Christmas eve we had the McGuire gang over to our house to celebrate Christmas. I got to spend some time with my newest little niece, Chloe, who I hadn't seen since she was born. I can't believe how fast she is growing...getting more beautiful each day. Uncle David hanging out with Josh. I know he secretly loves his nieces and nephew even if he is not a big fan of kids ;-)

I love this picure because I actually have all three kids looking at me at the same time.

I had to take this picture of Matthew and David because they were sporting the Christmas colors with their bold tee shirts and the didn't even plan it.

This year we spent halloween up at Silent Valley. It was so much fun, everyone sits outside their rv's and fifth wheels and hands out candy to all of the kiddies. There were so many people, so many costumes and so much candy!

Joshy didn't quite make it to through the day, actually he fell asleep after hitting up the 10th trailer or so. Poor little guy even fell asleep with a lolly pop in his mouth.

My adorable niece Kaitlyn was dressed up as a lily fairy or something like that. Everyone thought she was so cute...we couldn't walk by a single person without someone mentioning how cute she looked ;-)

Grandma Nancy got to spend the day with two of her favorite people in this world.

Our Vacation in Washington

For our family vacation we all flew up to Washington to visit my mom and dad. We had such a great time. This was Kayley and Kyle's first time on an airplane and they were hesitant to fly with an uspoken fear of the plane crashing (thanks to a movie they watched a couple of weeks prior to our trip). Thankfully we had a safe trip there and back with some lasting memories. Some vacations leave you more tired than before but this was definitely a relaxing trip for all of us. Every morning Josh decided to wake up around 6 or 7am (usually 8am at home) so I would hand him off to Grandma and Grandpa who were more than willing to spend some time with him, and climb back into bed for some cuddle time with my hubby. We never get to do this, thanks mom and dad! The rest of us would eventually roll out of bed and get ready for the day only to find a nice breakfast waiting for us on the table. I think we all gained about 5 pounds after this trip. My mom made the most amazing meals and there was so much to eat. It was really nice to have a break from cooking.
During our week we visited the local zoo, spent a day in Seattle where we went to Pike's Market and took a tour of the city on these things called Ducks that can go on land and water, collected sand dollars and sea shells near the Tacoma Narrow bridge, Mike and the kids toured a war ship with my dad while my mom and I went to yard sales ;-) And RELAXED!! Sorry dad for pushing your patience to the max while we took forever to go anywhere and do anything but we sure had a blast. Here are some pictures from the week, sorry they are out of order...

Kyle and Josh staring out the window waiting to board our plane -

Grandma teaching Joshua about crabs -


Mike enjoying the sights -

The kids bonding in the back of the van ;-)

My mom bought Kyle this sword from Pikes Market, but after our trek through the city we ended up losing it :-(

Joshua hanging out with Grandpa. We all took turns holding him because we forgot the stroller at home while we were in Seattle.


Our day at the zoo -

Waiting to board our plane at LAX -

Yesterday we went with our next door neighbors to Newport Beach and had a super fun day! The weather was nice and cool at first, then the sun came through the clouds and warmed us up. This was Josh's first time seeing the ocean and he absolutely loved it. I didn't think he would want to get in the water because it was freezing, but we walked in and out about a hundred times. Then he had a blast playing in the sand and attempting to eat it. Kayley got to hang out with Dominique and Kyle got to play with Morgan. It's neat because they are the same ages and get along pretty good. Once Josh fell asleep I got to sit and relax with Ruby. However I forgot to put sunblock on and I ended up with some crazy burn spots on my body. At least the kids were covered! I think we will make a few more trips to the beach this summer.