Since I'm so behind on blogging, I took my friend's advice and will just highlight a few things. So . . . in random order: Sledding on Christmas Eve!
I didn't want to commit to sledding because I was nervous about playing so many songs on Sunday and wanted to practice (way to procrastinate Jessica!), but I'm glad we got away. Kaleb said after, "can we do this every day?" Thank you Bettilyons for inviting us.
Christmas program! The primary was in charge again this year. We did a little nativity skit with the kids that probably wasn't the most reverent, but it was cute. Kaleb was a shepherd. He wanted to be the donkey, but we convinced him that Henry was going to be a shepherd with him. It was fun decorating and getting the church ready with Emily, Danette, and Kim. I love them.
Cooking. I wish I would've taken a picture of our 25 Christmas wreaths stacked up to the ceiling that we made. Kaleb was my awesome helper and Eliza . . . well, she had fun.
Christmas recital. I had my recital at the same retirement/nursing home this year and it was fun to hear the kids perform their songs. (Sorry Kaid, Braydan cut you out of the picture!) I was really nervous because Braydan said I needed to perform a song too. At least the kids could see that teachers get nervous and make mistakes too :-)
Ginger Bread Houses. We had a competition, girls vs. boys. Braydan and Kaleb thought they won, but they totally copied Eliza and I.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I'll have to catch up more later . . . .
All Braydan wanted for his birthday this year was for me to climb Mt.Baring with him. I thought for sure I could get out of it. Surely Alisha wouldn't be able to babysit all day Saturday (she could). When it poured rain Friday, I thought there's no way we'll go now.
We went.
So . . . go I went with a happy attitude. That was part of the present, to have a happy attitude. I think on the way down I might have forgot about that part. . ..
Anyway the hike started off great. The sun was just coming up and we were on a trail merrily crunching through leaves (for about 10 min.) when Wes said we need to turn at the creek up ahead. We get to the creek and I look around for a trail and there's nothing but straight up. I think he must be confused, but no, up we go into the trees. Apparently, if there's flags every hour, we're on a "trail."
I love this picture because it shows how steep it is behind Amber!
We climb and climb straight up for a few hours and get to the ridge where I learn that we're not even half way. What!? I'm already filthy dirty from grabbing tree roots and mud, and anything I can to pull myself up and we're just getting started.
After a nice little jaunt on the ridge, we get to some snow.
See my happy face?
Then lots of snow. Then lots of snow on huge boulders. Scary. The whole time Wes and Braydan encouraged us on, "you guys are doing so awesome! Isn't this fun? This is the best present ever! It's just over the next ridge, or we're almost there!"
I wanted to yell at them! "No this is not fun! And I'm not doing awesome! I hate this!" But, I didn't say that :)
I was so glad I had my snow pants and gloves. I thought it was strange when Braydan packed them in my bag, but he knew what was coming. It was hard climbing up, but what was even harder was thinking, "how in heck am I going to get back down this?" Braydan kept telling me, "just don't' worry about that yet."
Wes on the summit
We made it to the summit, 4,000 vertical feet later. I literally crawled backwards to summit. The rock on top was not very wide, so I never even stood up on it. I was too scared.
I loved going back down the first part in the snow cause I could slide a lot. It was actually fun.
But once we got back in the trees, it was scary steep. I cried and prayed off and on the whole way down. I wanted to give up, but after sitting for a few minutes, I would remind myself that I had to keep going cause they weren't going to carry me out. I slid a majority of the way down on my bum! My nice pants were black by the end of the trip. I was covered in mud!
This picture is after we got back to the bottom and out of the trees. I could not believe I just climbed that mountain. It was crazy looking back up at it. If they would've pointed to it in the beginning, I would've never believed them that we could do it.
I've never done anything that hard and don't know if I will again, but I was glad Braydan had a fun day and got his crazy present. Thank you Dyers for going with us, especially for blazing a path in the snow and putting up with me!
On Sunday night we carved our pumpkins with the Kimballs.
Kaleb wore his pink headband he made in his sunbeam class the whole night. That's another story altogether.
His caterpillar kept him company during the carving.
I have a bag full of costumes I've collected and the kids picked different ones all week. This is what they settled on for trick-or-treating. It was chilly so I had to force Eliza to put on a layer with her dress.
The kids had twice the endurance as last year.
We met up with the Adams and raced around the neighborhood.
