Santa Came!! The calm before the storm......

Santa made a mess at our house this year!! See his ashy boot prints from the fireplace?

The kids wanted Pillow Pets and how lucky that Santa knew! They also got their new pajamas and book that he leaves for them every year.

The stockings are all ready!

More Christmas Eve

After we had Christmas Eve Dinner we opened our gifts from Grandparents and cousins.

Adriann wanted an American Girl doll and was so excited to get Lanie!! Great pick from Grandma and Grandpa Ekman! Auntie Rachel got her a gift card for the American Girl store so she could pick out an outfit for her.

Kenyon got a Star Wars Laptop and both boys have so much fun on it!

Kamden got a Cars garage. He loves cars!

Cousin Paige knew exactly what to get Adriann. She loves to draw.

This is one of Kamden's favorite toys this year. It's a car with buttons on the top that make it move and he follows it all around the house.

Can't go wrong with a Nerf gun!

I think this is the only picture of me the entire Christmas! This book is awesome!

Grandma and Grandpa Ekman gave us Toy Story 3 and we had a Marathon and watched all 3 movies (a few time) since Akoni had never seen them.

Christmas Eve was a blast. We had so much fun and got some really fun presents. Akoni got a really great ladder, so when he takes our lights down, he doesn't have to climb on the fence and jump off the roof onto the trampoline to get down! And I got a gift card to Home Depot so I can finally make the shelf to go above my bench in the hall!! Thanks Rachel, I can't wait to get working on it! Thanks everyone, we love you all!

Christmas Eve

So on Christmas Eve we open all of our gifts from Friends, and extended Family. That way Christmas Day is all about just our Family and Santa. We have found it's a great way to break up all the gifts and it's a lot of fun.

Here are the kids opening some gifts from their friends. I could not get Kamden to smile here. He wasn't too sure about all this opening of gifts and was kind of confused and cranky.

Adriann got a make up set and loves it!!

Kenyon with Silly Bands. I don't know what it is about these things, but he is Obsessed with them!! He never takes them off and knows exactly how many he has on each wrist!

Kamden with his "cool car"! Another obsession!

Kenyon being crazy with his silly bands.

Sharks Game and sick kid!

So the first week of Christmas Break Adriann was super sick for about 2 days. I was hoping no one else would get it. Well Akoni took Adriann and Kenyon to a Sharks game a few days later. They stopped at In-n-out for dinner and made their way up to San Jose. Kenyon started to complain that his stomach was hurting. As they were waiting in line at the game, Akoni turned around and Kenyon was barfing in his hands! They had just gotten to the game, so they tried to stay for a little bit, but he ended up throwing up 2 more times, so they had to call it quits and come home!

They did have fun while they were there. They had really good seats and got to go to the replay booth and see all the tv's. Hopefully next time will be better!

The Beach in December!

Last week we had some beautiful days and with all the rain, you have to take advantage of a day that isn't rainy. So some new friends of our hadn't been out to 17mile, so we packed up the kids and went for a drive. It was nice and sunny and the kids had a fun time running around.

There is this one beach that has all these rocks on it and people will stack them up and write their names and dates of when they were there on the rocks. I have always wanted to do it, so luckily I had a sharpie in my purse and was able to do it this time.

Gingerbread Houses!

Here's our annual Gingerbread House decorating activity. I bought a kit last year that is a mini village and so there are 5 different houses to decorate. It's perfect because each kids gets their own house, so there's no fighting! I'm glad that I bought the kit last year because I didn't see them this year. It was a fun time and the houses turned out pretty cute.

Adriann putting on her icing.

Kamden being a goof, his house didn't really turn out. He just ate all his candy instead!

Kenyon getting his house all decorated.

Kenyon's final product.

Adriann's completed house.

Christmas Lights

After multiple day on the roof, trips to the store and pulling of hair, Akoni got the lights up! He made an arrow at work and wrapped it in lights and it points to the chimney. It's so fun to drive up and see.

Thanksgiving!!

For Thanksgiving my parents and my sister Rachel came to our house. It was so much fun and luckily we had gorgeous weather!! It wasn't warm, but the sun was out and there was no rain, so no complaining!

When my parents got here we were able to take them to the Aquarium, thanks to the free tickets from the Library that I waited in line for 2 hours for, yeah 2 hours. It's crazy, but they get the tickets on the first day of the month and there are people lined up for hours waiting and then the tickets are gone in about 15 minutes.

