Disneyland Jan. 9th

Our plane left at 7:05 am on Wednesday Jan. 9th.

We arrived at 7:25 am California time and hopped in a Super Shuttle.

When we arrived at our hotel across the street from Disneyland we checked in and got our room right away. No holding our luggage for us and getting our room late at night since we would be gone ALL day. We walked around Downtown Disney until we decided on a place to eat breakfast.

We finally settled on the Jazz Kitchen, which isn't really settling at all.
The magic must overflow out of Disneyland that the birds thought we were Snow White and ate right out of our hands!

Waiting in the Space Mountain line.
We're so cute when we're having fun!

This one's for Peyton!

Splash Mountain is in our top 3 favorites!

We were able to ride it 3 times back to back! (5 times all together)

One time we didn't even have to get out of the log since there was no line!

I guess not many people like getting wet first thing on a January morning.

Brrrr! But too fun to care!

At night when the sun starts to go down TONS of black birds would fly in and land in the trees.
This tree and the birds really compliment eachother.

Chris remembers this one as a kid.

He said it use to really shock you and test how much you can handle.

Now all it does is vibrate really loud and shake the candy stand behind it and everyone stops and looks at you.

This shop had the prettiest ceiling and chandelier type thing.

It reminded me of the Temple.

Space Mountain is one of our very favorite rides!

We managed to ride it 7 times!

Since we rode it so many times we tried to spice up our pose at the very end.

And to end our first day we went on another favorite,

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. (3 times total)

Good thing we had one more day.

We were no where near done!!!

Tee-gra

For my first post of 2008, I would like to introduce,

Tigra.

She joined our family on December 18th.

She was a stray at Taylor and Preston's school.

The janitor found her and brought her to Taylor's teacher, a lover of 7 cats already!

She had some of the kids call and ask their parents if they could have a new little kitten join their family.

Thanks to Chris and his secret love for cats (ok, just kittens),

she is now part of the family.

Her name was inspired by her tiger like markings and this

little diddy.

Christmas Day

The best part of Christmas is spending time with family

and

the sweet happy smiles on my children's faces.

Peyton got the coolest rocking horse and a bunch of Toy Story paraphernalia.

Ellie got princess shoes, a baby born, and a starstation.

Preston got a robot, knight in shining armor dress-up so he can save and protect his sisters who are of course princess', walkie-talkies and marbles.

Taylor got a jewelry holder, baby born, Junie B. Jones books, and a body pillow so she won't steal mine anymore.

For our gift to ourselves Chris and I are going to Disneyland, just the two of us, for two days, on

January 9th and 10th! We are so excited! It's also to celebrate meeting 1o years ago on the 10th.

I love you baby!

(p.s. we are so hot in the morning. Just trying to keep it real on this here blog.)

After presents it was off to Grandma and Grandpa Prince's for breakfast.

They have everyone come over anytime between 8 am and noon for breakfast every Christmas morning. They are the best!

Grandpa took over the eggs for a minute to help Grandma out.

Such a cutie.

When our tummies are full we have to sit and ask everyone what they got.

Then home to play with our new stuff and rest from rising so early and staying up so late the night before. Then we head over to Chris' parents for a gift exchange.

So glad to have Leah in town to spend Christmas with us all!

Decorate your own tote!

Super cool tank and army guys!

New baby stoller!

Awesome cars and motorcycles!

Christmas was so wonderful just like it is every year.

Now we look forward to an exciting new year!

Christmas PJ's

Like most everyone else, on Christmas Eve we open pj's.

Who doesn't like to open a present the night before the big day?!

Peyton couldn't keep his eyes off of

Woody and Buzz.

Ellie enjoyed modeling her princess jammies.

Let's try this pose now.

All together now!

Surprisingly everyone was super excited to get to bed and fell

asleep in just a matter of minutes.

Christmas Eve at the Banfield's.

The food and company were great!

Lots of love going on.

The candy bar game.

Such frustration and concentration.

Then the kids and adults had a white elephant gift exchange.

Thanks for hosting Christmas Eve dinner and activities Melissa and Brian!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

The best mess of the year!

Preston's Christmas Program

Preston's program was shortly after lunch so I went to the school with Taco Bell in hand and ate lunch with Taylor and Preston. It was really fun to sit with them and see their friends.

There were so many parents there to see the kindergartners sing that it was so crazy and hectic to try and go up to the front and take a picture. So I had to settle for taking one afterwards.

They all did so great! I asked Preston to make sure he sings nice and loud for me so he said he would. I said do you promise? He said yes. I was so happy and surprised that he did.

He kept looking over at me and sung his heart out! I was so proud!

Preston is such a great student and wonderful son!

I am so proud of you Preston! You are such an awesome boy!

Ellie's Christmas Program

Ellie had her Christmas program at Preschool with Miss Peggy.

She was smiling and being so happy before it started,

then she decided to be a pill and not participate.

After some bribing she finally joined the rest of her class.

Brooklyn and Ellie were the prettiest angels I've ever seen.

A girl in her class over heard Ellie complaining that she didn't have any wings so she decided to take hers off and share them with Ellie. It was the sweetest thing!

The program was so cute and fun! Everybody did great!

We love you Miss Peggy! You are the BEST!!!

ewwww....

While at our ward Christmas party Ellie had to go potty.

We walked in the bathroom and someone had just started going.

This particular person ripped a couple times pretty loud and Ellie starts cracking up and I am motioning to her to be quiet while I am silently laughing.

I am dying and wanting to leave to avoid any embarrassment, but we stay and she comes out.

We smile at eachother and Ellie and I walk into the stall.

Ellie stands there staring at the toilet and says really loud,

"Ewwww, her butt was on that!"

Me: "Shhhhhh, it's ok."

Ellie: "No, wipe it. I don't want her germs!"

She said all this while the lady was still in the bathroom washing her hands.

Her tone of voice was so hilarious!

I died laughing the second the lady walked out.

Taylor's Christmas Program

Taylor and her friend Emma had a great time singing to each other during the program.

They kept looking at each other and laughing, but continued singing the whole time.

After the program they danced around in the cold out by the flag pole at Mt. View.

For a treat we went to the Golden Spoon before we picked up the other 3 kiddos.

Thanks for babysitting for us Melissa!
It was a fun night!

Ward Christmas Party

This year for our ward Christmas party,

we ate breakfast,

made ornaments,

got a family picture by the tree,

and decorated sugar cookies.

It was a lot of fun and as you can see the cookies were Peyton's favorite part!

My Angel

Our Tree.

My Angel topper.

She used to have a head...before Peyton got to her.

You see, she's not just our tree topper.

She's out all year, every year, ever since I bought her at who knows where.

For some reason I can not remember for the life of me.

Which is frustrating since for some reason people always seem to ask where I got her.

I really hope I find her head someday.

p.s. our tree is no longer uniform thanks to Peyton as well.

Winter Dance Recital

Friday night Ellie and Brooklyn

had their dance recital.

They were the Mermaid dancers.

They did such a great job and looked so beautiful on stage!

Great job little sis!