Christmas fun and Anniversary

We began celebrating by decorating the tree

The boys made gingerbread houses with Grammy. Shockingly, Emerson's didn't last long enough to get a picture.

The boys sang at the Ward Christmas Party. It was really cute!

Emerson was first to see Santa. He was so excited and told him everything he wanted.

Wyatt was a little less excited and a little embarrased.

And Albany was much less excited and more terrified, but it was cute!

Matt and I also celebrated our 11 year anniversary yesterday. The kids had a sleepover at Grammy's and we went to Newport to do some Christmas shopping and see a special premier showing of Mission Impossible 4 for BMW. It was great!

Thanksgiving in Texas

We spent Thanksgiving in Austin this year and had a wonderful time visiting with family, eating lots of good food, and watching all the cousins play together non-stop!

At the park

One day Jaxson had a Games 2 U party for all the cousins and some of his friends/neighbor kids. The boys were in heaven.

Albany loved playing with all the new toys at Grandma's with her cousins.

The little kids table

The big kids table

All the cousins, it was impossible to get a good pic of everyone smiling!

Halloween

We had another great Halloween this year. Wyatt was Crocodile Dundee, Emerson was a ninja, and Albany was Smurfette.

Albany and Austin at the ward party

Trick or Treating, we always go visit Great Grandma first. We have to go early so we can spend some time visiting with her. She loves trick or treaters and puts out a big spread on her dining room table with caramel apples, cookies, giant lollipops and tons of candy. The kids' bags are already full by the time we leave her house!

Albany was all about the candy this year!

Jack

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Halloween Activities

We have been busy so far this month. We took the boys to Mickey's Halloween party at Disneyland. They loved it. Once everybody else left at 6pm, the lines were short and the kids got to trick-or-treat through the park!

We also had Emerson's school fall festival. Here he is throwing a pie at a teacher, and Wyatt is "scooping for apples."

Saturday night we had our Halloween Party at our house. It was lots of fun and everyone had great costumes.

Preston and Jennie were Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth, Hilarious! Matt and I were vampires, but by this point the fangs had come out.

Jennie won at bobbing for apples and Dave, Larry the Cable Guy, won the costume contest.

The Patch

Last Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch. As usual, we had a great time and got some great pumpkins!

School starts and Emerson turns 5!

The boys started school in August. Wyatt is in 3rd grade this year and Emerson has one more year of Pre-school.

For Emerson's 5th Birthday, we went to the beach and had a blast. Then we went to the Irvine Spectrum, rode the Ferris Wheel, and had dinner at Javier's (so good!)

On Sunday we celebrated again with everyone at Grammy's house. I made this pirate ship birthday cake.

El Salvador

We just got back from a wonderful family trip to El Salvador with Matt's parents. We went for the temple dedication because Matt served his mission there. We all loved it and had a great time!

The view from our hotel in San Salvador. You can see the temple in the background.

This is the minibus we spent the week driving around the country in.

Cerro Verde

That is a volcano in the background.

The ruins

We spent one day at the beach, El Espino

The water is so warm and goes on forever before the waves start, so beautiful!

We went out on this little boat in the ocean. This was the boy's favorite part of the trip.

We had lots of great dinners. This is La Casa de Piedra. That is our driver, Jose Manuel.

The temple is so beautiful. I'm so glad Wyatt got to go to the dedication and see President Eyring. We can't wait to go back someday!