The Fairy Princess Party

Our neice Malia just turned 1 and had a fabulous fairy princess birthday party. We were very happy to be guests at this wonderful event. The decorations and food were amazing, but I'll let Breanne share photos of those. Cole really enjoyed the dessert table.

Luke loved playing with his cousins toys and trying to cuddle and kiss Malia.

Cole is enamored with Malia too.


What a pretty princess!

Change of Scenery

We spent another fun weekend with family. It was my niece's 6th birthday so while we were in the area we stopped by to see Clay's parents' new Condo. It's gorgeous with a great view.

We took a short walk to the beach with Cole using his new scooter. (He really likes this scooter now and love's to tell people how good he is at riding it.)

The boys had fun throwing rocks in the water.


Grandpa and Luke.

YMCA

Back at the beginning of the school year, we wanted Cole to get involved in sports, but realized that we had totally missed the registration dates for soccer, and t-ball wasn't going to start until Spring. So, we decided to sign-up at the YMCA for some of their classes that would be fun for Cole until T-ball begins. They offer a YouthFit class that Cole really loves. He calls it his fitness class and it's just a lot of running around for about 45 min. plus some games.


He also goes to the kids' Yoga class. The room is very dark and very quiet. The teacher insists on this and she even has them meditate at the beginning of class. Needless to say, Luke and I usually go for a walk during this time. Cole enjoys it though.

New Year's Day

Clay was able to get some discounted park tickets through his work so we celebrated New Year's Day at Magic Mountain. It was all the boys' first time there and they had a lot of fun! Also, by coincidence, my dad was there with all the youth in his ward (it was a reward for those who had read the Book of Mormon last year). It was so fun to get to see him and my mom and Katie and Mikey.

We spent most of the day in Bugs Bunny land where we rode on this ride Tweety Bird style. The grown-ups all looked so silly in the cages (or maybe Clay and I were the only grown-ups riding.)


Part of the reason we had such a great time was because we never had to wait in line. We could just walk right onto any ride we wanted.

Luke went on tons of rides too. He usually had a very serious look on his face.





Cole and Luke as Elmer Fudd.



Thomas Town actually just has 2 rides. Cole got to ride on Percy over and over. Every time the ride would end, all the kids would say, "One more time, one more time!". And away they would go.



The other ride is Thomas, complete with coaches Annie and Clarabel. It's a nice slow train ride where you get to see Tidmouth sheds and the animal farm and Brendham Docks and such.

There were fun family rides that we all went on together and some that were really pretty thrilling. Cole went on this ride, Ninja, 5 times! I was shocked that he wasn't terrified by it. When I rode with him, I was the one screaming and he was just smiling and laughing.

Good Advice

I got to help out in primary today. During sharing time, the teacher took out a mirror that had the words "I am a child of God " taped to it. She had one of the young boys look into the mirror and asked him, "What does the mirror tell you?" He responded, "That I'm a child of God and I look good."

I love this answer! I think we all should say it everytime we look in the mirror. Say it with utter conviction. I am a child of God and I look good!

Christmas Morning

Cole keeps asking me, "So what was my MAIN present this year?" I keep telling him it was this Powerwing scooter, but I guess it must not have made such a big impression on him. I think he'll see how cool it is though once we take it to the park. I knew we had to get Luke a car. There are two cars like this in nursery, and Luke constantly gets into fights over them. He has practically been living in this car since he opened it.
We seemed to have a theme this year among the gifts: Spongebob! My mom and dad got them a McDonald's drive thru. They love it and one night discovered that they could really get the full drive thru experience by using Luke's car. It was so fun to watch.

Jimmy's Christmas Eve

Well, this is at my parent's house as we're heading out to the car to drive to Jimmy's Christmas Eve party. Luke, along with the rest of the grandchildren, cannot pass by these jolly, dancing, singing snow men without stopping to dance a bit with them.


Luke goes right up to them and stomps his foot so they'll start moving.



Once we made it to the car, we drove to my uncle Jimmy's house. Every year my mom's side of the family has a big Christmas Eve party. For the last several years, it has been hosted by my mom's brother, Jimmy. His house was so beautifully decorated.



The food was so delicious. I love Jimmy's tradition of setting out a two pound box of Sees nuts and chews.




My favorite part of Christmas Eve is the music. Cole and Luke started the singing off with "Little Drummer Boy" (Cole did the singing, Luke did the drumming). My brother sang, some of the cousins sang, we all sang Christmas songs from the hymn book together, Jimmy sang "O Holy Night" which is always amazing, and my grandma and grandpa sang Silent Night, which is also a tradition. The singing was so fun and beautiful and I love how EVERYONE gets choked up mid-song and struggles to get out the words. That is what Christmas is all about.