Disney Christmas

The day after our Merry Christmas we went to Disneyland with Jared, Jenn, and girls... we had a lot of fun! It was a cold day, but we survived it. It was crowded, but we arrived early so the lines were shorter in the morning. Since we went with girl cousins it was the first time Nix and Tino saw the Disney Princess Faire.

Tarzan's Treehouse

Christmas Morning 2008

I was up with Ro before anyone else was awake... then Par woke up and the three of us whispered until Nix woke up. Then it was over, everyone was awake. We told the story of Jesus' birth in Luke Chapter 2, then we had a morning prayer. Frank Layton came! I mean Santa came to our house last night! He ate most the cookies, drank the egg nog and his reindeer nibbled on the carrots we left out. Apparently our kiddos were "NICE" this year since their stockings weren't filled with coal... some year they may receive some coal, but this year they received an orange and apple for health, a movie (Kung Fu Panda) for peace (well it gives mom a little peace when they are spaced out on the couch with a movie), and chewing gum for love (since Nix loves gum). And toothbrushes so their teeth don't fall out from all the candy around here. Nix got a light saber and cars from Santa too. There was a letter from Santa on the desk, next to the plate of cookies, which Nix excitedly brought into the bathroom where Brett and I were brushing our teeth and Par read the note aloud to Nix and us: "Dear Nix & Ro, Thank you for being good boys this year. I brought you some toys and gifts, but remember who the greatest gift giver was. Heavenly Father gave us baby Jesus, and we remember He gave us all the gifts we have. Remember the birth of Jesus this day, so you might feel the true meaning of this Christmas morning. Love, Santa"

Our boys have 3 loving sets of Grandparents who spoil them at Christmas time, so here is a "Thank You" to all of them, and a few others for some awesome gifts.

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for the Nintendo DS and Sponge Bob game, learning cards, motorcycles, Book of Mormon hero puzzle blocks, and awesome sweatshirt to match brother. Love, Nix

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for the play tower!!! learning monkey toy, cute clothes, and awesome sweatshirt to match brother. Love, Ro

Thank you Grammy and Grampy for all the Book of Mormon stuff (movies, activity books, and books), roller blades, and USC warm-up suit. Love, Nix

Thank you Grammy and Grampy for the Leapfrog Train, and the USC sweatsuit. Love, Ro

Thank you Nana and Papa for the Annual Pass to Disneyland! the car launcher w/ cars and the rescue book w/ cars. Love, Nix

Thank you Nana and Papa for my mommy and daddy's passes to Disneyland so I can go with them, and the funny car w/ bunny that goes and sings. Love, Ro

Thank you Aunt Stacy for the Hot Wheels Game. Love, Nix

Thank you Aunt Stacy for the Leap Tad that talks and sings. Love, Ro

Thank you Aunt Amy and Uncle James for the Tom and Jerry movies! Love, Nix & Ro

If this wasn't enough, we received a lot more than this, so "Thank You" to everyone we didn't mention, and thank you for gifts still to come (we think there are some stragglers)... Brett and I received so much more than we gave, we are humbled at this time of year and so grateful to all of our family, whether they gave us anything or not. We love you all and Merry Christmas!

We had our traditional Christmas breakfast... sticky buns, bacon, omelets, and OJ. This year it rained Christmas day so we stayed indoors the whole day, playing games and watching Christmas movies, and I made split peas soup with the ham bone from last nights dinner. It was a nice, relaxing, wonderful day!

Baby's First Christmas!

Pey, and Rae Christmas morning!

Ready for Jedi Training at Disneyland!

