is still talking about how she is so scared of Captain Lucky.  Of all things I did not think she was going to be scared of pirates!  She loves playing pirates at home!

We also went to the arcade part of the park and Dustin won Kate and Emma some stuffed Shamu's.

 

Not sure why Kate is so grumpy in this picture!  She has the bigger Shamu!  haha.  

We stayed late at the park that night and went to the night showings of the sea lion and otter show and Shamu Rocks.   

It was a fabulous vacation!  We love going to San Diego and love spending time with our family.  We hope to go again in another year or two!