Flagstaff

Monday morning we went up to Flagstaff with Dan and his family.
The boys had so much fun sledding down the hills. It was not that cold, so I was happy. I am glad Coby went down a few times because he is not as crazy, I mean adventurous as Trey :)
Trey of course was on the big hills and having snowball fights with Mark. The first time we went up there Trey was 3 or 4 and would go down the hills by himself. I need to find the videos we have of him and post them. I remember people stopping and laughing at him because he was so little and he would be laughing the whole way down.
That evening we went out to dinner and had a little party in the hotel lobby for my nephew.
Everyone went swimming after. Coby was so proud of himself because he did the "monkey walk" all the way around the pool. I am glad he is getting more comfortable around water, he even asked about swim lessons! Trey started swimming when we were in Rocky Point and he had just turned 3.
The next morning Mark went out and got us all donuts but unfortunately it took him about 2 minutes to get all the ice off his truck. I don't know how people live in cold weather! I guess it just becomes a way of life.
We left Flagstaff around 9:30 because Dan and family were on their way to San Diego. We stopped at Mark's parent's house for a short visit.

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas and a lot of fun leading up to it!
We are lucky that each year Mark is able to take the last 2 weeks of the year off, so we are all together during the holidays.
On Thursday we took the boys to Jumpstreet, and indoor play center. The boys had a blast! We then headed over to my grandparent's house in Mesa for a short visit at their place and then ate dinner at Organ Stop Pizza. The boys loved the music and the dancing puppets. We stopped by the Mesa Temple to see the lights, so pretty! When we got home we had a package waiting from Uncle Charlie full of crab legs and fish! Our freezer is full :)
On Christmas Eve we went out to dinner and then took the boys around to see our usual Christmas houses.
They woke up close to 8 on Christmas day and had so much fun checking out their gifts. We were able to Skype with my family so they could watch them open the gifts they had sent. We are going down to Tucson on Jan. 8 so this is the first year in a while that we didn't actually see them around Christmas time.
We always end up with hardly any pictures Christmas morning because we are video taping instead so sorry for the lack of pictures.

Railroad Park

I love this time of the year! It is so fun having small children around and teaching them the true meaning of Christmas.
We did our annual shopping for the canned food and toy drive. I love watching my boys select the toys and deliver them. This year we got girl toys also, funny asking them which Barbie we should pick. We delivered them to one of our fire stations, actually the one my cousin works at, but she was off. They got to watch a new guy do one of the drills.
We went to the Railroad park in Scottsdale on Saturday. The boys loved the train ride that took them around the park to see all the lights and displays. We made the mistake of going on opening weekend and had a while to wait in line. Good thing they could peek through the windows at the model trains and some hot chocolate to kill the time.
We spent that morning finally getting all our decorations up. I had wanted a new tree, so it took a while to find one. Mark got all the outside lights up. I love the boys reactions to the decorations and lights...priceless!

Las Vegas and Turkey Day

Mark and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in Vegas this year. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I kept asking what we were doing because I was going to plan something. He finally gave in and gave me 1 letter a day and then gave me all the letters on our anniversary...it spelled out Planet Hollywood. It was fun and relaxing. We just ate a lot, shopped and relaxed.
Mark was off that whole week so on Wednesday we all went to Trey's Turkey Trot race and then went and picked up lunch and went back to the school to eat and play with the kids during recess. Mark was the quarterback. Trey won the race for the third year in a row. So proud of him! He and I would love to have him join track but momma is not getting up at 6:30..hee hee
For Thanksgiving we all gathered at Dan's house for the feast. My whole family was there plus my grandparents, aunt and uncle. The food was yummy as always. I make pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. My mom and Crystal did all the other cooking...lucky me!
After eating we took some family pictures. Have to get one around this time for the Christmas card.
The next day, all my boys, Dan and his boys, my dad, Alyssa and her boyfriend all headed to Lake Roosevelt for camping. Ohhh, what to do with myself! I stayed home all Friday and completely cleaning the toy loft.
Saturday I went to eat with some of the girls and Jason before they headed back to Tucson and then did a little shopping.
The boys came home late Saturday, boy did they smell!
Mark finished his sabbatical at United Way right before Vegas. He also interviewed and got a new position at Amex while he was at United Way. Way to go Mark!
We really do have so much to be thankful for!