After Morning Nap with Ro's Toy! c:

Christmas Eve

This year we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Jared Bergener family at our house... there aren't many years that we have a chance to have Christmas at OUR house. Nix fell asleep at about 7pm and Rossi went to bed a little after that. Since my boys were asleep Par and Rae helped me make cookies for Santa, they helped pour in the ingredients and licked everything they possibly could. It was fun having helpers. btw the paper in nix's mouth was put there after he fell asleep. And Ro did help in the kitchen while we got dinner ready. We had a traditional Ham for dinner, and I used the rest of my rainy day bread loaf by making croutons for a yummy caesar salad, and homemade caesar vinaigrette. 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 tsp tabasco, 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce, 2 Tbsp dijon mustard, mash into a paste with a fork, then add juice of 1 1/2 lemons, 1/2 cup olive oil, whisk or plunge in salad dressing mixer pourer until it thickens.

Discovery Science Center

Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon at the Science Discovery Center.  It was a fun day.  This picture of Nix and the beach ball is confusing with a still shot picture because it is easy to say the ball is floating if you capture the photo right, but really, this ball is suspended in air above his head.  There is a machine blowing air in a way that suspends it in air for an infinite amount of time, unless it is obviously hit out of the air stream.  

There is so much to see at this place, but I only took pictures of a few things...  

Below is a wall that captures the figure of whatever you press into it.  Like your face, hand, body, foot.  I was holding Ro up and pushed him in, and you could see my hands around his waist.  I pushed Nix into it, and for some reason his image didn't come out very well.  Maybe if you get pushed in against your will it doesn't turn out.  I made the huge mistake of having my mouth open when I put my face in.  If you don't know why that is a mistake, try it if you ever go.

Brett laying on a bed of nails... all of us, excluding Ro had a chance to lay on the nails.  It was interesting, cuz you can feel the nails sharpness in a few areas.  They are so close together and your body covers such a large area that there is little risk laying on these nails.

Nix! You are laying on NAILS!

Lil' Corona at Low Tide

Fixed on this water, Nix knows he can't go into it, but almost falls into it a few times.  It is the unsanitary water runoff of Corona Del Mar.  Very dirty, although it appears clean, it is ok to touch momentarily but if you were to bathe or drink it, bad things may happen... so I guess playing in the ocean here isn't highly recommended, but people do it anyways.  I usually go a little ways away from where it meets the ocean to play in the water.  Nixon had fun pushing and throwing the sand into it....  It is at the entrance to the beach as well as the exit to the beach so when we come and go it is hard to pull him away from his fixation on the still water that slowly drains into the ocean.  

On the south side of the beach there are shorter tide pools, and sand sink holes.  I put Nixon in long shorts hoping that he would stay dry, but he would get wet if he were wearing short shorts.  Him and Jared were both wearing brown shorts and they both had wet brown shorts when we left.  The girls all stayed dry, and Ro, obviously because I was holding him.  Brett and James were working.

The north side of the beach has larger, taller tide pool rocks and little coves with lots of rocks for throwing.  We met a woman in one of the coves collecting sea glass.  She makes sea glass jewelry and lives in Laguna beach.  She drills them and makes necklaces and earrings, I didn't get a web address but if you are interest in the jewelry her email address is: rebeccareevesPR@aol.com

Par saw starfish on this side.  The tide was the lowest of the day right when we arrived.

Here is the  group of rock climbers, I stayed off the rocks with my bare feet, Ro and Nix.  Nix would climb the rocks but he needs help, I can't do it with the two boys.  I think Par found all the sea creatures that were on the brochure that the tide pool protector gave Amy who gave to Par.  She had so much fun exploring, I'm excited for Nix to be able to explore the tide pools some day.

Pey found a rock with a hole full of water and spent a while collecting rocks and shells to place in it.  Nix found out what she was doing and ruined the hole of water by filling it with sand, Sorry Pey!  I think he just wanted to help you, but accidently filled it to full.

Amy had her darling girls there, Lola likes snuggling inside her sweatshirt, but Cici loves checking everything out despite the cold weather and unknown territory.

Check out the air born rock on the right c:  Awesome throw Nix!

Ro is so happy outside now, he didn't like the beach when he was younger, but he LOVES it now, he just wants down and kicks and coos the whole time.  Happy boy!

Butt Crack buddies... Tribute to Aunt Stacy c:  Nix and Rae had a lot of fun together and were pretty close buddies soon after they arrived.