See ya 2010!

Somehow Cali fell asleep in this

semi-kneeling, semi-standing

position. 

We had Christmas a few days early with Grandpa/ma VanVleet and the Hettingers!

 I love this picture - I think I have one of my dad reading books with each of our kids!

This picture of David and Noah is so cute - can you see Julie looking on adoringly in the mirror???

Great Nerf Battle
over VanVleet Hill (the stairs)...

Justin and Rylie vs. David, Noah, and Ellie



To ARIZONA!!!!

(finally)

Look at that sky!

Christmas Eve

We needed to get rid of some extra-crazy energy so we visited the park by Grandma and Grandpa Walter's house!

Christmas Morning

Tired Princess...

cousins!!!

Special visit with Grandma GG

We missed her so much! 

(Justin and Daddy were sick again!)

Cali and Alex

Justin with the roller coaster he built. 

He was SOOOO excited about it and spent most of an afternoon

- despite being sick -

working on it.

(notice the "before" of his haircut, cause the "after" is down the page!)

Haircut! 

Justin insisted we wait to cut his hair until it could be done by his Grandpa!

 The kids get to meet Trixie - Jen and Scott's dog.

(We had fun visiting with her family, too!)

Another trip to Peter Piper Pizza...



Finally Ty and Joy and Gabby got back to AZ!

 We had been anxiously waiting to see them while they were in California for Christmas - go figure!

(still bestest friends!)

(Auntie Em is a great game-player!)

 Ty made tacos and salsa!

New Year's Eve!

We spent the evening at Aunt Verna's house and got to see David and Josie and say good-bye to some of our family members :(

Hoping its not another year before we see everybody again!

Cali surrounded by all her boy cousins!

- Back home -

 Happy 2011!!!

(thanks for the cool mustaches, Ty and Joy - they may be Justin's favorite things!!!)

Had to celebrate at Disneyland!

(Our passes are almost up and we are going as often as possible)



November

Rachel and Anna VanVleet spent a weekend with us so their parents could have some real fun!!!  We LOVED having those girls - they are both such angels and our kids had such a great time.  It is a huge blessing to have them so near to us!

Rylie and Anna with their matching smiles

 (They keep losing the same teeth about the same time!)

Ellie's First Road Show!



Ellie was a back-up singer to an angel auditioning for Heaven's Got Talent - a show to decide which angel will be the lucky one to give God's message to Ammon!

More teeth lost!  All she wants for Christmas...

 Disneyland Christmas Parade!

We made the mistake of going the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. It was INSANE!!! I've never seen it so crazy-crowded.  We couldn't even walk up Main Street.  We did manage to snag a good spot for the parade and decided to leave after that!


I just realized I deleted all of my Thanksgiving pictures!  I'm sooooo mad at myself!  Good thing Julie is always on hand with her camera.  I stole these from her blog so they may look familiar:

Rylie had her first sleep-over by herself at Grandma's house.  She and Noah "dined" in the teepee.

 We didnt have any Pilgrims this year - only a couple of indians!  I found this adorable costume at a garage sale and couldn't resist it!  So even tho Halloween was over, I knew I could use it for Thanksgiving! (Yes, I can find a way to have costumes involved in every holiday celebration!!!)

Grandma provided the turkey masks for the other kids! Fitting!!!

 Notice the matching teeth again!

Good food (I assume - Mom and I couldn't eat any of it!  We just got to cook it and clean up the mess!!!)

The day after Thanksgiving, we all (even Mike and his family) met for the annual Riverside Light Festival at the Mission Inn.  Its become one of my favorite things!

The Inn puts on an amazing fireworks show right from the rooftop!  It is so close, I got pelted from rocket debris!!!  Cali hated the noise and the crowd is insane, but it was awesome!