Pre-Christmas Eve - New Years Eve & all the fun in between! The MEGA POST!!!

Boy oh Boy do I have some FUN in store for you all :) I am NOT Joking this is THE MEGA POST!!!! I have lots of fun to share, so snuggle up and start reading :)

Christmas Time is one of our family's FAVORITE Times of the year!!! All the Treats, Singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs over and over again, Christmas Lights, Shopping, Trying to be Sneaky to wrap & hide gifts, Thinking of others, Christmas Cards, Neighbor Treats, Christmas Movies, Hot Chocolate, DECORATING!!!, Parties, Friends, & Family get togethers. But most important of them all is Remembering our Savior Jesus Christ Birth and the gifts He has given each one of us! What a blessing it is to be here on the earth at this time! What Joy fills my heart when I reflect on all my many blessings. I am happy to be alive! I love my life and all the wonderful people who are in my life! The Christmas season is so cheery and bright! I wish it could last longer! I guess it can in our hearts if we let it :)

Our Family Tradition is to visit the Mesa Temple Christmas Lights each year and we barely made it before Christmas~ Dec 23rd was a Super Duper Chilly Night. We braved the cold and the crowds to ooooh and aaaahh at the beauty of the temple & the festive lights.

We took one lap around the grounds and took a few pics for memory sake and we hurried back to the heater in the truck. BRRRRR! I am so glad we went!

Then off to Krispy Kreme's for our Annual Doughnut Dessert tradition! The kids have decided this is a MUST every year! Ok...you twisted my arm ;) They were tasty!

We love jumping into Dad's truck for a ride around town! Now crank up the heater and lets head home! :)

~CHRISTMAS EVE ~

Every Christmas Eve we gather at my parent's home to Frost Sugar Cookies for Santa! It is so fun and the kids are in SUGAR OVERLOAD HEAVEN!!! It was a smaller crowd then usual. My brother and his family are living in Utah! We missed them at our traditional Cookie Frosting Fiesta! {Love you Guys!}

The kiddos are mastering the art of Sugar Cookie Decorating! I am very impressed with their skills! I sure love my mom and her faithful dedication she has to making all these scrumptious cookies and frosting for the grand kids to decorate each year! She is the Best!!! Love you MOM!!!

Check out the YUMMINESS!!! The Zito kiddos and cousins Claire & Ethne! You guys should open up your own cookie shop and sell these beauties! I know Santa will LOVE each and everyone! aaaah Good times :)

The Coopers left to have Christmas Eve Dinner at their other Grandparents home and the rest of us had a delicious taco dinner at my mom's and then we headed off to ZOOLIGHTS!!!

This is our second visit to Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo and it was pretty fun. My folks, my sister Celeste and her hubby Matt and their cute son Van joined us as we strolled around the zoo trying to keep warm and feel the Christmas magic in the air as the anticipation for Santa's arrival would be soon!

I am amazed at the amount of lights they use on all the trees! Just GORGEOUS!!! We spent a couple minutes checking out JENGA the talking Giraffe. Blake was Freaked out and would not get close to it at all! We were all surprised at his timidness so we strolled along! We rounded the corner and saw the CAMEL RIDES!!! My kids were begging and pleading. "Not this time" I said. "Maybe next time" Leonard said. Then all of a sudden Papa Daddy (a.k.a Grandpa Gordon) gathers the kids and walks them over to the booth and get in line! Oh that Papa Daddy...spoiling his Grand kids! They squealed with delight! And gave hugs to grandpa and jumped up and down and their turn was coming up! THANKS Dad you are so kind and HANDSOME too... might I add ;)

The next thing you know the kids are riding their first and maybe only camel! HOORAY!!! What a bumpy ride!

And a SUPER DUPER SHORT ride too may I say! Their camel ride was as long as it took me to take these 4 pictures! No joke! They loved the whole MINUTE of it and I was happy. They were happy and Papa Daddy was happy! This is something they will always remember! Thanks again Dad! Blake told me he loved the horse. I laugh and tell him it was a camel and he tells me....No, it's a horse! ....Well, I have pictures to prove it...one day I will be right :)

The Zoolights were a hit! We hurried home to put out Santa's Cookies & Milk, Rudolf's Carrot and oats in the grass for all the other reindeer too! We did let the kids open one present before bed... any guesses??? Yep new PJ's and Robes for the girls! They loved them and by 10:30pm the kids were finally in bed! It was a LATE night for everyone!!!! ;) and in a BLINK of the eye literally... It was morning and....


~ SANTA CAME!!! ~
Wow, Santa really came! Kaitlyn, Carly & Blake have been waiting their "whole life" for this day to finally come! It's a morning filled with excitement!

Let the present time begin! I love watching their happy faces as they open their gifts! I love Christmas!!!

Santa brought the girls Rollerblades and Blake a new game! SWEET!!!

Our Carly Poo! Merry Christmas!

~ Kaitlyn ~ Our Schmaty! Merry Christmas!

