Universal Studios

After a fun day at Disneyland we decided to go to Universal Studios.  We woke up in the morning and headed out the door.  After we were about a third of the way there I realized that I didn't have our prepaid park passes with us :)  So after a big U-turn we were back on the road with passed in hand.

You can't go to Hollywood without sporting some sweet shades.

There are a lot of characters roaming around the park.



The one and only Dora



Good ole Spongebob

Aren't we hot?  Doug put on a few pounds and I lost a couple :)

Jammin out while waiting for the Animal Show to begin

Ummm....

I love this picture, I think Doug really likes her :)

My cute ogres

We had a lot of fun at the park. There was hardly anybody there so we were able to walk on to every ride and see every show. 

Last year we were supposed to go to California and I was going to go visit one of my best friends Michelle.  I was pregnant with the twins and found out I had to go on bed rest the morning we were supposed to leave.  So the trip was cancelled and I was so bummed.  When we planned the trip this year I was determined to go visit her.  Lucky for us she works at a yummy restaurant so we went to visit her and got a great meal.  It was so good to see her and catch up!

One of the highlights of my trip!

California Trip: Disneyland I

We loaded up the minivan, buckled in all four kiddos and headed of to California.  The first day of the trip we drove to St. George and stayed at the Mackay's townhouse.  We woke up REALLY early so we could leave St. George to drive straight to Disneyland. 

 The first ride we went on was Buzz Light Year.

Waiting in line for Nemo.

The kids waiting to go The Matterhorn, which broke down right before we got to ride it :)

 Ashlyn's very Favorite ride was Winnie The Pooh, we went on it about 4 times :)

Yummy Treats!

I love Disneyland during Christmas!

I absolutely LOVE Jaxon's face in this picture, he is really trying to pull the Sword from the stone.

It's a Small World all decorated for Christmas.

Festival of Trees

One of my favorite traditions is going to the Festival of Trees every year.  It is so fun to see all of the creative ways people decorate the trees.  The kids wanted their picture taken in front of every single tree for about two aisles worth,  then they got bored of looking at the trees :)  

Jaxon in front of a monkey tree.

 Ash in front of the Barbie scene.

 This was my favorite, a bunch of trees decorated to look like waves with Santa surfing.

The highlight of the day was this SUPER cute bubble contraption.  The kids stand on a stool in the middle of a kiddie-pool filled with bubble solution.  Then they lower a hula hoop down into the bubble and pull it up, which engulfs their entire body in a bubble.  Ashlyn LOVED it, she almost used all of her tickets to do this twice, so fun! 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came and went so quick this year.  We had dinner at the Mackay's house with the family.  I really wanted to get a family photo with all of us but, everyone was always so busy I only snapped a couple random photos of the kids.

Once there was a snowman

A few days before Thanksgiving we had a big snowstorm that dropped a lot of heavy snow.  The kids were so excited to go play, they were begging me all morning to build a snowman with them.  Luckily for me, Papa was outside shoveling the driveway and was volunteered to build the snowman :)  Since this was the first big storm of the year I had to round up snow clothes for the kids, which is why Ashlyn is wearing boy clothes.  The kids had a blast and I think Papa did too.