Christmas Eve

For me, there's nothing like Christmas Eve! Greatest feeling in the air, good food, family, singing, gazoos, bells, skits, stories, kids all wired wondering if Santa is going to come through or not... Christmas Eve just simply rules! This year we had 40+ family members in town and all met at my sister Kim's house in Corona. They were amazing sports but I feel bad for her neighbors. Good times- Thanks Kim and Eric!

Merry Christmas

Things have been a little busy and we've slacked on posting anything. Here's a couple things we've been up to. Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Making Christmas gingerbread men.

Tyler just got released from his calling and called to be a ward missionary and to serve on the activities committee. The kids are so excited to sit with him again at church.

Sara and Cora as Costco "sample girls". (career night lesson - fhe)

Sara turns 11 on us. Happy Birthday Sara!! Our little baby is getting too old!

Then Christmas morning of course.

Poor Trevs!

Change of plans. Well, whatever they were, now Trevor has pneumonia. Yesterday, we took him in for a possible ear infection and came out 4 hours later with 3 perscriptions to treat him for pneumonia. Yikes. We spent last night doing laps together and snuggling. So sad to see him so sick. He's already seeing tons of improvement and we'll see what the dr says today at his next apt.

The kids have found creative ways to get him to sleep. They call it the "magic blanket train". I'm all for it.

The "Fun Zone"

We just spend the afternoon at the Balboa Fun Zone. We found this little tide pool museum and the kids thought they were at Sea World. Hope that counts for this year.

A while back, Tyler taught Brock how to catch a pigeon. I thought they were lucky the first time. Now, Brock catches them where ever he goes. It's hilarious, but this time the bird was trying to fly away so hard that half his tail ripped off. oops. The girls were ticked, but dad reassured them that pigeons are just like lizzards -their tales come and go as they please. huh?

Final Days of Maui

Karen wanted a coconut real bad. It had to be fresh. What do you do?














Sean challenged me to an all out eating competition. It was time to see once and for all who is the king. We ordered the "Bonanza" Burger which was like 1.5 lbs of meat.














As you can see, I got schooled. I guess I'm not a kid anymore. Nice work Sean.

Us, agonizing over leaving this place. I guess all great things must come to an end.

Thanks Rob and Lisa, Sean and Jen, John and Michelle. Couldn't have made sweeter memories!

Day 4

Karen and I got up early and went to Iao Valley which is up in the rain forrest. We found a sweet trail and went hiking a few miles. It was amazing. We picked fruit off the trees and had a fun picnic. Can't believe how beautiful the mountains are here. No one to be found, except a few local skinny dippers. (I didn't look, but I think Karen peeked)




















We found the coolest little, private beach on the way home and went snorkeling together.









Here we are cooking up a few of our fish we speared. Good stuff. Not quite as good as The Melting Pot restaurant where we went afterward. Man these guys know how to eat right. I'm new to all these restaurants, but they are teaching me the ropes.

Day 3 Maui

Each day, we've been getting up at like 6 am (3 hours difference). We all go on a long walk along the beach. So fun hanging with everyone.

We had breakfast at The Plantation, which is a real famous golf course with the best views.

Karen and I went spearing at Black Rock. We nailed 3 different eels but all beat us and got off. One was huge and had a perfect shot in the neck. We had quite the audience underwater and everyone was screaming and freaking out at the fight. When it finally wiggled it's way off, he turned around and went after me and almost bit me. I haven't been that scared for a while. We got to swim with 2 huge turtles. Karen was in heaven.

This sweet Hawaiian dude appeared from nowhere to light the torches. He looked like he needed a hand.

Maui Day 2

Today we all cruised to Honolua Bay. Such amazing snorkeling. Rob put this little video together of all of us. Later, Karen and I went snorkeling right in front of our resort. After teaching her how to use the spear, she swims down and nailed a huge puffer fish. oops. I was dying.

