Winter Vacation 2017

Winter vacation was filled with one adventure after another. 

Bryan is becoming quite the handyman (thanks to YouTube videos!). First, he changed out a headlight on his car. Cool skill to have. Then, the driver side door handle on his car stopped working (we suspect the kids hanging on the handle have something to do with it). It was pretty comical watching him get into his car. He would open the passenger door, climb in, open the driver door, stick a frisbee in to keep the door open, then walk around and get in. 

Next thing you know, he's taking his car door apart to fix it. Super cool skill to have. One small hitch. He had to drive around to a couple different Ford dealerships to find the correct part (otherwise he would have had to wait for one to be ordered). As he was picking up the part...he just so happened to test drive a vehicle. 

I had just started to research bigger cars since we were feeling a bit squished in our minivan. Our ward is the poster child for megavans, with 7-8 of them in the parking lot each week. Anyway, he called me to let me know what he was up to and the next thing you know (in reality it took about 6 more hours for him to look at a few more options) we were the owners of a megavan!

 We opted for the Transit xl, which has the option to seat 15 but we chose to only seat 12 and have more cargo space.

Hard to tell in this picture, but the kids were ecstatic! We didn't tell them what was happening during the process, so they were more than thrilled to see what Dad brought home. Zeb's first words, "I don't have to sit by the girls anymore!!!" **Funny side note. Even though there is more than enough space to spread out, they still occasionally sit right next to each other. Hmmm....**  They were even more excited to go for a ride (we had to pick up Bryan's car from the dealership). 

We took a trip down south to see the lights at the San Diego Temple. What a beautiful sight!

I love that my kids love to go to the temple!

Never have I ever (that day) seen two more adorable troublemakers 

We have a tradition of getting new ornaments each year as part of our countdown to Christmas. 

Pretty sure Bryan was in love with his this year. 

These two night owls spend quality time together when I can't stay awake one second longer. 

Oliver changes so much so quickly that we still haven't decided who he resembles more. 

We had some special visitors this month! My Uncle Russell brought some of his family down for a cruise and spent the night before with us. I'm not sure who had more fun...my kids or the big boys (my cousins)! Lots of laughs and fun times we had. So glad they stopped in and stayed the night with us!

There is just something so soothing about sitting in a dim room with the lights from a tree glowing. 

It might just be one of my favorite parts of the season...seeing all the lights and being reminded of the Light and Life of the World. 

Quick note for memories -- Oliver didn't have a stocking this year (we haven't decided it we want to worry about them all matching/coordinating or just have whatever everyone has) and Abigail was worried about Santa missing Oliver. She wrote a sweet note to let Santa know that I was willing to share my stocking with him and to please not forget about her baby brother. What a sweetheart she is!

Christmas morning came faster than expected. It seems to do that each year. Our children shocked us by asking to eat breakfast before opening gifts. Let me restate that. Elizabeth asked for breakfast and the others agreed to wait. What love they showed for their sister! 

Oliver was much more interested in the paper than the gifts (shocker!), with the exception of his new purple monster toy. 

Maggie was very interested in seeing what everyone received and making sure everyone kept their gifts in a pile to not get messed up. Such a caring girl!

Zeb got distracted opening each gift after unwrapping it to start playing with it/reading it/exploring. Does that even make sense? Oh well. I know what I was trying to say. 

Abigail loved handing out gifts and gave the same excited reaction to everything she got to open. 

Elizabeth wandered around exploring all the neat new things. Pure joy for this one!

Fun, fun, and more fun!

Keeping the balls on the parachute is a lot harder than it sounds. Part of that might be due to the excitement of the participants. Maybe. 

We kind of like the fact that we could play our new lawn game Christmas day. 

Oliver even got in on the action. He's trying to figure out Bryan's strategy. 

Yay for family games!!

The day after Christmas, we (some of us) got to help do some work at Uncle Trevor and Aunt Melanie's new house!

Big helpers for a big job! I'm so grateful that our kids are learning the value of hard work. They are so willing to go and give service (and work hard!) as well as becoming fantastic helpers in our home. The blessings that come from giving service are limitless, but more importantly, they are becoming more like our Savior every day. 

Nothing says Winter Break like a beach day!

Oliver loved his first day at the beach. What's more fun than sand? 

 And more sand...

 It was only windy enough for the kite for about 20 minutes, so it was lucky that Bryan took advantage of it at the time.

 It was the perfect day to spend at the beach with cousins and friends! Lots of fun in the sun, sand, and waves!

**small side note** Sand can be dangerous. I came away from the day with a sprained ankle...guess our game of Kan Jam got a little too intense... Good thing Bryan and I had won the previous round. Haha!

The next day we went to the pool...

...and the kids had to warm up in the bath since the spa was being cleaned. Times like these are so great!

What better way to finish the year than to celebrate 12 years of being married to this guy!?!

Our lives are filled with ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Especially since he is right there with me. We can do hard things. We can do fun things. We can do easy things. We can do not-so-fun things. We can do all kinds of things. I sure love him and love our family that we are building together. So blessed!!