AGH!! Blogger has totally changed things on here! Forgive me for still trying to figure it out, like how to flip the pictures? Anyway, fall is so awesome. I love it. Weeks and weeks ago, Kaleb helped me pull out tomatoes
We got to can lots of salsa with the tomatoes. That's about all I canned this year and I'm okay with that.
Our garden was fun this year. Lots of peas, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, arugula, romaine, and carrots.
I can't claim any credit, Braydan did most of it :-)
Kaleb is so funny with all his weird projects. This interesting contraption is a beehive.
He was so excited for Halloween decorations. When he saw Amber collecting twigs for a witch broom, he was on board with that project. He spent hours decorating his broom with cobwebs, spiders, and leaves. He hung up bats and taped rats to the window. You have to be brave to come to our house.
A few weeks back, we went to the pumpkin patch. Kaleb was beyond excited. He remembered everything from last year and knew exactly what he wanted to see again. We all picked out the biggest, coolest pumpkins, but then put them back (except one) when we saw the price. I was happy with a smaller pumpkin after that :)
I guess this post is mostly about Kaleb :-) He had a rough spell with Kaitlyn for a while --where they fought every time she came over--but now they get a long great! Yay! I wonder who compromised? The picture will give you a clue :-)
Last Tuesday was the Halloween carnival, but it was also Braydan's birthday so we wondered whether we should go. We asked the kids, and . . . .well . .. that was a dumb question. Of course we have to go!
I told Eliza she could wear this dress (which is too big) only if she held it up and didn't walk on the bottom. Well she kept her word. Even with her hands full of candy, she kept that dress up off the ground, sometimes so far as to show her panties.
These nice people bought some fish and let the kids feed the seals. Kaleb had a fish and was going to throw it when a bird swooped in and snatched it! The people felt bad for him and gave him one more fish to try.
Welcome to paradise! We had the best time on our vacation to CA. We wondered after why we didn't live here?? The house had 7 bedrooms, a pool house, two hot tubs, a pool, ping-pong tables, two kitchens (not counting the outdoor kitchen), orange, grapefruit, and macademia nut trees, a waterfall,
and most importantly: lots of room for little kids to run around!
Cute cousins. They had so much fun playing together! My sister-in-laws are so smart; they brought playdough, markers, movies, and lots of fun things for the kids to do.
After relaxing and watching conference Sunday, we headed to Legoland Monday.
It was an adventure getting there, but we made it. I couldn't get over all the stuff they built with Legos! Kaleb loved the starwars section.
Legoland wasn't my favorite, but the kids had fun.
I rode this hopper at least 4 times with them :) My favorite rollercoaster was the dragon one! Kaleb even went on it and loved it. He's brave.
Tuesday the girls went shopping at outlets and the boys went to the US Midway museum.
It's a big ship that holds 90 planes.
Cute little sailors :) Remi and Kaleb are the only kids that braved the vessel.
We swam a lot! It was so fun hopping in whenever we felt like it.
Friday we went to the beach and soaked up tons of sun.
The kids loved finding mussels, digging for weird creatures in the sand, and running from waves
Thursday was Seaworld and was my favorite.
Polar Bears
The dolphin show was AMZING!! I loved the divers, dancers, and gymnasts, although the music was a little cheesy. I love this picture!! This is Eliza's face after watching the Pirate 4-D movie. It was a little too real for her, especially the bee and spider part. She was on my lap and I could feel her whole body tense up. We took the glasses off after that.
Shamu Show
Baby Beluga
Here's my top 10 list for the trip:
1. Playing Games (almost every day!)
2. Late night swims and long talks in the spa.
3. Remembering how awesome Braydan is. It was nice to spend time with him!
4. Yummy food, tons of food, junk food! Eating outside almost every meal
5. Playing princess games with my nieces, shooting wars and walks with my nephews
6. FHE
7. Watching Gavin swim
8. Watching Josh make oatmeal
9. Eliza potty trained through the night. Kaleb and Eliza shared a room on the trip and whenever she had to go potty in the night, he would come down and tell us. It caused some interpreted sleep, but now she can go all night! Thank you Kaleb!
10. Atlantis Ride with Braydan, best ride in Seaworld! (and the only ride we went on there :)
oh and one more
11. Shopping for certain things at Goodwill with the girls :) ha, ha
The house had 7 bedrooms, a pool house, two hot tubs, a pool, 
ping-pong tables, two kitchens (not counting the outdoor kitchen), orange, grapefruit, and macademia nut trees, a waterfall, 
