Christmas Card 2010

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Disney at Christmas 2010

Christmas time is always fun at Disneyland... and this year was even funner as my sister Jill and her family joined us. The first two days we were there the weather was so warm that we wore shorts and t-shirts. Good times!

A few family pictures-




Riding a roller coaster with the boys and some friends-



Visiting Mini Mouse's house in Toon Town-







A few random shots-

San Clemente 2010

This summer was a bit unusual when it comes to beach trips. We usually go with Darren's family for a week to Newport but that didn't work out this year. So, we found a place for ourselves in San Clemente and had a great time forming unique memories with just the six of us. My favorite part about this trip is that it was just us and our schedule...we did whatever we wanted and we were together the whole time. We definitely missed the entire Bryan family experience, though!



We took a few day excursions and the following photos tell a bit about two of those- a trip to the Rainbow flip flop store and a trip to a really fun pirate park...




One of my all time favorite memories of this trip is the swing set on the beach. We always set our stuff up near one of the sets so that the kids could go back and forth between the water, the sand, and the swings. The kids were crazy as they tried to launch themselves as high as possible on the dismount. It was fun to walk to the swings and get an ice cream along the way after our dinner but before the sun went down...




The boys love to find sand crabs and at this beach there were tons of them. I'm not going to lie, it can be addicting to dig and search for the mama of all crabs. This was my fave sand activity this year...






The view from out condo balcony... It was only a few minutes walk to get there. There is a great 6 mile path along the beach that I got to run along every day that we were there. There's also a train the runs along this section of the beach. It was fun for Nash to hear it and run to the window to watch it.


Good times...


Ethan and one of the many friends that he made at the beach this year. I love that the kids have the courage to just walk up to people and make a new bud. I wish adults were that way...


The boys and their remote control cars. We would take them down to the big empty parking lot in the morning before the crowds showed up. This usually ended up in a bit of a fight as they all would "accidentally" ram each other...


Sand, sand, and more sand...




The sunburned, tired, disheveled face tells the beach story the best...

What's For Dessert?

Do you think Nash could have pica? I thought that was only something that some pregnant women deal with. This child eats dirt by the spoonfuls...literally. He will eat it from a spoon. He will get down on the ground like he is doing a push up and lick it up! Which is what he did when I took these pictures. Hence, the extra dirt around the eyes and nose regions. My favorite is when we get to deal with it coming out the other side.

Keaton Turning 4

Keaton turned 4 on July 3rd. This little guy is such a great kid. There are lots and lots of things that I could list about what makes Keaton lovable. I'll name my fave: He is a great friend- he likes to play with friends and he is (most of the time) kind. He is a laugher- he laughs when he's in a good mood, when he's teasing, when he's nervous. He has gorgeous blue eyes- seriously, they are dreamy. He loves to learn- he loves school and he is already learning to read. He's into his muscles- he likes to flex for us, especially after he's eaten a good meal. He "gets it"- sometimes Keaton will tell me something or interpret something that seems difficult and he will be right on about it. We celebrated his birthday for several days...we just couldn't get enough...

We had a pool party at our house with the families of some of his favorite friends. He chose a race car cake. Crazy story- we had to postpone the pool party a few days cause the original date ended up being crazy busy as I ended up at the ER with Nash and at a radiology lab with Blake for a bone scan. Yikes!





Then we went to a swim party at our cousin's house and all of the Bryan cousins were there! We ate a yummy cake and sang to the birthday boy.






And we, of course, unwrapped presents first thing in the morning of July 3rd! I love that Keaton didn't mind that his brothers helped him unwrap the gifts.