We're dreaming of a white [day after] Christmas

About four weeks before Christmas MaCayela and I were watching the old movie White Christmas. MaC then turned to me and asked if I had ever had a white Christmas. While it has been some time, I remember as a kid having a least one Christmas at the cabin. I got a blue record player and either that year or another time roller skates, and pj's from grandma Lue. (boy things haven't changed much... most of the greatgrandkids got pj's this year from grandma lulu.) As I told MaCayela about these memories she begged for us to go to the cabin for Christmas. As I didn't really want to have to deal with the whole Christmas and Santa thing up there we decide that since Corey had the week off we would go up the day after Christmas and stay through the weekend. So we booked it with Grandma and we were set for some fun family time.

We didn't make it out on the day after Christmas... Surprise Surprise right ;) But we got out of the house by 9am on Thursday and decide to find people to cover our church responsibilities and we would just stay through Sunday night or Monday morning. As usual for any out of town trip it seems that we grossly over packed but we were off for the mountains.

When we first got to the cabin the outside temp. was 30 degrees and the inside temp was 30 degrees. with the main source of heat being the fireplaces, we (the kids and I) left Corey there to start fires and open up the cabin as we headed back into town. I took the kids out for pizza and hit the hardware store for somethings on Corey's list for the cabin. We then decided that we hadn't been gone long enough for it to warm up so we went down the hill to Sonora to go to Walmart. YEA!!! Now we have even more things than what we packed and if you remember we were already over packed to start. By the time we got back it had started to warm up... 53 degrees now so we unpacked and got ready 'cause everyone was talking about the snow we would be getting over the next 3 days.



YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! It snowed!!!!!!!!! .... that is what I woke up to at 7:30am from two little girls running around in circles after being up from 3am to 6:15 with Dallin and just getting back to sleep. Mom are you so excited!?! they asked as I got up. How do you tell them ... No I am not excited! It is just snow and only 28 degrees outside, I just want to go back to sleep. Just like this.... Why yes I am, and I can't wait to go out and build a snowman with you. Well Corey and the girls went out and started the fun after breakfast and as much dawdling as we could get away with, while I got down for his morning nap. They remind me of colored Michelin men with all the layers that they had on.Joining them for a snowball fight and fun was just wonderful. (Gotta love those baby monitors.) The girls sliding down the driveway brought back memories of many winters of doing the exact same as a child. As the girls come in cold and exhausted (just the way mom likes them before nap time.) they enjoyed warming up and playing inside.

Being that it warmed up the next day and melted most of all the snow away. We spent the rest of the time inside playing games, pinball and pool. MaCayela was so excited she got 22,990 on the pinball all by herself. What a way to spend family time all together having fun and making memories.

Karyn, Wyatt and their kids along with their friends the Maguires came up Sat. night. The girls had a blast having their cousins and friends around to play with. (I guess mom and dad are only fun when there are no other options.) We then got up Sunday morning to another beautiful sunny, but cold morning and packed up to come home early.

We thank Grandma and Grandpa for the use of the cabin, and for the opportunity to build memories with our kids that will last a lifetime.

Santa came! Santa came!

I love to see the kids in the morning with their wide eyes and amazement that Santa really came.

We started the morning out in amazement, for the second year in a row our kids had not gotten up early. (our kids have always been an early wake up, except when it seems you want them to.) Corey and I just lied in bed waiting for the girls to get up. Finally MaC got up and was heading strait for the living room, but mom and dad had put up the baby gate so nobody could go down the hall early. My mom then called to see if we need some batteries for the morning, in finding out that the girls weren't both up and down the hall yet, they decide to come and see the magic of having Christmas morning with little kids. Well, we finally just woke Ella up so we could start the fun. It was a wonderful sight to see as they came down the hall and saw what Santa had left. (even though we had forgot the cookies and milk.) Those of you with young children that still believe know that pure excitement and belief in their eyes that their faith had been rewarded. I look forward to many more of these Christmas mornings.

