The Past Christmas Season! This might be a long one with pictures!

First time on Santa's lap this season.

We started off with a lovely last day at Disneyland with Dad because he won't be able to go with us again before they expire next September (unless we get lucky and can break away or a day...doubtful). It's decorated so beautiful at Christmas time. Especially It's a Small World.

A picture of me and the kids at Disneyland. I had to put it in there just because I don't get pictures of me and the kids together that often.

Her second (at least on camera) time on Santa's lap.

Emma obviously enjoying grandpa's reading and hanging on to every word!

Grandpa reading his traditional Christmas Eve "How The Grinch Stole Christmas!"

So we had a doll be the baby Jesus because in Primary the day before the kids said they were told you weren't supposed to use real babies in the nativity because no one should be acting as the baby Jesus. WHAT?!? Has anyone else heard this and can you give me a good reason why? Babies are so sweet and perfect. Do you really think this is offensive to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? I have a hard time thinking they don't think it is just as sweet as the rest of us do. I think it is a bunch of picky Mormons throwing out their opinions...unless this came from the First Presidency, in which case I will humbly and repentingly retract my statement and follow the "rules" from now on.

Jack was the donkey. And a very good donkey, too, I might add.

Emma got to be Mary in our Nativity this year. She was VERY excited about that because she wanted to be that in her school program, which we weren't there for anyway, so it's a good thing she wasn't.

Jackson hated being so bundled up and wanted someone to sit by him in the snow the whole time. But at the very end I forced him to go down with Grandpa and he thought that was pretty cool and then asked to do it a couple more times.

Emma was not at all timid to sled for the first time. She thought this was the greatest!

Our whole family is on the sled. Jackson is hidden behind me. We had a blast!

One of the few pictures I feel like I am in. I am always the one taking the pictures. I didn't have my camera this day so my brother in law, Bruce, took these. Thank you, Bruce, for taking my picture!

This was at the Huntington Gardens where they filmed the statue part of Wedding Planner where Mathew Mcconahey (no idea how to spell his name) glues his hand to the statues manly man parts. So a quick story. I hold grudges, unfortunately. It is a burden that I bear. ESPECIALLY when it comes to someone offending me with me kids. So we get to this part called the Zen Garden, I think, and it is sand with rocks put in it and they have made the rocks islands and designed the sand to look like waves. It was really cool looking. So Jeanne, Emma, and I go to this garden and Emma picks up a rock and throws it in and another visitor like us says "little girl, don't throw rocks!" That's fine, although I was about to say the same. So I say "thank you, we won't do it again" and he says "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to your daughter." A-hole. (sorry, I was so angry at that!) (and no, I just thought that, I didn't call him that) So I said something along the lines of Well I am her mother and I will take care of it with a very disgruntled "thank you for your concern" at the end. He was such a jerk. She's a little girl, first of all, and if you're going to be mad, be mad at me for not taking her to enough of these places for her to know better. We only go to outdoor camping/park places that when you see a rock, you pick it up and throw it, dangit.

Just walking.

Cute picture...Jackson was too scared to sit on a hand!

So this is the day we went to downtown LA to see the Walt Disney Performance Center and we went to this GREAT farmer's market that had beautiful fruit and vegetables. This picture was outside of an art museum that we didn't go into! Very fun picture, though.

Jackson obviously didn't have any problem relaxing either, although he is still very reluctant to go anywhere near the waves. He is so scared.

Emma playing with Aunt Jeanne. She had so much fun having them here with baby Beckett. Although, Jeanne, I haven't heard her sing the Beckett Bear song since you left!

So we spent New Year's Eve at the Point Dume in Malibu. We had a fun lunch at the Hideaway Cafe and then played in the water and hiked to some beautiful lookout viewpoints. The views were breathetaking! It loved that it was December 31st and I was on the beach...especially after FREEZING in Idaho and Wyoming.

So somehow we were totally blessed with seats at the Rose Parade this year. I wasn't even planning on going because Jack had call that day and like I really want to venture out in three million people with two active kids and go to a parade. But because Jeanne and Bruce were there and wanted to go, which also meant I had help, we did it. At church two days earlier we had a friend tell us they had a tradition of staking out a spot and guarding it the 24 hours before the parade and invited us to be a part of it. So we dropped off chairs the day before and had front row seat for this parade. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!

Us in front of the float for transplant patients. They were holding pictures of their donors. I thought it fitting to be in front of this with my dad being a transplant patient.

The guy from Sesame Street that has been on that show since TV began. He was so cute and excited that everyone was cheering so loudly for him!

The floats were so awesome! The best part is that everything you see is absolutely made out of plants or seeds from earth! Everything had to be natural...I learned this there. That made it even better to see the brilliant color and how creative the got and it was fun to learn about the volunteer efforts that go into making this parade happen. We will so go to this every year we are here.