Kirsten and Mark

We set up our Christmas tree the week after Thanksgiving. Brit had fun helping with the ornaments.

This one is a Kangaroo to represent our trip to Australia this year. Brit really liked it.

Brit helped put the Angel on the top of the tree.

This is what happened afterward….Brit played with the ornaments.

It’s been quite the fun time. He can’t seem to leave the red and silver balls alone. He pulls them off the tree then throws them or kicks them because he thinks they’re balls. He even got his first time out over it…but to no avail. He insists on playing with them. So, now our tree looks kind of retarded with all the balls on the top half, and a few of the other ornaments he can’t hurt on the bottom. Oh well…at least he’s having fun.

I love having our decorations up and turning the lights on. Brit gets excited when it’s time for “yites.” It just makes our place feel warmer and cozier.

We went to my aunt Tracy’s house in Page, Arizona (well, technically Greenehaven about 7 miles from the town. And oddly, Greenehaven is only their small subdivision.)

Anyway, we drove up Tuesday night and stayed with my dad in Vegas. Then had breakfast with Mark’s cousins Adrien and Lauren. It was so fun to see them and the super cute girls. The food was great too! Thanks guys…hope to see you again soon!

In Kanab we stopped for a visit with Angie, Bryan and Lexie. Looks like they still like holding hands.

We had a great little visit…always too short!

Then it was on to our destination. It’s right by Lake Powell, the south end.

Brit enjoying a football game with aunt Shaela

Eating Thanksgiving dinner. He wasn’t super into all the food, but he liked the roll and turkey. Ugh! What happened to my child who ate everything? I know…he’s a toddler now.

Some under-the-chair acrobatics….or something.

Rocks! Brit loved picking up the rocks. And every time…Rocks!

All the cousins…yes, there were this many of us, plus about 9 more. More on that later.

The nothingness that is Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Though very pretty. Sunsets and storms are amazing.

Brit didn’t do too well with other people. He was really a mommy or daddy’s boy all weekend. Even Grandma holding him wasn’t ok. He did buddy up with my cousin Casey though. She’s 8 and he went to her a lot.

Finally getting a decent hair cut! It was dire. He liked it until the bottom…he hates that part.

The family girls…and boy. I was taking the picture. Shaela, Tracy, Brit, Chezney and Mom

What there aren’t pictures of:

20 people and 7 dogs crammed in a 3 bedroom house.

Us sleeping on an airmattress in the dining room and Britton waking up throughout the night, needing a drink or something and me trying to make sure he didn’t wake up everyone else.

The 3 pies I made…2 apple and 1 cherry for my birthday. I have to admit–it was dang good!

Britton throwing up 3 times on our way home. Our fault really…we let him watch a movie and play with the iPod. I just feel bad making him sit there with nothing to do (even though he doesn’t complain) but he just can’t do anything else or he suddenly gets sick. Super fun!

Our HARD AS A ROCK mattress at the Days Inn in Barstow–never stay there. We were so tired we knew we had to either stop or crash…so, much to my chagrin we stopped. We may as well have slept in the car.

The great time we had together with family that we see very rarely. We’re glad we went and for the blessings we have.

Thanks Trac!

For the past 6 months or so I’ve been going to Dream Dinners every 6 weeks or so. Dream Dinners is a place where you go to make freezer meals. They have all the ingredients ready–chopped, portioned etc. and I just have to put them together. I make about 12 meals in an hour. It’s awesome.

Well, Paige and I decided we could also make our own, so we gathered some of our favorite–or easy–recipes and headed off to Costco

It was quite the trip…sad I don’t have pictures of it.

Then it was back to my house for some of this:

The Prep Counter

Just some of the food....

There was so much food! Pretty good for $330

Master Chef

We had lots of fun pouring, mixing and creating.

Professional pizza makers

One of our meals…mostly for the pizza-loving boys.

And here's a tortilla

For some reason I’m channeling a Price is Right model. Here’s to the yummy enchiladas!

Completely full fridge

Seriously, completely full. I couldn’t fit another thing in my freezer either. Granted, a lot of this is Paige’s too….

