All aboard!

Since we have lived in Arizona, we have heard about the famous Polar Express train that exists in a small town called Williams. You go on their train, wearing Pj"s and they serve cookies and hot cocoa, sing carols, and cruise past the North Pole, and then Santa comes on the train and visits. Our kids loved it! I thought it was fun, but my skeptical self just kept thinking about how much dough they were raking in for just an hour train ride, what a scrooge! The town was so dang cute! We stayed in a house with the Jolley's. We spent the night, and the next day was Christmas Eve, and it totally started to snow. We had so much fun! We had an awesome breakfast and opened our PJ's and cousin gifts together. It was a really fun weekend!

Tiny Dancers

Brooklyn and Isla had their winter dance recital. I'm definitely not a dance mom, and I have no idea if they are even good at dance, but I will say, watching your kid do this stuff is pure entertainment!

Brooklyn, aka, Shakira was awesome! She was born with some crazy hip movements. You really just have to watch her video. She has improved so much this year and is really enjoying dance. 

The only reason I put Isla into dance was because it was the same time as Brooklyn's dance class and I figured it would be a lot easier to make someone else manhandle her for an hour than having to entertain her for that hour. She ended up loving it! So about 3 dances before Isla went on, I got a text from the backstage mom. She said that Isla was refusing to put her nightgown on. I hurried and ran behind the stage, and there she was fighting the mom about her nightgown. I did my best to bribe, threaten and sweet talk her into wearing the outfit. She refused. So we were on the side of the stage ready for her dance to start, and literally 30 seconds before they went on stage, she finally agreed to put the nightgown on. Phew. Talk about diva! She got on stage, sort of stared at the crowd for a minute, then started jumping around and dancing. It was pretty cute!

Magical keys

Avery had her winter piano recital. She played "Up on the Housetop."

She is getting pretty good at the piano, that is, when she doesn't get frustrated and chuck her books during her lesson. True story. Little stink!

Turkey Day in SLO

I love having a reason to travel to California! Kevin and Kimberly live in San Luis Obispo aka California's best kept secret. We love this place! Its central California. You feel like you are in the middle of the country, mixed with a really eclectic downtown. There is agriculture everywhere! You can go pick peaches, oranges, apple plus one of the biggest farmers markets in the country. We decided to go up there for Thanksgiving. Kimberly is an amazing cook, and she pretty much makes everything! Our feast was pretty divine!

The look of two hungry boys right before Thanksgiving dinner.

Also, just hanging out with the Charles family was divine!

We love this place and these people!

Avery futbol 2016

I think Avery is starting to get it. She had a great soccer season this year. She was way more aggressive, she had the desire to score lots of goals and she hustled a lot. Travis is taking credit for everything because this is the first year he coached her team. I tend to think she did better this year because of the promises of slurpees after the game from said coach. Either way, she had a great season!

 Your cousins came all the way from California and Utah to watch her... and ya know, see her get baptized. She had a huge fan club that week!

A Man's man

Ever since we moved to Globe, Travis has had an inkling to get himself a truck. He drives a tiny 2009 Honda Fit and everyone makes fun of him. He finally pulled the trigger and we bought ourselves a new Dodge Ram. He loves it!

Now Travis is a real man. He has three out of three qualifying reasons. 1) He has a job 2) He owns a house and 3) He owns a truck

Welcome to manhood Travis!