Christmas Calendar

Last year we started the tradition of the "Christmas Calendar". What this means is, each morning Jake and Coco get to look at our "Christmas Calendar" to see what we have planned fun for the day.

So far this is what we've done...

-Christmas Family Home Evening

-McDonalds

-Ice Cream

-Walk to Bethlahem

Here we are waiting in line for the Walk to Bethlahem.

Jake and Coco excited to begin the walk.

As we were visiting Joseph, the Shephards, the Wiseman and the scary Roman Soldiers, Court kept asking when she was going to see Baby Jesus. Of course Baby Jesus was at the very end but it was definitely worth the wait. When Courtney saw Mary holding Baby Jesus she walked right up to her with her arms held straight out and asked Mary if she could hold Baby Jesus. I can't even describe in words how special it was to see my little girls' faith and love that she has for baby Jesus, in her eyes she didn't see a plastic doll she saw Baby Jesus and her little eyes were filled with so much excitement and happiness, it was truly a moment I hope I'll never forget.

-Made Oreo Cookies & went to Sophi's Blessing (quick fun story; Scott's older Brother Dave recently had a new baby girl whom they named Devery. About 6 weeks later we found out that they changed her name to Sophia. Long story short.. they ended up feeling like their little girl wasn't a Devery so with lots of talking and prayer they came to the decission to change her name. So they went through the whole process of changing her name and now we have a beautiful niece named Sophia).

-Ogden Lights

(This is Jake crying when Grand dad accidentaly broke his Candy Cane- poor guy)

-Willard Bay Lights

-Bought new Ornaments for Jake and Court's Christmas Trees

-Ward Party

-Grandma's Birthday Party

-Went shopping for Jake and Court to get each other gifts

-Watched the movie Elf

-State Farm Party - saw the play "Scrooge"

-Made Christmas Cookies

-Delivered Neighbor Gifts

-Made Ginger Bread Houses at Jake's school

Here are my two cute kids with their yummy master pieces.

-Saw the movie 'Mega Mind'

-Jake & Courtney had a sleepover at Nana's house where they slept under the Christmas Tree

-Played at the Park

Crazy to think that this picture was taken in the middle of December.

-Caroling Party

Here we are at my parent's annual Caroling Party. One of my favorite Christmas traditions!!

-And today we delivered Secret Santa

As you can see we don't do anything too crazy or too expensive it just helps us appreciate every day in December especially as it goes by so fast. I'm sure a lot of you are like me and love the month of December almost more than Christmas Day. So, although at times it was a little stressful trying to figure out what to do or we felt too tired to want to do something, in the end it's been a fabulous month and so far a fabulous Christmas Season.

And thankfully we still have a few more days to enjoy! YAY!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Scary Santa

Last week we went and saw the lights at Willard Bay. Santa Clause was there and of course the kids were really excited to see him. We took lots of pictures but it wasn't until I got home and looked at the pictures that I realized this was the creepiest Santa I've ever seen. Check it out for yourself and make sure

to look at his eyes... creepy!!!

I call this picture;

'Does not like kids Santa'

This is 'Crazy Eyes Santa' or as Scott put it

'Stay Away From My Kid Santa'

'Holding my kid too tight Santa'

'Don't want to know what you're thinking Santa'

And the final one is;

'I like Justin Head Santa'

Do you not agree with me? Serioulsy creepy, eh. Instead of looking like a happy, jolly Santa, he looks like a serial killer!

Ok, with all kidding aside, Jake and Court were so cute with Santa. Court was too scared to sit on his lap but not too scared to tell him all 15 toys she wants for Christmas, she went on and on, it was hilarious. Jake also chose not to sit on Santas lap and now after seeing the pictures, I'm very glad he didn't.

After Santa we went on the sleigh ride and enjoyed seeing the lights up close. The lights were of course amazing. Courtney's favorite was Tinker Bell and Jake's favorite was the Reindeer jumping and falling.

Waiting for the Sleigh Ride

On the Sleigh Ride

Merry Christmas!!!

