Temple Lights

This last Thursday night, we took our family to go see the Christmas lights at the Mesa temple. We tried to come see the lights before they officially began, but we got to the temple right as they turned them off. So, we just walked around anyways and looked at the temple grounds and saw the statue of Christ in the visitors center, and Luke II.

We didn't make it there last year, and so it was fun to go see them this year. The lights were so beautiful, and it was fun to see my kids in awe of all the lights. This was one of my family traditions that I loved growing up. We'd go see the lights and have hot chocolate and donuts.

Allie enjoyed the Nativity scene. When she saw the star way up above the stable, she pointed to it and said "My Grammie told me about that star. That one up there, when Jesus was born." She was almost as excited that she knew all about it from her Grammie, as she was to see the star. It was pretty cute. Drew liked the sheep around the nativity and the baby.

Afterwards, we stopped in at the Smith's for some delicious hot chocolate and donuts. Thanks Smiths for letting us drop in on such short notice! We had a fun time.

Allie looking at the new Star above the nativity.

Downtown Disney

So... I'm finally getting around to posting these vacation pictures from our California trip back in October.

We checked out downtown Disney to see if there was any fun stuff to do, and to find a delicious place to eat. On our way down there, Allie saw a bus that said "Disneyland" on the side of it. She recognizes letters and basic words, but it was too fast to really reach each letter. That didn't matter - she instantly knew it said Disneyland. We still hadn't told her we were going to Disneyland in the morning. We wanted to surprise her. She was just having fun in "California". But when she saw the bus, she said "that's were the magic makes your dreams come true." Me and Dan looked at each other and realized, she's probably been watching a little too much Disney channel...

Downtown Disney was pretty cool. The grounds were decorated with lights and Halloween/fall decor. The smell from the caramel popcorn vendors were to die for. We thought we'd grab some on our way out, but the lines were super long, and were starting to close down. So, we'll have to get some next time.

We all were pretty hungry and just wanted to find a restaurant without a ridiculous wait, so we narrowed it down to a Mexican food one and an Italian food restaurant. I lost... and Italian won out again. I'm out numbered and no one really shares my love for Mexican food. I'm still hoping Drew will come over to my side as he gets older. Allie and Dan have VERY similar taste preferences and dislikes. Drew's tastes are closer to mine. But, he doesn't crave a delicious bean burrito, chimichanga, or enchilada quite yet... But I'm working on it... He loves to dip, dip anything, and he can pound a couple avocados in one sitting...

Anyways, we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant, and then did a little shopping. We went into a skate store, and Allie found a beautiful gold bracelet she loved. She held onto it tight in her little hand. Neither Dan nor I knew she had found such a lovely treasure. We left the store and went to go get some caramel apples, and in the candy store, she showed me her beautiful bracelet that she "found at that store". Allie and I took it back, and apologized to the store for taking the bracelet. They were very nice and understanding, but it still is so embarrassing... But it proved to be a good little teaching moment for both of us...

The grounds all around downtown Disney were immaculately groomed and beautifully laid out. Allie got a kick out of these bushes...

This little gazebo was beautiful. There were fresh flower petals all over the ground - I think from a wedding... But Allie was in heaven. She delicately gathered up as many as she could grab as we were leaving. And carefully held on to them for most of the night.

Drew just stomped on the petals and wanted to climb up the stairs and check out what there was to climb on in the gazebo. Just another way boys are SO different from girls.

We stopped in the Lego stores and the kids had a blast playing, building and creating at the Lego tables.

Allie, Dan, and Drew thoroughly enjoyed eating some rainbow suckers from a candy store at Downtown Disney. They were a sticky mess after it, but loved every minute of it! We had to brush their teeth extra good that night to get all the coloring off from the suckers.

Laguna Beach

On our second day in sunny California, we found a beautiful beach to build sand castles, dig holes, and stick our feet in the cold, cold water. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather. It was mid-70's all week. This beach had a park right next to it, so Drew was in heaven, swinging for hours next to the beach!

He loved to put his feet in the water and didn't seem to mind how cold it was. Allie would run after the water as it was receding back, and then high tail it back to dry ground when the water would come back in. She wanted to play, but didn't want the water to touch her.

We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed some wonderful family time. It's so fun to just hang out together and laugh. We love our kids so much, and thoroughly enjoy being with them. They are just so darn cute, and have these amazing (yet totally different) personalities.

My highlight of the day was building and decorating a sand castle with Allie. She collected all the beautiful sea weed pieces she could find. Each little piece was a treasure, and had to go on our castle. She's so creative and has such a fun imagination. I truly am so lucky to be her mom!

So, I look over at Drew and he's doing a head stand in the sand. Not just once or twice, but he kept doing it over and over. The sand was moist and sticky, so some of it stuck with him throughout the day.

Science Museum and Huntington Pier

*Sorry I've been slacking on my postings... Our California trip was in October. But I thought it's better late than never!

We decided to do a little weekend getaway to California. Our kids hadn't been to Disneyland, and we thought it was good timing to take them with naps and no little baby... They did great on the drive over. It's always so hard to be in the car that long, but they did awesome! We got to our hotel around 11:00 at night. The kids were so excited to be in a new place they had to check everything out.


After a decent nights rest, we decided to check out what there was to do in Orange County. They have a cute science museum in Santa Ana that was fun to explore and do. There were dinosaur bones to touch and see, a huge long neck dinosaur with the inside hollowed out so you can check out how it's body works from the inside. Of course, Dan found the grosses thing in there...

For dinner, we drove to the Huntington pier and walked down the the Ruby's restaurant at the end of the pier. The wind was blowing super hard and we were freezing halfway down the pier. We had an amazing view of the ocean from our table on the 2nd floor of the restaurant. It was beautiful to watch the sunset.


Allie still prefers to ride in the stroller instead of walking (I guess who wouldn't), but she always races Drew to the stroller and hops in it first. Drew usually is ecstatic that he doesn't have to ride and can roam free. But sometimes this is our solution when two kids want a ride, and we only grab our single stroller... What a good big sister.



Dan found the dinosaur poop. You can push a button and watch it go through the intestines. Weird huh!

Drew didn't want to sit still for any pictures. He wanted to press the buttons to make the dinosaur behind them make noises and move it's head.

This is our view as we ate our dinner at Ruby's.

Our sweet girl. She LOVES flowers - any kind. I think she smelled all the fragrance out of that carnation at our table by the end of her dinner.