We created a few dishes

And, what were Brit and Mav doing all this time? Well, being perfect angels of course. Really, they were very good. They played together, watched a movie or two, didn’t cause any serious harm, and even liked each other at the end.

What? It's educational!

So, after about 9 hours together, from shopping and cooking, we ended up with about 15 meals. Combined with that and the Dream Dinners I already had I haven’t cooked a complete meal from “scratch” in like a month. It’s sooooo awesome!

The Bee is getting ready for some sweets

Maybe a dip in the water...

Really, he wanted in.

Get the candy

put it in the basket

That really was his favorite part, but a lot of people just put it in his basket for him. It took a long time for us to get these pictures. Since he doesn’t yet dare talk in two-word sentences, the best we got for “Happy Halloween” was “Ween!” sometimes elongated and often with a hand in the air in excitement. Trick or treat was “teet” and of course, his always present “Thank you.” He did steal many workers’ hearts for sure.

What are the odds? A witch and rock star have a cute little bumble bee!

The Bee collecting sweet stuff

Scary trunk..I mean, witch's lair

We think Britton had fun. We know he liked running around on the baseball field during crafts. When we got home he was just interested in taking his candy out of the pumpkin and putting it somewhere else. It was the days ahead that we would constantly hear “candy?” with a cute little sign.

Wednesday…the one before Halloween….we carved our pumpkins. Well, just one of them.

Brit colored his since we figured a knife wouldn’t be a super good idea.

Mark starting on his masterpiece

Brit likes the guts!

Yes, that’s his eye

Happy Jack

On Thursday we went Trick-or-Treating at a retirement home near by. Some of the residents were excited to see us, some of them couldn’t have cared less. But, the kids got to go running around in a new place, so that was fun.

On Friday at Musicmakers all the kids dressed up and then we decorated cookies afterward. Brit loves the sticks!

This is what you get when you have 2 toddlers decorating cookies.

Put your finger in the sprinkles

Dump them out

Get them all over the “designated work area”

Lick the frosting  and enjoy!

Not really, but I did see a post on a mom site yesterday about being so busy this week she might be exhausted by Christmas. After the week we had, I may agree with her a little bit.

A couple of weeks ago we went with Shanni, Teo and Marcos to the Pierce College Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time.

Brit was a “cowboy”

Brit’s first time on a horse. He was a little afraid at first, but had fun.

Pumpkins

Britton and Teo

Their favorite ride was the train. They went three times.

When we got home, Brit thought he’d sit on the pumpkins again.

We love it when people come to So Cal and we get to do fun things. This time it was family–all my mom’s step brothers and sisters. We had a great time visiting with them at Grandma Emma’s birthday party–she turned 90 and is still as sharp as ever.

Then, a couple of days later we used our new season pass and went to Disneyland with them. Luckily we didn’t get rained on until the very end of the night.

Things started out rough with 2 barfs in the car on the way there, but thankfully I brought a change of clothes. Poor baby and his car sickness! But, once we got there I stuffed all his ickiness in a Chuck the Yuck bag and my car didn’t stink that night.

Brit had a fun time with his cousins–mine actually, but they’re closer to his age. He was a little nervous at first, but warmed up quickly. I love the “mother pass” that they give when you have a rider who is too small to go. The first people go through the line and on the ride, then the “waiter” gets to go through the fast pass line with someone else. So, I rarely had to wait in just the line.

Why wait in line to get a straight on shot? It’s still HALLOWEEN TIME!

El Dia de la muerte

This time…still no crying in the Haunted Mansion. We’re sure it’ll come.

Waiting in line with “cousins” Darby and Mandi

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any more pics of everyone.Britton and his cousin Lizzie got to meet Pooh and Tigger. Brit wanted nothing to do with Tigger, but hugged Pooh, so I got his back in the pic…on another camera. Maybe I’ll get it someday.

Go Disneyland and Halloween Time! We loved spending the day with family we rarely get to see!