My new adventure

My new adventure... A few months ago, my sister in-law started selling really cute Pettiskirts and gorgeous hand made hats. She asked me to help her with the finances (I love working with money). I helped her set up pay pal, helped record the money etc.. I've also lent her Courtney a few times to model the pettiskirts. Because I've had so much fun helping my sister in-law, she's asked me to join her - be her business partner. I no longer have my Young Women calling (see later post) which has freed up a lot of my time so I feel like it's a good time right now to try something new in my life. Plus, I'm an easy partner to bring in because the name of her company is Cole Couture. How perfect is that, eh!

Just a small side note: This little adventure is only a hobby for us. My sister in-law's ultimate goal when she started, was to find away for herself and other Moms to be able to afford these skirts. As long as we make enough money to put in a new order, we're good. It's really just for fun and if by chance we make a little money than that would be a fun bonus (but highly unlikely. lol) !!!

Right now we're having a Christmas Sale on the Pettiskirts. The Pettiskirts are regularly $20.00 but right now they are $15.00. Below is what we have in stock right now, if anyone's interetested in a skirt please go ahead and e-mail me at colecoutureboutique@yahoo.com or if you have my phone number feel free to call or text me.

This gorgeous Black and White Pettiskirt is available in size Small & Medium

Size Small fits: infant to 3 year olds

Size Large fits: age 5 to 8

The Cream is my favorite. We have it available in Medium & Large

Size Medium fits: ages 3-5
Size Large fits: ages 5-8

The Red and Black is available in Small & Medium

Small fits: infant to age 3
Medium fits: age 3 to age 5

*Courtney is 3 years old and she can wear every size, it just depends if you want the skirt to be high and fluffly (like a tutu) or to hang low at the knees or below the knees.

Wish me luck on my new adventure!!

Thanksgiving

I can't believe it's the middle of December and I'm posting Thanksgiving. Crazy how fast the time goes!!!

Anyway, here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving. I've come to conclusion that Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. I love spending the entire day with family; playing games, visiting, and of course eating delicious food. And who doesn't love the four day weekend!!!!!!!!

This year we were at the Cole's. It was crowded and noisy but we ate delicious food and had a ton of fun!! In the evening we went to my Mom's house for Turkey Buns. We're quite spoiled that our parents live two minutes apart from each other.

Courtney with her cousin Jane. I love this picture!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Disneyland Vacation

We had the best Disneyland Vacation ever!!!!!! And I mean the BEST!!! We went with Scott's brother Tommy & wife Amber, their son's Tyler (4) and Jude (8 months). We dropped Courtney off in St. George to stay with her Grandma & Grandpa (people gave us a hard time about not taking our 3 year old to Disneyland but I've always said that I wouldn't take my kids to Disneyland until they could remember it).

Here we are saying good bye to Courtney. She spent 4 nights with her Grandparents and had a blast. She went walking with them each day, ate at restaurants, played at the park and went swimming. Thanks Margaret & Larry!!

Amber (my sister in-law) works at Get Away Today and as one of her perks she gets Free Vacation Stuff which she graciously shared with us. She's such a sweet heart. Thanks again Amber!!

This is what she hooked us up with...

- Free 4 night Hotel stay at Homewood Suites

- Free Universal tickets

&

- Free Medieval Times tickets

(we almost got the Disneyland tickets for Free but right at the last minute it fell through.. but no worries... wait until you hear the rest of the story...)

The Drive

I had to take a picture of this, we stopped at a gas station at an Indian Reservation. When the boys walked into the bathroom they started laughing. No joke, this beautiful waterfall is the Mens Urinal. Have you ever seen anything like it??? Seriously hilarious!!!

Arriving in Anaheim

The first thing Jake wanted to do when we arrived in Anaheim was swim. The entire time we were there the weather was in the low 70's, warm in the day but we definitely needed a coat in the early mornings and evenings. It was a little chilly swimming but thankfully the hotel had a hot tub.

Down Town Disney

The first night we were there we went to Down Town Disney. Jake had brought his own money and had a blast buying himself toys.

Hotel Room

When Jake entered our Hotel Room he saw the big closet and asked if he could sleep in it. We started laughing but when we realized he wasn't joking we thought "why not"? So here is Jake sleeping in the closet.

