Santa Fe Part 2

I could have titled this Jon's Birthday Party but it was in Santa Fe so Part 2 works.

We went bowling at the Casino on the reservation.  It was nice- you almost did not know you were in the casino.  Also you could bowl by the hour- 6 people per lane for $20 including shoes.

 Grandma such a nice form!

 Lily  had a massive blowout- huge!

 My dad took a bowling class back in his BYU days and he still knows how to roll a good score!

 Go Jonny Go!

 Jana and her cute family!

 This little Peanut had a really good time.

 Then we headed back to the hotel for lunch, cake and some gifts.

 We had confetti poppers too!

 We went to some Native American Ruins- Pecos. Some of the findings date back to 800 a.d.

 Don't let the snow deceive you - it was actually warm. 

 Beautiful views!

 Franciscan Monks came and built a church and taught the Native Americans. They taught them how to make adobe bricks.  This chapel was made of 3,000 40 lb bricks.  It was amazing how much of the original building still stands - very little of what you see above is restored.

 Down in one of the Native's dwellings. 

Arabella sporting the lid to our new Cranium game- it has the texture of a brain.  So silly!

We had a great time!Thanks for making the drive Grandma and Grandpa Bird and Clegg Family.

Christmas 2011

I could write captions for each photo but really they speak for themselves.

Christmas Eve Pajamas

 (He really was just scratching his nose.)

 I had to work hence the scrubs.

This has become Peter's new favorite shirt.

Now for Christmas Morning- we opted to just enjoy the Santa gifts until after church. 

 You might think that this toy lasted Sasha a really long time but she destroyed it before the day was over.

 Peter was really excited about these new tools- adjustable ratcheting wrench and a set of serious cake decorating tips.  That's my man - well rounded!

 That is a bag of bones Peter is holding- he asked me after Halloween this year when I was going to let him do the really fun decorations outside our house.  I did not realize he wanted skulls and headstones and such so I found 2 bags of bones on clearance and he was so happy!

 Blurry but you can taste the excitement.

 Girly toys - so fun!

We finished our day off having dinner with our friends the Ostermiller's.  I am sad I did not take pictures.  Last year we had oriental/chinese food and so this year we went to Germany.  Chad Ostermiller served his mission there so he helped us have some authentic food.  It was so delicious! I am thinking next year we will head to Peru for our menu.  

I love Christmas day because it is a day of family, relaxing, playing and love.  I especially love Christmas on Sunday-we had a beautiful musical meeting.  Thank you to everyone who sent our family gifts! The kids have played and played and been so happy! 

Date Nights

When I saw that Beauty and the  Beast was going to be in theaters again, I told Peter he was taking Arabella.  He did and she loved it! After we told her she was so excited to go to the movie "peater" (how she says theater) and get a drink and buttery popcorn.  They did  just that and she felt like a princess.  She fell asleep on the way home even though it was 7 pm- too much excitement for one young little princess heart!
Jon, wanted to know when he would get to go on a date.  I asked him what he wanted to do on a date and he said go shopping for toys- hmmm.  I said no to that but that he and I could go to dinner.  He liked that idea and he liked it even more when I told him we could go some place that serves shrimp.  I talked it over with Peter and Saturday night Jon took me to dinner.  I drove of course and my date had to ride in the back seat but he did pay (with money from Peter).  It was supposed to be his surprise that he was paying but while we were waiting for our food he suddenly got panicked and said wait, I did not pay and reached for his pocket.  I told him it was not time yet and then he was sad he had ruined the surprise.  I told him I was still surprised and explained how it works at a sit down restaurant and taught him how to say "check please" - which at first he thought meant they would bring him money and in that case he wanted "a hundred dollars no a thousand dollars."  It was really funny.  Thank you TGIFridays for having a 2 for $10 special that we each got and so we enjoyed a 3 course meal.  And walking around Toys R Us is the perfect end to a date with a 6 year old. Jon was a great little date and it was really good to have some one on one time with him.
Peter and I talked it over and we decided that we will rotate and so each month one of our children will get to have a date with one of us or both of us and we will get a baby sitter.  I hope we can stick to it.  Jon was ready for another date today! Silly kid.

Warm Park and Freezing Zoo

So last Friday, it was in the upper 60's and gorgeous so I picked up the kids after school and we headed to the park! There could not be a better way to spend a day in January.We even had friends show up -unplanned- and so it was even more perfect.

 Then it rained for days off and on and became really cold.  I had promised to take Arabella to the zoo Tuesday and so even though it was drizzling/misting and you could see your breath, we loaded up and headed to Fort Worth Zoo.

A fair number of animals were inside but we found a few and since we were 3 of only about 12 patrons there that day I think the animals were glad to see us too.

 Cheetahs

 Kangaroo statue (the real ones were out)

Lily stayed warm zipped up in my coat and though she has a scowl I think she had fun.

We ate lunch by one of the windows in the cafeteria that is also a wall to an aquarium like pond and watched the turtles, gharials and fish.  I also learned something new:

Did you too learn something new?

Santa Fe Part 1

I am way behind.  The month of December pretty much was a total blur and I was holding on for dear life.

I will eventually get Christmas on here which was amazing but for now I will post some pictures from our trip to Santa Fe that we went on right after Christmas.

We left Monday (26th) and headed to Amarillo where we stayed the night and enjoyed dinner at Chuck E. Cheese- Happy Birthday Jon! The kids loved it. 

Here the kids are dancing with Chuck E. himself and the workers threw out tokens or tickets- I can not remember now but the fun!!

 Lily was there helping me take pictures. Little miss grabby hands.

 Joey hit the Jackpot on one of the ticket games- 151 tickets!

 Lily enjoying a ride too!

 Tuesday morning as we left Amarillo we saw the Cadillacs planted in the ground.

 There were some leftover cans of paint from previous visitors and so we added our names to the "appropriate graffiti" (that is what a website called it and it was).

 The boys both got paint on them- oh well they loved it. 

 We made it to Santa Fe on Tuesday afternoon and ate at a yummy restaurant and then saw the trains. 

 We played at a park for a bit and this odd bench was there.

 Arabella in the spinner seat- see video.

 I have more pictures to post from other things we did but they are on another card so you can now look forward to a Santa Fe part 2. 

 Grandma reading to Arabella and Trevor.

Lily plain tuckered out from all of the fun. 

Santa Fe was a fun place to go.  Peter called it a yuppy, tree hugging, organic hippy place.  Yes- it is true that as we were looking at different places to eat there were a whole lot of them that were organic or locally supplied.  The restaurant we had lunch at on Tuesday we sat next to 4 people that were discussing ways they could revitalize the "occupy" movement in Santa Fe.  At the park, there were several tents set up with some signs posted- they were protesting building of some sort.  

Spinning video from the park.

This is a video of how Lily spent a good part of her time in the car.  She really got in to the lion toy.  I love seeing babies discover new skills.

There was snow, family, a swimming pool, a movie theater and good food so all in all it was a great time!