Trip to California

For the kids Christmas present we gave them a trip to Disneyland!  The Buxton's were here for the holiday's and came with us.  In fact all of the Bunkall's came with the exception of Corwin and Brett.  We had such a great time, but it started a bit rocky.  We opted to go to Sacrament Meeting before we drove away but as we got ready for church our freezer food was thawing!  The freezer was broken so I stayed home from church to see if I could fix it.  I cleaned the coils and looked online and couldn't figure it out.  So the food was moved to the freezer in the garage and we drove off to Vegas.  

The Roundy's and Buxtons were already in Vegas and it was so nice to get away from the cold temperatures. It was as low as -3 degrees when we left.  Monday morning we woke up early and drove off to the beach where the temperatures were in the 50's!  

The kids loved the sun!

We had a nice lunch here at this restaurant at the end of the pier.

It was still a bit cold to spend much time in the water but kids love water no matter the temperature.

After checking into the hotel we walked along Downtown Disney and window shopped. The boys loved the amazing Lego store.

There was an outdoor play area where kids can make cars and race them like a pinewood derby race. 

For dinner we went to Goofy's kitchen and met up with Robert and Grandma Bunkall.  Alyssa was so excited to see Grandma.   

Alyssa enjoyed seeing some of the characters but wasn't as excited to see others. She loved Mini Mouse and Belle, but not Chip and Dale.

By the end of the night the kids were tuckered out.  Getting them to bed normally always takes well over an hour.  But for the next few nights they all crashed within minutes of their head hitting the pillow.

Logan's Baptism

Saturday January 5th, 2013 will forever be a special day for our family.  Our oldest son Logan was baptized!  He is such a good son and made a terrific decision to get baptized. 

He and I sat on the stand together and it was very nice to spend some quality time next to him. He loves to sing and sang (quite loudly) all of the songs.  Also baptized from our ward today was his friend Easton Palmer and a new neighbor Sydney Rogers.

After we all gathered at our house for lunch.  Jill still isn't exactly up to preparing a large meal so we opted to picking up a cold cut sandwich from Peterson's grocery store and had our mothers bring salad's.  Siblings brought cookies and chips and it was quite the feast. Alyssa spent most of the afternoon at the drink dispenser.  It was a Christmas present to Jill and Alyssa couldn't get enough of it.

It was so nice having all of the family together to celebrate this special day. We decided to capture this time with his grandparents.

Grandpa Bunkall is having some dental work done and his temporary tooth fell out eating lunch.  He really didn't want this picture taken, but I had to capture it.

Grandma and Grandpa Bryant.

Grandma and Grandpa Bunkall.

End of 2012

After Christmas we have spent most of our time working on Lego's.  It's been fun to stay at home with the kids and help care for Jill as she still needs a bit extra rest each day.  We spent a lot of time with the kids cousins, they love playing with Hayden and Tanner. 

The women went to the Nutcracker for about the 20th time.  Corwin took the sons to Zigfrieds for lunch which is something we love to do every year.  

We hadn't made it to temple square to see the lights, so after Christmas we went downtown and had an amazing time.  The crowds were so much smaller than before Christmas so it was very enjoyable. 

One night all of the Bunkall children went out to dinner.  We used to go to Texas Roadhouse, but the wait always caused us stress.  So for the 2nd year we went to Hires.  It's nice to have a ore quiet place where we can all sit together.  Brett didn't make it this year, he was busy moving into his new apartment.

One adorable note Logan wrote to Jill and I this year I wanted to include.  It's cute how he misspells "kancer" and also worked in his desire for a Nintendo 3DS.

As we wrap up 2012 it's been an eventful year.  I can only hope we don't have to meet our medical out of pocket maximums in 2013.  Big events already planned will include: another trip to Disneyland, my 40th birthday, Landon will enter 1st grade so Jill will just have Alyssa all day, and who knows what other adventures lie ahead?  

Christmas Day

Christmas Day is always so exciting!  Having young kids and seeing them so happy with toys from Santa is pretty great. To ensure we follow the days schedule, Jill and I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to shower and get ready.  We had to wake up the kids at 7:00 a.m. and when they realized it was Christmas they shot out of bed like rockets.  Here is what the house looked like when they woke up and came downstairs.

They all got what they asked Santa for:  Alyssa got two dollies, Logan got his Lego Ninjago Ultra Sonic Raider, and Landon his Lego Ninjago four headed dragon. Jill got a surprise present a Lladro piece of a mother reading to her daughter.

Our stockings hang from the banister.

At 9:00 a.m. we met at the Bunkall's for a delicious breakfast.

The grandchildren love opening presents from Grandma.  

Alyssa wouldn't take off her princess dress all day.  She loves it.

Then at 11:30 a.m. we went to the Bryant's for more amazing presents and lunch.

The last stop was at Grandma and Grandpa Bunkall's where we visited and ate more delicious food.  We got home late in the afternoon and began working on Legos.  Logan did such a great job working on his Legos, and Landon and I worked on his.  After a couple of hours Logan had finished, but Landon and I still had more to do.  The next day we finished Landon's Legos and after it was all said and done we had put together 2185 pieces of Legos!  Wow.

Here we all are with our spoils.

 

 

We had such a fun day surrounded by family and opening such fun presents.