A new year.. ..

The year started out busier than ever! I unfortuantely had to work on New Years Eve so that was a  little uneventful but since that day I swear we have been so busy. I have been trying to finish so many projects around the house, we have the new puppy Maggie that keeps us busy and Claire started dance along with her gymnastics. The same week that she started dance we signed her up for a little cheerleading clinic at Dixie High School where my sister-in-law is the new cheer coach.  Claire was so excited for it and I was pretty excited to watch her. We went every day for an hour for her to practice then she performed at the dixie girls basketball game. I was so nervous for her to go out there in front of everyone, but she did awesome and she had so much fun! I can't believe how big she is getting!

 I wish I could figure out how to load a video since I video taped her dance and it was so cute/funny!

Christmas Time

Christmas time has come and gone again... I love Christmas but sometimes it is so hectic. This year I tried really hard to just take a step back and try to remember what the season is all about. I tried to just enjoy the whole month because it always comes and goes so quickly and it is my favorite time of year.

I got all my shopping done early for all our family and for Claire so that I wouldn't be stressed. Trevor and I decided that we were not going to buy each other presents since we didn't need anything and wanted to buy a few things for the house. Well right when I thought I was done, Claire found out that she could write Santa Clause and tell him what she wanted for Christmas and the 2 things she wanted was a barbie house and a puppy.... ummm two things that Santa was not bringing so far....
I just let it go thinking she would forget but nope, everytime someone asked her she said a barbie house and a puppy. Since Claire is so spoiled (i will admit it) and even thought that is not what Christmas is about, I didn't want her to wake up with neither of those things! Soooo I caved and bought her a barbie house. Ok that was plenty....right? I guess I was wrong when Trevor called me and told me he wanted to come home with a puppy! As he was leaving Sportmas Warehouse he saw these weimaraner puppies and just couldn't leave without one. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it but I was determined to keep it a secret until Christmas, which was 3 days away and yes in the same house!

Well needless to say it was a long 3 days and sleepless nights and even though I was tempted, I didn't return the barbie house.

our tree before the madness



santas cookies and reindeer food (apples and lettuce)

 



checking out her stocking



opening up her barbie house

and finally bringing out the puppy

Claire giving daddy and puppy a checkup with her new dr kit

giving her new arial barbie a hug

our new whole entire family

 

The whole day was so much fun and we got to spend the whole day with our families. Claire loved her barbie house and her new puppy which she wanted to name Ella Bella until we all agreed on Maggie.

DISNEYLAND again...

So the weekend after Claire's birthday I had a day off of work. I was so excited to have a Saturday off and just relax. Well as soon as I told Trevor I had a day off he got the idea that we should go out of town but he didnt know where. I casually said I want to go to Disneyland and he said ok! It will be a little surprise for Claire since she just had a birthday! I was so excited Disneyland is my favorite place and it's also fun to be spontaneous sometimes!

After we decided to go we realized that some of our friends and Trevor's boss was also going to be down there with his family. We were planning on going to DL on Saturday but when we heard they were going on Friday we decided to leave a day earlier and go on Friday with them. We left on Thursday morning, spent Friday at Disneyland, shopped our hearts out on Saturday, then spent Sunday morning at the beach! I would say it was a perfect itinerary.

 

Our first stop was a hug from Mickey Mouse of course! I was nervous about going to Disneyland and California Adventrues all in one day but it worked out perfect. We spent the morning in CA and the afternoon in DL and surprisingly we had plenty of time to do everything we wanted.

 

I was so excited that Cars Land was open! When we were there in the summer it was still not open. It was so cute and so much fun. I have also never been to Disneyland when it has been decorated for Christmas and I think I could make it a yearly vacation! It was so cute the way it was decorated, they go all out! Everything is transformed into some sort of Christmas theme.

 

Since Claire couldn't go on all the rides the first time we went I made a little purchase just in case. I bought her 2 inch high heeled boots. I am pretty sure all the DL workers thought I was crazy when they wanted to measure Claire and she just clicked right up there in her high heels and she happened to be the most perfect height. I was so glad she had them though because she LOVES going on rides. The faster the better!

 

Claire went on every ride we wanted to go on and never once got scared. Her favortie ride was the Big Thunder Mountain. I think we went on it 4 or 5 times and everytime she had her hands up in the air. She also went on Splash Mountain. I was kind of nervous because I even get scared on splash mountain. I kept warning her, "there is a little scary part that goes really fast and then it is over and it is fun but it is a little scary." well after the ride was over she asked "mommy when is the scary part." She didn't even scream or anything! We almost took her on Space Mountain, which I was a little worried about, but it broke down while we were in line and we didn't want to wait (maybe it was a sign!)

One of my favorite things was that the whole haunted mansion was decorated like the Nightmare Before Christmas and it was so cute!

 

I was so happy that we got to go with some of our friends and their kids. All of their kids are so cute and so nice to Claire and treat her like their own little sister. It made the whole day so much more enjoyable then just being stuck in line bored to death! The other kids played games with Claire and did her make up and ate treats and walked around with her and held her hand and Claire loved every second of it.

 

Claire loves the beach, even after the last beach trip fiasco with her falling in the water face first. Sunday was such a perfect day just running around on the beach and chasing the birds.

 

 

CLAIRE TURNS 3!

Claire's birthday is my favorite holiday of the year! I always know I am going to get a little stressed out planning it but I just feel like birthdays are so special. It is your only day that is all yours. Even though I know Claire probably won't remember these birthdays,  I still want her to have the best time ever, even if its only for that day, I was so happy we had so much family in town for her party. We decided to do a girly superhero party since there were going to be so many girls and boys there. I thought it turned out cute and was so much fun. Unfortunately, the weather did not want to cooperate and of course it was freezing cold when we rented a bounce house. The kids may have all left with colds but I think they still had fun.

When the kids walked in there was a table with their superhero gear for each one of them. it included a cape, mask, arm bands and a belt and every kid was a different superhero.
Once everyone was dressed we headed downstairs for their photo-op. We had a background and lots of fun superhero props. It was hard to fit all the kids in one pic but we got a few good pictures.

After the kids could not handle one more picture we all headed upstairs to eat. We had hero hoagies and lots of other yummy food!

When the kids couldn't handle being stuck inside anymore we let them go out and freeze their booties off in the bounce house. 

Even grandma joined in on the action!

Once everyone was numb from the cold, they all came inside to open presents. Claire got so many fun presents that she was so excited for!

Then it was back outside to break the pinata. This was one of my favorite things. I loved the superhero girl pinata and I have loved pinatas since I was a little kid and who doesn't love candy!

With too much candy to even carry, we headed back inside to blow out the candles and eat some treats! (it was a lot of in and out of the house!)

There were kryptonite rock candies, ring POPs, POP rocks and jars that looked like buildings with candy inside of them.

We also had cupcakes, batman and lighting bolt cookies and red velvet cake bites.... needless to say we had a lot of treats and a lot of fun! I am so sad that it is all over but can't wait to start planning next years!

FAMILY PICS

I am so excited that we finally got pictures taken on my side of the family. We have not had professional pictures done in a long time and since everyone was going to be in town for once we could finally get them taken! We got some of everyone and I think they all turned out so cute!