flagstaff with g&g

I’m really not on the ball as far as blogging goes. But, I did want to go back and share a little bit of our trip to Flagstaff from the end of the summer.

Grandma and Grandpa Yancey treated the kids and their mommies to a few days in Flagstaff. Gabriel got to stay behind to hang with his daddy.

Some highlights include:

• Riding the ski lift up to the amazing views – the girls wanting to ride lopsided with Grandpa – the boys insisting they needed to be on their own
  
• Walking the pitch dark lava tubes armed with headlamps and flashlights
• Weather that actually allowed for outdoor activities
• The girls following their Grandpa around everywhere – Paige especially hung on every word, enjoying his stories and explanations
• 
• Lunching in the forest
• Touring Riordan Mansion – the kids actually enjoyed this and the girls were pleased when they could come up with questions to ask the tour guide
• Lowell Observatory – even though that one night there were clouds that prevented us from looking through the huge telescope – the clouds parted enough to see the moon and Jupiter and it’s moons through a smaller telescope – also learning that flash photography is frowned upon at the observatory (duh!)
• Walking the 240 steps of the Walnut Canyon National Monument – the kids finishing up their Jr. Rangers packet
• Shopping in downtown Flagstaff – lots of neat stores, a “haunted” hotel, hippies and incense
• Sitting lakeside during a on again/off again rainstorm – the lone fisherman who parked his chair lake side only to be swarmed by inquisitive, unreserved children

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for treating us to so many great memories!

christmas eve

Began with our annual family photo with the Cederstrom and Yancey families. Last minute, slightly dark, but we had unheard of cooperation by everyone. Yeah!

We ate our traditional Mexican feast. Delicioso! as usual. The younger kids played endlessly in the backyard raking and playing in the leaves. As also per tradition, we exchanged and opened gifts. It was wonderful chaos, full of anticipation. Our group is growing in numbers and in noise levels, but I love when we all get together. Each of the kids has a playmate or two (or three) and always look forward to Grandma and Grandpa's. An added treat this year, was to have Great-Grandma Cederstrom with us as well.

**********************************************************

Once we called it a night at the Yancey's, we headed to my grandma's house to open jammies with her and my mom. Their pajama bottoms were craftily hand-made my their mother (that would be me). My very first sewing project. With the exception of Taylor's being about an inch too short (stop growing already!), they were quite darling (if I do say so myself).

They loved being there to show their Nana and Grandma and got to open gifts from Grandma, too.

The kids were anxious to get to sleep so Santa could come. Out went the cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer (which Gabriel found on the back porch and devoured Christmas morning - mmmm).

happy father's day

Happy Father's Day! I asked my kids to come up with some things they love about their dad and this is what they came up with:

Taylor: Dad is fun, smart, hard-working. I really liked the time I got to go camping with you and the boy scouts in Bulldog Canyon.

Paige: Daddy is strong, smart, fun, silly and wonderful! My best memory is when we went bowling with Daddy at his work. (We met him at a casino in the city where he was working.)

Gabriel: I love it when he sings to me. I love it when Daddy takes me places with him - especially the store, where I get a cookie. [okay, he didn't say that exactly, but I know that's what he's thinking]

Thanks for being a wonderful Daddy to our children.
~~~~~~

A big shout out goes to my dad on this special day. When I was really little, I used to like to help Dad out in the yard. Sometimes, when I'm on a walk and I see those same flowers or plants, I remember those times, out in the yard, asking if I could work with my shirt off, too. :) Hope you're having a great time on vacation!

