Good to know...

Allary and I were eating lunch at Wendy's today and she looked over and saw a table with lots of little kids and what appeared to be two dads. She asked me why there was not a mommy at that table. I just told her I didn't know, but she asked many more questions seeming very concerned that those poor kids did not have a mom. Then, just to see what she would say, I asked her...
Me: "What would you do if you didn't have a mom?"
Allary: "Well, Dad has to go to work so I guess there would be no one to get me treats when I want a treat."

Well, at least I know I'm good for something. :)

Christmas

Oh, life has been crazy lately. I know it's sad to skip right from Halloween to Christmas in my posts, but I don't even know where the last 3 months went. I want to do better this year at updating my blog and taking more pictures and documenting memories.
I really had high hopes of being Super Hostess this Christmas as I took on being in charge of the big extended family party and also having my parents here at our house and hosting my siblings and their families. I was super stressed and had so many other things going on. I was out of town for a big chunk of time in December and then got horribly sick and landed in the hospital. The party had to be canceled and I felt horrible about it. I came home from the hospital and started feeling better. My parents were able to come and I was thrilled to have them here. My wonderful mom stepped in and took charge of a delicious Christmas Eve meal. I was able to enjoy the wonderful holiday and just relax and enjoy family.
Here are some photos...

This is Allary's letter to Santa.


Christmas Eve, Kevin and Leslee and family came over for dinner and fun.


My dad read the nativity story from the scriptures and then everyone got to open one present.



This is what Santa brought Allary this year.

It's funny how much trouble Santa goes through and really, she was almost just as excited about the candy in her stocking as she was about the bike.

Doesn't she look great on her new bike?


Allary got this fancy new Cinderella nightgown from Grandma and Grandpa M. So cute.


Allary and I found this great popcorn popper for Jason. This guy loves popcorn.



Allary got a VMotion from Grandma and Grandpa S. She really loves it.





This cute little Cinderella figurine was from Great Grandma and Grandpa S.


I love this photo...


Allary with all of her Christmas haul. Thanks everyone for the wonderful gifts!


We really enjoyed having my parents here. It was a special Christmas for us in our new home. Allary was thrilled to have Grandma and Grandpa here also. Here she is coloring with Grandma...
and building castles with Grandpa (while I show off my impressive Jenga skills).


Thanks again Mom and Dad for coming! We had a fabulous Christmas!
Now on to 2010! It's gonna be great, I can tell. :)

Halloween

Allary wanted to be a kitty again this year for Halloween. I was actually very happy to get another year's use out of the same costume. Because, c'mon, is this not the cutest kitty costume you've ever seen? Black leotard, black tutu, leopard print ears, tail, and tights... cute.

Here we are putting on her nose and whiskers for trick-or-treating.



She had a great time and came home telling me how she kept saying to Dad, "another house Dad! Now that house Dad! Another one! Let's go!" Jason was more exhausted than she was, granted he did carry her most of the way home when she finally felt like she'd done all the trick-or-treating she possibly could. It was a fun holiday.

Carving Pumpkins

Witches!

So now that I've finally posted all of our vacation pictures, I am back-tracking and catching up on getting my October pictures posted. Before Halloween, Trisha and I took Paige and Allary to a fun little shopping village to see the witches there.

The Beach

Our last day at Disneyland, we took a break from the rides in the afternoon and drove to the beach. It was unfortunate that the day we decided to do this ended up being overcast and quite chilly. It was so windy at the beach and I really felt like a bad mom for bringing Allary in her swim suit instead of a heavy coat. But, once we got there, there was no keeping her (or Jason for that matter) out of the water. They had a great time and I took lots of pictures.

Disneyland - The Characters

I think Allary's very favorite part of her whole Disneyland experience was meeting the characters. We bought her an autograph book to take around and she was so excited. These are also some of my favorite photos because Allary was so thrilled and it's so out-of-character for her to talk to or even look at a stranger, or as you'll see, give big hugs. We waited in lines to see characters much longer than we waited for any of the rides. Every time we'd get done waiting to see someone, we'd walk away and Allary would say, "let's go find someone else!" :) So, I saved these ones for last, enjoy!




Okay, this is kind of a funny story. As I said before, Allary had made it quite clear that she wanted NOTHING to do with the evil queens. I had been talking to her alot about the characters that would be there and she was most excited to see everyone from her favorite movie, Peter Pan. She really wanted to meet Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. We met Tinkerbell, but I have never seen Peter Pan at Disneyland (why is that anyway?). But she also really wanted to meet Captain Hook. Well, one day walking along, we saw Captain Hook. Allary was already leaping out of the stroller and grabbing her autograph book. I saw also though that he was at a character meet and greet location which meant there was a loooong ling and also more than one character. The other two characters there were the Queen of Hearts (not scary because Allary hasn't seen that movie) and oh no.... the evil Queen from Snow White. I explained to Allary that in order to meet Captain Hook she was also going to have to meet the other two. (It would be kind of rude to walk right past them I think). I told Allary she didn't have to talk to them, she could just hand them her autograph book and that was it. She wanted to see Captain Hook bad enough and so she braved it out and even posed for pictures. :)


And... Captain Hook! She was so excited.










Aladdin and Jasmine. Allary really wanted nothing to do with Aladdin, just Jasmine.

This is Silvermist from the Tinkerbell movie.

And another of Allary's favorites.... Tinkerbell!


The line to meet the princesses was also very very long and we even got there a few minutes before the place even opened. It was well worth the wait though. This experience for Allary was priceless.

Allary is showing her that she has Sleeping Beauty on her shirt. :)