Christmas!!!

Okay, I know I'm a little behind on my blog posts it has just been a little chaotic around here with the Holidays and what not. Okay now, where do I begin so much has happened over the past few weeks I don't know where to start. The weekend before Christmas my we spent up at my sister Stacey and her husband Rocky's home is Prescott with the rest of my family!! We had so much fun up there, we spent every night and most of the day playing games and just relaxing. Swayzie and Hudson had a blast playing with their cousins and their mischievous uncle Jake who loves to tease and scare them. It was so nice to be able to play a few games up there while the kids just played together. Most of our family games tend to end a little heated with so many strong competitors. Luckily, this time my husband was able to keep his temper under control!! The kids also got to open presents up there from my family and were spoiled rotten with all the presents, it definitely had them even more anxious for Christmas to roll around. It was sad to leave, the time went by so quickly while we were there. Hopefully it won't be too long before we plan another trip up there!! Christmas morning turned out better than I could have expected, besides the fact that I woke up almost every hour of the night hoping that the kids were awake so we could open the presents. Finally, at around 6 am I decided it would be best to just wake the kids up before I fell into a panic attack!! I have serious issues, I know! They were so excited to find all the presents under the tree. Hudson loved his new bike and had to be yanked from it so that he would open the rest of the presents. Swayzie loved all of the princess stuff Santa brought, however was a little disappointed when she would open something that she didn't think was a "toy". Justin told her that if she didn't want it we could just send it back to Santa and he would find someone that wanted it. That quickly zipped her lip and she was then telling us how much she loved it! We spent the remainder of the day over at Justin's family's home where we opened more presents, and of course the kids were spoiled rotten!! The kid's spent the day trying out all their new toys while we played games. It was a super fun day, I couldn't have asked for anything better!! We then spent the following day's up in Heber with Justin's old friend Billy from Highschool and his wife's family. They had a beautiful cabin that we were able to stay in and a basement full of toys that the kids LOVED!! The boys of course went snowboarding, I was a little bummed that I couldn't tag along. The last trip I spent snowboarding and pregnant didn't go over so well so I figured I'd hold off until after the baby is born. By the way we just found out...It's a GIRL!!



Good morning sunshine, rise and shine!!

Hudson was so preoccupied with his bike, I had to remind him that there were more presents under the tree!!

Hudson was pure craziness!! He was acting like a complete NUT!!

Disneyland!!!

Swayzie and Hudson at Snow White's cottage


Grandma and Swayzie on the jellyfish ride

Hudson and Grandma on the rockets

Our family finally went on our very first trip to Disneyland and had a BLAST!! It was the most fun ever!! We went with some of Justin's family who were a huge help, it was so nice to have them around. You can never have too much help when you're there! We started out with the Snow White ride, which I thought Swayzie would love but both kids came off that ride screaming histarically! Let's just say, it probably wasn't the best ride to start them out on. Luckily the Dumbo ride cheered them right up! The kids could not get enough of Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain, those were for sure their favs! Swayzie also loved meeting the princesses and the Disney characters that were wandering around. She also got a special invitation to meet Princess Cinderella which just made her day!! While meeting Princess Belle, we learned that Hudson was especially fond of her and would not leave her side, he was hugging on her and holding her hand. Once she kissed him on the cheek it was over for Hud, he didn’t want to leave after that. When we finally left to visit the other Princesses Hudson just starred at her, he didn’t notice anyone else in the room but her. It was really cute. Hudson was such a riot, he was so funny on the rollercoaster’s. He would hold up his hands and scream the entire time, even before the ride began. It worked out perfect because he was just tall enough to go on almost every ride! He was able to go on Space Mountain, Soaring Over California and yes, despite all of the dirty looks we were given by on looking parents we took him on Hollywood Tower of Terror!!! He LOVED it though!! Swayzie on the other hand, not so much!! It wasn't necessarily the ride she was scared of, she was scared of the movie that they showed us before. She thought we were all going to turn into ghosts. She loved everything else though!! We spent three days there and were able to see and ride almost everything!! Once my family heard of all the fun we had, they decided to join the band wagon and take all the grandkids too!! Justin and I decided to skip out on that adventure, I think we've had our fill of Disneyland for awhile. Now that they have had two Disneyland trips in one month, they think that it's a weekly routine! When we wake up in the morning and I ask them what do you guys want to do today, they respond; "go to Disneyland"!!

Hudson and Swayzie being silly at Monsters Inc

It's JoJo!!

Swayzie was loving all her Princess gear

Me and Hudson at the Buzz Light Year ride...He loved this one!

Uncle Trent and Hudson on the Hundred Acre Woods ride

Mommy, Swayzie and Aunt Meggy!! Swayzie was so excited!

Daddy and the kids taking a picture with Tow Mater

Swayzie driving Mickey's car

The kids in Minnie's house

Me and the kids at the Princess castle

Loving the Princess vanity

Hop on Pop

My kids love wrestling around with their dad, they call it "Hop on Pop" playtime!! Justin is so great at getting them all wound up just before bedtime!! It is hilarious to watch how they get so excited over rolling around on the floor and getting tickled until they scream!! The kids team up against Daddy and try to save the other one from being tickled, I really think it's just so they can have a turn! Justin also has a few tricks that he does with them, he throws them on the couch with his feet or lets them stand on his hands while he lifts them up and they just can't get enough of it! They think it is the greatest thing in the world! From the moment he walks in the door from work until after dinner time they are begging for him to play "Hop on Pop" with them!! We've made it mostly an after dinner playtime activity just so that they can get all of their energy out right before bedtime. I decided to take a few pictures of it this weekend!

Reflections of Christ

Some of you may have already heard about the Reflections of Christ by Mark Mabry, which features scenes from the life of Christ. It is amazing!! Every picture is so detailed, you feel as though you are there. If you haven't seen it, you are missing out!! We had a chance to go and see it with my family, and even the kids enjoyed looking through all of the pictures. I'm so excited to take our Young Women's group to see it next week for Mutual. You will fall in love, you just have to go and see it for yourself. I'm not quite sure when they will be taking it down, but I've heard it won't be up for much longer. It's now hanging in the visitors center of the Mesa, Arizona Temple. Here is a link to the reflections blog which shows a short video about one of the pieces.

I thought since we're on the subject of Mark Mabry I would post some of the pictures he took of my family recently at the Temple, he did an amazing job!!

Soccer at the Park

We spent Saturday afternoon at the park with the kids, Justin loves this time of year when Soccer season is approaching. He loves getting the kids ready for their Soccer leagues and the kids love it too! This is Hudson’s first year playing but has already picked it up pretty quick. Justin has been working with him from the time he started walking, so he has been pretty well trained for his “professional career” as Justin likes to refer to it. The weather has been so nice here lately that we can’t help but take advantage of it and spend as much time as we can outside before the summer heat begins!!