How We Spent Christmas

This Christmas was a lot of fun. For Christmas Eve we went to the Costleys like we have for several years now, which we really look forward to. We have a lot of great food with family and friends. We had our car all loaded up, and when the party was over, we headed to Disneyland. We had never seen it all decorated for Christmas, so we figured Christmas day was the perfect day to go. We got to the hotel about 1:30am. and crashed into bed. We woke up at 6 and opened a couple of presents, then headed out. It was drizzling, but we were in the happiest place on earth, so we were trying to not let it get to us. We all had jackets for the rain except for Lindsay so we had to buy her a poncho - she was thrilled. We were able to go on several rides and the park was really dead so we were running everywhere, but by noon we were soaked and had had enough. We went back to the hotel to get dry, open the rest of our presents, then we went to dinner at TGI Fridays then we went and saw Yes Man (very funny). The next day we were at the park all day and went on all the rides several times. We had such a fun time together, I think having lived away so much sometimes I just like it to be our little family so that we can just enjoy each other. We might just have to make this a tradition.

Christmas Lights

So, this is our house this year. Jake finally got his musical lights, he spent a lot of time getting them just right and we love how they turned out. We have sat outside many nights watching all the songs. We sure appreciate all the hard work he puts into our holiday decorations each year.

Lindsays First Accident

Ok, so we thought we were pretty lucky, teenage driver and no accidents or problems, but we knew it wasn't going to last. I get a call from Lindsay saying I needed to get to where she was because there was an accident. My first question: "Is anyone hurt?" Thank goodness the answer was no. But then my next question "Who's fault was it?" And she said mine - dang I was hoping some snow bird had hit her car because of the rain:) So I go to where they had pulled off to help her deal with this. She said she was behind this guy and he slammed on his brakes and she hit hers, but she slid into the back of his car - yah right. I looked at his bumper and I think it had a slight dent, but as you can see, her car took the brunt of it. She was pretty shaken up. All I can hope is that she will remember this and won't be as distracted next time she is driving.

Winter Formal

It was Winter Formal this last weekend and Lindsay and a bunch of friends went. Her date was her boyfriend Geoff. We had to track the kids down so that we could get group pictures, and of course the girls were late getting ready, and a few didn't even make it for pictures. They all looked so nice, this was the first time that Lindsay and I fell in love with the same dress - thank goodness. They went with 8 other couples to BJ's for dinner then on to the dance. When theres good music, she can't help but dance and by the end of the dance her make-up is about gone and her hair is straight again, so she said they had a lot of fun. But it seems like with every dance, the end is near and she will be graduating, its like this big count down that I'm not ready for. But she is making the most of her senior year, and hopefully making herself a lot of memories.

We finally got our tree decorated the other night. I put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but finding time that everyone was home to decorate it was a little difficult. They had a lot of fun, and even got a little goofy, but I guess thats whats fun about the season, doing things together. When the kids were little, I decorated and they told me where it should go. Now, they decorate it all by themselves and I get to enjoy watching them working together and remembering. That is my favorite part. Every year they get a new ornament, and lots of times it is a memory of what we did that year, or where we lived. As soon as the ornaments are pulled out, the stories begin. It is so neat to hear all that they remember, a lot of times they remember more than I do so we all share our stories. This is such a fun time of year, although I think it goes to fast. But these are the times that I'll remember, the kids having fun and working together, because who knows where next year will take us.

Sedona Christmas Lights

Ok, so is your memory ever better than the real thing?

When our kids were younger, every year we went to Sedona to see the Christmas lights at Los Abrigados, it was what we all looked forward to at Christmas time, you walk through the resort and everyone has amazing decorations and you look at the lights and drink hot chocolate, and at the end they have huge trees wrapped with tons of lights that go on and off to music it was the best part, we would sit there until we were frozen just watching the lights, it always took a good 2 hours or more. We haven't been able to go for several years, so this year, we decided to go early so that we would not let another Christmas slip by without going. We let the kids invite friends and headed up there the day after Thanksgiving. The drive up was fun, the kids were goofing around most of the drive. We finally got there and had to squeeze into a parking spot. We all got bundled up, and we were off. We remembered that half way through was the hot chocolate stand so of course we were looking forward to that. We head in and the lights are very cool, Peanuts, Tom and Jerry, Sponge Bob, and then the hot chocolate stand. We were very suprised because we had just started, but it was very welcome, we needed some warming up. We saw a few more lights, and then there were people thanking us for coming. What! Thats It!!! That only took us maybe a half an hour to see everything. Where are all of the other decorated condos? Where are the trees with the lights? Thats it???? That was it, they said the lights on the trees actually began to grow into the trees, strangling them so they couldn't do that anymore- can't they just take them off every year? I guess thats too much trouble. It was a big let down. We had a fun time being together and the hot chocolate was really good, but our memory of it was so much better. I guess it is one Christmas Tradition that will have to change. Hopefully we can find a new place to go, maybe one a little closer... :)

Flagstaff Trip

Friday we took a quick trip up to Flagstaff, which was lots of fun, the weather was nice and chilly so we finally got to feel like it was fall. Jake had a meeting when we got there, so the kids and I went to the mall (of course). We shopped a little, but in the middle of the mall was this huge fireplace with couches all around it, so we all got books and sat and enjoyed the fire, it was so relaxing. Then we went to the hotel Little America, and Jake and I went to the restaurant in the hotel (to celebrate our anniversary) while the kids ordered room service. When we got back to the room it was still pretty early, so we taught the kids how to play poker using m&m's (I won), we all had a good time, it was really hard not eating our "money". The next morning we went to breakfast at a "local" restaruant called La Bellavia - it was really yummy, and we were definately where the locals go. We got back in the nick of time, the next day it snowed, I don't think I'm ready for that. I'm glad that even though my kids are getting older, they still enjoy spending time all together, road trips are definately our way of staying close. It was a fun get away for a night, we will have to do it again real soon.

I Voted!

Well, I just got back from voting and it was pretty painless. I was expecting to be in line for quite a while, but it ran so smoothly that we were there only 15 min. This is a real interesting race this year, I will be anxiously awaiting the results like the rest of the country tonight. Lindsay is mad because she won't turn 18 until next year, so she will have to wait a few more years for her vote to count. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that things go the way that I voted.

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun this year, Jakes costume was, he was ran over by a car (weird I know, it was his idea) and Lindsay was a cute sailor girl. Jake went Trick or Treating for a while with his friend, and Lindsay went to a party at her friends house. So we had the neighbors that had younger kids come and hang out at our house for the night and pass out candy. We had a fire pit going, even though it felt like 100 degrees outside, we had lots of food, and in the garage we had kids halloween movies going with blankets all over the floor for the little kids to sit and count their candy and watch movies. By the end of the night we were all wiped out, but I think everyone had a good time, we might need to make this a Halloween tradition.

Pumpkins

We finally got pumpkins last night, better late than never I guess. It seems like the older my kids get, the bigger the pumpkins get. I remember when they were little they loved getting a pumpkin that "they could carry" , it was usually the smallest one there, but they were so proud. It took a while, but we found 3 huge pumpkins, that should be good and messy to carve, I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

As you can see I actually touched my blog. Suprise Suprise. I'm suppose to be getting Jakes costume together, but as you can see, I cant stop trying to figure out how to blog. Maybe one of these days I will actually get on the ball. Maybe there will even be pictures, can you believe it.

The Mullins Family