We had a fun time at the Aquarium and got to see the new Flamingos, they are so pink! I loved them. The next day was Thanksgiving and Rachel flew into town. It was a fun day and good food and lots of napping done by all. And our Turkey was good even though only 1/2 of it cooked. It was a 21 lb. Turkey and I don't think it got thawed out all the way and so it wasn't fully cooked. We had to cut off what was cooked and throw the rest of the turkey back in to finish cooking. And Akoni was awesome and cleaned up the kitchen while I fell asleep on the couch, what a great guy! I didn't do one dish!!

My parents left the next day and Rachel and I took the kids to Cannery Row and walked around and it was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun together. Sadly I got very few pictures, I blame it on being pregnant. But here's the pictures I got and they are not in the right order. Sorry!

Adriann and Kenyon outside the Aquarium.

Our Family walking to the Aquarium from the free parking down the street.

Adriann and Kenyon with Grandma dishing up food and getting ready to eat.

Grandma basting the turkey.

The big kids table all set up. We actually got out our wine goblets that we got for our wedding and have never used. My mom spent probably an hour getting all the price tag stickers off of them. It was fun to use them finally. And she got me this nice table cloth so we didn't have to use plastic like I had planned before anyone said they were coming to visit.

Kenyon and Kamden in their Turkey hats.

Adriann and Kenyon at the Aquarium.

Kamden in the oyster. I tried to get all the kids, but no one wanted to get in.

Kenyon with Grandpa watching the water fall. Kamden was so scared and screamed and ran out when we took him in here.

Kenyon's outfit he made at school.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we did!!

Classic - Sent to me from my husband!! At least he's thinking ahead!!

The room was full of pregnant women with their partners. The class was in full swing. The instructor was teaching the women how to breathe and was telling the men how to give the necessary assurance to their partners at this stage of the pregnancy.

She said “Ladies, remember that exercise is good for you. Walking is especially beneficial. It strengthens the pelvic muscles and will make delivery that much easier. Just take several stops and stay on a soft surface like grass or a path.”

She looked at the men in the room, "Gentlemen, remember, you're in this together. It wouldn't hurt you to go walking with her.”

The room suddenly got very quiet as the men absorbed this information.

Then a man at the back of the room slowly raised his hand.

“Yes?”, answered the Instructor.

“I was just wondering if it would be all right if she carries a golf bag while we walk?”

This kind of sensitivity just can't be taught.

My finished wall

Well here is my painted wall. We have lived here for almost 2 years and our front room bugs me. It's so boring. So I finally decided to paint. After talking to two friends that know way more about interior design than I do, and consulting a huge thick paint book, I trusted my friend and we picked out a color.

Well this is the final product. The color of course changes all during the day depending on the light, but at least you get some idea of what it looks like. I love it and it adds tons of character to the room.

Don't you love how little kids smile?!

Trip to the Fire Station

Adriann's class had a field trip the other day to the Fire Station and I got to go since it was a walking trip so I could bring Kamden in the stroller!! Yeah, we walked from the school all the way down to the station with 50 kids!! But we ended up having a really fun time. Here are a few pics.

Here's the group I walked around with.

Kamden and Adriann on one of the Trucks.

Adriann inside of a Truck.

Kamden with his hat that all the kids got!

Adriann trying on one of the Real Hats!!

Halloween - Ward Trunk or Treat

On Thursday we finally carved the kids pumpkins. Akoni cut the tops off, the kids scooped them out and tried to do the faces, but eventually Akoni saved the day and finished them!

Here is the finished product. I think they turned out pretty good!!

Friday night was our Ward Trunk or Treat. Kamden loved being this lion!! It was a super steal on Ebay a few years ago for Kenyon, so I'm glad that this guy got to use it. He loved having his face painted and would growl, it was soo cute!

The boys. I got this costume for Kenyon 2 Halloweens ago, but he refused to wear it. This year he actually wanted to, so I was glad to have him wear it. He also loved having his face painted.

All 3 of them. Adriann was a Rockstar!

I went as a whoopie cushion again. It's a really easy costume to wear being pregnant!

Akoni went as "Windy Guy"! He ended up winning first place for the costume contest at our ward Trunk or Treat!!

Doesn't it look great?

Adriann invited her friend Alondra from school to the party and Ally from our ward was there also. These girls had such a blast! They are all in the same class at school.

Kenyon with his friends at the party.

After Trunk or Treating. The kids had such a fun time. The party was soooo much fun!!