Just thought I’d share a little Christmas layout I did of my cute boys. We went downtown a few weeks ago and did a little mini photo shoot.
Of course, since it was my boys, and they’ve been in front of the camera their whole lives, it was kind of a disaster! They wouldn’t listen or stop long enough to smile for the camera. I probably got 4 or 5 good ones out of a couple hundred! But such is the case when your mom is a photographer I suppose. Ah well, enjoy the layout!
At our house, we love Adele. Her voice is amazing and we’ve come to love her great songs. So when I came across this cover, I was in love! I don’t know much about the artists, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s really great, you should take a listen…
I just love good music, sung by great voices. And these harmonies are beautiful.
If anyone is interested, I’m joining up with my friend Ang to do a little weight-loss competition starting in January. You are welcome to join in, too! There will be prizes for various winners, including the most percentage of weight loss as well as the top point earner, so there are lots of ways to win cash! Also, if you’d rather just participate and not put in money, you can do that too.
I always find that it’s much easier for me to focus on weight loss and healthy habits when I’m in some sort of contest. I suppose I’m just too competitive for my own good! Luckily, this contest is not only about losing weight, but also about establishing and maintaining healthy habits, so that will be great too.
If you want to read more about it and get the official contest rules, head on over to Ang’s blog, Dropping the Plus from My Size. And make sure you tell her I sent ya!
Perhaps I’ll share a little about my goals in the coming days. We’ll see if I’m brave enough. :)
This year we had a wonderful Christmas Eve party with the hubby’s family, and it was a blast! We ate yummy food, had a White Elephant gift exchange, opened presents, and played some games. It’s so fun to have lots of people over and I always tell myself to do it more often!
Of course, I don’t have any photos from that night, since I completely forgot to bust out my big camera, and I hadn’t opened my presents yet, so I didn’t have a handy one. Maybe I can steal some shots from my sisters-in-law. I’ll update if I do.
After Christmas Eve was over, we cleaned up and got ready for Santa to come! Our Elf on the Shelf, Dave, went back to the North Pole and left us a note saying that both boys made it to the Nice list! Of course, they were excited to hear that.
Here are the kids ready and waiting to book it down the stairs!
E had asked for a kid’s sized Jeep this year, but we knew it wasn’t going to happen, so Dave left him a note saying to be on the lookout for one next year, as per our request. E was so excited that Santa knew what he wanted that he didn’t mind having to wait another year! Phew.
W was easier to please, he only asked Santa for this stupid, horrible cute little game called Pop the Pig. The premise is that you feed this pig plastic hamburgers until his belly explodes. Yeah, like I said, stupid and horrible cute. We tried and tried to change his mind and gently persuade him that he wanted something else, but that’s all we heard for 2 months. So that’s what Santa brought W. He was over the moon. :)
The hubby made out like a bandit with new clothes, 5 shirts, 1 sweater, and some socks. I guess it stinks being an adult at Christmas when you need new shirts and your wife wants to buy them for you but can’t find a good reason until Christmas comes around…
But he also got some fun magnet balls (like Bucky Balls), which he’s had a lot of fun playing with, a Kindle case, and some tools from the kids.
One of the coolest things was a LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean ship from my Mom and Dad, for him to put together with E. I’ll post a photo of the complete ship soon.
I love the little minifigs that come with it:
I was extra lucky and got a brand-new digital camera! I’ve been wanting one for a long time now, because lately I’ve been having to choose between lugging around my big mama professional camera or my cell phone, and it seems like the cell phone was winning out more and more, just for convenience’ sake. So I got a little Canon Elph and I’m super excited. Not only does it take great photos and videos, but it’s so tiny that it fits in my pocket and I can carry it around with me wherever I go. No more missing the shot because I didn’t want to stuff my camera into a diaper bag! So while the quality of the actual photos will probably be less than stellar, the quantity will go up and I’ll have more to share! And that’s really what you read this blog for, right? Pictures of us?? :) (And by “you”, I mean you, Mom. Because you’re the only one who reads this, I’m convinced…)
I also got a sweet Elder wand from you, mom, which is awesome in and of itself. I was on the phone with my family later in the day and my mom asked me what I was going to do with it. I said, “Cast magical spells on people, DUH!” I mean, what does she think it’s for, decoration? Don’t make me laugh!
After we had opened our presents, we got ready for church and left. We had just a sacrament meeting, which was filled with wonderful music and great narrations about the birth and life of Jesus Christ. I do love getting to be centered again on the true meaning of the season and focusing on what it means for me and my family.
I was sad, though, that I couldn’t sing in the choir or do my duet with another woman in our ward. We had had choir practice on Thursday night, and I woke up Friday morning to a sore voice. I thought it would get better, but since we spent the whole day at Disneyland with two little kids, I wasn’t able to rest it as much as I wanted to. Needless to say, I woke up on Saturday morning with it even worse – I could barely make any sounds, let alone sing. I was so bummed! Especially since I had really practiced my song and was ready. Ah well, there’s always next year.
After church, we loaded up the kids and headed out to the in-laws for the rest of the opening of the presents, some dinner, and lots and lots of game-playing!
The kids got spoiled, of course, and had lots of great fun. I’m just going to dump a bunch of photos here and you can see for yourself. :)
Merry Christmas!!
I know, it’s been forever, but I’m trying to finish up my Month of Thanks and then I’ll be able to do a good month in review for December. I’ve basically been running into the ground with church stuff and Christmas stuff, so I’ll have more time once that’s over.
Hopefully. :)
So hang tight, I’ve got trips and visitors and fun kiddo stuff to blog about.
This Thanksgiving we got to spend the holiday in Cambria, which is on the coast a little north of us. The hubby’s parents invited us to go with them, and we jumped at the chance. We’ve stayed there before sans kids, and knew it would be a great place to go and just relax for a good portion of the week.
We had beautiful views, really nice weather (not too cold and wet, like I expected it to be) and some really great family time together.
On the first day, E and I took a walk down to the beach to see what we could find. He was rocking Grandma’s sweater.
He made me bring the remains of our popcorn to feed the birds. We weren’t successful. :)
But he did find a cool walking stick that he kept the entire trip.
When we got down to the beach, he used it to draw in the sand.
We also had lots of fun climbing on the pieces of driftwood that were washed up, as well as some great big rocks. He loved every minute of it!
It was so lovely outside, and I really liked having some one-on-one time with my big E. We don’t get that too often, and it was nice.
(And yes, I know it’s a horrible photo of me, but I had to post it because he actually smiled! The impossible is possible!)
The next day we took a drive down to the pier by the Hearst Castle, and the boys loved being out on the ocean (sort of). They were really cute together, too. :)
But apparently the loud waves were too much for them. Go figure.
Then we drove down a little further to see if we could get a small glimpse of the sea lions that we heard like to come up on the beach this time of year. We weren’t sure what kind of a turnout we’d see, but we were hopeful.
And pleasantly surprised!
“SEA LIONS!!”
They were everywhere! Up and down the beach, making noise, playing in the water, fighting each other, it was crazy! The boys loved it.
Afterwards, we drove back to the beach by our hotel and took another relaxing walk down by the water.
Ah, brotherly love. ;)
Ending with a surprisingly good photo of the hubs and I that E took himself! :)
The last vacation day (besides traveling), we went to Hearst Castle to take a tour and look around. The hubby and I got to go without the kids and just enjoy having some time to ourselves. They had changed up the kinds of tours that they offer, so we only got to see a portion of what we saw last time, but it was still fun and we had a great time.
All in all, we had a wonderful vacation and really loved ‘getting away from it all’. :)
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