Happy New Year! 2011

We had a great New Years Eve with family. Here's some from our wild party:


Baylee and cousin Abby had a lot of fun dressing up as Disney princesses while they waited for the partying to start.


I finished my 2010 cupcake challenge! I made cupcakes at least once a month using no recipes for the whole year. For New Years Eve I made gingerbread cupcakes. They were a little crumbly, so I crumbled them all up and layered them with I think a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. My brain can't remember exactly what it was.


Payton had fun hanging around the yummy food buffet.


Ryan taught Baylee and Abby how to play chess?


We had a fun game of Apples To Apples going for a while.


We hung out with each other, played more games, talked, felt bad for Anna being bombarded by Bayle wanting to play lots of things with her.


Payton soaked his shirt so we put on his pj shirt, and then he had fun with mommy.


Ben's dad tried to get a picture of our family. Our kids weren't too cooperative. Ben must have partied a little too hard by the looks of his hair, and everyone else must have too since they all left early.
Since all her other play buddies were gone, Baylee decided to play beauty shop with daddy to fix his hair.

To pass more time, Payton and Baylee took turns wrestling with daddy.

Then they double teamed him.

Baylee had some fun modeling some princess wands while waiting for it to finally hit midnight.

Hooray! Midnight finally came! Baylee was so excited for to blow the party horns. Isn't it so fun that Ben's grandma was there to celebrate with us? She tried to skip out and fly home early, but I think the party convinced her to stay.

One last time before bed. Hope everyone had a great New Years and are enjoying 2011 (now that it's 1/4 done).

Our Mellow Chirstmas

We had a pretty mellow Christmas. We had planned to go to Arizona, but it ended not working out, so we stayed here instead. We spent our Christmas Eve looking for last minute Christmas pjs for the kids, then had some yummy homemade Costa Vida for dinner. That night we made Santa some sugar cookies:

Baylee struck many poses for the camera, this was one of many.

Payton snuck some cookie dough while I had my back turned.

While Ben was helping the kids decorate sugar cookies, he went over the Christmas story. It was cute to hear Baylee's thoughts and versions of how the story happened. She told us a stable is where you can live and that it has fresh hay and animals. She also told us that the angel told the wise men "You're Invited!" And finally, she told us that Jesus saved the world with his magic. It was fun to hear her interpretations.

We made sure to leave cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer (we were lucky there was one in the fridge). We always make sure to leave Santa a note to tell him thank you and that we know the real reason for Christmas.

Then it was time for the kids to go to bed.

The next morning, Baylee was so happy to see that Santa had come to visit us.

Payton was so excited to see all the presents too.

Baylee was also excited to see that Santa had eaten our cookies and milk, and had left her and Payton a letter.

Baylee was so excited Santa brought her a Jessie doll!

Payton had a lot of fun with the nerf guns we had gotten Ben.

Payton loved this present, but it now mostly gets used by the kids as a stool.

Ben was so nice to make us crepes for breakfast!

I tried to get a cute Christmas picture of the kids in front of the tree, but it eventually ended up with them laying under it.

Baylee was happy to pose in front of the tree, though.

Payton had snuck off to play with toys.

Ben's brother, Ryan, and his wife, Anna, were so nice to have us over Christmas night. We had a great dinner and had a lot of fun watching the kids play a dance game on the Wii.

Even Ryan got into it. Thanks for the entertainment and for having us over guys!

We had a good Christmas, even if it was a mellow one.

And just one last picture- Payton loved getting in this Christmas box and thinking nobody could really see him.

Christmas Time Activities

Let's finally get to the Christmas season now that it was about 4 months ago. We did a few things to try to get into the Christmas spirit this year:

Baylee and Payton got to see Santa! Even if it was before Thanksgiving. A little odd. We walked around downtown Pleasanton to enjoy some Christmasy festivities they had going on. It didn't seem as like much as it was supposed to be, probably because of rain. The kids had fun though, and outside under a tarp was Santa. Baylee was excited to get to sit on his lap, even if Payton wouldn't have anything to do with it. It was pretty chilly, so I don't blame him. Santa was probably the highlight of the night.

Baylee loved decorating sugar cookies. We got a few kits from Trader Joe's that she had a lot of fun with.

Baylee was also so excited to go her Aunt Anna's to decorate sugar cookies with them! They were tastier than the ones we made, and a bit messier because Baylee was able to pile on frosting in more colors and there were more sprinkles to choose from. One of these days I'll start making homemade sugar cookies and frosting. One of these days.

We went to a Christmas party at church. Baylee was excited to wear her Christmas tutu. We enjoyed a nice dinner and musical Chirstmas program. The kids had fun running around.

We had a family Christmas dinner with Ben's parents and his older brother's family before Ben's parents left for Utah to spend Christmas:

Baylee and Owen playing by all the presents under the tree.

Payton absolutely loves his cousin Owen, and had fun watching people open presents with him.

Baylee and Payton opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Hall.

Baylee was so excited to get a set of seven Disney Princess barbies. I think Payton was a little jealous. This present tripled the barbies in our toy collection (and the rest are in storage).

Payton actually being calm with Grandpa and showing off his "cheese" face. He was happy to be playing with Grandma's iphone.

Baylee has been wanting this Barbie vet kit for forever. She was so excited that Grandma and Grandpa got it for her. She didn't have to worry about Santa or the Easter Bunny forgetting it again. Ben's parents really spoiled her this year. I think Ben's mom had forgotten how much she had gotten her.

We took a trip to the Oakland LDS temple to see the lights. The temple was beautiful with all the Christmas lights and nativities.

I love this picture of Ben showing Baylee the view of the city from the temple. In the visitor's center they had an exhibit I've been wanting to see called Reflections of Christ (I missed it when we were in AZ), but it was so crowded that we didn't get to see it. Everyone was trying to warm up from the cold weather I guess. One of these days.

We enjoyed the Christmasy activities that we got to do this year. I'm sure we did a couple more things, but mostly we had a hard time re-learning what cold really is after 2 1/2 years of heat. Next year we shouldn't freeze as much!

Hawaiian Luau

Last one from Hawaii, I promise. While we were in Maui, I really wanted my kids to experience a luau. I thought Baylee, especially, would love it. We went to timeshare presentations, so the luau only ended up costing us about $20 total, I think. Ben and I lucked out and didn't even have to sit through ours because they ran out of people to give us our presentation. This one might not be too exciting, but there were a lot of pictures from the luau that I liked. So, basically, this is just pictures from it.

Waiting outside the luau, waiting for it to begin.

I'm not a big meat fan, but for some reason I just love kalua pork. I was so excited for it. Here's them unearthing the pig, which is kinda gross and kinda neat at the same time.

Most if us (minus Andre, and Laura who I think was taking the picture, and Ben's parents who didn't come).

Ben hates this picture, but I love it.

Baylee posing with her drinks- she was in drink heaven.

A cute one of Payton enjoying his milk.

I can't remember what was going on in this picture, but Andre made sure to keep Payton in line during the luau, and also from crying.

Ben bought Baylee and me leis.

Jenny, Maddy, Andre, and Payton enjoying the yummy food.

The only dancing we got pictures of that you can actually see are ones of the kids up on the stage learning how to hula. It was the cutest thing ever. I have videos for whoever feels the need to watch.

Hawaii, how we miss you!