~~~~~

I so appreciate the influence of fathers. Todd's dad, Craig, passed away shortly after we had celebrated our 1st anniversary. I didn't get to know him well, but I know how much Todd looks up to him. I see the example he was as a father through my dear hubby. Todd recalls his dad often coming home from work and seeking out each of his children to greet them and ask them about their day. He always felt loved by his dad.

~~~~

I can't leave out Todd's step-father, Don. I get to claim seniority as far as marrying into the family goes, but to our children, he is Grandpa, and they love him. During our Sunday dinners he always has a grandchild hanging on his arm or eating off his plate, and he's okay with that. As a jack of all trades, he's always willing to help any one of us on a project - no matter how long it takes to complete.

one of the best christmases ever

Hurray! Christmas is here!

We spent Christmas Eve at the Yancey's. Nearly the whole family was in attendance (minus 2 of Don's boys). The cousins played outside to their hearts content until it was time for dinner. Each year Debbie labors over home-made tamales and we feast on Mexican food. As usual it was delicious. This year I was quite sick (I can't ignore it anymore), so I didn't have the regret of over indulging on it all. Then we gathered around together and opened presents. Each year we have one family we're responsible for buying gifts for and we open them while we're all together. The gifts both given and recieved seemed to be a big hit.

Afterwards we came home and hurriedly bathed so the kids could have the traditional opening of the pj's on Christmas Eve. This is a tradition that has carried over from when I was little, and I believe my mother did as a child as well. I love to see them all in their new comfy jammies in the morning. It was Taylor's request this year to get jammies that weren't so 'juvenille'. He says that these qualify. Then Paige fell asleep as Todd read the Christmas story from the bible.

Todd and I helped Santa put the finishing touches on gifts and went right to bed.

Christmas morning Paige and Taylor were in our room at precisely 6:30 - the pre-determined time that mommy and daddy would oblige their request to get started. We let them open gifts one at a time so we could enjoy one anothers excitement and to keep it from being a big blur. This is the first year that Gabriel recognized Santa and enjoyed opening gifts, and it was a treat to watch his excitement. When they were asked how their morning had been Taylor uncharactaristically exclaimed, "This is one of the best Christmases ever!" Paige reports that she is happy with all that she got, but didn't get the electric moped she'd asked Santa for.

Paige was also concerned with whether or not Santa was left the cookies she made the day before since she fell asleep before she could put them out herself. We assured her we did and showed her the plate where one half eaten cookie and a whole cookie remained along with an empty glass of milk. After a few minutes had lapsed, Paige looked again at the plate and exclaimed that the half eaten cookie was now gone. Who ate it? Daddy's guilty expression gave it away immediately. I was puzzled as to her concern for a half-eaten cookie until she said "Daddy, that's gross that you would eat Santa's leftover cookie!"

We didn't have our annual pancake breakfast since Dad went and left the country for a vacation, but we made our own fabulous waffle & strawberries breakfast with homemade buttermilk syrup and cinnamon rolls. It's enough to rot a few teeth. Sommer & Steve and their family and Mara and her family live nearby so they joined us and the kids had a chance to excitedly talk about their new presents. We all enjoyed a relaxed breakfast next to our roaring fire courtesy of channel 9.

We planned to go hiking, but much to Todd's relief, I still wasn't up for it. So, the kids played outside, giving their new toys a ride. Paige is still trying to adapt to Heely's and a scooter and Taylor, being an old pro, is giving her lessons. Gabriel is anxious to take his new tricycle out for a spin, so we'll eventually take a walk around the neighborhood.

We had all of my sisters and their families, my mom, Todd's mom & Don, my grandparents and the Hoopes family all over for Christmas dinner. If I do say so, myself, I think it went pretty well. The paparazzi was out in full force, with about 6 cameras going at any given time. Gabriel loved having everyone over and as each person left he gave them giant hugs and wouldn't let go. I think that he must have been trying to go home with some of them.

After the final goodbye, our family, alone again, snuggled together on the couch and talked about our favorite parts of the day. Gabriel took in a deep breath and fell asleep in less than a minute. Paige says her favorite gift was fingernail polish (I could have saved a lot of money), Taylor couldn't narrow it down to just one, and Todd enjoyed the food (huge surprise). Taylor was stunned when I told him that right then, when we were all snuggling as a family was my favorite part of the whole day.

Happy Holidays!

turkey day

Our Thanksgiving Day was full of all sorts of fun.

It started off early. I'm sort of a wanna-be runner. So for the past 4 years on Thanksgiving morning, I participate in the Turkey Trot 10K. Super. Fun. This year I hadn't been running long distances too much prior to the run which is usually preferable. Usually my motivation during the run is watching the much older or heavier folks kicking my butt and thinking "If they can finish, so can I." My sister-in-law Sommer joined me this year and we had no delusions of being the winner - our only goal was to finish and jog the whole way. Around mile 2.5 my old woman knee started acting up and I had to do some walking and sent Sommer on ahead.

Todd was a good sport and came out with the family in tow to take some pictures.

Here we are before the race. Full of all sorts of energy.

This is after about 2.5 miles. A little less enthusiastic. I mostly wanted to jog back to the car.

Here's Sommer at the finish line. Hooray!


I swear, I'm right behind her by about 1.5 minutes. Wouldn't you know that the camera would run out of battery as I finish? Seriously. I am delighted though that I finished. I'm one sore gal today.

******************************************

Thanksgiving dinner was at the Yancey home again this year. There was more than enough food to fill our bellies and then some.

Grandma and Grandpa live on an acre and have the perfect backyard for all the grand kids to have fun in - and they all love to be there with their cousins. They made it especially fun for the kids to be entertained that day: there was a

bounce house, badminton set, zip line, swing set, water bottle rockets, paintball gun, trampoline and lots of room to run. They even have a giant desert turtle just roaming around the yard (and 3 baby turtles, too).

We had our yearly photo op with the family and the kids were surprisingly cooperative. Then we just spent the afternoon relaxing and nibbling on pies. We all went home tired and happy.

Rocky Point

Our family just returned from 5 days in Rocky Point, Mexico. We went with Todd's entire family, minus one sibling who just added another cousin to the family. In all, there were 21 of us. Grandma & Grandpa Yancey rented a huge house right on the beach for us to stay in and we had a great time.

Day one on the beach Taylor was the first to become victim to a stingray. But he was brave and strong, and after a bit of a rest got right back into the water. His cousin Austin was victim #2 the next day and was just as brave. I decided not to tempt fate, and stayed out of the water for the most part.

Taylor had 3 boy cousins right around his age. Josh & Michael are 12 and Austin is 10. Paige has 2 girl cousins around her age. Amber is 8 and Ashtyn is 7. Sometimes 3 is a tough crowd to balance, particularly when all three are attention-craving girls, but they did pretty well and tried to be mindful of each other. How fun is it, though, to have so many friends built right into your family?

The weather was perfect, the beach couldn't have been better and Todd got to have all the shrimp he wanted.

One night, we attempted to have a family photo taken at sunset. Paige decided that she didn't want to cooperate, or in her words "wasn't in the mood", and Todd left his designated picture shirt hanging on his door at home, so this is the picture we're left with. It's not exactly what I envisioned, but good enough.

Some other highlights to our trip:

-Gabriel laying on the sand in the ocean, just where the waves end, sticking his tongue into the salty ocean.

-Building a huge sand castle just before high tide came in. The 4 older boys stayed and tried to defend their castle from the incoming waves by building trenches all around.

-Sunsets!

-lazy days on the beach

-lots of boogie boarding

-NO DRAMA

-The little girls declaring that they felt like they were famous, because they were living in such a fabulous house.

-Paige being buried to her neck in sand

-All of us mommies riding the "whale" with the kids

-Gabriel and almost 2 year old Megan discovering that they could be friends

Now, we are home and I get to do really fun stuff like laundry!!