Santa is in town!

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I thought I had the best idea - beat the crowds and go see Santa. I mean who goes to see Santa BEFORE Thanksgiving? Evidently, lots of people do. At 10:05 am there was actually a line and we waited about 20 minutes. Really? But the kids were good and Justin humored me by having his picture taken too. And now it feels good to have that out of the way. Merry Christmas!

Can this really be considered camping?

Friday we packed up and headed to Santee Lakes down in San Diego right when the kids got home from school. A fun start to Thanksgiving break. By the time we got there and got set up we only had time to play at their park for a little while since it gets dark so early. But we were able to roast marshmallows and have smores not realizing this is the last time we'd enjoy outside for pretty much to rest of the trip.

It rained almost the entire weekend making for a lovely muddy mess outside. We did try to do a little fishing in the rain on Saturday morning and I was able to click a few pictures before it started coming down too much.

Devin wasn't thrilled with being out in the rain, so he and I headed back to the trailer. It wasn't long before the rest of them followed suit. I can't remember the order of the events of the weekend because we were shut in the trailer almost the whole time, but it was still a lot of fun.

The kids played Legos,

we watched The Polar Express while the rain came down,

drank hot chocolate, watched The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, went out to dinner and did a little shopping at Target and Walmart and also rented Toy Story 3 from Redbox for one night. Justin even ended up catching a trout in the rain. Woo hoo!

But the most impressive thing over the whole weekend was Devin's love for beading that lasted about 8 hours one of the days. He ended up making 20 necklaces and bracelets! He is now lovingly referred to as bead boy or bling boy.

It was a different way to "camp", but we still had a good time. From the looks of it from this picture on our way home, it was exhausting. :-) It's blurry because the road was pretty bumpy and I took it with my phone.

And a few random pictures taken throughout the 3 1/2 days.

Been too long

It had been about 6 years since I had last seen Lori (or newly named Loris after Devin thought that was her name). Last Thursday she came by to spend the evening and night on her way from Arizona to Orange County where her sister would be going through the temple for the first time. We were roommates many years ago and great friends ever since. We've texted and talked on the phone, but haven't managed to get together, so it was really good to have her visit and catch up. It was like no time had passed. That's how you know you have a true friend - when that many years go by and you just pick up where you left off like it was yesterday. We went to get pedicures and then to dinner. So much fun. I'm so glad she made the trek this way and we've vowed to not let another 6 years go by without getting together.

All Girls Weekend

Our annual (or sometimes semi-annual) AGW was a couple weekends ago. We had a small group, but it was a good group non-the-less. This year we stayed at The Trump. It was a very nice hotel with a nice view and it was right across from the mall, which was convenient. The downside was it only had valet parking, so the tips added up and we had to wait for our car at times and the jacuzzi closed at a much too early 5:00. So no, I wouldn't choose to stay there again.

Anyway, we had a nice time visiting and staying up until 2am every morning just talking and talking and talking some more. We had a group breakfast and dinner,

but much of the time was spent parting and regathering with each other.

(the above picture is of my mom singing a very old song from the 20's that we all always get a kick out of and Aunt Goldy is backing her up)

Some did a Cirque De Solei show, others shopped and some just stayed behind to hang out. For one dinner we ordered a burrito that was close to 7 lbs, if you can believe that. You'd think it was gross, but actually it wasn't bad. There was plenty for all of us and then some.

On Sunday, Sandi and I did a helicopter ride over the Hoover Dam. It was a lot of fun and the view was amazing!

Linda stayed on with us after everyone left on Sunday. We didn't leave until Monday. It was fun having the day to spend with just her and us. And we had a pretty full day going to Hoover Dam, a little shopping and dinner.

So, here's a funny story. Our hotel room had an amazing bathroom with a huge jacuzzi tub. Since the actual jacuzzi closed so early I decided to take a bubble bath in the gigantic tub never thinking about the bubbles taking on a life of their own with the jets going. My sister and I had gone down to the hotel mini store and bought little 99 cent bottles of shampoo just for the purpose of taking a bubble bath. Here's what happens when you dump an entire mini bottle of shampoo in a jetted tub. It was so funny! I called my family in just so they could laugh with me. Duh, right? So, the next night Sandi and I are wanting to go to the dumb, closed jacuzzi and she gets the idea of just putting our suits on and getting in the enormous tub and visiting in there. She decides she wants the bubbles and proceeds to poor the other bottle in there. So, we had ourselves a bubble infested jacuzzi again. The bubbles were about 8 inches over the top of the tub. It's hard to tell, but they were really high! Well, we gave ourselves a good laugh.

It was a good trip. I always love spending time with my cousins and aunt. It's the only time we get to see each other, so it's pretty special.

So long hip hop

Friday was Justin's last session of his hip hop class. He's taken two 6 week sessions and has really enjoyed it. He's even asking to do it again, only they aren't offering it until the spring and he will be in baseball, so that's not going to happen. It's been fun watching him learn a couple of routines and some new moves, though. .

For my birthday Kirk bought me a new little digital video camera. It's great except for the fact I can't get it uploaded. I really wish I could post these routines on here. It really stinks to be computer and software challenged. :-)

The end of The Purple Diva Girls

Avery had her last soccer game on Saturday and they won! What a sweet ending to a fun season. I missed it because I was at my family All Girls Weekend in Las Vegas (soon to be posted), but Kirk took the kids and got to cheer them on to their final victory. It was a fun season and I know she's going to miss it. Way to go Purple Diva Girls!

Halloween

What a fun week of Halloween activities we've had. On Thursday night we carved our pumpkin. You can't tell from the picture, but it's carved like a bat. The kids each took a turn cutting a little bit. Friday they got to dress up and have a parade at school. I didn't take pictures. Oops! Saturday was our ward Trunk or Treat. We brought our neighbor, Hunter, with us. The kids planned and were each a character from a video game called Mario. Justin was Mario, Hunter is Luigi, Avery is Princess Peach and Devin is Toad. Then Sunday night we went out trick or treating around the neighborhood. The kids made out big time in the candy department. It's almost disgusting how much candy we have in our house right now. But it was a fun time and everyone was happy. Happy Halloween!