BEST pic EVER!!!!

YUMMY ... need I say more??

Best picture EVAH!!!!

Oh man ... I can't get enough of these men!!!

Sea World

We had so much fun at Sea World.  I grew up going to Sea World and I still love going as much now as I did then.  I loved seeing the wonder of the sea life on the faces of my children (and Trevor) who had never seen anything like it before.

We got to talking.  These animals are sooo beautiful!!  It is literally magical watching them perform, but which crazy person had the first thought .... 

"Here's a killer whale.  I bet I could train that to flip and jump when I blow a whistle!"  

I'm just glad that I had the opportunity to see the trainers in the water with the whales when I was growing up because they aren't allowed to do that anymore.  

 Evan ONLY wanted to go see the dog show.  We promised him that we would go after lunch but when we got there it was full and they weren't letting anyone in.  It was the last show!  We felt sooo bad!!!  That is the only thing he really wanted to do the entire day and now there was zero chance that he would get to.  So he said, "Well, maybe if I could get my face painted I wouldn't be sad anymore."  Hence Evan got to spend the rest of the day with an awesome dragon on his face.  And he was right, he wasn't sad at all.

Landon saw the penguins and talked about them the rest of the day.  He is the one that wanted this picture taken and he still snuggles up with his "Mr. Penguin" everyday.

I took this picture of my sister and it totally freaked me out because it was my mom ... only blond!!

 (here is a young mom for comparison)

So we were walking into the Christmas Sea Lion show and we pass this little kid in a wheel chair.  I think to myself, "I swear thats the kids that we met in Florida."  We spent about 25 minutes with him in line waiting to meet Buzz and Woody.  I did not think that it was likely because that was Florida in June at the SMA conference and this was December in San Diego.  Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I asked his Dad if his son had SMA and if they were at the conference at Disney in June.  

His dad said yes and yes!  In fact when we first walked into the sea lion show his son leaned over to him and said ... "hey Dad, I know them!"  

Crazy World!!!!!  It was great to see them again and I got his parents email address. 

the top picture is from Sea World

the second picture is taken back in June at the SMA conference in Florida.  

(forgive Evan ... he was REALLY tired at this point in the day)

another outing

Oh how I love going home!  Our family took a day trip to the point Loma light house, Cabrillo monument , and the tide pools.  It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun.

These two family pictures make me laugh.  For my regular blog readers (all 18 of you) lets play a game.  Lets see how long it takes you to figure out why these pictures make me laugh and tell me in your comments how long it took for you to realize.

Our walk up to the light house was clear and sunny and bright and then this heavy heavy fog rolled in.  It was crazy and I wish I could show you how thick and fast moving this fog was.  The fog is actually the culprit for Justin's flight adventure home, but that story is coming.

There was this ledge that you couldn't see anything down because of the fog.  I think it made for a really cool picture.  What wasn't cool was when I hadn't really gotten close yet to see that there was actually ground off of the wall and Justin and Trevor made it seem like Justin accidentally pushed Trevor off the cliff.  Gave me and the poor stranger down the road a heart attack.

I'm a klutz .... Sarah's worse.  No wonder we were the two that crashed our heads together for no good reason.

Sorry the picture is dark.  I am tired and don't feel like adjusting the color.

I think our boys were tired ... what do you think?

love this picture of my sister and her hubby

 Some of the adults were down on a rock looking at some wildlife.  They got nailed by a wave!!!  This water is not warm and they really got it.  Everyone survived ... except Sarah's phone.  Poor girl.

 probably one of my favorite pictures EVER!!!!

 I think it was later that night that we went to the temple as a family.  AWESOME!!!

( and the funny think about that picture is the RANDOM man who jumped in.  I love it because it is totally something that Justin would do and Justin responded by putting his arm around the guy!  LOVE IT!!!)