So, you remember when my friend Leslie came out more than a month ago? No, well, here’s a refresher:

We had a fun week. Did fun things…almost every day. Disneyland was one of them. I still haven’t posted about it. Until NOW! Yay! I know, you’re super excited.

We always get ribbed by non-Californians about how little we go to the beach. They claim that if they lived here they’d go every day…or at least once a week. Yeah. We’re not like that. We go maybe 3 times a year…and that’s when people are in town. Go on our own? There are way too many things to do on a Saturday to make that happen.

But, on the occasion of a visit, well, that’s a different story. We’re all about the beach. Especially Britton. He loves getting his legs splashed in the waves and laying in the sand. Though, not digging or playing much because he doesn’t like the feel of it.

Another couple of reasons we don’t go to the beach much–we didn’t know we actually liked any beaches in LA county. Malibu is only good for ?, Santa Monica is a little dirty, and I don’t know, we don’t think about the rest. But, thanks to a suggestion from my beach connoisseur friend Paige we went to Manhattan Beach and it was really nice. Second reason–I burn! Seriously, I must have had defective sunscreen because I put on SPF 30 waterproof everywhere when we got there, and in a few spots a second time and 2 hours later I was FRIED! It wasn’t noticeable at first, but by the next day I looked lobsteresque. Not fun.

Next stop–the Aquarium. Sadly, we’ve severely under used our pass this year.

The birds really liked Leslie.

Britton really liked the clown fish. This is him saying “Momo”

On our trip to Vegas for the Expo Brit chilled with the Fruit Loops. Woah crazy hair. Kristie–we miss you!

Yes, this was like a month ago, but at least I’m getting to it.

When my friend Leslie came to town we had lots of fun going out and playing. Her one request was Disneyland, and since Mark wanted to go for Brit’s first visit, we ended up going on Labor Day. Yeah, we were a little nervous about the crowds, but it really wasn’t bad.

We started out in California Adventure and he really liked the Bug’s Life rides and area.

Heimlich’s is a fun little train that takes you through a bunch of food and things from a bug’s perspective. The Animal Crackers even smell like cookies!

Britton, Leslie and Me on the Lady Bug Spinner ride.

Of course, Britton had to play in the water fountain.

Family photo time…waiting for the “Bug’s Life 3-D Show”

Brit’s first time on a Carousel. He was excited they were fishes. He sat up there and didn’t even get scared.

Mark and Leslie waiting to shoot forward on California Screamin’

I just love this expression. He’s eating grapes and loving it.

It’s a small world. Very fun and exciting.

This pretty much sums up Britton’s face the entire day. We weren’t sure if he was having fun on everything or what because it was pretty much a blank wide-eyed look. But, we think he did….

Forget the baby stuff, Brit went on the big, scary grown up rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean without so much as whimpering. It was surprising, because he’s usually such a sensitive little soul. Maybe our insistence that it was fun helped a bit.

Brit and Daddy driving a car in Toon Town.

So, we waiting and saw Fantasmic. People said it was the first night for the dragon, so we figured it was a must see. It didn’t disappoint. Here’s the dragon from Sleeping Beauty in all it’s fire-breathing glory.

And poor Brit was so tired he missed the whole thing!

We knew we had to get him some souvenir from his first trip to Disneyland, and if you know me, you know I hate knick-knacks and junk toys. So it had to be something more substantial that would last. He ended up getting a Disney Bedtime Story Book and after a long search, and a million “No!” answers, we found him the thing he wanted–a stuffed “MoMo” (Nemo)

Our funny little guy just will not come out with the word “yes” he can sign it, if we make him, but whenever he’s asked a question, it’s still “no” If he doesn’t answer, that’s pretty much a yes. So, when we showed him a bunch of things, it was always no. When he wanted it, he immediately hugged it to him. That’s how we knew we’d found a match with Nemo.

We had a lot of fun and we’re really glad we went. Since it was in our best interest to get a season pass (since it’s cheaper than going 2 times) we did. Now Brit and I and friends can go down whenever we want–which works out perfectly since we have family coming next week who are going….now we can join them. Yay!

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