December Beach Day

I don't think I will ever get sick of going to the beach.  It's a lot of work to get there, but once I'm sitting in the sand and looking at the ocean it makes it all worth it.  When we got back from freezing Utah we needed to thaw out and the weather has been amazing so we headed to the beach.

We decided to go to Santa Monica so we could walk around 3rd street too.

 No one was at the beach and it was amazing.

We went and walked the pier after and went on a Ferris wheel ride.  

I'm so thankful to have Ashlee as a friend.  It's hard to find true friendships that will last and she is one I know I will have forever.

Cole wearing Alex's sunglasses, hilarious.

We scored the other night when we went to Target and got the big cart.  Alex and Cole thought it was their lucky day, but they aren't the ones that had to push it.

2 days before we went to Florida Cole got the flu AGAIN.   He threw up all day long and I downed a airborne every few hours and I loaded both boys up with as much OJ as they would drink.  I was convinced one of us would get it, but thankfully no one did and we had an amazing Christmas vacation.

Santa Claus

While we were in Utah I had their pictures taken with Santa. Since there are so many people doing it they give you the option to dress up as Santa to speed up the process.  I agreed and took some pictures before their photo shoot.

They turned out so great, I love them!!

Me as Santa handing them a candy cane

We got to see reindeer after the pictures.  Utah thinks of everything for kids :)

Alex has a nervous habit of picking his lip all the time.   The funny thing is I used to do the exact same thing when I was little.  My mom laughed when she saw him doing it, dejavu.

For some reason I chose a Friday night to go eat dinner at City Creek and see the lights.  Every semi fast restaurant including the food court was packed and miserable so we practially ran through Temple Square to see the lights and then went to eat at Cafe Rio on the way home.

One of the most beautiful places in the world!!

Alex watching tv with Aunt Liz.

Who doesn't know about Swig cookies yet?  When something gets trendy in Utah people start going crazy and that exactly what happened with these cookies and dirty diet cokes (coconut syrup and diet coke).  There are a bunch of knock off places that are like Swig and thank heavens because I bought 3 of those amazing cookies and washed them down with a delicious dirty diet coke. Now I just need Pasadena to catch on to this trend.

I went to a movie with Lexi and Chad since Al hates movies.  We saw the book thief and enjoyed some popcorn with extra butter.  The true test is when you look at your fingers to see if they are still greasy :)

We went to my moms ward Christmas Party.  Alex wouldn't get off the stage and if you look closely you can see his little blonde head sticking out from behind the screen.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to get extensions while I was in Utah.  I decided I hated them and had my mom take them out the next day.  Cole hated them too :)

We got to the airport a little early so we walked down to the other terminals and ate at Cafe Rio, yum.  

Blake gave Alex some rainbow loom bracelets while we were there and he wouldn't take them off.  It was a fun trip, but boy is it nice to go home and sleep in your own bed.

Alex

Where do I start with this kid.  He is talking up a storm and repeats about everything I say.  He started preschool in September and loves going.  The first couple weeks I was a little worried, but he loves it now.  I love going to get him because he says hiiii mama and gives me a big hug and then says look what's in my cubby.   They do the cutest art projects and it's hard to narrow down which ones to keep :).  I potty trained him in August and it's been a long process with #2.  Well just recently November 25th to be exact something clicked and he pooped on the potty 6 times by himself.  It was always us watching him and asking him because he would go hide and poop his pants.  Everytime he went he would say mama I did it, I went poop in the potty.  I get a big chocchat which is how he says chocolate.  Well 6 chocolates is a lot for a little kid in 1 day especially since I don't want him to me a sugarholic like his Dad.  Hopefully we will be able to wean him soon.

He also just started sleeping in his own bed the entire night and he isn't wetting the bed either, hooray!! We went through some painful sleeping stages with him the last 6 months.  Starting in May he got a really bad ear infection and he would scream at night, kick the door, and sleep on the hard wood floors.  We fell asleep with him every night and at naps for almost 2 months.  We also ended up sleeping with him a lot because he would wake up in the middle of the night crying.  Then when we moved in July we left his door open and he started going to sleep on his own.  He turns his light off and sound machine on when he's ready.  Then for the last 3-4 months he would go to sleep in his bed, but would almost always come to our room around midnight and sleep with us until morning.  We used to fight it and put him back in his, but we realized that our sleep was more important and eventually he just stopped doing it.  So hopefully until we have another baby we can all get some sleep around here :)

Alex loves to play outside, jump on the trampoline, talk about all the cats our neighbor has and how they poop in the garden, he loves Mickey and Minne and Pete who is the bad guy on the show, his friend Saige, Disneyland, and Cole.  My favorite is when Alex will do something and Cole starts laughing at him, so so cute.  The other day at Costco I looked over at them in the cart and Alex was hugging Cole and giving him a kiss on his head. Two random ladies were like oooooooo that is soooo sweet.   I laughed and thought about how earlier he was dragging him by his arm across the floor. 