Big Balloon Parade

All through high school my sister volunteered with an organization that helps people with special needs play sports.  Every year they march in the holiday bowl parade and this year they invited Evan to march with Auntie Sarah.  I was nervous about how he would react because sometimes he gets really shy and floppy.  I walked him to Auntie Sarah and gave her and her boyfriend the low down on how to manage him if he turned into that.  

I had no need to fear.  Our baby was a natural schmoozing the crowd!!!  He took his job very seriously and wouldn't even stop to high-five us because he was smiling and waving.  He did grant us a larger smile once he made eye contact with us.  

Justin and I of course started bawling after he passed!  We were so proud!!!!

We found Captain Jack!!  Too bad Evan wasn't brave enough to actually look his idol in the face.  I think he was just too overcome at seeing his idol in the flesh!!!

Shamu

such a GREAT kid!!!!!

Evan at his very favorite Mormon Battalian Center, or as Evan calls it

the Mormian Italian!!

go Justin go!

and the prize goes to ...

And the prize goes to .....

ERIN

"BIG FOOT!!"

Mt. Woodsen

Some might say it was only 4 miles up and 4 miles back, but I say doing that with a 2 and 4 year old over some steep parts with big rocks is pretty impressive!  I do believe the prize must go to Justin though!  He hiked up carrying a sleeping Landon at the end.  

 At the top there is a really cool rock that juts out.  This is only picture that we got where Evan was looking at the camera.  He kept looking at the view behind us ... which makes sense.  Oh, and he wasn't afraid to go on the really thin ledge like his wimpy Mama was.  To my defense though ... do  you see that ledge?  There really isn't much to it.  At some point its going to decide it just doesn't want to hold people anymore and break.

 We ended the day with one of Evan's favorite activities ... burning marshmallows in a bon fire.  Does it get any better?  Yes it does!  The marshmallows were the biggest thing I have ever seen!  Seriously the size of my fist.  Oh and Mandy came over with her crew!  I LOVED that!!!

It was a great and mellow day.

Christmas Day

 I love that Christmas was on a Sunday!  It makes it that much easier to be focused on Christ during the entire day.  What it also meant was that the "materialistic" part of the day was split into multiple sections.

We started the day with the boys jumping on all of their Aunties and Uncles (with our help ;-) to get them up for the day.  Evan was absolutely convinced that he had heard a thump on the roof in the middle of the night.  He knew it was Santa and was just beside himself excited for what was awaiting him under the tree.

I LOVE the magic of Christmas and watching that joy in my children's faces is more precious than any word can describe.  We boogied downstairs with the whole family and opened our Santa gift, gift to Jesus , and rifled through our stockings.  Then it was time to get pretty and head off to church.

Church was so fun for me.  It was the special Christmas program in the congregation I grew up in, and I sang in the choir next to my mom and played my oboe (probably a little better than I did in high school).  I loved it!!  Every moment!

I just think this is a funny picture of my Sis-in-Law, Sharley.

 After church we came back home and dived head first into our present opening routine.  The boys got everything they asked for ... and more.  Thank you everyone for spoiling our children!  :-)

Some of the main gifts were:
Santa brought Evan a pirate Lego that he asked for and Landon the cars Lego that he asked for.
Auntie Sarah gave us a bunch of pirate stuff, including a well loved Captain Jack.
Landon got a Rapunzel doll from Mommy and Daddy and he slept with it the rest of the week we were in San Diego!
GG got Landon a back pack.  To say he is in love with his back pack would be an understatement!!!!!
Grandma made them some snow balls to use inside the house.

There are more, but my fingers are now tired and I need to finish this blog ;-)

After presents came our phone call with my brother Alex.  He is on a mission for our church in Chile and his mission president lets him Skype in.  I love that he can use Skype because it means that the entire family can talk to him, even Brandon who spent Christmas in Texas.  It means so much to be able to see him and meet his companion.  Even Sheba (our 18 year old cat) got in on the action, and we all got to meet Rosalie (my brothers baby who was born 2 days before Christmas).  It was a perfect day!!!

Oh the magic of Childhood captured in a photo!

Yeah the day was THAT good!!!