New Years

After a fun trip to California for Christmas, we enjoyed a few days at home before spending New Years Eve at my parents house in Eagle Mountain. Utah got a ton of snow while we were in California and it snowed on and off for the first few days we were back. So, we spent New Years enjoying the snow.

Little E still fits in her 6-9 month snow suit from last year. Christmas story anyone? Haha!

Grandpa pulled out the kid skis and took Hazel on a few runs....

New Years Eve we started a murder mystery puzzle after the kids were in bed (and by we I mean my cousin Matt and I with some help from Gabby and my Mom). I have been dying to do a puzzle for a while and it was great! I'll admit we didn't quite finish all of the puzzle but we did guess at the murder before reading the solutions manual.

New Years Day it was time for more sledding! My parents house backs up to a golf course that has large burms all over that make perfect sledding hills. The girls loved it!

Grandpa and Brenna with my parent's new house in the background

Gram loved seeing the girls. Here she is entertaining all three of her granddaughters...

 And the best picture for last - three little snow angels!

Eliza 17 months, Brenna 3 1/2 months, Hazel 3 1/2years

California Christmas: The Beach!

Thursday was beach day! This was Hazel the moment her bare feet hit the sand...

Hazel LOVED it! She made a sand castle, found sand crabs, played ball with daddy, got soaked walking near the water, and just loved every second of it.

Eliza on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the sand at first. Grandpa took her off for a little adventure and before we knew it she too loved the sand. She spent the last half hour we were there running all over and laughing. So cute!

 Grandma and Jamie made an even cooler sand castle which they let Hazel knock over at the end:)

We ended the day with lunch at Ruby's on the end of the pier. Eliza LOVED all the birds and said bird every time she saw one. After Ruby's we took the ferry to Balboa Island (but sadly the girls fell asleep in the car). I finally tried the famous Balboa Bars and frozen banana bars, yum!

Michael was hoping to go surfing while we were there but it didn't work out. But, he loved breathing in the fresh beach air:) The next day it was time for us to drive home. We had such a fun trip full of all the best things in life - sun, relaxing, and most importantly family!

California Christmas: Long Beach and the Aquarium

Wednesday morning started with a trip to the park with Jamie. The girls had so much fun because it's been way too cold to go to the park here. Hazel rode there on the scooter Grandma and Grandpa gave them:)

That afternoon we took the girls to see Long Beach. Eliza was so cute the first time she saw the ocean. She just kept signing "water!" "water!" When we started walking back she cried and asked for more water.

Queen Mary

 Then we headed over to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I think Mike and I had just as much fun there as the girls. It's been years since either of us has been to an aquarium. One thing is for sure, I'm still super afraid of sea creatures. The thought of all those things swimming around me creeps me out big time!

Eliza LOVED it! At every large tank she would sit and watch the fish like this...

Hazel had fun too and kept pointing out characters from The Little Mermaid to me. She found Flounder, Sebastian, and of course "Ursala's mean snakes." I think she was hoping we'd see Ariel too:)

 There were several exhibits where you could touch things. I was brave and touched them all once (but it was pretty gross). The only thing we forced convinced Hazel to touch was a star fish. Eliza on the other hand wanted to jump right in. She stuck her finger in the mouth of this green anemone (and I screamed a bit haha).

This isn't the greatest picture but here we all are loving the aquarium. 

Michael's favorite part was the sharks. At the outdoor shark exhibit one shark swam right up to the glass with it's mouth open so we could see all of it's teeth. I can't imagine being bitten by a shark - they have TONS of teeth. He also loved this little guy; he's like a mini-hammer head but I can't remember what it's called. 

 

California Christmas: Christmas Eve and Day!!!!

Christmas was so much fun this year because Hazel was SO excited for Santa to come. We had chocolate advent calendars to count down the days to Christmas. Every morning she would open her calendar and ask how many days until Christmas. I loved her reaction when she ate the last chocolate. She said, "Wahooo! It's Jesus's Birthday tomorrow! And Santa's coming!" She was such a great example to us this entire Christmas season of where our priorities should be this time of year. Jesus's birthday! And oh yeah Santa comes too.

Christmas Eve we drove to Chery Valley to see Grandpa-Great and Phyllis. We had a nice pot luck dinner with them and the Cox family. It was so nice to visit with family thatI forgot to take any pictures.

The girls were both fast asleep when we got home so we forgot to leave cookies for Santa. Luckily he came anyways:)

Christmas day we had the traditional Ballard family big breakfast followed by opening presents. Santa brought Hazel two princess dolls which she ADORES and Eliza got a Minnie Mouse and a game.

The girls also loved part of their present from us which they got to open before we left for California... Our little monkey needed something to climb on. Thank to KSL we found something:)

 We spent the rest of the day lounging and playing. It was a wonderful, special Christmas all around.

California Christmas: Christmas Dresses

Whenever someone asked Hazel what she wanted for Christmas her answer was always a Sunday dress:) Thanks to my mom she got one and so did Eliza. She was even nice enough to let them open their dresses before we left Utah so they could wear them the Sunday before Christmas in California. We knew Hazel would be thrilled and she was, but we were shocked how excited Eliza was about her dress. If any of us touched her dress she would run over and say "Mine!" Thanks Mom for the girls' dresses!

Eliza 17 months

Hazel 3 1/2 years

We went to the ward Michael grew up in on Sunday. It was fun for him to see so many familiar faces. I loved it because they had a hand bell choir perform during sacrament meeting. They did a medley of Christmas songs from the hymn book and it was amazing! The building is also the most beautiful chapel I've ever seen. Inside there are murals painted on the walls of the nursery and primary rooms. There's also a mosaic depicting the tree of life on the outside of the building.

 

It was a wonderful Sunday where I felt so thankful for my little family. I love those three so much!

California Christmas: Staking Party

We were able to drive to California for Christmas to visit Michael's family. It was a GREAT trip! The girls did amazingly well on both the drive there and the drive home. Once we were there, we had a wonderful time visiting with family, enjoying some down time, seeing the sights, and most importantly enjoying the Spirit of the Christmas season.

Our first day there we were able to attend Grandma's skating party (she's a figure skating coach and rents the ice for an hour every year for a party). Hazel finally skated some on her own! She loved it and did so well. Eliza was cranky that day and didn't want to be put down, but she wore adorable mini skates anyways.

A few times early in the trip we stopped by various malls. I always forget how huge malls are in California, haha. While we were at an outlet mall, I snapped these fun picture of the girls.