California trip - Hunter's wedding!

On Christmas day we flew down to San Diego! My brother Hunter's wedding reception was on December 27th, and it was WAY cheaper to fly on Christmas Day.  So we snagged the tickets up and off we went to celebrate Hunter and Emily getting married! We decided since we were going so far, we would spend some extra time there as well, so 9 days later…we actually survived! The highlights, for sure, were going to Hunter and Emily's wedding reception, which was incredible, as well as meeting Emily for the first time.  She is BEAUTIFUL in every way and we are so happy to have in her in our family! Solana kept calling her a princess, and at the end of the night Emily gave Solana her bridal bouquet! Solana was glowing, and she held on to it the whole way home and even the next day. She was one lucky girl.  I'm pretty sure it was her highlight of the trip!
Also, it was great to have some of my family finally meet Boston for the first time, including my Dad. Another highlight of the trip was staying in San Juan Capistrano and being able to see so much of where I spent my childhood and teenage years. I was also able to see old friends which was so fun.
It was a great trip and so much fun hanging out with family and having Solana and Boston play with cousins.
A couple of downsides were, Adam getting sick with the stomach flu, the time change was hard on all of us, never getting any sleep at night (our kids do not do well out of the routine) and having troubles on the flights both there and back.  (Our 11pm return flight was weather delayed until 2am(!), if you can believe that with kids, and we agreed that our final landing in Virginia was so windy and bumpy that it was our scariest landing in our whole lives!) But we survived and even though right now we hope will never travel around Christmas again, it was so great to have had so much fun and get the whole family together. The new family total is 18! Here are the highlights from the trip. Enjoy!

Yay! We finally got a picture in front of the temple where we got married!  (When we got married here, on July 18, 2008, we took so many group and candid photos that we never posed, just the two of us, in front!)  So glad we got it!

Now, we're plus 2! (Except that Boston was jet-lagged and sleeping in the car.)

Cousins playing dress up.  Seriously, Alec has every princess dress possible, which made it especially convenient for all of them taking turns and dressing up - they have unlimited options :)

Gigi is always game to play with her grandkids. 

Hunter's wedding reception. 

Darling and getting so grown up.

Seriously, so beautiful! Great picture taking Britt!

I love my sister Britt, and she always looks incredible!!

Addie is quite the monkey bar girl, and she is really good for being so young!

Solana wanting to be like her cousin of course. 

Playing at the park never gets old

Boston survived his first big slide by himself! Love the action shot. 

He was a champ at the park, especially since we was recovering from throwing up repeatedly with the stomach flu from the night before. 

Friends from high school! Lisa, Michelle, and Lauren. It was so great to see them again, it has been over 12 years! 

Finally made it down the beach even though it was cold.

Boston seeing the ocean for the first time. 

On News Year's Eve we all went to the Safari Animal Park and had so much fun. Solana has been waiting a long time to see some of her favorite animals.

Bostie on his "Safari" adventure

Party time on New Year's Eve!

All these lovelies couldn't be any more beautiful. Love them!

Karaoke time at Fred and Brittanys place! Everyone did great and it was so entertaining to watch. I wish I had more energy to actually party, but New Year's Eve welcomed a very tired and overwhelmed CheyAnn into 2014. 

Brooke and Dan are always a great singing pair. 

Even Solana got really into it. She and the rest of the girls were so adorable singing. 

Heres to a happy new year!!

Christmas 2013!

Merry Christmas!! What a wonderful Christmas it was this year!  I swear they get better and better each year, or maybe its that we added another child and one that was a little older so she enjoyed it that much more.  Either way it was a blast! On Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve) and Christmas Eve we spent the days just hanging out and getting ready for our big family trip to California. We went and saw Santa (which was crazy, but perfect!), made gingerbread boys, wrapped presents and watched our favorite Christmas movie, Mixed Nuts.
Solana discovered some new favorites this season. Her favorite Christmas songs are "Little Drummin' Boy" by Jackson 5 (which we've listened to on repeat probably 1000 times), "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", and "Baby Jesus is Born" by Garth Brooks (that's my favorite too). She also loved watching Elf everyday.  And she really liked Bethlehem, and trying to find it (a nativity scenes) while we were driving.  She would always say "Bethlehem is my favorite." And everyday she asked if we could make gingerbread boys.  She loved Christmas and her excitement made it that much more special for us.

She was so excited to see Santa, and props to Boston for not even shedding a tear, he was a champ! 

She told Santa that she wanted a dolly house and he said he would get it for her. Thanks Santa for making such big promises :)  (Way to go Mom and Dad for waiting until December 23rd to take the kids to see Santa.  We waited in an enormous line for nearly an hour and a half!  But it was totally worth it!)

Yes we should have just gotten him a box for Christmas, he had a blast in it. 

Glad we caught the chaos on camera...

For Christmas Eve we got the kids new pajamas. Solana loved them, and I have not be able to get her into anything else since. 

Christmas morning was so much fun. She forgot when she first woke up that is was Christmas, but when we told her Santa had come, she could hardly stand the excitement.  

Boston loving his new books

Grandpa Ross got both kids a new scooter, and all morning Solana rode around saying "special delivery!" with a gift in tow. It was adorable.

Ross tradition, orange in the bottom of the stocking, and it seems to be Boston's favorite part.

Her dollhouse! She earned it, she stopped sucking her thumb during the day. 

Taking the new scooter out and learning how to brake, she did surprisingly well.  Then it was back inside and have our traditional breakfast tacos and then get ready to head to the airport. It was a wonderful and crazy day!