The girls absolutely loved their play house and later in the day MaCayela told me she is glad that we are like the poor kids. It gave us all a good laugh. [http://annancorey.blogspot.com/2007/12/those-toys-are-for-poor-kids.html]

We then went to my sisters for a waffle breakfast and gifts with grandma and papa. It was lots of fun to see all the cousins having fun and playing guitar hero's for the morning.

I truly feel that we are blessed with the wonderful children and family and friends that we have. We love them all and think of you all often. Hope that the holiday season was a memorable one for each of you.

What a wonderful time for family and friends

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year. We truly enjoyed spending time with loved ones and having fun this year.

We went to my sisters on Sunday the 23rd for a family dinner and gift exchange for my dad's side of the family. What fun it is to see some of those you don't get to see as often. I love seeing my cousin and her family, and why we always seem to wait until the holidays to get together is beyond me. (sorry- no pics... forgot the camera)

We then spent Christmas eve with my mom's side of the family (which is what we have done every year since I can remember) only this year we decided to do it at my aunts instead of grandma and grandpa's. (We kinda out grew grandma's house with all the grandkids and their families.) We enjoyed a wonderful dinner as usual with the best turkey ever!! ~~...okay, okay so Corey was in charge of the cooking the turkey this year, and we figured between the 3 BBQ's, a smoker and turkey fryer we could come up with something different. After having a total of 5 turkey test runs in the month of December (thanks to DeLynn and LaShay for always testing and critiquing) Corey did a fantastic job at the two turkeys for Christmas eve. ~~Well, the kids had a blast running around and acting crazy with all the cousins. The girls seem to think the best part was that they were old enough to hand out the presents when it was time. Grandma and Stacy would read the names but the girls got to be Santa and deliver them. Dallin really enjoyed the whole present thing and started to catch on a little that it was okay to rip the paper. Not that he cared what was in the paper much, but the paper was pretty cool.

For Christmas night we had a great time over at the Sapps for dinner and games. My Parents even came for some fun!! We always enjoy our time with them playing games and letting the kids run around. (They have a little girl Ella's age, Mason) The kids played Disney Bingo, which I highly recommend if you have some kids in the 3 and up range, while we played some pictionary and catch phrase.

Look who got ELFED

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1693440982

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1694365014

The girls and I had a blast elfing the kids that they wanted to elf everyone we had pictures for. Mean ol' mom wasn't going to sit there all day, but we couldn't resist elfing Grandma Lulu and Grandpa Al. We hope you all get a laugh from these.

Remembering the reason for the season

I received these from a friend of mine and was touched by them and thought that I would share them with you. The first is the churches video Joy to the World set to an Amy Grant Song. It is very sweet. The second is the Donnie Osmond song Mary did you know put to a slide show on the Savior.

I hope as we are in the middle of the hussle and bussle of this time of year that we are taking time to remember our Savior and all that he has done for us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icilgwdHiZg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii9JvTyeL1Y

I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.

Family Pictures 2007

A big Thank You to Oracio from Garcia Photography. We love the photos! Here are a few of our favorite.

MaCayela's Preschool Class

MaCayela's Preschool Class for 2007-2008. She has wonderful teachers, Mrs. Lewis & Mrs. Wahlen. She has made lots of friends and loves her class. Usually she can't wait for school days which are only on Tues. and Thurs. so you can only imagine how often I get asked how many more days is winter break and when do I get to go back to class.

Me Want Cookies

Mommies little cookie monster!

Oh how we love them, but Oh what a mess!

Dallin and Maddox BFF

So I decide that Dallins BFF is Maddox Burton. The two boys are about 2 months apart in age, with Dallin being the older, but Maddy is the bigger and faster of the two. Cute little Maddox ate first, crawled first, got teeth first, is bigger than Dallin, but watch out 'cause Dallin can hold his own now. The two boys spend every Sunday at church sitting in the foyer playing during the second hour because they are to loud and crazy for Sunday School class. The two of them just make Ashley (Maddox's Mom) and I laugh because they will just sit there and pull on each other or each others toys. If one grabs hair, than the other will grab a cheek or lip. One will grab a toy from the blanket so the other one grabs the others toy. And now that they are on the move they just follow each other around. These two entertain each other and all those around them.