He makes holidays so much fun.   He is starting to get it and is still singing jingle bells.  Everyone recently tells us how Alex looks like Al and Cole looks like me.  People also love to comment on his blonde hair.  I guess it's rare to see a little boy with white hair in LA these days :)  We love Alex and his personality so much and glad he is ours.  

Pre Christmas Fun

Since we weren't spending Christmas in Utah this year I went a couple weeks before to spend time with our families.  It's always a little stressful when Al drops me off at the curb with the stroller, suitcases, and kids.

Alex and Cole did pretty good on the way there.  They both wanted to look out the window and I'm sure this is only the beginning of brother wars :)

The week before we got there it snowed a ton and looked so pretty.  Al kept telling Al before we left that it was going to be cold at Grandma's house so we would say brrrr it's cold at Grandmas.

Our first night there we went to dinner at Shanghai and then went to see the window displays at Grand America.

The main attraction was this huge gingerbread house.  It had a info chart by it that told how much gingerbread, candy, hours and days were spent making it.  Alex kept telling me he wanted to go in the house :)

So many cute window displays and they loved them all.

It makes me cold looking at this picture, but look how beautiful all that snow is.  I wanted to make a snowman with him, but it was the worst packing snow ever, so that is on next years to do list.

We met Niki and her kids at the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum.  

Alex's favorite cousin is Briyler which is funny because he is 2 years older than him.  My favorite conversation of the day was when Briyler said "Alex that was awesome" and Alex said "ummmmm YAAA."  

My favorite part was the last room which is basically a huge sandbox where the kids can dig for bones.  Briyler and Kajsen turned it into a sand fight so that's when we decided to go get lunch.  

We met Kylee and Tonya at a Trampoline park which was so much fun.  They had a special kid area with a bunch of trampolines and foam pits.  

Another great play date we had was with some girls I was in Kappa with.  Sophie had the kids decorate cookies which Alex loved, color, and decorate trees. 

December Fun

It's always a good time at the Dr with these 2.  Cole had to get his 1 year shots so I prepped Alex and told him Cole is going to get shots today.  He might cry, but we will tell him it's ok Cole, don't cry.   During one of the shots Alex watched the needle go into his arm and I thought he was going to cry, but all went well and we survived.

Al 4 was in Palm Springs for work so he drove to Pasadena to have dinner with us and hang out until the boys went to bed.  When Al was little his Dad used to work for Hasbro and they used to play the game Tuba Ruba.  They don't make it anymore so you have to find people on Amazon or eBay that are selling their originals from 1987.  Anyway we surprised Al 4 with an original Tuba Ruba and he showed Alex and I how to play.

Popcorn and a movie before bedtime with their Grandpa.

The next day we met Grandpa at Target in Glendale so Alex and Cole could pick out some Christmas presents.  I should have gotten a picture with their toys.  Alex picked out a Monsters Inc play house and we ordered Cole a mini piano off Amazon.

That night was our wards Relief Society Christmas Party.  Before the party small groups went to homes of sisters who are in homes or have a health issues and don't make it that often.  Our sister never answered the door so we sang a couple Christmas songs, took a picture, and left her a plant and card.

Our landlord own a cabin in Idlywild and this is the third time we schedule to go.  The first time something came up with Al's work, the second time I got the flu, so we had to make it this time. It's about a 2 hour drive from Pasadena in the middle of the mountains.

It was in the 30's which feels freezing to us.  They had a nice fireplace for the cabin, but that's all Cole wanted to touch the entire time so we had to build a wall around it.  

We went to dinner that night in town and then watched Fast and Furious in memory of Paul Walker.  I ended up sleeping with Cole which always makes me extra sleepy the next day.

That morning we went to Honey Bunns & Joe Bakery which was amazing.  Locals must not see kids that often because everyone stared wherever we went.  I can only imagine what it will be like when we have 4 kids.  It was snowing when we left so I posted a picture on Instagram that was titled "snowed in."  No one really got my joke, but I thought it was funny.

Sweet Cole passed out on the way home from not sleeping the night before.

That night Al and I went to The Nutcracker in Glendale.  I've only seen it in Utah so I was excited to see what would be different.  The costumes and dancing were amazing, but the music was on a CD and it kept skipping.  A orchestra makes it so much better!!

So many theaters and shows all over LA.  I want to see everything.

Alex and Cole playing on their new piano, Cole with no pants.  Now I just need to teach them and me how to play something on it.

Christmas 2013