Christmas Nativity!

Last night was our annual Christmas Dinner at my Grandma's house. The nativity was kind of crazy this year! Charles was the narrator and did a fantastic job! Maryn was a golden glowing angel because her mom procrastinated the costume-making this year. She really loved the idea, though, and was very proud of her costume. Little Kaydence was a beautiful angel with stage fright, so she wasn't in the actual performance. And, we were short on actors, so there were no shepherds. Gaven the wise man refused to give the gift to the baby Jesus, so Joseph (Colby) tried to muscle it away, which I found hilarious! Little Beckah was the beautiful Mary and was so sweet! All-in-all, it was very memorable!

Charles' Christmas Program!!

Yesterday was Charles' Christmas Program at school! He did an awesome job and really sang every song! It was so much fun to watch. Glenn missed it this year because of work, but we've been blessed that he's been able to come the last two years.

Later that night, the kids and I decorated the cookies that my grandma brought over and had an awesome movie night! We watched "Elf" and popped popcorn and finished decorating the tree.

Two funny things happened this week:

Maryn loves singing all of the Christmas songs on the radio and has decided that every time "Feliz Navidad" comes on, she sings "feliz naughty dog" just to crack herself up!

And, Charles took two small stockings off of the tree and hung them up for the guinea pigs next to ours, because he said that they've been good girls this year. So now, Santa has to have gifts for two guinea pigs!

California Adventure with Maryn!!

Today I had a great day with Maryn! Since we never made it to Disneyland last night or last Tuesday, I had to take her today. We went while Charles was in school. We got there at 9:30am and California Adventure was just opening their gates. We immediately went to Soaring Over California, then got peppermint hot cocoa at the bakery, and still made it to the first showing of Playhouse Disney!

The best part of the day, for me, was Maryn's first time going on Tower of Terror!!! Woo-Hoo! It scared her a little but she still liked it and said she wants to go again next time! I am so excited to have someone to go on that with me!! Charles refuses to go on that with me and Glenn hates it.

After that, we went on Monster's, Inc. (Maryn calls it Monster's Stink) and watched the Muppets 3-D show. Then we split a sourdough bread bowl with broccoli and cheese soup in it and went home.

On the way out, I noticed the signs posted advertising monthly payments for the annual passes. You put $60 down and then make payments starting at $5.45 to $24.95 a month, depending on which pass you buy. I thought that was kind of cool. I don't know if they charge interest though. I just thought I'd pass that on for anyone who might be interested.

Our Knott's Date!!

Today Glenn took me to Knott's Berry Farm for a date! Every year at this time, Glenn's work gets in free! So, thankfully, the Winston's babysat for us so that we could go out alone.

We got there and I was a little disappointed that it closed at 6pm tonight. But when we got in, it was empty! The rides didn't even have lines! Glenn dragged me on the log ride and I dragged him on all of the roller coasters! Our favorite was the Silver Bullet and we both hated Boomerang because it totally messes with your neck and back. I really wanted to take Glenn on the Xcelerator, but it was closed. Lucky for him! He was feeling sick to his stomach after the first ride.

I am thankful that I have a husband who is willing to indulge me in my craving for fast rides. It really has to be one of the things that I enjoy most in this world. If I was a guy, I'd totally be a Nascar driver. I'm really serious! One of my ultimate fantasies would be to rent- okay, if it's really a fantasy, I'd buy- a Corvette and take it out to a deserted, flat highway and just drive it as fast as it could go!

After Knott's we were driving home and passed this diner, Portillo's. We decided to stop and give it a try. It was so awesome! I think that we've found a new favorite. It was so nice inside and decorated like an old-school diner. You order your food at the counter and seat yourself, but the best part is the menu! They have all of our favorites! You can order burgers, hot dogs, sausages, sandwiches, onion rings, malts, made-to-order chopped salads, tamales, and so much more! We both ate for $12. We had an Italian sausage sandwich, onion rings, a large malt, and a tamale with chili and cheese. We will be going back because all the food was so good!

Today was a fantastic day!

Thanksgiving 2008!

This year we were lucky to have Glenn off for 3 days! We decided to go to my mom's house for Thanksgiving. We left on Wednesday after school. The normal 3 hour drive, took us 6 1/2 hours! I wanted to die!

(Jesse, Chad, and Chris)

When we got there, we were glad to be able to spend time with my step-brothers that I hardly knew and their families. One of the twins wasn't there, but I got to see Chris and Jesse. Charles got to know his cousins, Wesley and Alex. They played video games for hours and hours!
(Charles and Alex)

(Grandpa Smith and Grandma Nelda)

Of course we also got to spend a lot of time with my mom and Chad's dog, Emmy. She's gigantic! She's 80 lbs. and still a puppy! My mom made her a special holiday dress to wear on Thanksgiving. They think she's a human.


Dinner was so great and the visit was relaxed and pleasant. My mom did a great job with the cooking. The turkey was beautiful. She even made homemade apple pies! They were huge! She put 8 apples in each pie. She also made aprons for all of the women and Maryn.

(My SIL Amiee, Slade, and Me)

My mom convinced me to go to Black Friday. I have been against this idea from the start because I HATE getting up early and I really don't care for shopping. But the time with my mom was worth it. I had so much fun with the "girls"! Brenda (Chris' girlfriend), and Jeannie (Jesse's wife) went and so it ended up being a great opportunity to get to know them. They were both so much fun to be around! I am so glad that I got to know them! We went to 4 stores and I was so good. I didn't even buy a lot!

(Brenda and Chris)

(Jesse and Jeannie)

When we got home from the stores, we immediately packed up the car and made our way home. We had promised the kids we'd take them to Santa Claus Lane in Carpenteria, but when we got there, it was gone!! No candy shop, no bakery, no toy store, no ornament shop, nothing!! They have made it a surf town. We were so disappointed to say the least. I've been going there since I was a child.


Since we missed all of that, Glenn and I madly tried to make other plans. We ended up taking the kids to a beach in Ventura. It was so beautiful! The best part was playing Freeze Tag as a family. I enjoyed this so much and will remember it always! Running on the beach in my UGG's was so tiring! We were in this hilly area with little dunes and so it was fun trying to run around and catch each other. What a wonderful trip we had!

(Maryn Enjoying the Appetizers!)