Oh Blakey Boy! Merry Christmas!

I love watching him open presents especially when he stick out his tounge like that! He is focused! Very focused! :)

Blake's VERY Favorite gift is the Thomas the Train set that Santa brought! It was the only thing he truly really wanted! It was the last present to open too! He had all eye's on that box and asked a million times to open it up NOW so he could play. It was a hard wait! but he made it :)

Leonard got some new shoes, PJ pants, socks :) and SURPRISE new Rollerblades! Sweet! Let's go skating :) He also got a year supply of Hot Hand Hand warmers for all his many camping adventures. He also got himself a new tent and sleeping bag! Merry Christmas Lenny!

Leonard totally SPOILED me this year! Thanks babe!!! He got me some beautiful new Pearl earrings, Perfume that I LOVE, Hobby Lobby gift card...SCORE!!!, The clapper plus...an upgrade from my last clapper. You know, The Clapper... for turning on and off your lamp by the bed. I always fall asleep with my lamp on and The Clapper has been convenient to turn it off without losing my comfy spot on the bed. I even got my clapper to work by Snapping my fingers, I called it the Snapper...but unfortunately my old clapper died... so Hooray The Clapper PLUS with a remote! even better :) It was a delightful surprise! I feel loved! Merry Christmas to me!

The Spoiling continues as Leonard bought this (a Early Christmas Present) AWESOME indoor bike trainer and book holder too. I am sooooo excited about that! I have been too cold in the mornings to ride and it's too dark too! So now I can ride everyday no excuses right? I have been on it twice so far! :) AND Leonard bought me some new Rollerblades too! I love to skate! my old skates are at least 8 years old! I love my new blades and taken them out for a spin too! SWEET!!! I love getting spoiled! Keep up the good work Lenny ;)

On last family gift on Christmas morning.... Katilyn is sooo excited, can you tell? I love it! Yeee-HAW!! Wii Fit!!!! Merry Christmas Family! :) I Love you all!

We picked up the living room and headed over to my parents house for Strawberry Waffles Brunch! It was delicious and we look forward to this breakfast every year! YUM! We hung out, exchanged a few more gifts and then took the kids to the park to test out the new Rollerblades and play! It was a beautiful sunny day! Man I LOVE Arizona!!!! What A Day!

We came home and played with all our new toys Oh...the kids got 2 plasma cars this year too! They are pretty cool & I can even take them out for a spin! While the kids played, Leonard & I took a long well needed nap! It was a Wonderful Christmas! I can't believe it is over? :( Boo Hoo!

As I mentioned earlier about loving Christmas parties, Leonard & I attended 2 fun work parties.

We were invited to attend the NetApp party hosted at Bill's Home in Scottsdale! It was a very nice evening. The food was good, the company was great and the White Elephant Gift Exchange was the best! :) It was really fun! I get a kick out of silly, nutty gifts. Leonard & I scored this year I think! Check out our winnings. I won this sweet exercise hula hoop! It is officially called...ACU HOOP I stole it once and it was stolen from me...oh no you don't! So I stole it back! Let me tell you this sucker KILLS!!! It is suppose to beat the heck out of your waist and make it inches smaller. The directions say "trim your waist 2 inches a month until fit" ok then... it is gonna take me quite a while! I better bet working. it suggests to PLAY 10 minutes twice a day a day and warns you to NOT use it more than 20 minutes at a time! Now I know why! i can barely handle 30 seconds! It weighs 3 lbs but feels like you are hula hooping 30 lbs. and it has these hard bumpy ridges in the inside... i think for the fat break down beatings... :) It beats up my hip bones pretty darn good. I feel bruised! It cautions you on the box may get bruises!!! maybe I should stick with sit ups and normal exercise! I didn't realized it was a torcher device when I had my heart set on it. it may need to be re-gifted next year ;)

These pictures are for our NetApp buddies!!! hee hee hee! The other AWESOME white elephant gift we came home with was this sweet, soft, snugly BLUE SNUGGIE!!! Yes, we are now the proud owners of a SNUGGIE and I simply adore it! It is a Blanket with Sleeves for all you who don't know what a great invention this is! Leonard won if for me. It was a hot item and we stole it for the 3rd and final time! Hooray! I love it and I have been wearing it around all day long...more about that soon :) I even brought it to the movies and NO I am NOT ashamed! It was awesome!

We were also invited to the HUGE GO DADDY party...the company rents out the entire Chase Field Ball park and caters 100's of guests a nice meal and games & Entertainment. This year, we were "blessed " to hear from The Temptations & The Four Tops Singers/performers and a crappy comedian lady... Paula Poundstone (I think) anyway, the company was great! but I didn't take any pictures this year! you can just imagine the fun :)

~ SEDONA CHRISTMAS VACATION~
My parents have a time share in Sedona and they were soooo kind to share their week at their place with me and my sisters and our families! It was a great Christmas gift! This condo is perfect and has it's own kitchen ( which we enjoyed a fixed a few meals at as you can see. ) so it's basically a HOME AWAY FROM HOME! We headed out on Dec 27th for 3 days of fun...or at least we were planning on that...

