December Fun!

The other day we were bored so we went to the mall. We decided to go see if there was a line to Santa and lucky for us there was no one there. Hayden walked right up and asked him if he remembered going to the Christmas party and then told him what she wanted for Christmas...a shopping cart and food.
Carson was pretty thrilled with him too!!
Hayden also found some Barbie wrapping paper at our house that I had been hiding from her. So I told her Santa must have come to wrap presents and left a little behind. She believed every word and decided it would be a good idea to take it to the mall to give back to him.
We got hit with a lot of snow, so we took advantage and built a "snow girl."

Hayden's Performance

The week before the Christmas party Hayden learned the song "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas." So I decided it would be the perfect song for her to sing at the Christmas party. We practiced all week and she was all ready to perform. She has never really done anything like this before, so I wasn't sure if she was going to be nervous and sing really quietly or not even do it at all. But when it was her turn, she hopped right up there and started singing like she had done it a thousand times before. The only problem was, she wasn't singing the right song. She just started making up a song that really didn't make any sense and sounded like it was in a different language! :) She does this at home a lot and goes on and on and on and on..... I felt bad making her stop, but she was just as happy to sing the right song. It was a pretty funny/cute moment.

Lyman Family Christmas

December 18th was the annual Lyman family Christmas party. My mom was in charge this year and she did a great job. We had dinner, a cute program, the kids performed the Nativity, we played a bouncing ball game and of course Santa came. My Dad played Santa and most of the kids were not fooled...even Hayden knew it was Grandpa. :)
Not scared of Santa at all.
This is Hayden's first time sitting on Santa's lap. She was nervous at all. We were so proud of her!!
He does this cheesy smile when the camera is on him. He had a blast crawling around mingling with everyone. He is social little boy!

Whats Been Going On...

We went bowling a couple of weeks ago. It was Hayden's first time and she enjoyed bowling but liked playing the arcade games a lot better.

We babysat our nephew for a week at the beginning of December. This is what took place the first night. Poor kid is going to hate me when he is sixteen!!

A night out with the Stars ;) ha ha

My friend Janice and I got each other/ourselves tickets to the Kurt Bestor Christmas concert. I found out a couple days before the show that Jason Castro(American Idol Season 7) was going to be performing as well and I knew I had to go. I had a tiny crush on him during his run on AI and thought it would be fun to see him in person. So I called Janice up and talked her into going with me! The concert was really good even though I am not a huge Kurt Bestor fan. Jason performed very well and then signed autographs afterward. It was a great night!!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had an amazing Thanksgiving this year. All of my family was together for an entire week. We did all the usual things...eat, play games, talk, eat, shop, ect... We celebrated my mom's birthday on Monday. We had tacos, cake, played games and opened presents. It was a lot of fun. We also took the kids to 'Tangled.' It was really cute, everyone liked it except Hayden who said she didn't like it because it had a mean witch (but she really did like it.)
Hayden got to spend every night but one at Granny Jo's house, she thought it was pretty cool to have a sleep over every night. She loves her cousins and gets a long so well with all of them.
Carson spent most of his time crawling around looking for little things on the floor to eat. Seriously every time you looked at him he was chewing on something, his favorite is paper!!
It was a great a week and I am sad it is over, but am definitely looking forward to December and everything that comes with it!!

Nicole, Crosby, Hayd, Ava, Brooklyn and Heidi preforming "Five Fat Turkeys are We."
Enjoying a little Spaghetti!
We exchanged Christmas presents and this is what Carson and Hayden got. Thanks Shell, they LOVE them!!!

Day 9 & 10

The last two days of our trip were pretty uneventful besides me getting sick with food poisoning at one in the morning the day we are supposed to drive nine hours!! Needless to say that trip was pretty miserable for me, but I think Colin had it even worse!! He had to drive, keep the kids entertained and fed, handle bathroom breaks and take care of his puking/whining wife. He handled it so well and did not complain once!! The kids also did AMAZING!!!!!!
We stopped in St. George and stayed the night. Colin and the kids swam and then we all hit the hay!!
Luckily the next day I woke up feeling MUCH better and the 3 1/2 hour trip home seemed like a breeze!!! We were all very happy to be home!!

Day 8

Friday we spent the day hanging around Santa Maria and Pismo Beach.
We started of the day at the beach. It was a little cold and I am not a huge fan of mixing a 9 month old and sand, so we didn't stay there too long. Hayden didn't mind too much because her and her Dad got to "swim" in the hot tub. While they swam I got to hold Carson while he slept and sit and watch the ocean...it doesn't get much better than that!! Also while I was sitting there I saw a couple of whales WAY off in the distance, it was really cool.

After the hot tub we headed to this cute little park. Next we went to a place called Avila Barn. It is a really cute barn with a pumpkins patch, hayrides, ice cream shop, fruit stand and a petting zoo. After Avila Barn we met up with Colin's Aunt and Uncle and had lunch out on the Avila Pier.
This is Colin being brave and getting the close the mass amount of sea lions at the bottom.
Hayden after lunch, she was spent!!!

