Christmas Eve

We spent the early part of the evening with the Taylor Family, then ran home for an hour to have our own little family celebration, then ended the evening with the Burr Family.

My kids were so excited to get presents for each other again this year.  It is sweet to see them find the joy in picking out something that someone else will love.  I had to give Shea one of his gifts early so we could capture the joy of Christmas morning around here.  He was excited, and the Flip has proven to be a fun gift so far.

Christmas Eve bowling

In years past, we have gone sledding on Christmas Eve.  With the lack of snow this year we had to get creative with our daytime activity.  The kids had a great time with cousins and Cooper and Shea were our high scorers!

Grandma Hansen's Birthday Party and Hansen Family Christmas Party

Grandma Hansen (Shea's maternal grandmother) celebrates her birthday on Dec. 23rd each year.  We always get together on that day for a huge family party.  With 13 Hansen children, a thousand grandchildren and a million great-grandchildren there is no place big enough for all of us to gather besides the cultural hall.
I was assigned to help with this party this year.  We wanted Grandma to feel special and to focus on her for much of the party.  We played a trivia game about her life and favorites, watched her open gifts, and then I presented her with a book I had compiled of her progeny's favorite Grandma memories and moments.  I hope she realizes how special she is to so many people.  And I hope she reads and re-reads all the wonderful things that were written about her.

After Grandma, we had cake and ice cream and then Santa made his annual visit.  The kids were in heaven...well, except Charlotte.

Taylor Family Christmas Party

 Jake and Haylie, Shea and Lottie, Cory and Ivy

 Sweet Owen

 Candace wrote and the kids performed the most touching Nativity this year.  The benefit of having so many cousins is that everyone gets a turn and our Nativity is the best!

The Sunday before Christmas is reserved for our Taylor Family Christmas Party.  Everyone loves this party.  The food is delicious--prime rib and all the sides--and the company is the best.  I love this family so much.  Every single one of them is wonderful and special.  There is so much love that exists between everyone here.  I know I can count on my family for anything

Christmas concerts

My kids make me so proud.  All three of them sang their little hearts out at their respective concerts this year.  I hope they don't grow up and get too cool to sing for me.  I love it!

(pictures from Shea's computer go here....later!)

Did you see this?

This is a photo of the burn pattern on one of the pictures that was hanging in the Provo Tabernacle.  Amazing!  It's a great reminder of who we should be remembering this week and always.

My birthday and Thanksgiving

 My birthday was wonderful this year.  It's wonderful every year because I always feel so loved and remembered.  I've decided that feeling that way is more important that receiving gifts to open.  That realization makes me old.  Awesome.
People called and emailed all day.  I went to lunch at Pei Wei with my mom, girls and Shea.  Now that I'm remembering, Shea was working in Salt Lake all day.  So, all of you who read this who think we are lucky to be together every single day, all day long--you're wrong.  When he got home, Olivia and her girls came and played with my kids, and Shea and I went to dinner at Franck's.  Delicious!  While we were there, we sat right across from Tony Parker, Deron Williams, and Wifey Williams.  It was kind of fun to sit and speculate, since Tony and Eva had just announed their split that day.  Apparently they were in a yelling match on the phone for a while.
When I got home, I discovered that my wonderful, thoughtful, too nice friends had decorated my house with super stars and had written thousands (okay, maybe not that many) of nice things about me.  I felt so loved, and I thoroughly enjoyed my pumpkin bundt cakes, cold Diet Cokes and jar full of cinnamon santa goodness.

These are the only photos I have of Thanksgiving.  It was a very low-key year for us.  The boys and I had the stomach flu the day before, so I felt lucky to even be there.  We ate at my parents' house and had my maternal grandparents, Ben and Olivia's family, and Cam there.  It was a nice day and a fabulous meal. 

We celebrated Grandpa DeWolf's 73rd birthday then later that evening went to Candy and Jerry's house for Candy's birthday celebration.  It was great to be able to see both sides of our family on one of my favorite holidays.

