Disney on Ice & Pretty New Car

So this is completely random, but we bought a new car in November and I am so in love. I love having a bigger car that fits lots of people and lots of stuff. Love it!!

Heidi, Emily, Cheryl, Brady, Mallory, Brynna and I all went to see Disney Princesses on Ice and it was awesome! The kids loved it and I was pretty impressed with how they played out Rapunzel's story.

I, of course, had to go get matching tiaras and princess bracelets for our princesses. I was so sad that they didn't have anything for Brady, but I'm sure he felt much manlier not having to wear a tiara.

Me and my princess. Grandma bought them all matching tutus- unfortunately we didn't coordinate but they still looked so freaking cute.

At Disney on Ice. I love doing stuff like this, and I am so grateful that I live near my two awesome sister-in-laws so we can do this stuff together. It is way more fun with all of us! 

Christmas, Disney, and Fun, Oh My

We have had so much fun, and of course Christmas is my favorite season! I am that annoying person that starts listening to Christmas music at the beginning of November and keeps my Christmas tree up as long as possible. 

I took Brynna to see The Nutcracker with some friends and she loved it! I love how girly she is

She was so excited to put up the Christmas and is always so proud once it's done

This girl loves to bake. Seriously, everyday I ask her what she wants to do and the first thing she always says is make cupcakes or cookies. So Christmas was right up this girl's alley! We went big this year and made a bunch of treats for daddy's work

We went to Aunt Cheryl's and wrote Christmas letters to Santa. It cracked me up! Brady and Mallory were so specific, with Brady of course asking for a Nintendo DS and Mallory wanted a baby doll. Brynna's list said, and I quote, "A Minnie (Mouse) kitchen, a purple bike like Arthur Christmas, the thing at the store and all the other things I wanted." 

I cannot explain to you how much Mallory loves our dog Mose. Seriously. She calls him Baby Mose and when they watch him when we go out of town she wraps him in blankets and makes picnics for him. It is so cute!

Mallory and Brynna making cookies at one of our sleepovers. 

We were so lucky this year and my parents came to visit for 2 weeks at Christmas!! It was so much fun, but there were a lot of gifts. A lot. This was before Jason and Heidi came over. Seriously, my little house was bursting! We were wall to wall presents and wrapping paper, but oh it was so much fun!

I love this picture!!! She is so much happier than she looks, but I tried for 5 minutes to wake her up before I finally said Santa Came! And she popped those beautiful eyes wide open and ran out, so she is still a little sleepy

Shawn is in heaven. He got a new T.V. (which him and my brother say does not count as a present, but I vote it does), and a Wii-U. Anything electronic and he is one happy  man :) 

Grandpa had lots of cuddle time from Mal, and he wasn't complaining

Brynna took serious advantage of having her Papa here. She conned him into playing all her new toys with her, (notice me and Grandma are not in the pictures. She knows who to con :)

We went to the Mormon Battalion with Jason, Heidi and Emily and Mom and Dad. It was so much fun and, as usual, Brynna and Emily just loved sifting for Gold.

The loot!

Shawn, Dad and Brynna went on the tour of the aircraft carrier The Midway. It was awesome! Brynna loved everything about it, except the Brig, and Shawn loves doing military things with my Dad since he can give him all the inside scoop, so it was definitely a success!

Brynna's first ride on Space Mountain. I cannot tell you how sad I was when I found out she was tall enough to ride. While she didn't love it, she did like it and willingly went back on a few times. Shawn is so excited to have a roller coaster buddy, since I like very few of them

Jon. At Disneyland. Need I say more? Brady's super cute in his ears :)

Brynna outside the Midway. I love this picture!

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures done this December by my awesome Sister-in-Law Heidi Robbins- she has seriously  made me such a picture snob, her pictures are always so amazing!

My little angel. She looks so innocent doesn't she. Looks can be deceiving :) But I wouldn't trade it for the world

Seriously one of my all time favorite pictures. She sure loves her daddy. 

Weekend Craziness

I so wish I had pictures of this weekend! As Shawn put it, "I don't think I have ever been happy to see a weekend end, but I am now." We had a lot of excitement- not in a good way.

First, on Friday Shawn was working late and when he was home for lunch he let our cat out in the backyard without telling me. So at 9:00 I hear cats fighting in our front yard. Awesome! Especially since we had Charlie declawed in Nebraska since he is an inside cat. When I went out to investigate Charlie was fighting not one, but two cats! Lovely. He didn't come home for about an hour after I broke up the fight, but I finally found him. Once Shawn came home we discovered he had a pretty big gash on his stomach. So Saturday morning Shawn took him to the vet and he had a 105 degree fever and had to get stitches and one of those cones on his head- and $200 later!!! Luckily apparently he was really good for the vet so they only had to give him the local anesthetic instead of complete sedation.

On Saturday night we had Brady and Mallory for a sleepover. At about 2:30 in the morning we heard Brady on the monitor and couldn't figure out what it was. He was having trouble breathing! Holy cow!!! So we called nine one one and had the paramedics come. They decided he had croup and took him to the hospital. Luckily we are right by Scripps La Jolla where Cheryl works and she was able to meet him in the ER. It was so stinking pitiful!! I will never get those big brown panicked eyes out of my head! I felt so bad for him. Here he has 2 nurses as parents and he gets stuck with me who couldn't tell you the right end of the stethoscope. Of course his parents are as calm as can be and and calm him right down. I hope I live my whole life without that ever happening again!

