Rub a dub dub, Luke's splashin' in the Tub!

Dinos and Reindeer

Nighttime around our house gets a little wild sometimes. After the boys took a shower last night, yes Ty too, they played a little with the dinosaur hand puppets Santa brought for Luke.

Luke went to sleep around 7pm, so we decided to watch a movie. Ian wanted to watch Rudolph, and since Ty and I had no interest in seeing it for the 40th time this year, we ushered him to our room where he could watch it while we watched "The Hangover". When our movie was over, we went to check on him. He had gotten up from the chair we set out for him, crawled up into our bed and was fast asleep.

Drums & Keyboard

Ian and his drums from Santa

Luke and his keyboard.

Ty and I should by some stock in Advil!!!

Christmas Parts 3-6!

The last couple weeks have been very busy! Friday the 18th Ty's sister, Amy and her family came over. After the gifts had been opened the kids all started chasing each other around with Ian's nerf guns.

Saturday, we left for my cousin's wedding, which was so much fun (see the blog below) :) Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I baked more cookies.

Christmas Eve, Thursday, we went over to Jon and Jo's again to open gifts with Ty's parents. Jo made potato cheese soup and broccoli soup for dinner, they were both very yummy. When we got home Ian made sure we put out some Oreos and Chocolate Milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. Ty and I still don't know why it had to be Chocolate Milk, and only one carrot for 8 reindeer.

Christmas morning my parents and Jessica arrived at 6am. We went slow opening all the gifts. It took us 3hrs to get through them all. We would open one and then stop, play with it a bit, then open the next. Ian loved the drum set from Santa! After the gifts were open, my Mom and I made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Around 1pm my sister Jen and her husband Alan showed up for gifts and games. By 6pm our house was full of people; Don, Aggie and Jason (Jen's Father, Mother and brother in-law), my Sister Amber, her boyfriend Shane and his Daughter Diedre, and my friend Colleen. We had a blast playing on the Wii and also playing board games.

Saturday, our friends Nolan and Alisa came over for a bit with their kids. We ended up going to BJ's for lunch. Afterwards, I left the kids with Ty and went over to my parents' house to play board games with my sisters and mom, I didn't get home 'til midnight. Sunday, after lunch with Jen I left to go to my parents' house for more games, this time with the kids...Ty stayed home to play computer games with his friend Corey.

Yesterday, I got a little antsy to put away the Christmas Tree especially since Luke realized there was popcorn on the tree and it was getting real hard to keep him from eating it. Ian was a big help, and after 3hrs all the inside decorations were outside in the garage. I'm hoping to get the outside decorations down this next weekend :)

Casey & Jordan get Married

My sister, my mom, the kids and I arrived at the Marriott Saturday afternoon. After unpacking, and a little trip to Target for swim wear, we went to the indoor pool for some splash time. Later that evening, Ian (he was one of the ring bearers) and I left for rehearsal and dinner with the wedding party, while my mom, sister and Luke stayed behind to eat, sleep (Luke) and play games.

Sunday morning I left the hotel at 8am to hitch a ride to the chapel to start getting ready with the other bridesmaids. Of course, my mom, sister and the boys arrived at 10am. Ty, my dad and brother-in-law (Alan) arrived around 10:30 right before the ceremony was to begin. The ceremony was beautiful. My cousin, Casey was absolutely gorgeous. ...and no I didn't cry.

After the ceremony and the pictures that followed, we drove to the reception site. Ty and the others went out for lunch, while I stayed to help with the finishing touches on the hall for the reception. As you can see from the photos we had a great time. I danced pretty much the whole time. Ian was out there getting his groove on for the most part, too.

I wish Casey and Jordan the very best! Congrats

9 months

It's hard to believe it's been 9months since he was born.

Christmas Pt2

Sunday, we went over to Jon and Jo's house to make our annual gingerbread village.

The completed village

Ian's house...Ty's house

My creation

Afterward, the kids opened their gifts from everyone.

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

Saturday morning, the boys and I delivered some cookies to my parents' friends after having breakfast with them at Spencer's.

Mid-afternoon, my Dad arrived with my Step-Mom and my sister's (congrats to my sister, Angela and her man...I'm going to be an Aunt again in March, I can't wait to meet little Audrey) for an early Christmas.

My Dad and Luke

Ian was very anxious to open gifts

Luke just wanted to eat the paper :)

Around 6pm I headed over to a friend's house for a little cookie party. Everyone's cookies turned out festive and tasted great! I can't wait for the next Girl's night out...

My Mom and Gail

My friend Colleen, my Mom and I

A visit with Santa

Ian's been talking a lot lately about how Santa's going to bring him toys (although he won't tell us what toys) and candy. The other night, Ty and I took the boys to go visit Santa for a while at his "Bakersfield" home. Ian was so excited, he couldn't stop talking the whole way there. Ian went right over to Santa, sat on his lap and of course started talking Santa's ears off. Luke, on the other hand just wanted Mommy.

Red Rock Cyn

Saturday was a long day. We woke up skipped breakfast and hoped in the car to go to Red Rock Canyon. Neither of us remembered much about the place despite being there numerous times when we were younger, but it is close enough to be a one day trip and there wouldn't be snow.

We stopped by at the campgrounds first to eat lunch. There was a little parking lot with picnic tables and an ampitheater, and we at at the base of it to avoid the wind.


Luke and Ian at the bottom of the ampitheater


With lunch out of the way we headed to the campground areas to check em out and let the boys run around some. The area used to all be underwater but changes in the plates forced it up and the resulting erosion makes for some really cool walls with caves dug into them. The rise also brought up the red layers of sediment, hence the name. We also took one of the nature hikes that looped around some of the prominent formations.

We are getting pretty good at the timed group shots :)

Afterward we decided to stop by Tehachapi on our way back since it is only about 30min from Redrock. We stopped by John and Mary's because we knew Gabe was going to be in the Christmas Parade this year. After hanging out and relaxing for a while, except for Ian who was on the trampoline the entire time almost, we headed out to watch the parade.

It was not as big as the Bakersfield Christmas Parade, but that's not a bad thing :) It was fun and the streets were decorated. It was a little cold though, and once Santa went by our boys were ready to go. We said our goodbyes and headed for some hot chocolate before coming back down the hill to some much needed sleep.