Breakfast with Santa

Our ward had a breakfast with Santa for the primary kids Saturday morning followed by the ward Christmas party Saturday night. James informed me that the Santa at church was a fake Santa, and the real Santa was at Disneyland.

When Daddy's Away, Mommy and the kids Play

Doug had to go to San Diego for two days, so last night I took the boys to the Discovery Cube Museum in Orange County. They had a special event with entertainment, snacks, cookie decorating, ornament making and we even got to make our own cookie mix to take home and bake gingerbread cookies. They had several gingerbread houses on display that were part of their contest. It inspired me to make a gingerbread house with the boys. I'll add that to my list of things to do.

Spencer climbing the rock wall.




James on the rock wall. Check out that smile! He had a tooth pulled last week because the dentist was afraid it was damaged and might affect his permanent tooth.




Spencer decorating a cookie, although you can't see the cookie because of all the frosting. Yuck!





The kids got to decorate Christmas tree ornaments.














Spencer lying on a bed of nails.

Long Beach's Christmas Parade

Saturday night was Long Beach's Christmas parade, and it was our first time ever going to see it. It was a typical parade with lots of high schools, fire trucks and a few great floats. For my friends and family back home, imagine the 24th of July Parade in Ogden and substitute every horse for a dog dressed in a Santa suit. I don't get this city's obsession with dogs.

Cirque du Soleil

For my early Christmas present, Doug and I went to see "Corteo" by Cirque du Soleil in Costa Mesa at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Friday night. It was the first time we had been to any Cirque shows and we loved it. It was very magical and highly entertaining.

Joy to the Small World

If you think you love Disneyland, but have never been here at Christmastime, well, you really haven't seen Disneyland. It is my favorite time to visit. I love that in a world where people are calling them "Holiday" Trees, Disneyland doesn't try to hide that it is Christmas. They openly celebrate Christmas and don't just say "Season's Greetings." I think that is one reason I love it so much.

Not typically my favorite ride, I love Small World at Christmas.

This picture really does not do justice to what the castle looks like. New this year, the decorations truly are amazing.

They can't get too close to Santa. They have this thing about sitting on his lap. I don't blame them.

The Christmas Parade. This wasn't the best part of the parade, it was just the best picture to actually turn out.

Santa in the Christmas Parade. Disneyland has the best Santa.

Wild Turkey Day

So, I looked at my boys whose picky palates prefer only pizza, corn dogs or chicken nuggets, and wondered why I would go to all the work of a big Thanksgiving dinner when they wouldn't eat it anyway. We decided to do a very non-traditional Thanksgiving and we went to San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park with our friends the Johnsons. It was a great day! The park wasn't that crowded and it wasn't too hot. We ate our "ghetto" Thanksgiving dinner at Hoff's Hut. I didn't even get up at 5:00 am to go shopping on Black Friday. Very non-traditional, but we loved it!

True Jungle Boys

James on our Journey to Africa Tour

Spencer vs. the Gorilla

Flamingos may be cute, but they sure stunk!

James and Spencer at the Petting Zoo in the park.

Broadway, Here We Come

If you think road shows are a thing of the past then you aren't in the Long Beach East Stake. Each ward put on a melodrama from an assigned decade last Saturday night. Hopefully, you can tell from the picture that we had the 1920's. Our road show was called "Can't Pay the Rent" about a school of dance that can't pay the rent and the hero pays the rent. Sounds very simple, but I must admit we had the best road show. Lots of fun and dancing and of course we had to throw in the flashlight dance. Both Doug and I were in it and I'm the one on the very far right of the picture in the red dress.

The Ellen Show Must Go On

Striking writers could not stop us from sitting in the audience of the Ellen Show and dancing until we thought we'd pass out. (The second picture is of the people striking, but it's a little hard to tell). Some women from my ward had a great day out thanks to our husbands who had the kids all day. I got to sit in the audience of two shows thanks to Kendall who was potentially going to be in the second show with her story of donating hair to Locks of Love. The guests were Tom Brokaw and Joey Fatone, and it was a great time, although it would have been better if we were there for an audience give away. Better luck next time.

Our Week with the Donnellys

We just spent a fun week with the Donnelly crew when they came for their annual trip to Disneyland. We got to take in a few new sites with them and spent a lot more time in LA traffic. Thanks for a fun week!
Parker, James, Spencer, Reese, Keely and Blakelee at the Getty Museum.
Spencer "Picaso" Field creating a masterpiece.
James "Monet" Field in the sketching room of the Getty Museum.
Grahman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood with their hands in the actors of Harry Potter.

The homeboys James, Parker and Spencer waiting to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.

Trick or Treat

I took the boys trick or treating to a street with lots of businesses that give out candy. You get the biggest bang for your buck doing this because I just push them from shop to shop (conscious or unconscious). I don't have to hear them whine that they can't walk any more, and the businesses are so close together that you really get a good haul. My favorite thing about yesterday was getting candy from a store called "The Rubbertree: an exotic, romantic experience." I didn't love the store, but I loved that sitting outside passing out candy was a little old grandma and grandpa. So Long Beach.



I feel like we have had non-stop trick or treating and parties for the entire month of October starting with the Mickey's Halloween Treat at Disneyland on Oct. 5th. Since then, I really can't tell you if my kids have had anything but candy to eat. I guess one good thing about all the candy is I know they can always feed themselves and there's plenty to eat! I'm glad all the candy days are done, though. The day before Halloween, James had a trick or treat parade at his preschool.