Phone woes

I hope no one has tried to call me today.  I have no phone.  It's weird to go all day without a phone, especially one on which you are used to texting, talking, emailing, facebooking, and blogging.  It's been very peaceful.
I am getting a replacement phone, but I have to file a claim tomorrow and wait for it to be sent to me.  The Sprint guy--who was awesome--said it comes overnight.
Let me tell you why this guy is awesome.  He hooked me up with a new phone, mine retails without a new contract for like $600, for about $100.  I didn't have phone insurance.  Stupid, I know.  But I'm opposed to insurance and the racket it has become.  So needless to say, I am very happy with my Sprint service.  AT&T wouldn't have done that!
So the story goes like this, Charlotte loves to eat.  When she eats she thinks she has to be standing on the chairs at the kitchen table.  She was doing that and I walked two feet away to plug in my phone.  I hadn't set it down completely when I saw her and the chair tipping over.  I jumped over to her with the phone still attached or tangled or something.  Anyway, I scooped up Lottie and all the pieces of my phone.  It was over.
My other kids were mortified about my broken phone.  The boys were very concerned.  I may have casually mentioned that Shea was going to kill me, and knowing that in true Shea fashion, he would love me anyway and reassure me that it was okay.  The boys may or may not have known I was joking.  I had to leave for a song practice right then, so I did.  Shea told me later that while I was gone, Camden went and found my old iPhone, which is now his iTouch and wanted Shea to help Cam wrap it up to give to me.  I love that kid!  He has the sweetest, softest heart.
Another Camden story...yesterday was a doozy.  I had to be in Provo for jury selection by 8 a.m.  I was helping the boys get ready for school and trying to get myself out the door on time.  I told the boys that if I didn't go I could be arrested.  They were so concerned that I leave and be punctual.  They knew that I might not be home when they got home from school depending on if I was selected to serve.  I wasn't, luckily, so I was home for them.  They walked in the door and the first thing I heard before they came around the corner was, "Is mom home?"  Camden said he was praying all day for me and when he looked at the clock at 8 that morning, he hoped I had made it to the courthouse.
I don't know how I deserve these sweet boys, but I'm so glad they're mine!

Halloween 2010

The kids finally decided on costumes this year.  I should say the boys finally decided.  Lucy always wanted to be Reepunzel, but she ended up switching her dresses for each of her parties and activities.  Once the boys decided, they were happy to be ninjas and to run around in the neighborhood ninja gang.  I had no idea how many kids wanted to be ninjas this year!  Charlotte got to be the witch that Lucy was 3 years ago.  When she gets older I will have to make sure to let her choose her costume and maybe even buy her a new one instead of just making her wear Lucy's hand-me-downs.  I don't feel too bad for her though.

 Because it was raining on trick-or-treat night, Camden chose to stay home and hand out treats with me.  None of my kids got much candy, so I saved some of what I bought and gave it to them.  Bad weather is another reason I am a fan of the trunk-or-treat!  Kids love it, and I get watch them go around even if I'm the one handing out the candy.

 Lulu came up with this pose all on her own.  I could die from all her cuteness!

Cooper is convinced he is a ninja!  

Disneyland 2010

I was so ready for this trip this year.  It is definitely my favorite place to vacation with my kids.  This year we went in September, instead of our traditional May.  The time of year was great, and we were able to get the deal where you get a 5-day park hopper for the price of a 3-day.  So, we took advantage and enjoyed 5 days in the parks.  Heaven!!!  5 days in the parks were a little much for a 1-year-old, but the rest of us could have stayed much longer.  We really got to enjoy everything this time around, and we were never rushed.  And having Aunt Kelly with us?  Perfect.  I love her, my kids love her, and she is the best travel buddy ever.  She better be ready for many repeats in the years to come.

 Peter Pan was our first--and my favorite--ride.

 Jedi Training was a hit...until Darth Vader and the Sith showed up.  Then, she didn't want to fight.  But she looked adorable!  (And she was very skilled with a lightsaber, thanks to her two older brothers.)

 Charlotte kept wondering what to think!  This was our first time this trip on Buzz Lightyear.  After that, she loved Buzz and wanted to hug him when we saw him!

 For some reason we've always taken pictures of our kids in this spot in the Winnie the Pooh line.  They always turn out so cute!

 Happy 1st Birthday, baby girl!  To celebrate, we ate lunch at the Blue Bayou.  Yum!

 Instead of cake, she enjoyed chocolate mousse with her dad.  It was a big hit.  I wish you could see the Mickey shaped sprinkles on it.  Darling.

 All Charlotte wanted every day was a balloon.  She tried to grab every one we passed, and she was in awe of the balloon sellers who had millions!  She loved this balloon and played with it happily until some lame person tore it off the stroller and let it go.  Lucy, Charlotte and I came out of Pirates and I noticed that the balloon was no longer on the stroller.  The ribbon was pulled tightly and you could see where it had been ripped off.  Lucy looked up in the sky and spotted the balloon about 100 feet up.  My kids were pretty traumatized that someone would do that.  At Disneyland.  To a baby's balloon.  I was miffed too.

 Camden perfected the Jedi duck as he battled the Sith.

 Darth Vader had no chance against Cooper!

Our last day there was the first day of the Halloween celebration.  The decor was darling, but the crowd was enough to make me vow to never be at Disneyland on a Friday or any weekend day again.

We had so much fun, loved staying at the Grand Californian, and appreciated spending time with our family.