Maui Day 1

We finally arrived in Maui. What a dream. Karen and I, a bunch of friends, no responsibilities staying at Rob and Lisa's Marriott resort (water front with a dream view). We had Karen's mom lined up to babysit all the monsters, then she had some last minute health problems. She's out. My parents were all set. A few hours before our flight out, my mom gets nailed by a car on her bike and ends up with a broken foot (both moms are okay). Sheesh, she's out. We were seconds away from canceling everything and my brothers all pulled together and insisted on making it all happen. They are the greatest ever. They're even keeping them all together the whole time. We feel so blessed to be here!

Splash in the Fountains

Water is just so entertaining. We spent some time at Fashion Island on Saturday. "Leave the poor fish alone." Yells one "free thinker".

















"No horse play around the ponds." Yells another "free thinker."
















"Leave the money in the water." Yells another "free thinker."
















Go work for your money girl! Whoopsie Daisy! Paige was working a little too hard...reaching a little too far. Luckily the nice security guard ran to the rescue and pulled her out of the water directly behind where Tyler and I were sitting. (Oops!)

Tagged Dangit

Linda Crawford just tagged me, because she rules, I will comply....

Joys

1. Holding and watching my sleeping babies.

2. Taking in the sunset, especially over the ocean.

3. Reflecting on childhood memories with my immediate family and grandparents.

4. Refinishing a trashed piece of furniture.

5. Reading to my kids.

6. Hearing my Mom and Dad laugh.

7. Eating warm brownies.

8. Holding Tyler's hand in the movies.

9. Diving off the diving board.

10. Laughing hard.


Fears

1. A tragedy that steals Tyler away from me.

2. Getting Pleurisy (again)

3. Cockroaches

4. Medieval tortures

5. Failing a college class that I didn't know I signed up for. As a result, that kept me from graduation. (I already graduated!!! Why do I keep having that same dream/nightmare!!!)

6. Starving to death.


Current Obsessions

1. When is our house going to sell?

2. Where are we going to move?

3. Should we add on to our house we have here?

4. Is Trevor getting all the love, nutrition and knowlege he deserves?

5. Ditto #4 for the other SIX children.



Surprising Facts

1. I used to twirl a flag.

2. I hate dark chocolate.

3. I am an excellent closet dancer.

Now I tag Tyler. Please make me laugh.

Camping, anyone?

We were so lucky to spend last week camping in San Diego at the San Elijo campground with some of Tyler's brothers and their families. Our kind of camping -right on the beach, perfect waves, snorkeling, showers, a little market right on site... Couldn't be better, except for the loudest train that kept honking every night. Unreal. Trevor sure loved it. Anyways, we had the best time. Good way to end the summer together.





















Tyler preping the kids how to tuck in the barrels.





















We ended the trip in Temecula for the last day.

Up the Coast

We just returned from taking the family up the coast all week. We stayed each night in a different coastal city from Montecito to San Luis Obispo. We discovered so many amazing beaches, hikes, parks, etc. and just hung out together. It's quite the adventure sleeping all 9 of us in one hotel room each night, but the kids did great. It was one of our favorite trips ever. It's always great to be home. Here are a few photos.

Happy 4th!!

This year we broke a long tradition of watching the Tustin fireworks show. Although it's a great show, we decided to fight the crowds and head for the beach this year. We were lucky to hang with our great friends (the Fairbanks), at their amazing beach house. What a hook up, especially with parking.

After the great firework show, the grunion were supposed to be running (thin fish that come lay their eggs on shore. They are a blast to try to catch with your hands). It's not too often that they are here. We tried, but struck out. Next time kids!!

Let's get some air, kids!!

For a while now, Tyler has been telling the kids he's gonna take them to the biggest bike jumps in CA. They have been really excited, especially Brock. He really built these jumps up. When we pulled up, the kids were screaming at how big the jumps were and their dad was the hero. After about half an hour, they started to figure out that the hills were too big and you really couldn't get air unless you were on a motorcycle. Tyler blamed it on the kids, telling them they weren't fast enough, but we all know the truth. Hilarious. He made it up to them by taking them squirrel hunting with spears (sticks) and we took them to frozen yogurt.

Happy Birthday Paige!!

Our little baby is now 6!! She spent the day in Laguna, playing in the waves with a million cousins. We decided we're going to keep her.