The King has found a Queen

While we were in Southern Cal. we stopped at my cousin's home in Lake Forrest and went to church with them. Caleb was in heaven because he got to go to a new primary class with his cousin's Nate and Kate and they all got crowns to take home.

After church we went to the Foster's house for dinner. We visited and the kids played. At one point, Caleb and Kate come out hand in hand with crowns and ball gowns on announcing that they wanted to show us their dance. So Julie put on some music and Caleb took Kate by the hand and led her thru a sort of waltz with dips and spins even. It was hysterical but they were very serious about their dancing so we just went with it.

When it was time to go, Caleb was heartbroken.....literally. He cried and hung on to Kate and kept saying, "I don't want to leave her." Oh brother.....if this is any indication of what is to come for him we are all in trouble. He was so distraught that we had to call Kate on the cell phone from the car so he could talk to her "one last time." What a kid!

Disneyland or Bust!

O.K. I know we seem a little obsessed with Disneyland. But we started taking the kids when Cam was a baby and we just keep going back. It never seems to get old for us. We always buy an annual pass so we feel like we have to get our money's worth. haha. We always spend 3 or 4 days in January there with our friends the Watson's. Both of our families have grown so much that it is a little crazy sometimes but we always have so much fun and the kids consider it one of their favorite traditions.

Caleb made it into Jedi Training this trip so he was very happy. He was a little nervous or maybe concerned while he was learning to fight as a Jedi but he took on Darth Maul and graduated with honors.

Christmas Vacation

We had 3 weeks for vacation this year so we packed our bags, loaded the car and headed down South for almost 2 weeks. First we made a stop at my mom's house in Apple Valley to visit and enjoy a late Christmas together. My brother was there and as usual gave my kids very thoughtful gifts. My mom made us a very nice dinner and had fun playing with the babies.

It was a nice visit.

We got back in the car and made our way down to Coronado. Grammy and Grampy were there so we got to have another late Christmas with them. The weather was beautiful and of course there was a lot of excitement with New Year's Eve around the corner. We did many of our usual or traditional things during our week in Coronado. We took several walks thru the Hotel Del and on the beach every day. We rode the ferry to San Diego and ate at Anthony's. We rented a buggy bike, played in the sand,visited museums, did a little shopping and ate way too much!

Baby Gillian at our hotel surrounded by her brothers as usual.

Grammy gave Gillian a baby doll for Christmas.

Firefighter Caleb on the Ferry from San Diego to Coronado.

We love Coronado!

Christmas Morning

Christmas was a little different this year. Since the babies were sick, my family didn't come to visit so it was just our family Christmas morning. I think this was a first. Santa was good to our kids bringing them scooters, race tracks, baby dolls, guitar hero and an air hockey table for our game room.
We enjoyed watching the babies eagerly tear thru presents and light up with excitement. Caleb went crazy. We all had some good laughs.
The older boys were happy with gift cards to book stores, clothing stores and game stores.

Even though it was a smaller crowd than we usually had, I still made our traditional Christmas dinner while everyone played with their new toys and rolled around in all the empty boxes and wrapping paper. haha.