Christmas 2011 and Vail

First we had Christmas morning at our house

Then we went over to Papa and Grammy's to open presents there. With everyone there this year, it was a little chaotic.

Christmas evening

The next day it was off to Vail

Albany loved the hot pool

We all got to ski this year (except Albany)

Emerson did great at ski school and loved practicing afterwards with mom and dad.

Wyatt did amazing and is now more daring than I am, going down two black diamonds! Here he is going down moguls!

One day they closed the lifts due to high winds, so the kids got to go sledding and ice skating.

We had a great time, can't wait for next year!

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.