Christmas Cards

We finally got our Christmas cards out today along with a Christmas letter. Unfortunately, I didn't order enough cards to send them to everyone, so I'm including a scan of our Christmas card on the blog. Merry Christmas!

Diddy Riese

After viewing the lights at the L.A. Temple, we took the boys to Diddy Riese. It's a little shop near UCLA which serves handmade cookie ice cream sandwiches. You get to pick the type of cookie you want and what flavor ice cream. It is made right in front of you. The boys really enjoyed it!

Christmas Lights at the Los Angeles Temple

John and I took David, Michael, and A.J. to see the Christmas Lights and Nativity at the Mormon Los Angeles Temple tonight.

Christmas 2009!

I took a few pictures on Christmas of the family opening gifts.

Chopsticks

AJ wanted to learn how to use chopsticks when we went to Pei Wei yesterday. Here are a few photos chronicling his attempt to use chopsticks for the first time. David, who already knows how to use chopsticks, wanted his picture taken also. Michael refused to try them.

Gingerbread Houses

A good friend of mine, Kristina Hicks, invited us to her home to make gingerbread houses. Unfortunately, I packed my rolling pins away in a box which is somewhere in our storage unit. So my poor children had to use graham crackers (as all the stores were sold out of their gingerbread house kits, and I didn't make gingerbread). They did a really good job. I especially like John's house.

Thanks, Kristina!

David's Clock Tower

AJ's House

Michael's House

John's Brownstone

One more Disneyland picture...

Since I take most of the pictures, there are very few of me anywhere we go. John snapped this one on his iphone while AJ and I were on Autopia at Disneyland on Monday.

Origami Santa

John saw this gift card at Walmart and thought it was neat, so he took a picture, and he and Michael recreated one at home.

Michael's Origami Santa

John's Origami Santa

Don Bluth

John met Don Bluth at the CTN Expo in Burbank about a month ago. This is the second time John met him. The first time was when he was working at House of Moves about a year ago. If you don't know who Don Bluth is, click on this link or this link to find out more.

More Disneyland: Astro Blasters

One of the boys' favorite things to do at Disneyland is to ride Astro Blasters. Here are copies of our pictures from the ride along with our scores.

Does Disneyland Encourage Waste?

Everytime we go to Disneyland, our family enjoys a good laugh when one of us says, "Disneyland is bad. They're telling us to waste." Most of their trash cans say "Waste Please." I should have taken pictures of all the different cans that say it, but this one is from Frontierland on Tom Sawyer Island.

Honestly, Disneyland is quite "green" as they have recycling bins right next to almost every trash can in the park and those cans say "Recycle Please."

The Grinch was at Disneyland!

Okay, not really. However, immediately after arriving on Tom Sawyer Island, I saw this woman in the green sweater, and the first thing I thought was that the green is "Grinch" green. So now you know a little more about how my crazy mind works.

Disneyland!

We splurged and took the entire family to Disneyland on Monday. We had a great time! Jacob brought his girlfriend, Christina, along, too. It was a great day!