New Moon

I almost forgot to post this! I rarely do anything even mildly crazy, okay never! Actually I did cross the road before the crossing guard told me to the other day, no just kidding. Okay so now that I have your attention, I went and saw New Moon at the midnight showing!!! It was so fun! Everyone was so into it. Thanks for a fun night girls! Oh and by the way I am totally team Edward, but I do like Jacob. Okay, Okay I am TOTALLY team Rangi, then the other said people.

Fa la la la laaaaaahhhhhhh!

Christmas at Disneyland is so Beautiful. They really go all out, I love just going to see the decorations and ride it's a small world (it is all decked out for the holidays). We happened to get lucky and get awesome seats for the parade which Jillian was thrilled about!
Aaaahhhhhh!!! Rangi loves to see the kids scared faces- he snapped a pic from the Disney cam. Poor Livi, and what does she say when she gets off, "that was SO FUN!!!"
Here she is thoroughly enjoying Thunder Mountain!!! She is such a sweetie!

Oh Baby...

it's Christmas time again! I have this CD that has a song with this line in it. I have had this CD since I was a freshmen in college. The other day I was listening to this song and couldn't even believe that I have had that CD this long, which led to me to think about all of the Christmases that the CD has been through and how they have changed. In college and when I was first married, Christmas was so calm, I SAVED all my shopping to do in December so I could enjoy the "hustle and bustle". We rarely finished a cookie plate. I had tons of time to address cards and make treats. It was calm, it was easy to focus on the true meaning of Christmas while I was at home or in the car listening to carols. NOW... Whew! Now Christmas is a totally different story; let's start with the fact that our family polished off an entire cookie plate in 10 minutes! My kids were in three Christmas programs in ONE week (and I loved every second-quite honestly that is what I have looked forward to the most since having kids:} We have school projects due, class parties (I am a room mom) presents for the teachers and other school staff we are so grateful for. Church parties, way more cards to send because we know way more people, Christmas shopping and wrapping, wrapping, for so many loved ones! A lot has changed and sometimes it gets a little crazy, but one thing has not changed and that is the fact that our Savior was born in Bethlehem, he came to save a world from sin. He is perfect. Through him we can become perfect. I am so grateful for my knowledge of Him and I hope that no matter how busy we get at Christmas time, the other thing that will not change will be our desire to be more like him and to be an angel on His errand.

Have a holly jolly Christmas...

I don't know how everyone else stores their lights, but despite our best efforts we always get some like this; so of course I put my kids on the job of testing and untangling the lights (because what is frustrating for me is great fun for them). I look over at Caroline and she says take a picture of me I'm all lighted up. So much for helping untangle lights:)
All three kids take their turn putting the star on top before Rangi takes his turn and I tell him how to straighten it a million times before going to do it myself to find that it really isn't that easy. (maybe next year I will commit it to memory).
Sometimes I feel bad that my Christmas tree doesn't look like it came out of a pottery barn magazine... until I watch my kids take out all of the ornaments and reminisce about their whole lives. In Caroline's case she said, "remember when I made this ornament when I was in the first grade and I got married?" Actually you are still not in first grade, nor are you married, and you WISH you made the prettiest ornament we have that no one we know made. At any rate when the tree is all decorated it is the prettiest tree I have seen, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

(As my friend Lisa said...I can't wait to see what the tree looks like in 20 more years.)
Little Old Lady from Pasadena ??? That was my guess too, when she quizzed me. "NO MOM I AM MARY" I do collect Nativity scenes but none of my Marys wear glasses.

Beautiful day

We overlapped our Thanksgiving vacation by one day while my sister was here. We had a great day together. Here are all the grandkids (except Jilli and Penny) with grandpa.
Two beach bunnies
I love to capture people laughing... in this case me in 20 years, me in 50 years.
Hooray for vacations and families!

Post Script

I also forgot to mention that I am so grateful Rangi does NOT have a mullet...but who knew I needed to mention that until he surprised me with this!

I love him, but I do have my limits.

Thanksgiving '09

My little Turkeys!
Do you think she is excited to get her own personal Turkey?
Rachel and Danny played host to the kids table and my kids were thrilled to be so grown up. Maybe next year you guys will get your own turkeys!
Caroline was torn between eating hers and keeping it as a pet.
3 out of four not too bad. Have I mentioned how GRATEFUL I am for these kids?!
ALL eyes open and faces towards the camera...INCREDIBLE! I actually wish you could hear the amount of noise that went into this picture. Every adult in the room was doing their own personal "smile" rendition at the top of their lungs! It was hilarious. We are so grateful for these cousins.