Mexico!!!!

Okay, so way back in January we went to Akumal, Mexico with my family. We had sooooo much fun! I haven't posted about it yet because I had lots and lots of pics, and for some reason it would only upload 4 at a time. So I'd go through and pick all the pics I wanted, upload them.......and then after hours and hours it would upload the first four. You'd think I'd learn, but it just kept doing it. So, I got upset and gave up. Here are the pics I finally got uploaded after many times trying. This is not even close to what I wanted to post, but this is what you get, at this point. My sister's pics are much better anyway.

This is little Miss Mermaid. I don't think she ever got out of the water. It didn't matter whether it was the pool or the ocean--she loved it!

The view from the house. Amazing.

At least I got one picture of each of our children posted.

This is Mr. Snorkel. He LOVED it!!! And yay, now I don't have to feel guilty about not going snorkeling with Justin because he has a great snorkel buddy now. They saw a bunch of turtles and lots of fish.

Mermaid again.

This is in front of one of our favorite restaurants. It's called Casa Cenote.

Yummy food and incredible view.

We went to a new cenote this trip and there's cliff jumping! Our boys jumped over and over. Justin did a flip off of it too. So fun!

This is at Puerto Aventuras. We were waiting while people got signed up to swim with the dolfins.

Yep, only in Mexico would you have a tank with manatees and a big drop-off, and no fence or railing. It is really fun, but would never happen here.

The manatees.

The girlies by the (California) sea lion exhibit. They were crazy that day.

And the girlies back at the cenote.

So, things that didn't get pics on this post......the boys swimming with dolfins. It was awesome! They did a great job and had soooooo much fun!!!! (Thank you Grandpa and Grandma!) There were other things that didn't get posted, but that was the main one. Anyway, we had a great time and the kids are already asking when we can go back.

If you want info. on renting the house, here is the link.

Christmas in February!!!

OK, here we are in February and I'm posting Christmas, but hey, at least I'm posting, right??? I'm catching up at least. Christmas eve all the kids sleep in the girls' room so the two little buddies slept next to each other, even though she had a nice soft bed to sleep in!

Sleepy Daddy with Alyssa

Brenden is smiling on the outside but thinking......no more pictures, I want presents!!!

I'm not sure where Kate is. I'm probably holding her.

And on to the presents!

The girls got a cute kitchen! Hooray!

We're so excited!

The boys got a slime making kit......boys.

I do not know why her arms are out, but I thought she looked cute.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Christmas Lights (Yes, still behind...but getting closer!)

Sooooooo........last December we went and saw the Christmas lights. It's a fun family tradition that we enjoy every year. I love it! I love the feeling there, I love the lights (especially the huge red tree), and I love seeing the temple all lit up. I also love having my whole family together to enjoy it.

My cute girlies all bundled up

Brenden

OK, you can't really tell, but this is my favorite huge red tree. You can see almost the whole tree on the right. How many lights would you guess??  I'd have to say at least 100,000. I'm probably way low. I love the picture on the left.

The kiddos.

How come Justin isn't in any of these???

Saying good-bye and walking away. Until next year! And......on to the hot chocolate!!!



Annual Thanksgiving Turkeys

A few years ago I started something that I didn't think would actually continue, but now my kids won't let me forget....no matter how much I want them to. :) Just kidding, it's fun, just a lot of work. I make sugar cookie dough and we make sugar cookie turkeys for Thanksgiving. I make many different colors of frosting and we frost our turkeys. So fun!!!

This is serious business!

Aren't they so cute? You can see each individual personality in the turkey each person makes.

Finished products

And hooray! I don't have to make sugar cookies until next Thanksgiving!!! :)

At the Lake

In late October we went for a drive and ended up at one of our favorite local lakes. It was cool, but fine with a jacket. The evening light made everything look so pretty. We had fun throwing rocks into the lake and running races in the sand.

Of course we needed some pics!!

Here are our cute kids!! Getting soooo big!

The fam!

We had a lot of fun! Now we can't wait to go back when it's warm and sunny!!

Playing Catch Up #1

Okay, so how far behind am I if it's now January and I'm blogging about last Halloween??? Yeah. Really far behind. Call it a New Year's Resolution. I'm going to keep up on my blogging. Last October we went to the local pumpkin patch. So fun!!

I love this pic of my cute kids!!

I love it when strangers offer to take our family pic if we take theirs. You can see the very large pumpkin patch behind us. We got some really good ones. And we loved the hayride!

They have a lot of fun activities. The kids love this little train. Me.....not so much. It scares me to death! The teenagers that drive it go so fast and are crazy.

Yes, that is TJ and the kids (below) feeding a llama. They loved it.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

I promise I will do better this year!!