And here is Tyler sleeping in the other closet (he also loved the idea). Too funny!

Our Crazy Story

Okay, so this is where our vacation started getting really exciting. The next morning we were eating breakfast at our hotel and happened to run into our next door neighbors. We were shocked, not only being in Disneyland at the same time but staying at the same hotel. Crazy! Our neighbors happened to be there on a work retreat, they told us about how their company gives them a coupon book full of Disney dollar vouchers to spend on food at the park. They were leaving that day and gave us what they hadn't used, which happened to be around $300.00. We were shocked BUT even more shocked when they came back with all of their co-workers left over money. We ended up with $940.00 to spend on food at Disneyland.

$940.00!!!!

The money vouchers were good for food only, you couldn't use them at the gift shops but we weren't complaining. The question now was, how do you spend $940.00 in two days? Easy, you go to Goofy's Breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel ($162). You get a churro every hour on the hour, you buy cookies, cupcakes, muffins, cotton candy, chinese food, clam chowder etc... You eat at the Blue Bayou Restaurant (located in the Pirates of the Caribean Ride) and order Lobster and Filet Mignon, making your total bill come to $240 and you leave a $60 tip. When you notice a couple sitting near by that seems a little annoyed with our kids, you give them $30 on the way out. I can't tell you how much fun we had with this money and how much stress this relieved from our vacation. Not having to worry about where to eat, what to eat and money was a dream vacation. Thank you so much Travis, Makel & Sarah!!

Sadly their is a limit to how much a person can eat and we were unable to spend all of our Free money. But, I have to tell you we gave it a worthy try as we ended up with around $200.00 left over. Not too shabby eh! We decided to pass on the fun and gave the left over money to two families we found at the park and our hotel.

Disneyland

Tommy, Amber, Tyler & Jude

Here are the two boys waiting in line. We were in Disneyland at the most perfect time. Most of our lines we only had to wait 5 to 10 minutes. The longest line was around 20 or 25 min.

Jake on the left is standing in front of Santa's Reindeer. Disneyland was completely decorated for Christmas. It definitely put us in the Christmas spirit.

Goofy's Breakfast

Goofy's character breakfast is at the Disneyland Hotel. It's where you get to eat breakfast with Goofy and his friends. Jakes wasn't too excited about seeing all the Disney Character's, he was more excited when he saw the breakfast buffet and then got more excited when we told him he could eat what ever he wanted. Not only was there Mickey Mouse waffles, pancakes and all the regular breakfast food but it also had pizza, chicken nuggets, ice cream, macaroni & cheese etc.. Basically all the food that kids love. So fun!!

Univeral Studios

Jake was more excited to see Shrek and Sponge Bob than any other character in Disneyland.

Medieval Times

Jake & Tyler loved Medieval Times. I have to say it was one of my favorite things we did. The boys were so enthralled with the fighting as it looked so real. Sadly our Knight was the first to die, you can see on the left that Tyler took it really hard. Lots of tears. Poor little guy. We were served Chicken & Ribs, Jake was excited when he found out we had to eat everything with our fingers. Such a blast!!

Riding The Shuttle Bus To Disneyland

2nd Day in Disneyland

Jake's favorite rides were Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn, Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. His least favorite was It's A Small World.

It's a Small World was all decked out in Christmas.

Eating one of our many yummy meals.

I loved the Castle with all of it's Christmas lights!!! Gorgeous!!

Check out the huge Christmas Tree.

They made it snow after the Christmas Parade and Fire works. It was awesome!!

Jake loved everything about Disneyland and the entire trip. He had a blast!! But I have to tell you that it made me tear up when I asked him what his favorite thing about our trip was and he said "the rides and Mom and Dad". I have to agree with him, Scott & I had so much fun spending time with Jake without Courtney around (she tends to demand a lot of our attention) and we loved spoiling him, if any kid deserves to be spoiled it's our little Jake. Jake is the kind of kid that when you get him McDonalds and rent a movie he will tell us that he's having the greatest day of his life. So to take him to the "Happiest Place On Earth" was truly magical.

Jake packed up and ready to go home!

Here we are reunited with our little princess!!!