Yesterday I had Ashley over so that we could get some of our Young Women things done and the two boys were sitting there playing their games with each other and I had a camera around so I thought that I would get a picture of their first real play date. One where they actually played. (They have had others, but they just laid there for those while moms had mom time.)

Wow how they have grown up. (the bottom pic is from 5/23/07)

MaC's real birthday

So, MaCayela actually turned 5 today. Since we had celebrated her birthday earlier with her sister, so that Mom can move on with Christmas stuff. Isn't that just terrible of me. I don't want MaCayela's birthday to be overshadowed by decorating for Christmas or have a tree in the back of her pictures so we just move her birthday up by a week or two.

But feeling a little guilty we decided that we would take her out to dinner for her birthday. She choose Red Robins (No big surprise there, it is usually that or IHOP if the girls get to pick) and Papa, Grandma and Trevor came along.

While we were there someone else had a birthday also and got sung to by the servers, so MaC wanted to know when they were going to sing to her and bring her some ice cream. So we had the servers sing and she got a little shy as everyone around joined in and sang to her. Later on I asked her if she had been embarrassed and she said a little, but that it was okay 'cause they brought her dessert.

Those toys are for the poor kids

For Friday's date night Corey and I decided to get some of our Christmas shopping done for the kids. We started out at Toys-r-us looking around for some little things, me already knowing what I wanted to get the kids but wanting Corey to feel like he got some input or that it was his idea to actually purchase it when I pointed something out that I knew I wanted to get. We pick out Dallins "Big red man" gift along with a few little things for others. We then went to the dress-up and baby section to look for the girls. I had wanted to show Corey this house thing for the girls gift from the "Big Man in red". As we browsed around I asked what he thought of this little house baby setup like I had just seen it and he thought it was a great idea, and he thinks that we made the decision together, if he only knew.

So we proceeded to check out with what we had decided on and move on to our next stop --- TARGET!!! YEA!!! Well at target we found the same things that we got for 5 different gifts at almost half the cost of what we had just paid for at toys-r-us. So we thought that we would just get it at target and then the return the things to toys-r-us. Great idea I figured. Well, by the time that we finished up at target it was time to get the kids from the sitter, so we piled all the purchases into the back of the excursion and headed off to the Sapps to get the little ones.
As we picked up the kids and headed for home we were talking to the kids to keep them awake until we got home. We pulled in the driveway and Corey got out to get Dallin and I took a minute to collect all my stuff from the evening. As I got out and turned to open the girls door for them I see them looking over the back of the seat and opening the bags in the back of the car.

AAAAAHHHH!!!!! GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT THIS MINUTE!!!!! or Santa is not going to come to our house. That just terrified the girls and they ran to their room. Corey went in to talk to them and they asked if the house set was theirs, he answers no and they go into even more tears. He then thinks fast and explains that the gifts are for some poor kids that don't have money to get some gifts. MaCayela then wants to know if Santa doesn't visit the poor kids and is that why we have to buy toys for them. Wow the things that they think of. We explain to them about how moms and dads also buy things for kids along with what Santa brings. We then also explain a little about the toys for tots program that MaCayelas class is going to the fire house for and that we got a barbie for her to take. Well now she wants to know what poor kids are getting the house set. oh me, oh my, now what.

Well then, yesterday morning I had a YW/YM joint ward breakfast and was explaining our occurrences from the night before to some of the other leaders when one of them (that my kids don't know from the other ward) volunteered to be the poor family for us to take our toys to. What an idea.... actually make the kids take it to someones house.

What a memory this will be when the kids look back and think of this.

It's starting to look alot like Christmas...

and I am loving it!!! I couldn't wait until Thanksgiving was over so that we could pull out the Christmas music and get the tree up. Music starts at our house the day after Thanksgiving and runs nonstop. And for some reason this year I feel like a little child looking forward to Christmas.