Day 7

We dropped the kids off with Colin's sister, hopped in our Mustang and headed up the coast. It was overcast, a little rainy and pretty cold, but that didn't stop us from putting the top down!! The drive was gorgeous and it was so nice to have the whole day to ourselves.


This is where we ate lunch. I had a picture in my mind of where I wanted to eat and this was place was perfect!! The food was really good too!

Day 6

I forgot something major that happened on Day 5.
A few weeks before we left Colin told me he had a surprise for me, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. About every other day he would give me a little gift and a clue to help me figure out what the surprise was. Finally I figured out that he had planned for him and I to rent a convertible and drive up the coast to Santa Barbara. He had asked his sister to watch our kids for us and then we got back we were going to pack up and drive to Vegas. I was so excited, it has always been a dream of mine to drive the coast in a convertible!!! Plis it is out of character for Colin to do something like this, so it really meant a lot for him to think, plan and carry out something this big!!
So back to Day 5...we were at lunch at the House of Blues and Colin said "so do you want to know what your birthday present is?" I just said "I already know what it is" and he said "no you don't." He then proceeded to tell me that instead of doing our drive and going home tomorrow we were going to drive up to Santa Maria, stay at a hotel on the beach for two nights, drive up the coast to Monterrey and not go home until Saturday. I couldn't believe it, I was so surprised and excited!!
So we spent day six driving up to Santa Maria/Pismo Beach. We stopped at a town called Solvang. It is a cute little Danish touristy town with shops, bakeries and art gallery's. It was a nice break!
Colin's Aunt, uncle and cousins live in Santa Maria, so after we checked into our awesome hotel we met up with them at a pizza place and had dinner. It was a lot of fun and really good to see them all.

Eating ice cream in Solvang.
Part of our hotel...Cottage Inn by the Sea.

Day 4 & 5

We spent the next two days at Disneyland.
Monday was mine and Hayden's birthday...is there a better way to celebrate your birthday??
Also on Monday Mindy, Tony and girls joined us. So now all of Colin's family was there except Audrey & fam and Lee & Leah! It was really nice having so many people there; Colin and I were able to sneak away and ride some of the bigger rides.
We had a early morning pass to Toon Town, which was really fun because a lot of the characters are out & about and it is not as crowded!All the characters put on a little show. It was really cute.
Eating brunch at Minnie's house.Taking a snooze on Minnie's bed.Carson just wanted to attack every character.Monday was Hayden's actual birthday, so we had to take a picture by the cake & balloons.Crawling around on Pluto's bed. Colin and I were off riding "Sorin and Scream'n" when they met Minnie the Pilot. I was sad, she is so cute!!
Hayden's ketchup covered face and her $18 mouse ears!!
These guys look like statues but they were real. The army guy was hilarious!!
Trying on a Woody hat and showing off his chompers!

This is the Toy Story ride, it was a lot of fun!!
These two took SO many naps in the strollers, they were such troopers!!
Waiting for the Aladin show to start. This was one of my favorite things. They put on an amazing show. They tell the whole story in about 45 minutes. It really was an impressive as a Broadway show.
They are making a huge new Cars attraction that is opening in 2012, I bet it will be really cool!! Good thing we have another trip planned for 2013!We were wondering around New Orleans square when Tiana and her Jazz band came marching past us. We followed them and eventually they stopped so we could get a picture.
I know all the princesses are paid to be nice, but "Tiana" was really sweet and friendly! I will never forget how Hayden looked at her, like she had never seen anything as beautiful as her. Hayden also told her that she saw her movie, I think Tiana was very flattered! :)That night we saw the World of Color show, which is amazing. But we didn't really like how they do it. They cram a million people into a small area and make you stand for 30 minutes or however long it is...we left early because we were too tuckered out. Plus kids really cant see unless you are holding them, so that made it even harder.
Tuesday
Good ol' Tuesday!! It basically rained the whole day, so I don't have many pictures. We were able to see the princesses and Tinkerbell.
Waiting in her beautiful Belle dress to meet the Princesses...Belle wasn't even there. :(
Hayden asked all of them where the Prince was?
I was not very impressed with Snow White. She wouldn't even bend down to talk to her or take a picture.
Cinderella was super sweet. I think she and Tiana were our favorites.

Visiting Tinkerbell at Pixie Hollow. There was also a boy fairy, I am not sure who is he was, but Hayden did not want anything to do with him.
Outside of the Indiana Jones ride...definitely our favorite ride!! I could go on that one over and over again!!
The second half of the the day we were supposed to go trick-or-treating and see some of the villians in the Halloween special they had going on, but we got rained out! So we went back to the hotel got warm and then Colin took the kids and met up with everybody to eat at Rain Forest Cafe. I was not feeling too well so I stayed at the hotel by myself(which was a much needed break), I found out on this trip that caffeine makes me nauseous.

Overall Disneyland was amazing!!!!! We dealt with Crowds and rain, but it was still so much fun!! Now we have a much better idea what to do and not not do next time...2013!!!