We have finally arrived at Disneyworld

This morning we got up super early 4:30AM to be exact, woke the kids up and headed off to the airport. Unfortunately our flight was not direct so we made two stops, but didn't have to get off the plane, but it still made for a long long day. For being on an airplane from 7:00-5:30 the kids did amazing. They did not make one fuss and entertained themselves for the most part. Everyone was very complimentary on how well behaved our kids were, made us feel good. The flight attendants were awesome with them and pretty much accomodated to their every need. We took a few fun pics of them on the airplane.

Once we landed the kids were excited to be able to move their legs and run a bit around the airport while we were waiting on our luggage. We then headed to the hotel and to get some dinner. Being New Year's Eve everyplace had at least an hour wait time, and since we traveled all day that is the last thing we wanted to do was sit and wait for food. So Cameron felt like having pizza, and luckily there was a Pizza Hut close by. We stuffed our faces and then headed back to the hotel to plan our day for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will head off to the World of Magical Dreams, where dreams do come true....

Happy New Year

Our little princess has the sniffles

Morgan is nearly 18 months old and has never been sick, not even a mild cold or a fever. And this morning she woke up with watery eyes and a stuffy nose. She finally has a reason to play with the tissues, she is very good at blowing her nose for someone who has never had a cold. She seemed to be in good spirits all day and it doesn't seem to be slowing her down a bit. She played outside on her tricycle and spent the day dumping toys out as I picked them up, one of her favorite things to do.

I hope she has a quick recovery before we leave for our trip on Wednesday and that Cameron doesn't come down with it next.

What a wonderful Christmas

On Christmas morning I was the first to wake up, and then I heard Cameron getting ready to come down the stairs, so I turned on the video camera so I could catch every moment on video. As he is walking down the stairs it is still pretty dark out and the tree is all lit up he says "mom, he came, Santa really came last night" , "I can't believe he really came". The look on his face was priceless, the excitement in his eyes. Santa hid several presents in the tree and he quickly found them and then ran up stairs to tell Dad that Santa had come. I went upstairs because Morgan just woke up, I brought her down to the tree and to her amazing eyes she got a tricycle, and the grin on her face was so big, she has the cutest little "oh" face. She ran right over to it and sat right on her new toy and did not get off for sometime.

We have a tradition where Grandma and Grandpa come over on Christmas morning and open up presents with us, Cameron was so patient waiting for them, but once they got there the unwrapping frenzy began. Under every wrapping seemed to be such a surprise for the kids. Morgan lost interest very fast in the present opening and only cared to be on her tricycle. Cameron tore into all of his presents and couldn't believe all the things he got. I am pretty sure we own every Star Wars toy on the market, including the very large Millenium Falcon which was his big present this year...

The fun continued of unwrapping all the presents. The big family gift this year was a Wii and everyone got a game to play, of course Cameron's was Star Wars Legoland. Even mom and dad had fun unwrapping their presents

After all the fun was over the kids started playing with their toys and Grandma and Grandpa had to rush home and get dinner started. Later in the afternoon we went over to my sisters and had dinner and the kids opened even more presents. Cameron got a pretty cool present from Uncle Sean and Ezekiel, it is a Star Wars Storm Trooper helmet that changes your voice

Morgan received a cute little wooden carriage with little wooden people.

We soon made it home and the boys hit the Wii and Cameron is sporting his new Batman PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa.

Here are some more fun photos we took that morning. Enjoy and I hope everyone had a merry merry christmas

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve....

This year we did things a little different then we normally do. In the past we go to church, have my sister and her family over for dinner and cook a brisket and lots of yummy foods and then we exchange gifts with them. My sister and I have had a hard time getting in the Christmas mood and all the preparations that go along with being in the mood this year. My sister had stayed up all night backing cookies for our work, they made the "Seven Paths of the ANASAZI Way" cookies which took them a very long time. So when we decided on what to do for Christmas Eve we both decided to go our separate ways. Since we weren't having them over I did not feel the need to cook a big meal, oh yea, did I mention I also have strep throat!!

For Christmas eve this year, I finished up some very last minute shopping, we went to Church and then went to Taco Bell for dinner, yep I said Taco Bell on Christmas Eve, nothing says merry Christmas like tacos :) then we came home and made cookies for Santa and his reindeer. We read "The night before Christmas" and hung the magic key outside, since we don't have a chimney for Santa to come down, and then off to bed the kids went.