And we rounded off the weekend with Shawn almost getting hit by another car. Seriously like a half inch between the cars.

I have never been so ready for the weekend to be over. Happy Monday!

Busy Busy

We have been having so much fun lately, but oh my goodness life is crazy busy!! This last year I have spent it taking Brynna to the park, Sea World, play dates and shopping. Not anymore. Now I have started college going three nights a week, Brynna is in a co-op preschool (All the parents teach different weeks), Brynna is in gymnastics and we moved about a month ago. Needless to say we are still not completely unpacked. But, Brynna is loving our new house. Previously we lived in La Jolla in an apartment on the 2nd floor, and our downstairs neighbor complained constantly if she so much as jumped out of bed, so we decided to pack it up. We found a duplex right down the freeway that has a huge front and backyard and a little girl next door who loves to play with Bryn. It's smaller than what we had, but also cheaper so I can deal with it for awhile. 

Not a whole lot coming up to get too excited about. Right now I am just trying to keep up with life. But I love taking time out to hang out with friends and my parents are coming for Christmas for 2 weeks which I am super excited about! We still love it when we hang out with my brothers, or even if we just get to hang with their little ones (as shown below)

 I really dislike summer, which I know to most people makes me a freak, but I do. I hate heat (would rather be cold), I hate crowds and I am not outdoorsy so it really doesn't hold a lot of appeal for me. However, there are 2 things summer has that gets me through those months relatively happy. Watermelon and Summer Nights at Sea World. I cannot count the number of times I went to Summer Nights this year. It was magical. I still cannot explain it, but I totally cry at the Shamu show. Literally have no idea why, and Shawn just sits there and laughs at me. I really can't blame him. I laugh at myself when I feel the emotions coming. But there you have it. My dirty little secret. Feel free to mock me.

 Brady, Brynna and Mallory. They felt so awesome being so close to Shamu

 Brynna in her new pink sparkly leotard for gymnastics. She put a necklace in her hair and thought it made her look like a princess. Who am I to argue with her?

 All gross and sweaty from packing, but we never take pictures of us so now I have one documented for my future self

 Brynna on her first day of preschool. I was a little bit of a wreck. I cry at Shamu, so this was not a good day for me :)

 She put the bumbo on her head and thought they were goggles.

 Mallory and Brynna's new play area. Otherwise known as the linen closet. Why do I buy toys?

This week was my first week hosting co-op preschool (on top of all my homework and two separate tests. Awesome). But it went really well, especially the second day, and all the girls are so well behaved it's kind of shocking. We had fun and I am learning the best way to structure things. This is her little class and they are all awesome girls! And I am so grateful to the other moms for letting me stay in the preschool, even though I moved farther away.

Vacation

In mid-July we went on an awesome vacation with both of my brother's families and two of my nieces that flew out from Nebraska to experience the awesomeness with us.

 First we drove up Higway 1, which was absolutely amazing. I had only done it one other time and Shawn had never. He thought I was exaggerating. Nope! It was so incredibly beautiful. Gorgeaous beaches and mountains.

 Driving through Big Sur was incredible. If I liked windy roads I would move there

 I willingly went camping. Shawn has always wanted to go, I am more a Marriott girl. But I figured if I had to go camping, I may as well do it with two practically professional camping families. My brothers made up for our lack and we had so much fun with them! And unfortunately for me, Brynna loved it. I mean LOVED it. I, however, took exception to the raccoons fighting outside our tent in the middle of the night. We brought a second tent for my two nieces to sleep in and they refused because of the coons. It was interesting.

 Tay posing in a tree

 These were the huge trees we were camping under. They were so tall and gorgeous!

 In a hollowed out tree that was struck by lightning. Brynna thought they were awesome!

 Taylor and Ashley being rebels. They weren't suppose to go off the perch. Troublemakers :o)

 Brynna loved hiking

 Of course she spent most of the time like this

After a couple of days camping we drove to San Francisco which I was the most excited about. I love San Francisco. It's just so weird and has so many weird, cool, fun, interesting, odd things. I was in heaven. This is what Shawn got the most excited about to take pictures of. The Federal Reserve in San Francisco. I love him

 We went on a Catamarran (I have no idea if I spelled that right) and went around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate bridge. It was so much fun, but we sat on the nets at the front and got soaked! Mostly Jon, Cheryl, Brady and Mallory, so it was fun to see them take off. It was pretty cold on the water so we spent some time underneath and would come up for pictures.

 Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 which is my favorite part of San Francisco! We went into a bunch of shops, ate lunch and walked down the Wharf.

 And met the Bushman!!! I was so excited when Jason found him for us- I remember him from coming here as a kid and it never gets old! I could watch him for hours. We also saw a bunch of tinmen which Bryn loved.

 The next day we walked across the Golden Gate bridge there and back, which was way more fun than I thought it was going to be.

 Apparently Brynna didn't feel the same, she fell asleep about halfway across.

 But woke up for our walk back and was a little too adventurous for my comfort level.

 This was such a cool picture. This is one of the main pillars and the fog was so thick you couldn't see to the top, standing right under it or from a certain disctance. It was crazy.
We had so much fun and I'm so glad I was able to go with so much family. Shawn and I definitely want to go back just us, but we love living so close to them and being able to do things like this with them. It definitely made it more fun!