December Wrap Up

We were so fortunate to plan a trip to Maryland and North Carolina for Christmas.  We decided to actually leave on Christmas day, mostly because the tickets were cheaper that day.  We had been saving our credit card miles to make this trip.  We knew we needed to get to North Carolina sooner than later because it had been awhile since we had been there.  So we felt so blessed everything worked out so we could get there. 

We flew to Maryland first and hung out with Angela, Jeremy, and family for a couple of days.  We visited the DC LDS Temple, where Bryan's parents were sealed many years ago.  It was beautiful.  Later that same day we decided to take the subway to the DC Mall.  Much of our time in Maryland was spent hanging out, karaoke, shopping, watching movies, playing games, and some of us even whipped out a sewing project. 

This is a picture of Lynn & Laurie Collins and their two daughters Amber and Crystal, plus all their babies.  The hardest part about our trip was saying goodbye to Granny.  She was in a rehabilitation center and it was incredibly hard to leave not knowing if she will ever get to go home.

Puppy Portraits

Emery turns 14!

Happy Birthday to this amazing and beautiful daughter and sister of ours.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  This birthday was a little quiet for her, one of her best friends just moved away and I  know she was missing all of her close friends and family.  I just hope she knows how wonderful she is, we love you Emery Rose.

Thanksgiving Break in California

Leaves are falling all around!

Halloween

Preschool and the Pumpkin Patch

Part of preschool fun is going on fun field trips.  This is Landrys cute class at the local pumpkin patch.  He loves his class and looks forward to going all the time.  It has been strange for me to not be participating in a home preschool like I had with the other kids.  At least I can join him on fun trips like this.  Brody came along with us because he missed his trip to this patch earlier in the month because we went to Disneyland. 

At the Junior High, Emery's class did a little preschool one day.  So she invited Landry to come with her and he had a really fun time.  He loves his big sister.

Disneyland!!

We decided that after all the hard work of raising 11 puppies and making some money from selling them, that the kids deserved something extra special.  So we decided to plan a trip to Disneyland.  This was the first time we have ever gone with just our family.  We had such a fun time together.  We went to Disney on day 1 and California Adventure on Day 2.  So since we only had two days to pack in the fun, we kept the kids moving.  They were tired at the end of both days, but overall had an amazing time.  We were worried the first night in the hotel, because Cambree woke up throwing up around midnight.  We weren't sure how she would be in the morning of if anyone else would be feeling the same.  But luckily she felt better in the morning and we were able to continue on with fun.

I think everyone tried a new ride that they have never done before, including Bryan.  He went through the Haunted House for the first time and actually liked it.  Brody and Cambree even went on Space Mountain, Brody enjoyed it, but Cambree was pretty freaked out.  Overall it was fun to be in the park during Halloween time and it was nice to just be with our family.  It's amazing how much you learn about each other on trips like this.

After the fun we had Disneyland we headed to Exeter to visit Uncle John.  It just didn't seem right to go all the way to California and not visit some family.  Besides that we have been meaning to make a trip to the farm and this seemed like the perfect time to do it.  John was very happy to have us there even if it was just for a night.  The kids had a blast riding the tractor around the farm, picking and eating pomegranates, and helping John with the chicken coop.  I had fun going through one of John's barns and finding some fun treasures to take home. 

A Visit to Johns Farm

Mema to the Rescue

 We were so happy to have Mema come and stay with us in Oct.  I felt bad because the pups were about 6-7weeks now, and that meant they we were high maintenance.  But I was also so grateful she was here to help me.  The pups ended up getting sick with a little virus and it was a little bit stressful around here.  We did manage to have some fun though and tried to relax when we could.  We squeezed in some mini glow golf, a drive through the canyon up to Sundance, a trip to Scheels, and we were even able to go hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the old Tabernacle on Temple Square.  My kids loved having here, especially Landry who was able to have all of her attention while the other kids were at school. 

Probably one of the funniest moments, which I wish I would have recorded, happened when mom was outside on the front porch watching the crazy puppies.  Right under our front porch is a giant hole and we were always worried the puppies would fall into the hole.  So mom was sitting on the porch and decided she would try to put something in front of the hole.  She started to lean over the side of the porch and some how she ended up rolling off the porch onto the grass.  Before she knew it, she had puppies crawling all over her.  I was trying to hard to not to laugh, but after I checked on her to make she was ok, I just let it out.  We still laugh about it when it comes up in conversations.