We got to enjoy a nice warm fireplace, a HOT STEAMING Hot Tub and freezing cold pool that Leonard and the girls dared each other to take a dip in... they are crazy! We had TV with cable!!!! & commercials too! WOW! the kids were in heaven. ( we don't have cable or local for that matter. we use our TV for movies :) it is real nice! anyway...

We got to be silly, read, relax, be silly...oh i said that didn't I...There was a lot of that going on. The only crappy thing about this perfect getway is that I started to get a cold, sore throat, bad headaches before we left, but we HAD TO GO! We need a vacation! so we went and I kept feeling worse and worse. Sinus Pressure, cough, runny nose, ear stuffiness and pain! DANG IT!!! I don't want to be sick! Not now! I am trying to enjoy a family vacation!!! GRRRRR! we venture out and I try to shake it off...

We journey to Red Rock State Park for a little hiking and fresh air! It was the littlest state park we have ever visited! it was nice though and the kids got to run around and burn some energy off!

Gotta love the beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona! It was cold and we loved it!

This bridge was cool! my guys are so good looking too!

The girls loved exploring the park! They are too cute too!

Ahh, and there is me...Sick and putting on a happy face! such a trooper eh? ;)

We got to spend some good quality time in the car together! nothing like car time that brings a family together! :)

We were feeling the need for some adventure...well mostly Leonard but I'll go along for the ride. WE saw tons of PINK JEEPs driving around Sedona. You can pay an arm and a leg for an off road adventure with PINK JEEP TOURs but we chose to take the RED YUKON TOUR instead and it was free of charge too!!!! Cha-ching!!!!
Blake crashed out for a deep sleep in time for the Sedona Red Yukon Tour! I was amazed he could sleep through all that body jarring! WE laughted and laughed! Kaitlyn was assigned the "Blake Head Holder Upper" job for the tour. she did great! & Blake lived:)

Here is a couple small video clips of our own sedona Red Yukon tour. They are short and bumpy. So bumpy and rocky that I thought I made a 5 minute video of our tour but I think the camera got bumped off record a couple times. it is only a 22 & 27 second clips.








Nice hu? don't you wish you joined us on our 1 hour long + adventure??? oh we followed some pink jeeps to this trail, that's how we knew were on " the tour" :)

This is how I felt during and after the "tour". my brain does not like to be jarred back and forth like that especailly a sick weak brain...at the moment. I continued to feel THIS WAY for the next several days. We ended up cutting our vacation short by a day so I could get home to my own bed and to Dr. Phelps! Turns out my cold turned into Bronchitis, Ear infection and the start of strep throat. He sent me home with a prescription anti-biotic ZPACK to the rescue! I rested, and read , wore my new blue snggie for days! I even broke our leonard's hand warmers and they were perfect and comfy as they warmed my aching throat glands. Leoanrd was great and took care of the kids! This is NOT how i wanted to spend Christmas Break! I had big plans... the Zoo, Daily long bike rides in the middle of the day, rollerblading with the kids. But it wasn't so! Oh well, I guess it was my turn! I partied to hard and stayed up too late for too many days and my health took a nose dive. I am feeling great today though! Hooray! Leonard's throat was feeling sore tonight! NOOOOOO! I hope it is just a false alarm!!! Only time will tell! :) overall, our Sedona Vacation was wonderful and everyone enjoyed their time away and winter swimming in the heated indoor pool! Thanks Mom & Dad for sharing this with us! :)



~New Year Eve~

Happy New Year!!! 2010 is gonna be great! Kaitlyn was excited to bang pans outside and yell and holler! Carly was down for the count and did not want to be bothered, I tried!

Leonard & I made our traditional Apple Cider Toast to a new and happy year! I was still feeling ill if you can't tell by the pics! YIKES!!!!

Martinelli's apple Cider is sure tasty and nothing SCREAM HAPPY NEW YEAR than a glass of martinelli's with the People you Love!

Happy 2010 to all! And to all a GOOD NIGHT! ;)

Thanks for reading and I hope you all are healthy, happy and had a fabulous Holiday Season! Til the next MEGA POST! I hope to blog more often and shorter posts at that too! Heavens...look at the time! My brain needs sleep! I won't tell you what time I acutally finished this post but I will tell you it is now early monday morning! i will need a nap tommorow! But it is refreshing to have this mega post off my to-do list! AHHHH I will sleep in peace ;)

PS... i paid the price for my all nighter blog entry...my cold came back in some degree. i was exhausted all day monday and my runny rose was back with a vengence and sneezing almighty! DANG IT NOOOOOO! Leonard stayed home from work monday feeling like his head was in a vice and his throat on fire! i feel ya brother! luckily today is TUES the 5th and feeling better! i got to get on my bike today! :) happy day! :)