Santa Came!!

On Christmas morning we opened stockings and presents with just our family.Rachel was not in the picture-taking mood.
After that we went over to Grandma's house and opened gifts there.

And the big winners this year:Additions to our Thomas the Train set,
and Hungry, Hungry Hippos!

Christmas Eve, Part II

In the evening of Christmas Eve we had Grandma Morden, Aunties Kim and Robyn and cousin Taylor over for clam chowder. Just before bed we read "T'was the Night Before Christmas," put out our cookies for Santa, and laid out the stockings. It is so much fun with little ones!

Christmas Eve

The kids and I went over to my sister Cherie's house to decorate cookies for Santa and exchange gifts. Rachel asks me constantly if we can go see cousins, so she enjoys every second when we are able to get up to Lincoln. And Ben and Nick are starting to enjoy each other's company more, so it was a good time for all!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

Mmmm...the best smell in the world! The kids had a great time decorating the tree. And only one broken ornament so far!

One of my favorite traditions is putting together the gingerbread house. Okay, so it doesn't quite look like the picture on the box...



but the kids had a lot of fun! Though, as has always been the case, there was more candy in their little bellies than on the house! I also spent about 7 hours ripping our Christmas music onto iTunes, but it was well worth it to have my own commercial-free music with none of the crappy songs they play on the radio. I love technology!

We went to Disneyland the week of Thanksgiving. Despite a rather unpleasant walk home to the hotel in the pouring rain, we had a fun time.

We were able to spend part of the day with cousins since we were all there for a family reunion for Thanksgiving. Pictured above is my brother Kevin with his daughters Gabi and Sarah and Rachel and Ben. My kids love the train.

We have never been to Disneyland while it is decorated for Christmas, so it was fun to see all of the changes. The castle was beautiful and It's A Small World was really festive. This picture is in front of the Haunted Mansion, which was done up with The Nightmare Before Christmas (which my kids love).

It's time for the elves again!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Aquarium Shoe Blues

We took the kids to get a couple more fish today at Capitol Aquarium. The kids had a blast when we let them feed some koi in their huge koi pond. While Bryan was paying for the fish, the kids and I were sitting on a bench watching the koi. Rachel was standing up on the railing and I asked her to not do that because she might slip and lose one of her flip-flops in the water (yes, it is almost 80 degrees here in November!). Rachel asked, "Would the fish eat my shoe?" I told her that they might try but would not have much success. Well, Ben decided that he needed to check just to be sure. He had his shoe off and thrown in the water before I knew what was happening. Luckily he didn't throw it very far and it mostly just floated on the water. But from the shocked sound I made and the stern voice that followed, I don't think Ben will be trying to feed a shoe to a fish again any time soon.



On the funnier side of things (okay, so the shoe thing was funny after the initial shock, but anyway...) there were lots of clown fish (aka Nemos) to look at there, and we found every one of them for sure. At some point in our search Ben held out his hand, palm up, and said, "Nemo (mumble, mumble) hand?" I finally figured out that he wanted me to get the fish out of the tank and let him hold it. It was so cute.

Our new hydrophilic friends

Bryan just finished setting up his 50-gallon aquarium. The kids have been wanting a pet for a long time now but Bryan is allergic to cats and dogs, so this will have to do. They have really been enjoying watching them and feeding them. It has also taught Rachel a little about the food chain. This morning she called to me and said, "Mom! The big red fish is eating one of the little fishies!" I thought, "Yah, right Rachel." But then I came out and saw that, in fact, one of the little tiger barbs was being eaten by the bigger jewel cichlid. Gross!

Tagged by Jen

8 THINGS TAG:

8 THINGS I'M PASSIONATE ABOUT:
1. Family
2. Church
3. Reading to my kids
4. Exercising
5. Trying to eat healthy
6. Reading (to myself)
7. Food, especially chocolate and cheese
8. Trying to teach my kids to be respectful

8 WORDS OR PHRASES I USE ALL THE TIME:
1. Just a minute.
2. Please be patient.
3. Come on!
4. That's ridiculous.
5. Go pick a book.
6. Go to your room if you're going to cry.
7. Be nice please.
8. Holy Hannah!

8 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:
1. Go to Europe
2. Go on a cruise
3. See my grandchildren grow up
4. Go see a show on Broadway (or two or three...)
5. Take a culinary class
6. See my kids married in the temple
7. Make sure I always have Family Home Evenings
8. Get my degree

8 THINGS I CURRENTLY WANT OR NEED
1. New black church shoes
2. A new car
3. A digital video camera
4. A shopping spree
5. A bath mat
6. Someone to come paint my kitchen
7. Candy (I'm keeping a strict diet right now)
8. A nap

8 PLACES I WANT TO VISIT
1. New York
2. Hawaii
3. Switzerland
4. England
5. Australia
6. DisneyWorld
7. Monterey
8. family in Utah

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS:
1. Outback Steakhouse
2. Olive Garden
3. Chipotle
4. Mimi's Cafe
5. JB's
7. Round Table Pizza
8. El Torito

8 SHOWS I WATCH:
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. The Biggest Loser
3. Top Chef
4. The Office
5. So You Think You Can Dance
6. Lost
7. Samantha Who
8. Sometimes I'll watch Bryan's documentaries with him

8 PEOPLE I TAG:
Cherie, Mom, Kirsten, Amber, Nicole, Gherine, Suzette, Jamie

Yes, it's finally time for trick-or-treating!

