Christmas in California

For the first time since moving here to California, we decided to stay home for the actual Christmas day and then drive out to Utah afterwards.  It made for a much more stress-free holiday without having to worrying about which house Santa would find us at and how to make Christmas break fair divided among 3 families.  I really enjoyed doing it just our little family.  The kids were wonderful and very well behaved and didn't make us regret spoiling them for Christmas!  We had a great time at home before our 2 weeks in Utah.  Here's some documentation:

I can't believe I have 3 beautiful children!  So blessed.  This pic was on our Christmas card.

 Christmas includes lots of yummy treats :)

 The real Santa comes to Jelly Belly factory, didn't you know?

 Decorating gingerbread men.  The one in the speedo was done by daddy, of course...

 Christmas Eve trip to see the lights at the Oakland temple.  We took two shots because the flash showed our faces but without it you could see the temple. 

 Christmas Eve jammies and Angry Birds board game.

  Korbin must have been good because he got his McQueen Hawk he'd been asking for!

 Kevin was good too because his wifey is awesome and bought him a Rossi 410 lever action shotgun.  Never mind that it didn't work and had to be returned to the manufacturer and he won't get it back for 6 weeks ( grrr).  At least he knows he's loved!

 The mess after all the presents were opened.

 Christmas lunch with our sweet California family.  Here's Kassidy and "grandma" Jennette.

Merry Christmas!

November

I'm a wee bit behind on my blogging, so I'm going to wrap up the month of November in one giant post.  So if you don't care, then don't read it!  Lol!

We've been giving tons of kisses to this sweet girl, and she's learning to smile!

 Grandma and Grandpa Marchant came out to meet Miss McKinley. I love this picture of Grandpa Marchant's big hands next to McKinley tiny ones.

 We blessed McKinley Rose on November 18th, surrounded by family and friends. Kevin gave a beautiful blessing!  A man in our ward recorded it on his IPad for us so Kevin listened to it back and typed it all out.  What a precious thing to have and share with her when she's bigger.

 McKinley wore a beautiful heirloom dress that my Grandma Hicken crocheted for me when I was a baby.  I  was blessed in it, Kassidy was blessed in it, and now McKinley.  I hope to pass it on to my girls one day too.  She also wore a pair of booties made by my mom and wrapped in a blanket made by Grandma Marchant.  She was definitely covered in crocheted love from ALL her Grammy's!

 We had a family luncheon after church and my aunt Jennette was so kind to open her home for the event.  It was nice because our little apartment would never fit all those people!

 Our best friends the Tabish's came too.  We love them like family!

 Thanksgiving was spent in Arbuckle at my step-mom's brother's house (confused yet? Me too). My dad and family all came out and we enjoyed good food and beautiful weather.

November was good to us and December is already starting out great!

Halloween fun

October has been fun and the weather has been very warm, so we've been taking advantage and getting out a lot.  We spent a morning at the Dixon Pumpkin Patch and had a great time! It was hot, but enjoyable and even better since Kevin could be there with us.  The kids picked out their own pumpkins and wanted little baby ones, so we decided to paint them instead of carve them (since there's not much to carve).

We also had our ward Fall Festival Saturday night.  We were on the planning committee so we spent a good chunk of the day setting up and taking down at the church.  The kids had a good time though, and our costumes were fun!  Kevin and I went as Chinese geisha and sushi chef and McKinley was our little sushi roll.  Kassidy was Ariel and Korbin was Superman. We are all ready for Halloween tomorrow!

Happy Halloween everyone!