We got our tree up that weekend and then spent FHE decorating it. Which was quite an experience this year. As I am pulling down the boxes of decorations and ornaments... OK.. as I am pointing at which boxes I want Corey to pull down, he reminds me that the kids are very excited and I need to have Patience with them during this whole decorating thing. I laugh and say who me?. I don't care how they decorate the tree or windows as long as I get to put up the nativity and garland and other little things. SO, we proceed with bring the boxes in and as soon as I set them down the kids start pulling everything out and trying to unwrap all the tissue wrapped items. OH NOOO here goes mom....... JK! Corey and I got a system set up so that I could carefully open the ornaments and then the could chose which ones they wanted to hang and where. Sounds good, right.... Oh Yea we are working with a 3 and 5 year old. All we heard was... She choose mine! She's done more than me! That's where I want to hang mine! So, the system was modified to them being handed an ornament and then waiting until one was done.

We finished the tree with Ella getting her first try at putting the star on top with dad's help then stepped back to look at the wonderful job that they did. Wow what a job it was, within about seven branches we had the bulk of all our ornaments, pine cones, garland and holly berry's that the kids had put on. At this time it was off to bed with the little ones and moms turn to redecorate the tree. Which has had a few redecoration's each day by my own personal interior decorators.

Turkey more Turkey and some Turkeys

Well we have a lot to be thankful for and we have had the chance to think about it all month. We started out our Thanksgiving meals on veterans day. My dad's side of the family thought that we could all get together that Monday and then it would leave Thanksgiving to go to the other side of the family. It was great fun to see everyone and start out the holiday season early.

We then enjoyed the company of my mom's side of the family on Thanksgiving. We got an extra treat in that all my aunts and uncles along with the majority of the cousins and their families were all in town for the weekend. We did our traditional morning at the movies with the kids and than dinner at Aunt Libbys. We ate and played games, enjoying and having fun remembering what the holidays were when we were the young ones and were running around the backyard. We than we were off to FARM!!! with the Sapps. (oh yeah!) and have our first round of leftover turkey.

So that is our Turkey and more Turkey and here are some of our "Turkeys"...

We spent the morning friday, starting at 6:30, cleaning up the backyard at my parents. Who can get up at 6:30 after eating all that sleep inducing turkey is beyond me. (As you might have guessed my kids and I weren't there until later.) Needless to say, Corey found a way to have to work and missed out on most of it. And you can see how Wyatt contributed. (JK. this was at the very end of the job.) Ella even pitched in to see that we got it done.

And at the end of it all that mom (well dad really) treated us girls to a pedicures and manicures at the salon. Not a bad ending to the morning, as we still got home in time for naps.

During all this clean up time, Kaytlynn and MaCayela were inside playing. Katy decide to be a photographer and pose MaC for pictures. Added in here (since we are talking about turkeys) is a couple of a new rising photographer.

Now the Race is on...

and here comes Dallin up the backstretch...

So if you couldn't tell Dallin is now crawling. He is giving us all a run for our money. He was so close and we kept thinking that it would happen any time and then one day he did a little crawl. By the next day he was all over the house. I can't keep him in one place and in just four days he has worn the girls out, in that they have to have everything up off the ground and mom makes them check on him constantly. I guess it is time to get out the baby gates and vacuum more often.

Funny little tidbit on my little ones... Dallin started crawling one day before he was 9 months. Ella was 9 months and one day, and MaCayela was 9 months exactly.

OH YEA!!!! Dallin also got his first tooth today!!!!

You all said this was easy

Well as you can tell I don't know what I am doing... I tried to switch out my background to Christmas and lost all my side pictures. Now I can't even figure out what I did, nor can I get the Christmas background on there. What I am doing, I have no idea, I have spent 4 days staring at this stuff and nothing!! But I can still post and not lose those, so until I figure out HTML or can get someone to do it for me this is what I am stuck with... A plain background and no side pictures.