Cherie and Ken brought the cousins over to go trick-or-treating. Rachel was so excited to wear her princess costume and jewels. Ben put on his Thomas the train costume only when we said he couldn't get any candy without it. They got rained on a little but still had a great time.

Daddy with our cute trick-or-treaters!

"Can-nee Mom!!"

Pumpkin Carving

Dad helped the kids with the messy part of the project, then Mom got to do the carving. Below is the finished product. Both Rachel and Ben agreed that we needed a kitty pumpkin this year. And yes, we only carved one of our many pumpkins. They didn't really care and neither did Mom and Dad!

You can never have too many pumpkins, right?

Okay, so this post includes our second and third trips to a pumpkin patch this year. A few weeks ago we went with Grandma Morden, Kim & Taylor, Robyn and Great-Grandma Rushworth (or GG as we call her) to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland. It was a really great place and the kids had a blast. The horse rides were probably my favorite part. It was so fun to see the kids riding. Ben was so funny bobbing around like a little cowboy. And he only freaked out a little bit.

Apparently Ben thought that his cat needed to be included in the photo. That is his favorite stuffed toy. We also enjoyed a train ride, hay ride, petting zoo and going into an old train car.

Our final pumpkin patch trip was with Rachel's preschool. There are 6 girls and 2 boys in her preschool class. Those pictured above are all wearing their Happy Days Preschool shirts, looking over the fence at a cow. We got to go on a fun tour to see goats, cows, chickens, an alpaca, bunnies, horses, and llamas. They have been learning about animals, so this field trip went along with that theme.

They also got to help bale some hay and, as you see above, milk a cow (well, kind of). The kids had a great time.

At the end of the tour each child got to pick out a pumpkin. Rachel had fun rearranging some of the piles after she had picked hers.

Justification Starts Early

Bryan likes to keep his bottled water in the refrigerator. Rachel thought that she was a big girl and that she should have her own cold water bottles too. So, to differentiate between Rachel's and Bryan's water, Rachel will use a marker and put an R on her bottles.

So yesterday Bryan saw that Rachel was drinking the water he had put in the refrigerator for himself. Bryan said, "Rachel, you took one of Daddy's waters again." (This was not the first thieving incident.) Rachel's confident response was "But dad, I put an R on it!" This, apparently, was perfect justification for taking Daddy's water.

My two bathing beauties! They always have to have their blankets right after they get out of the bath tub, and they like to keep their towel on as long as mom will let them.

I've been trying to convince Ben that Superman is cool so that he will wear this cute sweat suit I bought for him. I finally succeeded today in getting him to put it on. It's all about Spider-Man with Ben. I recently downloaded the Michael Buble version of the Spider-Man theme song and we have to listen to it several times a day.

Ben's Personal Stylist...

Ben is finally starting to hold still a little bit for me when I cut his hair. I guess I no longer have that as an excuse if his hair looks bad! Bryan finally persuaded me to "just try" cutting his hair. It's not as hard as I expected, although I am far from a new career! Just try not to look too closely to my two sweetie's coiffures and I can continue to claim that I'm good at it!

It's Autumn Time!

We took the kids to the Elk Grove Harvest Festival after General Conference last Saturday. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time picking out pumpkins.
Ben was so excited about every pumpkin he picked up. "Pump-poom ma!"
The fire department had a truck there that they could climb up in...to state the obvious.

I Love to See the Temple

We took the kids to the Sacramento Temple for Family Home Evening. This was their first visit and they were very excited. It was neat to be able to feel the spirit of the temple with them and teach them about the blessings of eternal families.

The water fountain of course was the highlight for them.

Happy 4th Birthday Rachel!

The Birthday Fairy came to make Rachel's 4th birthday special. She decorated the hall right outside her bedroom door so it would be the first thing she sees on her special day. (Thanks Becky for giving me the birthday fairy's number!) She loved it, in case you didn't notice. The fairy dust (aka confetti) was fun; we're still finding it around the house.

Windsor Trip

We spent the second weekend in September at a time share resort in Windsor, CA. It was a very nice room (more like a little house) and we all had a very good time. This is the fam with Grandma Morden and cousin Taylor.
We drove over to a beach in Bodega Bay and despite having to walk about a half mile to the beach alongside a cliff, it was fun. Mom refuses to go in the ocean more than a foot or so, but these are the brave ones who had a great time getting wet.
Ben, on the other hand, ran screaming from the waves. But he was determined to throw rocks in the water so he kept trying to get close.
We had cake and ice cream for Rachel's 4th Birthday. You can tell from her red face that we spent a good part of the time in the sun. We could barely keep them out of the resort's swimming pool!

Happy Days Preschool

This was Rachel's first day of preschool. I am doing a co-op with seven other moms where we all take turns teaching. Rachel is so excited to be going to school like a big girl.


She wanted a Dora the Explorer backpack and lunchbox. Ben decided to join the picture with his groovy hairdo!