Before it becomes too cliche to still post about Christmas, here it is.

On Christmas Eve a guy in our neighborhood was doing Carriage rides for anybody that wanted one around the neighborhood.. Justin's brother Trent and his wife joined us for a ride and sing-a-long. The horse used to pull carriages at Disneyland, but Disneyland "retires" them when they turn four years old.
 Justin and Trent both brought their ukuleles so we could sing songs (I think we lasted about two songs before it died out, but nonetheless it was cool)
 The drivers gave all the kids candy canes. Dale has never had a candy cane before...Dale was very quiet and well behaved the entire ride after getting his candy cane and devouring the entire thing...

 BIG horse
 After the wagon ride we went to Justin's parents house for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts from the grandparents. We didn't get any other pictures than this one for some reason. Dale will randomly warm up to people and go right up to them and want on their laps. We caught this cute moment with his great granddad (Joanna's Dad).

Brighton is at a stage now where he doesn't like to smile for the camera. Adaira is exactly the opposite...
 We called Grandma & Grandpa Owens over as soon as the kids woke up. It was torture for them to have to wait 15 minutes before they could tear into their presents.
 Brighton got the pocket watch he's been asking for all year. (Hurray for $10 deals at Walmart!)

The best gift of all was from Justin and I. It would've been from Santa, but Brighton snuck out of bed Christmas Eve to leave a note for Santa apologizing that he didn't leave him any cookies (we had gotten home late from the grandparents Christmas dinner and didn't have time). He heard some noise outside and looked through the window and saw us setting up the trampoline...

After breakfast on Christmas Day we headed up to the cabin in Show Low where the rest of my family was celebrating Christmas. Justin & Brighton found the perfect spot for a fort the day we got there and the next day they started building!
 Adaira was very proud she did her part by tying the rope to the tree...
 Justin builds good forts, and that is not his jacket....it's a loaner from the cabin.


Love my Brighton...
 Dale had just eaten lunch and had it all over his face. He was all bundled up and couldn't walk very well on all the uneven ground with rocks and branches everywhere. He was pretty upset about it all...or maybe it was just that we didn't have a little boy jacket for him and he had to wear Adaira's old purple one.
 All it takes is a pick-up from Mom and he's happy again....such is life....

 We took a short drive to a beautiful place to take a walk up in Lakeside.
 Pull out the karaoke machine and Grandma starts dancing. This was to the YMCA. She's a great sport.
 For a gift to my parents and Uncle JP for Christmas, we bought them tickets to come with us to the Zoppe Italian Family Circus performing at the Chandler Center for the Arts. I thought it would be fun, although how good can a small circus really be? Turns out it was AWESOME and we had a great time.

JP doesn't get out much so I thought he would enjoy a little excitement.

We arrived early and they did a little pre-circus entertainment. They pulled a bunch of people out of the audience (Justin & I included) and told us they were going to teach us a traditional Italian dance. They told us to get ready and then when the music started they were playing the chicken dance!
 Again, Brighton refuses to smile for the camera (this wasn't just a blink).
 This clown was the best clown around. He was so funny that all throughout the show he had the kids in the audience yelling at him and cheering for him. He snuck up right behind us during the show for one of his little skits.
 We wanted to get a picture of us outside the circus tent. Here is us, but not much of the tent.
 Justin took another one of me to get the tent in the background. It was raining and cold that night (the tent was set up on one of the High School baseball fields and the ground below our bleachers had about 2in. of water on it. They were throwing hay down all night long). I was trying to wipe hair out of my face just as Justin took the picture. The tickets weren't as cheap as you would expect ($22/adult and $15/kid) but it was TOTALLY worth it and we had many good laughs that night.

Comments

Angie said…
what a fun Christmas. Your family is so much fun: carriage rides, forts, circus, the kids will have a lot to remember.
It's good to see Adaira smiling again. Does that mean she's being nicer to you too?
February's not coming fast enough!
1/05/2011 03:28:00 AM
Norma said…
Sounds like you had a lot of fun! I'm not a circus goer. Watching "IT" will do that to ya. I HATE, HATE, HATE clowns! I had a customer I loved come in to the store in her clown costume. Guess who didn't/wouldn't wait on her.
1/05/2011 10:16:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daisy's baptism day

Today Daisy was baptized by her big brother Brighton. My mom and Adaira got to be the witnesses, grandma Joanna gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and Dale gave the closing prayer (after Dad has to rush during the closing song to help him put back on his tie and button up his shirt. Brighton was the pianist except for Adaira who played "When I am Baptized" for a special musical number. (A set of twins from another family was also baptized and their kids sang and played the violin). Here is what she has to say about her special day: I felt happy and felt the Holy Ghost. The water was a little cold. At first I was nervous but now I'm happy. I was excited to be baptized and I want to be a kind member of the church. My dad, grandpa Dean and grandpa Dale, great Uncle Dale, uncles Trent, Dean, Don, Duane and David confirmed me. Dad blessed me to seek a testimony of Jesus Christ and of Joseph Smith. He asked her to find quiet times in her life away from screens and devices to be...
Read more
Image
  Memorial Day A couple months ago I told Justin that we should take our kids and both sets of grandparents to the Mesa City Cemetery and tell our kids stories about our family members buried there. I thought it would make a good Sunday or Family Home Evening activity.  I want my children to identify with their ancestors and feel like they can learn from them. I especially want them to feel like they can develop some of the same good qualities or avoid some of the poor ones. They had also never been to a cemetery so it would be a new experience for them. Justin and I never got around to organizing it until today. Justin's mom was planning a lunch BBQ and swimming for Memorial Day and told me she was thinking of inviting my parents and asked about time preferences since she was thinking of doing it around dinner time. The idea of the cemetery popped into my head and I mentioned that I thought it would be neat to do the BBQ earlier in the day and then take everyone out to the...
Read more