Tis the Season

After we cleaned up from Thanksgiving we got out the Christmas boxes and put up the tree.  

The kids we actually helpful.  They put ornaments on instead of just taking them off this year.

After years of not having something that I liked to showcase the Christmas cards I finally just made my own.  I love all the cards that we have received so far... keep them coming!

 

The kids made snowman cards at G & G Hughes' House

 Buddy the Elf came back right after we put the Christmas tree up

Grandpa & Grandma Martin sent Matt's old train for around the tree.  Zack loves it!

Thanksgiving 2013

This was our first Thanksgiving in our house.  It has certainly been broken in with quite a few dinner parties lately.    Casey and Rob came over early which gave us an opportunity to hang out with them before everyone else came over.

We Skyped with Bill and Mar to start the day.

The kids blew some leaves

Abby and Zack helped make the cream puffs

Matt and Zack mashed the potatoes

My parents, uncles Mike, Damon, Ron and Andy all made it for dinner after some traffic delays.

The kids had a blast and loved having their own table.  

The whole crew

We are very thankful for all this year has brought and most of all our amazing family near and far!

Vegas Baby!

Matt and Jason secretly planned a birthday trip for Jen and I.  We had been talking about going for a while now but they made it happen and it was such a nice get away and chance to hang out with our the Archards!

The drive up was a perfect chance to catch up and flew by.  We both got rooms overlooking the fountains.  it was such a beautiful view!

Happy hour before the show.  We got tickets to see, Mystere, the oldest Cirque show in Vegas- I believe.

Another view at night

We drove out to the Red Rocks for some hiking on Day 2. The views were amazing and we ended up doing some pretty crazy rock climbing that I wasn't quite expecting but it turned out to be a great way to spend the day.

He was definitely making me nervous!

Jason was getting crazy too!

We ate well and played hard. It was a great way to celebrate our birthdays!  I feel very fortunate to have good friends to spend the weekend with and even luckier to have such a great husband to plan thoughtful getaways.

Fall days

Matt took these cute shots of the kids in our neighbor's leaves.

The kids painting cars at the Children's Museum.

I love our tree with red leaves.  They are all on the ground now:(

Michelle was here for Thanksgiving and we had a mini reunion with the her siblings and all the kids.  Pretty busy little crowd but always a good time!  I wish we still lived down the street from each other.  Abby was so sad to leave (me too).

Abby and her ballet friends practicing for their show.

My dad got us tickets to the Chargers game.  They actually won which made it extra fun!

SeaWorld Snowdays

At the beginning of December we went to SeaWorld for some snow and the beginning of Christmas festivities.  

The kids checking out the reindeer

Playing in the snow

 

After the snow we spent a good bit of time in the Arctic area.  The polar bear and the belugas were a favorite for the kids.

The walrus is huge and playful:)

To finish off the day we made some Christmas cookies and

All day Abby was so in to leading us around and reading the map.  She found some light and led us out of the park- she did not get map reading skills from my side of the family!