Hark, How the LIghts!

...SO we kept the tradition alive and went to see the lights in Talaquipaqui-- a resort in Sedona-- The Day after New Years!It is always a treat to walk around and see the different themes and light displays people have set up around the resort! They are always original and creative.

This one above had a whole camp set up with blue lighted skies and white lighted clouds, along with this cute saying!
Horton hears a Who?

A complete Gingerbread village

Wall-E

Santa and Clan taking hot air balloon rides (a local past-time around these parts)

Santa's Workshop

A Charlie Brown Christmas --

Mind you these are all set up around the time shares & rooms

Lego Land

Even lighted sprinkler systems in the trees!

...and they even represented the real reason we "light up" this holiday season

They had so many more....

The best part was one of Dan's old patients hooked us up with these tickets...so it was free (along with the free hot apple cider)!

It was a good closure (even though I accidentally let Dacie fall into a fountain while we were dancing) to our FUN week+ we spent as a family with daddy!

I'm Dreaming of a WHITE Christmas...

We decided to give the kids a WhItE ArIzOnA Christmas!!

Aunt Kerri's man Marcy (who has never seen snow) was visiting from Texas--
So we decided to make a day of it and play in the SNOW!
We drove up North about 60 miles and played in the snow that has been dumping
for days!
(Here is Colton's 1st snowman that he immediately made upon exiting the car door)
Quite the masterpiece!
Dan has a cousin that lives up in Flag (Ken and Kimberly Higginson)--so we met up on the slopes!
(This is about as much action as we got from Ryland--the moment we got on the hill he was ready to go back to the car for some of the hot vanilla chocolate waiting there)

It was the same snow play area we went to last year...except the smaller hill was not run down enough-- and was pretty sluggish with fresh powder to sink in, not slide on!
So we moved on over to the bigger hill where we picked up some SPEED!
Dan went and went down the hill.
I could barely stop him to talk to him.
Dacie missed her naps (all for a good cause), and was on some Benadryl for her recent illness.
She was quite the non-responsive "slug" the whole day!
...at least she was not crying and got the warm clothes!

Aunt Kerri going down the hill (my only shot of her above--l have to borrow pictures from her later)
Kerri and I went with our feet down
AND we ended up with faces and fronts full of serious amounts of snow!
Since we see snow about once or twice a year (as it should be...according to Dan)--we always borrow snow attire.
The people we borrow from did not have quite the amount of clothes available as they did last year.
So we had to improvise--
Layers of pants, shorts, and swim shirts
Sterling even got to wear an old pair of my hiking boots from college (I knew I had hung on to them for a reason)-about 10 sizes to big!
I think that may have contributed to the lack of enthusiasm the kids showed, like they had in the past with the snow! (or it could have been that Sterling got plowed over with his cousin Ashley by a sledder)
They were ready to go home...
We rarely saw Colton (above)-he was grabbing people's sleds left and right (don't leave yours unattended!) and kept going and going down the hill w/ his 2nd cousin Isaac.

These two made out in the snow clothes department--which was good considering they did most the sitting!

(Dacie is snuggled in between Dan's legs in this shot. It was to prove that our 1-year-old was not afraid AT ALL!)

One of the funniest things about the day was Dacie's complacency--

Dan would take her down the hill at a pretty fast pace and then pull her up on the sled.

She laid on the sled and went down the hill without so much as a peep!

(If you look at the group of people above Dan-that would have been our sledding troupe)

Dacie had it made...this was the hardest thing about the whole day was walking back up the hill

Quite the workout!

After all was said and done we only could stay for about 2 hours (perfect amount of time for our snow wimps) before we had to head back to Cottonwood, to make it back in time for Dan;s work party. It was a fun gathering and much too short of a day!

I'm not gonna lie--it is allot of work to pack clothes, meals, blankets, & hot chocolate...for a few short hours BUT it is worth it when you look at the pictures and remember the memories (kinda like the beach-how grateful we are to parents who went to all that extra work for us!)

Colton and cousin Ashley making snowballs with the snowball maker!

HAPPY SNOW DAYS TO YOU!!!

Our Pumpkins!!!!

We went and got the pumpkins from the pumpkin patch!

It took about forever to get too it (only 2 seconds)--to walk around to the side of our house!

We were pleasantly surprised to have harvested exactly 6 pumpkins this year in our garden.

