Family

I love my sisters. I remember when we were younger and Sarah and I didn't really like each other all the time. Mom always said we'd grow up and love each other and appreciate each other. Mamas are always right.

This just makes me laugh. Everybody doing something different. I spend more time being awkward in front of the camera. This is why I hate having my picture taken. Engagement and wedding pictures?!?!? Anybody want take bets on how many panic attacks will be had prior to these pictures?

I like this one :)

Matt, you crack me up with your faces! Hey Hannah, how about a smile? Eli without glasses...

Woohoo, Landon! Hannah smile! Eli, up here and with glasses. And Matt, oh Matt...hehehehe...

Santa Race 2009

Every year my family gets together a day or two before Christmas to have the Santa Race. This really just consists of of us running around downtown looking like crazy people who are having a great time. My mom and aunt really enjoy coming up with new ways to make us look insane. This year they decided to add cameras to capture said craziness. The other members of my team were my sister-in-law, Brittanny, and my cousin, Brad. Here they are in a scene from The Nutcracker. Well, our version of The Nutcracker.

This is an ant's view of our group.

This is Brad playing an instrument.

And here we are spelling out CAT.

Neither of them got to participate in the madness. Cody had to work and missed the race, but did join us the Gingerbread house making event. Santa Landon, well, pushing a stroller would just slow us down. No group wanted that. It's all about winning baby! Unless you are unfortunate enough to be put on my team. We have done this for 4 years. Guess who has lost every year? Yep, I rock at races!

Christmas Program

O man...the last few weeks have been super busy and we've had lots of stuff going on. Eli had his Christmas Program at school. Because he is the only boy that goes 5 days a week in his class, he got to play Joseph. This was a huge deal. He was so excited for a week before his program. Everybody comes dressed in their Sunday best. They did their circle activities, sang some songs, and then did their production of the birth of baby Jesus.

Polar Bear Express

Cody and I were given tickets to the Colts/Broncos game on Sunday. We had asked my mom if she would watch the kids for us during the game. She jumped at the opportunity. She wanted to take her grandbabies on the Polar Bear Express train ride. I don't know how she hears about this stuff, probably because she's a teacher and has access to this fun stuff. Her request to me was that the kids have matching jammies. We came up with a matching theme. Aren't they cute? They had so much fun. They sang Jingle Bells to get Santa and Mrs. Claus to come with them on an actual train ride, sat on Santa's lap, they got hot cocoa and cookies, a polar bear stuffie, and listened to The Polar Express story. I need to get the Santa picture with the three of them, cause it's pretty cute.

Pictures with Santa

We had success!! After 5 years of waiting for him to come on board with sitting on Santa's lap, he was brave enough this year! The last picture I have of them together was when he was 6 months old. Every year since then he bolts and turns white as a sheet when it comes time to actually sit on his lap and tell Santa what he wants

We went to the Indiana State Museum. When I was looking at how much pictures cost at the mall, this seemed like a better option. Your admission covers seeing Santa (and you can take your own pictures), riding the little train, and seeing the museum. Mrs. Claus was with her husband and volunteered to take our picture. After we saw Santa we spent about 3 hours wondering around the museum. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning in December.

Deck the Halls...

I love this time of year. Seriously, one of my favorite times of the year. They only thing that might top it would be when we have an anniversary and all the kids birthdays within 2 weeks. That might also be my favorite time of year. The good thing is they will be about 6 months apart. Right now though, I love Christmas. I love watching the kids get excited about putting their ornaments on the tree. Each year, everyone gets a new one and they have a blast waiting until one of theirs get unwrapped. They are very quick to inform one another that one of theirs has been unwrapped. I was looking at the tree over the weekend and I noticed that Hannah had clustered all of her's together. I should take a picture of that, it was pretty cute. I also can't remember who's stocking is who's. *gasp* I know, as mama I should know this. But every year I say I'm going to write names on the inside and every year I forget and pack them away...unlabeled. They have a discussion at least once a day about who's is who's and I again say "this year I will label them." hmmpf...right, like I'll remember to do that. On Saturday we put lights up around the house and in a couple of trees. Kelly, I took a picture last night for you and it sucked big time. But they are super pretty. Hannah said it looks like a different house.

Whale Watching

Whale watching tours are a blast! The dolphins had lots of fun playing in the waves off the front of the boat. There had to have been 100 in this school. And the babies were adorable jumping right next to their mommas. Totally worth getting soaked to see them.



This is what we were really after. Humpback whales. There is a huge dip on the bottom of the ocean that creates just the right atmosphere with water temp, and food sources to bring the whales here every year on their way south to their breeding grounds. Taking pictures of whales was not in the cards for us. Two reasons...those suckers just surface whenever and wherever they want (not easy to take a picture when you have no idea where they will be!), and the camera didn't like the rain and waves. Go figure, the camera got wet and quit working. So, good luck finding the whale in the only picture we got of them, but I promise there is a smidgen of a humpback whale up there.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

After we left the Aquarium, we drove on Highway 1 towards Big Sur and the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. The park is famous for the waterfall into the ocean. We got there in just the nick of time. Watching the fog come in from the ocean was really cool to see.

See the fog starting to roll in?

A little more...

And a little more...

And now it's getting really thick.

There was a lookout down a little ways on the trail, but the fog got so thick you could really only see what was right in front of you. Can you imagine being on the water and that rolling in? Talk about scary.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Since we weren't at home this year, Thanksgiving day was a non-traditional year. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This place was awesome! As someone who wanted to be a dolphin trainer (really any marine animal trainer) or a marine biologist, I'm in complete awe of the ocean and all it's creatures and the complexity of it all. But living in Indiana and having to move that far and paying that much for college to achieve either of those goals just wasn't in the cards. The Aquarium is located on Cannery Row. It was a sardine factory at one time. When you walk in the door, there are a few of the boilers that used to help run the sardine cannery. There are 550 different species of creatures that can be found in the ocean. Outside of the Aquarium you can see seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales at various times of the year. Super cool place to visit.

Big Basin and it's Redwoods

On our way down to Monterey, we drove through Big Basin and looked at the Redwood trees. Pictures don't do these trees justice. They are massive and strong and beautiful trees. Some of the trees have survived fires that literally burn a hole in the trunk, but they keep growing...like the one below.


A lot of times the tree splits. They share the same base and root system, but have two trunks. New trees can grow from a fallen trees old roots. New trees can grow after another tree has been cut or fallen. It will start right in the middle of the trunk.