MaCayela's Turkey Recipe

For Those of that are still looking for a good Turkey recipe, MaCayela brought home her own personal one from school.

First you need a 130 pound turkey. Put flour and sugar on it. Put in the oven for 40 minutes. Then you eat it!!

Good Cookings to All! Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving and remember all that you are thankful for. For here in our home we are thankful for our friendships with each of you.

Saying Goodbye, AGAIN!!!

How can you say goodbye to your best friends!?! Especially when you are just a kid. (I act like they live next door and we see them everyday. ) They actually moved to Bakersfield 2 years ago, (which I am still mad at Richard for!!) but it seem so much worse to say that they are moving to Kentucky.

The Thurstons have been close friends of ours since MaC was just 8 months old and Emma was just 9 weeks. Nathalie and I seemed to be inseparable as new mothers plugging through our new experiences. The best part was our husbands actually enjoyed being around each other (you know you have those friends that your husband doesn't want to do things with because he's not friends with the friends husband), so we could do things as couples and families. We have enjoyed many outings, Vacations, Birthdays, Special events and Holidays with the Thurstons. Our Families have mirrored each other as we have each added a little girl and boy to the family. I am proud to say that we have tried to see each other every month making the trip to Bakersfield or them coming here, but I'm not sure I will make it to Kentucky anytime soon.

We just want Richard, Nathalie, Emma, Cate, and Parker to know that we love you all. You each hold a special place in our lives, you have been there as our friends and we think of you as our Family. As we think of the girls early childhood you are in most memories, where good or crazy ones. You have been here to celebrate the good and lift us up on the lows. We value your friendship and will forever cherish the memories.

You are always welcome to visit... I promise to always have Diet Coke and Ice Cream just waiting your arrival.

Happy Birthday!!!

It is Birthday time at our house once again.!

Ella has just recently had a birthday (Nov. 7th) and turned 3 years old. While MaCayela's birthday is coming (Dec. 4th) and she will be turning 5 years old.

For birthdays this year we took the kids to Disneyland for the first time. (right before Ella turned 3 and we actually had to pay for her. - hehe) We thoroughly enjoyed our time, but thought that we still needed to do something as far as cake and ice cream. So last night we had a "Family" party after our monthly family dinner for the girls. See, mom is getting smarter and combining things instead of having two parties at different times.

The girls enjoyed playing last night with cousins and friends while running around papa and grandma house. And now today are having fun with all their new games and toys while having Katy and Trevor over.

Hello Grandma Shirley!!

The Girls just wanted to take a picture that I would put on the computer for grandma since I told them that you could look at this anytime you wanted to.

Okay... I Finally did it!

Well I have been saying I am going to do this and now with the encouragement (or down right demand) from Nathalie I did it. I am going to have to figure out how to do this all as we go so bare with us and we will get this thing put together.

When does life slow down?

Life seems to be going so fast I can't seem to hold on. So what do I do.... Take time out to write about it.



When do I get to sleep again!!!



As most of you know we went to Disneyland for a week last month and then turned around 4 days later and flew to Utah with Dallin. Well.... I think I screwed up his sleep pattern to bad that I am still paying for it. The first night we were gone was a rough one as we didn't get to LA until midnight and tried to get settled in. Being in a hotel and trying to get the kids to bed that late we were trying to be nice neighbors and so I put Dallin in be with us. After that with his naps all screwey and going to be late that week didn't help the issue. By the end of the week he was use to sleeping on moms tummy. I tried to get him back on schedule but we left for Utah and he was sick while there and again we were in hotels for another four days. Being nice neighbors again, I just stuck him in with me. After traveling for 2 weeks and comming home with a kid out of wack and a husband that travel nthe next two weeks mom (me) got lazy about getting him back in his bed and on schedule. Now I can't get him out.... he wants to sleep right on my tummy or in the crook of my arm, which gives me a pinched nerve and sore muscles in my neck and shoulder. I just want that little guy that went to bed so easily and slept great back.