It is a good thing we did b/c our favorite and ONLY pumpkin patch around the area closed down last year!

We held out as long as we could (Thursday night 10/29) before picking and carving them-so that they would not get old and wilty.

It being an unusually warm Halloween--they still wilted pretty quickly!



Dan has had to work late a couple of nights a week, b/c they are short staffed. So I thought we would gut the things before Daddy got home--AM I CRAZY!!!?
I smelled like pumpkin and felt like slime--not to mention acted like a witch by the time Dan got home to help finish them up!
The garage is getting re-arranged to fit an extra fridge and freezer in--so it was car-less. It turned into the perfect pumpkin carving workshop!
This would be the aftermath of the carving--


THE RESULTS (everyone came up with these entirely on their own):
DAD'S DEVIL
MOM'S MADNESS
( I saw this done in a magazine and thought it was funny!) I still think it is funny!
You cut different eyes, mouth, nose, and eyebrows off of close-up pictures of people in magazines!

COLTON'S CREATION

STERLING'S SMILE

RYLAND'S OGRE

we voted this numero uno!

DACIE'S YELL

(You cannot tell from this picture, but this was a perfect size pumpkin for her-it was small and shrimpy)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

The San Diego Temple!

Having never been to San Diego...the temple was one of the things I missed seeing!
We decided to slow the pace down in the middle of the week--and took an evening trip after hanging out all day to the temple! The kiddos certaily LOVED the grass hills that the temple is situated on!
Because we had four kids and no babysitter--going through a session for Dan and I was out of the question. BUT you do not necessarily need to go inside to feel the spirit. We loved being there as a family and talking with the cute couple missionary's assigned to the grounds outside the temple. They showed us pictures of the inside atrium, and staircase--it was a good experience for us!
This temples design is so unique and awe inspiring-- and from pictures I always envisioned it being bigger. However when we approached the temple-although it is large, was not as big as I thought! I realize the design of it gives the appearance of being bigger (even looking at these pictures now).
It is majestic and amazing, as all temples are.

It was the "fairytale castle" for our perfect vacation.

The icing on our cake!!!

and....SEA WORLD!!!!

We also spent 2 WONDERFUL days taking in the sights and sounds

of Sea World while in San Diego

They have a special running right now, that you pay for the price of one day

and get to go 2!!!

I cannot imagine being able to fit it all in one day, with lots of small kiddos!

...of course, they had decorated for Halloween (my absolute favorite time of the year).

being desert folk-we rarely have contact with creatures of the sea.

It was awe inspiring for us!

The shows were easily Dacie and I's favorites. We could have watched them all day long!

Dacie would insist on sitting by herself the whole time and would just sit and watch...not even a wiggle!
The boys wanted the real deal, and opted to sit on the front row (sterling did for every show)

in the SPLASH ZONE--they came away soaking WET!

The rest of us sat a few rows up with towels!

Here is Dacie watching the dolphin show intently!

...and they even have a show for rescued pets-it was amazing to see what you could train your pig, cat, dog, and ducks to do!
We had no camera for the walrus show.

They went trick-or-treating and it was HILARIOUS!!!

We LOVED the 'hands-on" experience our kids got there as well!
Playing in the tide pools with the star fish!

Dolphin feeding time-Ryland and mommy got lucky and got to pet/play with one of the dolphins
They feel pretty awesome--

The sting/bat rays were Sterling's favorite and he kept asking to go back

Their texture was a bit more slimy!

They had about every kind of sea creature you can think of to observe!
The shark tunnel was always a hit.
The penguins were stinky, but much looked forward too by Ryalnd and Sterling!We managed to have only one or two melt-downs for the missed nap days
(Dacie will only sleep in a crib--no parents or stroller)
She is not a big fan of having so sit in a stroller strapped in anymore!

...and, of course the rides were always a BLAST (of water)
Dan and Sterling are in the very back!
Mommy and Colton are in the very front!
The have a whole kids Sesame section--that my kids could have spent hours in!
We only lost one kid (Sterling) for about 15 minutes (of panic).
Kid leashes are in tow for next time!

Colton flying solo!

Dacie and Daddy!
Sterling!
Dacie and Daddy!
We closed the park down each day and walked to our car looking at the sunset!
What a happy, fun, fascinating, adventurous kinda of day(s)!!!!