December Fun

Dave took me to City Center's VIP pre-grand opening last Wed. Dec. 16th. Kleinfelder Eng. worked on City Center and so they were given 2 VIP tickets. They were playing interesting music with different kinds of instruments and handing out food from the restaurants. I told Dave it reminded me of Star Wars when they were eating at places with wierd music playing. Once, me thinking I was ready for something sweet because we were eating lots of exotic meats and sauces, I saw a man carrying some ice cream cones -it looked like chocolate and vanilla swirled. I eagerly took one and bit in, as did Dave, only to find it wasn't ice cream but probably liver and something really icky. Luckily just up the stairs was a beautiful assortment of yummy chocolates. It was fun hanging with Dave and seeing all the upscale shops and rooms and lots of lavishly dressed people. There was a neat fountain that changes colors and a cool wall of water as you arrive. This picture is who we were greeted with as we entered. We love Christmas caroling to the neighbors.
The Christmas parties are fun to look forward to. This is from Dave's work party.
We also enjoyed yummy breakfast and great people at our Ward Christmas breakfast; had fun running around the Red Hill with Joey, Kristie and family; visited with my grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins at the Covington Christmas party; and savor the time with my parents and family -plus a really fun bonus of holding a very sweet little baby girl Maggie.

Every year, beginning with mine and Dave's second Christmas (1991), we sleep out by the Christmas Tree the Eve of Christmas Eve (Dec.23). This year we decided to start the evening off by making your own pizza.

I think this will be a new tradition because everyone thought it was their best pizza ever.

Usually we play games and sing Christmas songs, but not this year. Ali got upset during a game, which she was winning, and stormed off to her room and only came back down to sleep -oh joy.

In the morning Dave made some super delicious omlets from the leftover pizza toppings.

This one is mine -Yum!

Happy Christmas Eve and

Happy Birthday Steve!

California -Fun!

California here we come!

We headed towards Sacramento Wednesday, November 25th at about 2:00 pm. and didn't get there until about midnight. It was a long drive, but so fun to get out and see Wendy and Lori awake to greet us. Thanksgiving day we had fun playing croquet in the beautiful CA sunshine, playing more games, reading and making these cute turkeys.
Here's our group: Wendy and Blair and their cute boys, Ben, Eric and Nate; Lori and Jamie; Wendy's friend Heather; and our family -13 of us all together.

We ate around 5:00 and it was yummy! Then we put on our PJs and hung out -the girls painted their toes and Sam decided he wanted to help.
These were actually blairs toes. Aren't they pretty? Sam couldn't wait to see them the next day to see if he still had those pretty toes.
Reading was big, just find a comfy spot. Playing the computer (I think they had 4 in a row upstairs -heaven for Spencer) was another big hit -so was bowling since it was raining Friday which I loved -I ran in it that morning. That night Ben showed some of us how to play Peanuckle and then Spencer came down and showed us how to play Spades. We didn't go to bed until 2am. Saturday Dave got in 9 holes of golf.
We had such a super time at Wendy's. She's always so accommodating and fun. I couldn't believe how quickly Sunday came. Then we loaded in the car again -this time we were suppose to be on the road for only 6 hours. Oops! Holiday traffic. We got out of church at about 12:00 and didn't get to Anaheim until 9:00 pm.

Monday morning we woke up and headed across the street to Disneyland with our good friends, the Gublers, from Santa Clara, UT.
Waiting in line which was hardly ever more than 15 minutes -mostly we only had about a 5 minute wait.
Matterhorn -fun! and Sam was tall enough 35" was the min and he was about 36".
We also loved the Tower of Terror in the California Adventure park. and Screamin, and Soaring California (my favorite).
Sam loved the Pooh ride that we rode a few times while we waited for the big kids to get off Splash Mountain which was Ali's favorite.
Pirates of the Carribean -Sam asked very seriously, "Are we going to get killed?"

It's a Small World was so amazing. They did a great job decorating it for the Christmas season.

A little wet after Splash Mountain, but still Ali's favorite. Lucky we had such terrific weather.

Spencer's favorite -and we all loved it, was Space Mountain.


It is a small world. We ran in to my cousin's husband Stafford and their daughter Finley from Kansas, the Halls from our ward in Henderson, and the Imlays and the Hanks from St. George.

We had a great time hanging with the Gublers.

They have a son, Drew, who's a week younger than Sam (he is also 40" tall so he got to go on some of the big kid rides like Space Mountain),

A daughter, Maddie, who's about six months older than Ali,

a son, Chase, who's about 6 months younger than Spencer, and another son, Dyllan, who I wish we had a buddy for.

Sam loved Dumbo and all the fun Disney characters around.

I loved all the fun Christmas decorations.

This was in the Haunted Mansion which they'd decorated for Christmas too -the Nightmare Before Christmas.

Crazy driver Sam.

More fun Disney Christmas.

It's a Small World was so amazing at night and so was Sleeping Beauty's Castle.


This was so cool. After the fireworks, on Main Street it snowed (bubbles).

Disneyland is so magical! We had a great time. We were there Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday until 2:00pm when waved good bye sadly. But I was so happy to pull up at 6:30pm and find our home anxiously waiting for us, and sleep in our very own comfy beds.

Home Sweet Home ; )