Break Fun!

We've had a fun week...with Disneyland, cousins, friends, fishing, dog walking, sunsets and decorating!

 It was cold enough for dog sweaters!

 We went out to get our tree, and the boys couldn't stop wrestling...they never stop!

 Lunch out...

 Many, many hours of fishing!

 Decorating the live tree...

 I haven't had tinsel on a tree since I was a kid...it's so much fun!

Love the smell and cheeriness in my home all month long! Wish we didn't have to go back to school and work tomorrow...I've sure loved our week together!

Family Photos

Christmas is upon us! The season starts with family pictures so we can get our cards ordered. I knew if I didn't do it early, then they wouldn't get done. Jax was staying with us for the weekend, so he was the photographer for our family ones. :)

This girl is growing up quickly...

It was a struggle to get Coop to take any serious pictures this year...

 

Jax and Cooper were trying to look for fish...

Here's to a happy holiday season!

Black Friday!!

Zoe's been asking to go Black Friday shopping for the last couple of years and I finally gave in! Lacey came over for the night and we headed out after Thanksgiving was cleaned up and over.  We had Jax with us too, so it was a full car to the mall.

 The girls had a great time and got a few good deals...

 The boys, on the other hand, didn't enjoy the experience as much and settled on food throughout the mall.

 I couldn't believe how many people were there, and how long some of the lines were in the middle of the night. The girls were glad to have the experience, although Zoe has to wait until Christmas for a few of her finds...

 Even though it was a late night, I was up early to take the boys to the fishing store for more Black Friday shopping. It was 40 degrees and we had to wait in line outside for almost a 1/2 hour before getting in.

 Most of the people in line were there for the guns & amo on sale, so the fishing side wasn't too crowded. The boys got some line on their reels and found some rods for Christmas. Unfortunately, the line was almost an hour long, but they couldn't have been happier.

I think our Black Friday experience was worth it, although I'll need to catch up on sleep for the next couple days!

Thanksgiving 2015

It was a smaller group than usual this year, but we had a nice day enjoying good food and time with family.

 Cousin love...

 Let's eat!

 It was strange only having the one big table...for the first time, Cooper and Jax weren't at a kid's table!

 My favorite part...dessert!

Seriously boys?!

Polo had his fill and was ready for some quiet time!

We finished the evening with a late walk with the dogs (and Todd's dogs).

It was such a nice, relaxing day. Lots of time catching up, laughing and hanging out. It's always good to take time to reflect and be thankful. As always, we have a lot to be grateful for. Most importantly, Mimi was with us, after spending time in the ICU last week with a pulmonary embolism. It was a scary 24 hours, and she has a long road ahead, but we are thankful she was here. :) And it was nice to spend time with Martin and his girlfriend too. Feeling blessed!

WSB at Disney!

Zoe had the opportunity to attend an ASB conference at Disneyland for 3 days this week. There were several thousand ASB students from all over California in attendance. She's been looking forward to this for months!
They headed out on the bus on Sunday...

 They had a great dinner, checked into their rooms at the Disneyland Hotel, and were able to roam around Downtown Disney at night.

The main conference was Monday morning, and this was the GOHS group...

They broke up into groups for 3 different sessions. Zoe said only one was really great, and the other two were  just ok, but she was so glad to be a part of it. Then they were able to spend the rest of the day and night at the park. They had a blast!

Mickey Ears for these girls was the first order of business!

The crowds were crazy, but this group had such a great time together.

 It was a magical night at the park and ended with the awesome fireworks show!

 This girl only got a few hours of sleep for the two nights she was gone, but she had the best time ever. Memories to last a lifetime...

Disney Day!

Since Zoe was gone at her ASB conference, I decided to take Cooper to Disneyland for a mother/son day! We had Disney dollars that were expiring at the end of the month, so we took advantage of a fun, free day!! It has been a couple of years since we've gone, and I was excited to see all of the new 60th Anniversary additions.

We had spent the night at Mimi and Gramp's house, and we were out the door at 6:30am in order to stop at one of our favorite donut shops, Sidecar.

 We knew the park was going to be packed today, so we got there before it opened and were able to get inside and get a few pictures before the rope dropped.

 It paid off, and we were able to hit quite a few rides in the first two hours of the day. I love the Haunted Mansion at the holidays...

 Cooper indulged me and went on It's A Small World. ;)

 Gotta love 3D glasses...

It was getting crowded and we were getting hungry!

 We took advantage of fast passes throughout the day and got on just about every ride we wanted to! We only had to wait about 10 minutes for Splash Mountain...the standby wait got up to 110 minutes.

 We got drenched, but it was so much fun...

 I love the Pooh Corner bakery...

 More rides, and visiting Toon Town to see Goofy's house and more holiday decorations.

 We caught part of the Christmas Parade while coming off the Matterhorn.

 By the late afternoon, the crowds were ridiculous. We managed to catch every ride at the right time, use fast passes and single rider a couple of times, so we never had to wait more than 20 minutes for a ride. It was perfect! We even ran into Zoe and her friends once...I didn't think we'd see them with all the crowds.

Our feet were sore so we picked up some dinner at the Jolly Holiday Cafe and sat down to wait for the Light the Night Parade.

 This new parade is awesome. The new floats are quite extravagant and so fun to watch.

 The fireworks show was equally impressive, with a medley of songs from Disney history.

Had to pick up a few more treats...these are what he would get every time we came to the park when he was little!

  I love seeing the Christmas lights all over the park!

We had such a wonderful day together! I'm trying to savor any time I can get with this guy of mine.