Non-Traditional

This year we broke ALL the rules and for the first time in 11 years of marriage, my husband and I did not have Thanksgiving dinner with either of our families. It caused quite an uproar, but we decided it was time for our family to start our own traditions. So this year we also started something new and went OUT for Thanksgiving dinner. It was fantastic. I didn't spent all day in the kitchen. We took it easy, stayed out of the rain, took naps and around 4:00 went Black Angus for our dinner reservations. We got all dressed up (Jeffrey was confused that we weren't going to church because he was in church clothes) and ate out. Olivia and I had the Turkey feast with all the fixins and it was way better than I could have done. Matthew had a cheeseburger, Jeffrey had Mac -n- cheese, and Michael had a big fat steak! Sure is was non-traditional, but it was also very nice and no one had to do the dishes!

Happy Birthday Grandma Cecil

My mom has always lived her life for her kids, and now she lives her life for her grandkids. It was mom's birthday Nov. 25th and she decided to throw herself a birthday party at Pump It Up. Obviously it was more for the kids than her, but she truly gets her joy and happiness when she sees her family happy. All 6 of my siblings, their spouses, even a new future spouse, and 17 grandkids had a blast! We jumped, laughed and ate pizza! Not a typical 50-something grandma's birthday, but so typical for my mom. We love you Grandma Cecil and all that you do for your family! Happy Birthday!

Matty the daredevil

Zak pushing Owen around

Grandma trying out the big slide

Daddy and Zak on the big slide, Zak didn't like it very much. Soon enough...

Quick Trip

Zak trying to walk!

Daddy and Jeffrey

Me, Matty and Livvy before Thundermountain Railroad

Matty trying to be cool in front of the Buzz ride

The castle all lit up for Christmas

Every trip we have to take pics in Mr. Toad's car

Livvy and Belle (Matty wouldn't get in the pic cuz she's a girl)

Again, she's a girl

Thanks to a good friend we took a quick day trip to Disneyland. We got up early and headed out. The weather was great and for a Saturday it wasn't that busy. We hit California Adventure first and rode the Toy Story Mania ride. Jeffrey loved it and it was well worth the wait. We didn't have to wait on any other rides so we got to do quite a bit in the morning. Zak did great, Jeffrey was a little squirly and scared, Matthew was bored with the kiddie rides, and Livvy apparently is our roller coaster queen. She screamed and giggled on every ride. On Thundermountain Railroad (my favorite), she had her arms up and laughed and squealed the whole time. I was cracking up! It's always fun to do things as a family and especially when we get to do them for cheap! Thanks Claire and next time we'll all go together!

FANtastic Movie!

My good friend Claire and I got to go to the Twilight Premiere last night. It was so much fun and so crazy. We had terrible seats, in the third row, so by the end of the movie our necks were pretty much done for. But despite all the craziness, the movie was SOOOOOO worth it! I thought it was great. I am totally going to see it again in a couple weeks when I can get a better view! I was a nerd and wore my Twilight t-shirt, but I certainly wasn't the only one. It was funny to be in a completely full theater with all the young screaming girls! Makes ya feel either really young or really old. But I'm not going to get into all the dirty details for those of you who haven't seen it yet. But even if you haven't read the books, it's worth it! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did and plan on doing again! Thanks Claire for coming all the way from Bakersfield for our super girls night out (and for the Disney tix - but that's for anther post!)

Mars VS. Venus

As most of you can tell, I'm a "Twerd" (translation: Twilight Nerd). I love the books and am counting down the minutes till the premiere of the movie on Nov. 20th! Unfortunately, my husband does not share my excitement. So for all of your husbands who might feel the same as mine, I thought these two images were awesome! The countdown can't go fast enough!

Thank You Sarah Goodsell

Just a quick HUMONGOUS thanks to Sarah Goodsell for taking our family pictures. They turned out so good and she did such a good job! We got to combine a hike and family pictures in one outing! If you want to see how truly talented she is, click on the Sarah Goodsell photography link in my list, or go to her blog at goodsellphoto.blogspot.com. (Matthew thinks this sounds like a commercial for Sarah's photography, and it probably is!)

Told Ya I was Behind!!

Things have been so busy that I had to do three posts in one day to get caught up! So this is the last one with some random pics for your enjoyment!

These are the only pics I got of Michael's birthday. I made him a cake on his birthday and then the boys and I went and met him for lunch. Zak and Jeffrey loved seeing daddy's work and sharing lunch with him! We love Daddy! (And I love my hot construction worker!)

The next pics are of Olivia's dance performance at the mall. They got to wear their costumes and dance to some fun Halloween songs. She had so much fun. Livvy takes performing very seriously. Her good friends Brooklyn and Sarah are in her dance class and they had fun dancing together! I look forward to many more dance performances!

Cute girls!!

Chillin at Grandma Gills house.

The Big 1-0

I can't believe Matthew is 10! It seems like yesterday he was this cute, fat, little chunky baby, and now he's so grown up! We were in St. George on his birthday and we went mini-golfing. Then Grandpa Gill fixed Matty's favorite dinner, tacos (the best tacos ever!) and Sunday, his actual birthday, Grandma Gill made her famous Call pancakes, another of Matty's favorite. His birthday is actually continuing today since we were out of town. So Happy Birthday Matty!

Halloween-St. George Style

With the wonderful Nevada Day 3-day weekend, we decided to head up to Michael's parents in St. George. The kids got to go trick-or-treating with their cousin Cameron and Uncle Brian. Of course it was great weather. The kids even swam! Swimming and trick-or-treating in the same weekend, what's up with that?! The kids got tons of candy and we tried to leave it at Grandma Gill's house, but couldn't get out the door without it! Diane put together a great Halloween dinner before we left. She had eyeballs (meatballs), witches hats (calzones shaped like witches hats), spider dip (7-layer dip with spider-web sour cream), and fingers (breadsticks). The kids went trick or treating and Jeffrey said "Happy Halloween" to everyone instead of trick or treat. Olivia had to be the first one to get candy at every door and poor Matthew had to help keep his eye on Jeffrey. He's quick! We had a great time. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Gill!