Rich and I stayed up and started preparing for Santa's arrival. We hadn't wrapped any presents until tonight so after 2 hours of wrapping we were all done. We put everything under the tree and made sure it was all perfect. Rich then set the video camera up for tomorrow morning so he can catch Cameron's reaction coming down the stairs.

Lights at the Temple

Last thursday night Rich had an appoointment so I took the kids to the Temple to see the Christmas lights. This was the first time we actually got out and walked around. It was beautiful, all the lights and the different scenes all set up. There was a choir singing christmas carols. Morgan loved looking at the lights and Cameron had fun running around.

It was very cold but the kids didn't seem to mind and neither did I. Morgan didn't really care for her hat or the blanket so they soon were off shortly after we arrived.

Cameron's Christmas Program

Cameron had his Christmas program at school a few weeks back. They sang 5 christmas songs and did some dancing. The little girl behind him is Madylin, also Cameron's girlfriend. He was very excited that they got to stand next to each other during the performance.

Below is a short video of one of the songs.

BRRRRR....its COLD!!!!

I know I won't receive much sympathy from everyone but it is absolutly freezing here!!! I think this is the coldest day we have had this year. It has been rainy and dreary all day, with a high of 54. It is suppose to rain pretty much all week and stay cold. It is nice to have wintery weather but once your blood thins out you just can't seem to get warm. I guess it could be worse, it could be snowing, or I could be on the trail. So I will suck it up and get my warm PJ's on with my fuzzy socks. Stay warm!!

Where do babies come from?

The other night Cameron and I were laying in our bed and he was reading me his stories and he asked me "mommy how does God put a baby in your belly?" Needless to say I was shocked with this question since it just came out of the blue. I really wasn't sure how to answer the question, a little unprepared. So I told him that when a mommy and daddy love each other very much they become very close and he said "like hug" and I said yes. Then he proceeded to ask me if I had a baby in my belly and I said no and asked him why he thought I had a baby in my belly, and he responded because you and daddy hug a lot.
I can't believe he is that age where the questions are going to start coming, I guess I better start figuring how I am going to answer these questions on life. The fun has begun...

Morgan's first sleep over

On Friday night while Rich and I attended the ANASAZI Foundation Gala the kids went to Grandma and Grandpa's for the night. This was Morgan's first time away from home and she did great. Cameron was good as well, and loves going over to play with Grandpa. I don't think Grandpa appreciates getting up at 6:30am to play but he still loves it. As Cameron and grandpa play Morgan follows in grandmas footsteps helping her out.

Thank you so much Jim and Gaby for watching the kids and letting us have a nice evening out. Too bad we couldn't enjoy the moment and sleep in on Saturday.

What a weekend

We had a super super busy but fun weekend. ANASAZI Foundation celebrated their 20 years in business with a big Gala weekend. On Friday night we had our scholarship dinner. The dinner was an amazing event and it was great getting to see everyone from the past.

On Saturday we had a day filled with fun. In the morning there was a seminar presented by Terry C. Warner with the Arbinger Institute, which he talked about families and relationships.

In the afternoon we had a skills expo where inner city kids and some of the ANASAZI staffs kids were taught how to make primitive skills. Some of the skills included, how to make string, paint brushes from Yucca, they saw how the Trailwalkers make their shelters in the wilderness and how to bust a coal (making fire).

Cameron participated in this part of the day and he had fun, I thought he would be a little more excited than he actually was but he still had a great time. He actually was more interested in watching and listening to the carolers that were singing Christmas songs.
Here is Cameron and Dave Holladay making string.

Cameron and daddy finishing up their string project.

Later in the afternoon Jacob Sanchez performed a Native American Hoop Dance, Cameron just loved this part. He really enjoys music and things like that.

Later that evening we had a concert with the Gin Blossoms, and it was Cameron's and Morgans first concert to go to. They did pretty good, they fell asleep during the concert but had a good time before calling it a night.

While all this was going on Morgan was busy just checking everything out. She had the most fun throwing rocks in the water and playing with the other little kids at the event. If I would have thought of it sooner I would have put together a ANASAZI play date for all the kids. They are all about the same age and would have had a blast.