Train Museum

 Bruce is obsessed with trains, train tracks, train horns, train wheels, anything that has to do with a train. We finally took him to the California Railroad Museum in Old Town Sacramento and oh my, this kid died and went to heaven! There were so many trains he didn't know which one to run to first! He loved it so much we bought a family membership. We can go whenever we want and it also includes free train rides.

 Rhyan is such a ham and loves taking pictures. She likes to master things over and over again, this trip it was up and down the stairs. Lucky momma!

 The trains were very neat and Kiel and I enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.

After the museum we walked threw Old Sacramento, grabbed lunch and grabbed a pound of salt water taffy. Such a fun day!

Christmas Morning

 Christmas morning was quiet and celebrated with just us four. Santa left unwrapped gifts under the tree and we opened our presents from each other. I made breakfast in the crock pot the night before but it was really gross and I won't be trying that recipe again. We had the Keogan's and my Aunt over for Christmas dinner. It was super low key and really yummy!

 I tried to get a picture of them both by the Christmas tree but they wouldn't hold still.

They loved their presents from Santa ($4 at Walmart)

Somebody tried to sneak down the stairs and wait for Santa, I guess he couldn't wait that long ;)

Sarah's Birthday

One of my good friends had a birthday in December. We made it a friendship union and a bunch of us went out to dinner in Walnut creek! We had so much fun! Happy birthday Sarah!

Thanksgiving 2012

Ummm, I know I'm way behind but...We hosted Thanksgiving and it was a lot of fun. We had a lot of visitors and our kids loved playing with their cousins. My agenda also included a 12 hour black friday shopping trip where I got a lot of my Christmas decorations for a steal. A 7'5" fake Christmas tree for $55 bucks anyone? Yeah, it was awesome. Kiel officially hates poinsetta's because I went on poinsetta overload. Anyway, here are pics from Thanksgiving weekend:

 Funny story about my Thanksgiving decorations. I went outside and cut a few branches down from our trees, unfortunately there were only a few that had fall foliage and the rest were green. I had a brilliant idea to go out and cut branches from the trees on Sand Creek Road, but I didn't have time so we elected Kerry. He willingly (or reluctantly) obliged and thankfully cut down all of the branches we needed before the Brentwood police told him to "stop doing that." Thanks Kerry! And we are glad we didn't have to bail you out!

 

 I pulled out the Elf the night everyone got there. Mariah absolutely loved him and drew pictures for him to take back to Santa.

Black Friday Madness

 .99 cent poinsettas at Home Depot.

Garland, Wreaths and more poinsettas. If you look closely you can find Steve. This is where he stayed most of the trip. I don't even think he slept in the guest bed. Dang college finals!

 The day after Thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas!

One of the many attempts to get a group picture of the cousins.

 It was fun! Should we do it again next year? And maybe Brig and Tyler will come too!

Fran's 30th b-day party

So, back in the day, like back in September, Fran turned 30 and Elizabeth Carter and I threw her a Dirty Thirty party. I came across the pictures today and decided to share ;)

Invitations: I don't have pictures of the invites but they were super creative. Did you know that you could mail random things through postal service? I always thought you had to put everything in a box or envelope and add a stamp. Not so my friends, not so. You can mail water bottles, flip flops, and lot's of other stuff, just google it. No need for a box, just put a stamp directly on the item.

Since the theme was dirty thirty, we crumbled up oreo cookies, rolled up the invitation and shoved it in a water bottle along with some gummie worms and mailed them to the lucky ladies. We asked everyone to wear black to mourn the death of her twenties, while Frances was asked to wear her favorite color.

Dinner: The menu was pulled pork butt sandwiches, baked beans and spicy slaw. We made it messy on purpose and provided absolutely no silverware so everyone had to eat with their hands. It was fun/funny! We also had peanut butter chocolate shakes, awesome appetizers and messy smores bar for dessert.

The sign on the window said "happy dirty thirty fran" We also had a collage of her "first thirty years." That fell on the floor

Dinner after math, 30 mason jars, also played as her birthday candles

Party favors, home made soap wrapped in scrap book paper

Little notes we had around the house

Birthday girl opening gifts

My dad and his three girls

The group