Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

This first picture is out of order, but whatever. It took me pretty much all evening just to download these onto Blogger...what's up with that?! So, I'm not doing any changes after all that! Anyway, so Long Beach was of course wonderful! The whole family was able to be there together which made it especially nice. Every year my mom, my grandma, and of course the girls go to Newport Fashion Island for a girls outing. Not that we do any shopping there, it's pretty much impossible with the girls. But we usually go out to lunch, and always, ALWAYS get an almond twist at Pain du Mond (I think I spelled that right). It's tradition...can't break tradition!

We also went to the beach a couple of times. Haley was dying to go! We told her it was too cold to swim, but of course that did not stop her. She and Morgan got drenched both times and loved every bit of it! Our car is still covered with sand.

I did quite a bit of riding too! I had to burn calories somehow, since I'll I did was eat, eat and eat some more!


Christmas morning! Haley found her Penguin, which she named Tra La La. If Christmas ended there she would have been a happy camper! Morgan found a new Piggy back (not sure where it is in the photo). She was pretty excited too, she broke hers a while back and has wanted a new one ever since.

This year my mom sewed the most amazing aprons for all us girls! I love them!

A couple of days after Christmas we all went to Lake Arrowhead for a few days of snow play. Yeah, not sure how I got talked into that! There was about three feet of snow waiting for us when we got there...that's the most I've seen ever there! So we of course did a lot of sledding!

Here's my dad and brother trying to clear the driveway...they did do it eventually!

I love this picture of my mom and I! My mom has lost most of her hair from her chemo treatments, the good news is that it has already started to grow back! But she wears the cutest hats and scarves...nobody would ever know she's been through four months of chemo (only two more months to go!). She looks great!

And here we all are!! The whole family together...including the dog! My parents on the left, my older brother, Matt and his wife Carrie, Ryan and I, and the girls, Jeff and his girlfriend Jenn, and Andrew and his girlfriend Nicole.

We Made It Home

It started snowing at the In-N-Out in St. George yesterday during our drive home. Yes, you read right...SNOW in ST. GEORGE!! So...we knew we were in trouble and the drive was pretty much doomed from that point on.

It was white-out conditions from St. George to the Cove Fort exit. For all my out of state readers, that's a long freakin way! As Ryan would say...we were all suffering from CSS (Can't See Sh-t) from all the snow.

I'm still recovering...maybe I'll do a real post tomorrow with pictures from Christmas.

Ugh...I miss Long Beach.

It's Gonna be a White Christmas!

It has been snowing and snowing and snowing! It stopped just long enough for me to shovel the driveway, and then it started up again as soon as I finished. Now, as I'm typing this all my work is being covered by snow again...bummer. It sure is pretty though!
Haley loves playing in the snow! Morgan, however, doesn't have the endurance that Haley does. She starts out strong, but it doesn't take long for a glove to fall off making her hands cold or she gets stuck in deep snow and soon becomes frustrated. About every 5 minutes I have to go and rescue her or hunt down a lost glove, making the whole shoveling thing 10 times longer then it should. She finally gave it up and sat on the porch with her milk.

I just got Haley new gloves...they look huge! Now, I've got to get her some snow boots. She's been getting by with her yellow rain boots for the time being.

After snow play...hot chocolate of course!!

Morgan prefers the dipping method using her fingers...weird.

New Pictures

I decided to update the pictures on my blog. Our family picture is now revealed! I know, I know, super exciting.

It broke my heart to take off Cassidy's picture, but the time had come. Boy, do I still miss her...I think about her everyday. So even though she's off the site, she's definitely not forgotten!

"Frosted the Snowman...

was a very jolly snow!" That's how Haley likes to sing it!

I have the radio in their room set to a Christmas station, and I have it on pretty much all day. Just today I was changing Morgan in their room singing along to some random Christmas song, and I'm almost positive Morgan said, "Stop it Mommy, stop singing." I was like, "Did you just tell me to stop singing?". Her reply, "Yes". Great, I already embarrass my two year old daughter! That reminds me of when my brother, Jeff, was little, and when my mom would sing he would cover her mouth with his hand. So, as you can see we are not singers in this family! Our own children don't even want to hear us!

Today is a cold, snowy day...a sweatsuit day, as I like to call them. In fact, it's not only a sweatsuit day, it's a no make-up, hair not done day. I'm gonna be a real prize for Ryan when he gets home from work! Well, he may not have a hot wife today, but he'll have frosted, sprinkled sugar cookies waiting for him!!

Finally feeling the Spirit!

We had quite the snow storm this morning. It makes me very thankful we decided to keep the Jeep...the 4-wheel drive was a necessity as I took Haley to her Preschool Christmas program. It was one of those mornings you just want to hunker down with a certain nice hot drink (ah-em) and not do a thing! But, the show must go on!! In snow and everything! And we made it in perfect time! Haley did a super job! It took a while for her to finally find me in the crowd (it was stadium seating so it was a little easier for her to spot me), but when she did she had to hugest grin. And of course we did little cutesy waves to each other, back and forth...ah, just brings tears to my eyes! She got to dress up like a reindeer for the song Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer...so cute!

After lunch the girls played in the snow while I got a pretty good workout shoveling the drive and walkway...gotta say, I do enjoy a little shoveling every now and then! With the snow in the morning and a bit of baking in the afternoon, I would say I'm getting into the Christmas spirit! It's about time! Winter hit us fast this year, that's for sure! With all the grumbling I do about the snow, deep down I do love this season. We have the big pile of snow stuff by the front door to prove that Winter is indeed here: boots, jackets, snow pants, gloves, hats, all sitting in a big puddle of water. Yep, they'll be there for the next few months so I better get used to it!

In other news, Jeffy flew out this morning back to the LBC for Christmas. And I know I'll be seeing him next week, but I gotta say, I miss the guy!

The big huge Penguin

A while back Haley was looking through some toy catalog. I told her to tell me if she finds something she wants for Christmas. Well, on the very last page they had a picture of a stuffed penguin which happened to be about two feet tall, and that is what she said she wanted. Well, I figured she would forget about it and move on to other things...because quite frankly, I do not want anymore stuffed animals in this house! Well, I was wrong! She hasn't stopped talking about that penguin since! So today, I gave in, and bought a pretty comparable penguin from the one she saw in the catalog. I can't believe we're going to haul a big huge penguin all the way to California for Christmas morning, just to haul it all the way back to Provo! Yes, I know, we have to do that with all their toys, but it just seems weird with a big huge penguin. She better love it!
This is not the actual penguin...but hers will be very similar.