A December to Remember

We kicked December off with a piano recital.

Monson had major stage fright left over from last year, so he chose not to participate,

{and we choose our battles.}

Monson has been giving Lexie piano lessons of her own once a week... gotta love it!

Decorating the tree...

My dear friend gave this to me the year Viviana was born

the kid's favorite ornament...who would have thought.

it's the one our golden retriever, Scooby, used to chew on when he was just a pup many Christmas' ago

Bray always has a good cry remembering his dog when he puts it on the tree each year.

A Weekend in Coronado

Curt's work Christmas party involved a weekend away at Coronado. We couldn't find anyone to nanny our six monkeys with December being so busy for everyone... so instead of missing out, we brought them with us and had 8x the fun.

Also, 8x the noise & commotion.

Dinner at the Boat House

We stayed at the Glorietta Bay Inn & enjoyed the scenery and wonderful beach at the

Hotel Del Coronado across the street.

We didn't take them ice skating---the lines were too long and it was too expensive for all of us... but how cool to ice skate with an ocean view surrounded by palms!

and so the girls did some sand skating of their own...imitating the skaters.

It always ends in a wrestling match

...and two boys walked away with 5 lbs of sand in their hair... and proud of it.

Get your Gingerbread Creativity ON

We were invited to a Gingerbread house making night potluck...

super fun, super messy, super sweet...

Lexie's Kindergarten Performance

A 24-hour visit with Ama

Lexie's Polar Express Train Parade

Dressed in our Christmas Best

Christmas Eve Feliz Navidad style

We had the missionaries over for the eve and I prepared copycat

Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa salad & fresh tamales... YUM.

Pops arrived in time for our program

Brayden put together an evening of music

...and stories focused on Christ & his humble beginnings with our traditional puppet show

and performances...

...and of course, Christmas Eve PJ's

and it wouldn't be complete without reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas just before the kids headed off to sleepy town. Pops had the honor this year...

Christmas Morn in all it's glory

waiting until Mom & Dad are up to open presents

and still waiting....

The aftermath... wasn't too bad

Lexie's new eyepatch

Pops playing barbies with the girls

A night out in 'Old Town

and my fave--my gift from Kevin & Brooke was a full-on detail of my ratty kid-abused car

Izzie waxed 'til her little arms grew muscles

Let's go fly a kite

and by the time it was all over the biggest complaint is that

'Mom takes pictures just like Pops' and it's annoying.

I agree--it's annoying, but the expressions and stories are priceless.

Can't wait for what 2010 holds!