December

Now that it is almost January I guess I should put up some pictures from December....it is a crazy month for us all. However I love crazy so it is my favorite month of the year!

Max and Cody in front of its a small world-I LOVE Disneyland around Christmas time. It is amazing how they can change the entire park for the Holidays. It really is so much fun-and me being the weepy eyed woman that I am frequently find myself having to sneak away tears that seem to start to leak from my eyes. Every time we go to Disneyland lately we realize how fortunate we are-and so we just have to take advantage of going there while we can!

Layla and I in front of small world. She is not the most fun person to take to Disneyland anymore-there is just too much to explore-it makes it hard for a little girl full of energy to hold still.

Yes this picture was taken in December believe it or not! There is a tree by our house that decided to drop all of its leaves in one day. It was amazing-I have never seen so many leaves. While Layla was taking a nap Max and I went out and built a huge leaf pile. He loved jumping into it-and when he told me to jump into it, it was alright...leaves are not as soft as I remember them being!

Max loves building things, and he is a perfectionist. He and Cody made this Ginger Bread house, and Max kept saying, "I don't think it is quite right." After comparing it to the box. I was just glad that Cody was the one making it with him and not me!

Santa was visited three different times. Layla wasn't a huge fan, but Max like him. Every time we saw him Max would always ask where the reindeer were. On our second visit to Santa I started to think we were overkilling it with the whole Santa thing, so I started talking to Max about how Christmas was really about Jesus' birthday-and that we needed to remember Jesus. Max suddenly got very concerned and goes, "Mom we need to visit Jesus then." So true and such wise words out of the mouth of my little boy!

We spent Christmas this year with my whole family. It was the first Christmas in about six years that we have all been together. It was a very full house but fun. We drove up and lucked out with weather and with fitting everything into our car! This is my cute little girl on the way up, who is a trooper...I was trying to get her pulling the funny face she kept making but this cute little face is good enough!

Max and Tanner after a BYU basketball game. They have matching Snow coats-and we walking back to the car holding hands. Sooo cute. Most of the time they are best buds, but every once in a while they need some alone time!

Christmas Eve....getting ready to open up pajamas. My brothers Daniel and Trevor had just made me cry with the little lesson they shared-and crying always leads to looking really attractive in pictures....

The best picture I could get of all the kiddos in their jammies-Max couldn't look up because he got dinosaur slippers that were apparently distracting him.

I took Max sledding to the pit in Marion, by my parents house. It is a HUGE hill and it was icy because it hadn't been too cold-which let to very bumpy sledding. He loved it though and after going down the hill a few times with me, decided that he could do it by himself. It was a little scary watching him go down and watching his little body dump all around but he didn't seem to mind. There doesn't seem to be any brain damage from it so we are all good. He LOVED sledding though, and he asks me almost every day when it is going to snow in California-poor boy.

My mom and I took my kids to Temple Square one night. Cody had to  go to Grand Junction for a couple of days for some business so it was a night with the kids. As soon as we got up to the top of the ramp Max walked right up and sat down right in front of it. It was so precious and of course it brought a tear to my eye. This little boy teaches me so much without even trying to! 

In front of the reflection pool with a nativity in the middle. Amazingly Max is smiling. He had fallen asleep on the ride down to Salt Lake and so he was a GRUMP the entire time we were there. I'm sure my mom loved being with us, but we got one good picture so it looks like I have angel children.

Dinosaur museum and Thanksgiving point with the Rowes. Max has become very obsessed with dinosaurs lately. He would tell you if he was with you that the dinosaur he is standing in front of is an ankylosaurus and it hits bad guys with its tail.

Benny and Max hanging out with the dinosaur.

The only picture I could get of Layla at the museum. The girl does not hold still, and the only reason she is holding still here is because she didn't like the feel of the sand under her feet.