Our Thanksgiving

We were thrilled when our good friends Brady and Mandy came back into town from California to visit Brady's family for Thanksgiving!

It has been years since we have seen them, and before they moved we were with them almost every weekend! So when they were here for a week, we were taken straight back to those years of pregnancy, newborns, and just lots and lots of really fun times with the Spencers! We still miss them, even almost five years later.

We took the kids swimming one night, and Mandy and I snuck away for some shopping with Brady's awesome Mom, Lois Jean.  Then it was off to Portillos for dinner!

The kids had so much fun with each other! The whole way home from swimming, they kept asking how many days until Thanksgiving so they could go to Alec and Ella's Grandma's for dinner.

The Spencer family was so gracious to welcome us for Thanksgiving! They had a really yummy meal, and were even nice enough to have a present wrapped for Walker to open on his Birthday!

It was so much fun to catch up with everyone, and let the kids play and play.

As I tucked Will into bed that night he told me, "Mom, that was a nice Thanksiving."
I told him I agreed.
I told Mandy I was not going to be able to let her go back home to California.

Hopefully in a few years,  we can travel together, and live next door to each other! Ha!


My camera is pretty much falling apart. I struggle to get even a decent picture these days. I have worn it right into the ground! So please excuse the pretty darn crappy quality of the pictures of Mandy's incredibly cute kid's table for Thanksgiving. Bad camera and bad photographer.

She has a gift for those details!
Me and Mandy

Uncle Jack
What a character. He he!

Walker loved his cupcake

Alec and Will in the photo booth at the swim park.

My kids made some really cute crafts for Thanksgiving this year! Here is a whole gaggle of turkeys made out of pine cones.

I also had a birthday over the Thanksgiving weekend. My family was so nice and gave me all kind of jewelry! Wally made a "precious" stone necklace for me out of ribbon, rocks, and tape. Del "bought" me a necklace. Okay, I bought it and told him to look at what he gave me.

It was soooo good to see our friends! Hopefully it is not quit so long between visits next time!

Walker Turns Three!

Our littlest guy turned three on Thanksgiving.

We celebrated at home before we went to a friend's house for dinner, and then a little bit more after we ate our turkey.

We love this boy. He is a stubborn thing if there ever was one. He is very observant. He has always been that way.
Walker had a big year! He started pre school, moved into a big boy bed, potty trained himself. I am not kidding! And went to Disneyland for the first time!

Up until the week before his birthday he loved to tell people that he was "two and a half." Amazingly, most people understood him!

His proud big brothers and sister!

Me and my baby boy.

Walker got to make a birthday crown at school. I turned around to set my phone down after taking this, and..

He had already ripped the crown off, torn a bunch of things off of it, and stuck it back on his head a little worse for wear. A true three year old!

Walker with all of his Birthday loot! Including his box of cereal. Our Birthday tradition.

I uploaded the video we took of all of us singing to Walker, and his presents. You can thank Del for accidentally keeping his finger over the speaker and sparing you most of our singing! It does get loud suddenly, just a warning!

Part 1

Part 2

We love you Walker! It was only fitting that we celebrate our littlest turkey on turkey day! We are thankful for you, and for another healthy year!

Disneyland

We just got back from a week long vacation in California. We met my Mom, Dad, sisters, and their families for a trip to Disneyland.

We flew out a day early to have some family pictures taken on the beach, and met my family at the hotel. Our kids were SO excited to see Grandma and Grandpa! Oh, and Mickey.

After we landed in California, we headed to the beach. We did not last long. It was cold, and as soon as Georgia got out of the water, it was apparent that she had a case of pink eye.
Dr. Jared Tyson to the rescue!
We gave Jared a call for some drops. I was anxious about it because we had our photos in the morning, and it was pretty obvious that she had an issue.
Luckily the drops helped clear things up within hours. Family pictures always stress me out! I think every year that the NEXT year I won't feel the pressure, but I always do.

We were excited to get our pictures taken at Huntington Beach though.

Mac and Walker. Cousins.
Lauren co-ordinated all of us so that we would all be wearing turquoise the first day, and Disney character shirts the second day! Don't we look so cool?
It was great, except that we all kept trying to gather up children wandering by who happened to be wearing turquoise! Ha!
It did get a little intense a couple of times when some of our children decided that they knew their way around Disneyland without parental supervision. We had a couple of moments of sheer panic as we split up to search for the wanderer. We did leave California with all of our kids, not to worry!

Georgia and Woody. I don't know how these characters can stand it. It was almost 100 degrees the first day! It dropped to 60 by the last day. We had to pack for all seasons!

The kids and Jessie.

And Jessie, and Jessie. She was a good sport.

The always long line, at Dumbo.

The Nielsen Fam.

Here we are before our first ride on the Tower of Terror.

And here we are ON the Tower of Terror. Super fuzzy, but can you believe all of these little kids went on it? Okay, maybe SOME of them got off crying. But most went back for more after the first time!

Mom and Wally on the bumper cars.

Toy Story line.

Planning their day at Disney while we waited for the park to open. Maps out and everything.

Georgia, Alice and the Mad Hatter. Georgia chose to spend the money Grandma and Grandpa gave her on an autograph book. She was SO thrilled about getting signatures. I was not expecting her to be so into it. Alice and the Mad Hatter were really nice to her. They went on quit a walk together.

Then the Queen of Hearts came along. She was also very attentive! She gave Georgia's cheeks a real solid pinch! Then she finished it off with a pat on the head! Georgia was taken by surprise at all that!

Mac and Tigger.

Walker and Mac with Pooh.

More characters. Georgia and Walker with Pluto.

Wally bought a gun with his money from Grandma and Grandpa. Surprised? No.
He love the swings ride.

But it took Will a little more time to get his groove on it. Ha! He actually really did like it. That is why Del is laughing.

Baby Patrick falls asleep nice for Grandpa.

The Haymonds

Us. We kind of look like participants in a jail break with all of our stripes!

The Sweets

Mom and Dad (sorry we missed Lauren and Christopher. They had already headed home.)

In the Matterhorn line.  (or mountain-horn according to the kids.) Anther favorite with the kiddos.

We were supposed to fly home at 5:30 at night on the way back, but we had about six hours to kill before take off after our family dropped us at the airport on their way out of town. We asked to be bumped to an earlier flight. Amazingly, it all went smooth at can be, and we pretty much walked from check in, to the plane, and got home before we would have even left L.A. on our booked flight! I have not had such an easy airport experience in a while! Awesome!

It was so much fun to see family all week. We are really blessed to have such amazing people to love, and who support us! And as much as we hate the moments of kids screaming, or refusing to sleep, or fighting while we travel. It is worth it because of the memories we make. And we are blessed to be able to go away. Family is what matters!