::huntington beach::

While we were in California, it was a pretty big deal to me to go see the ocean. I remember the first time I ever saw it in Florida when I was little. I really wanted Matt and the kids to see it and taste the water. I don't know why, it was just kind of a big deal to me.

So...

we went to the beach too...


















...and it was SO much fun! I think it did us some good to get away from the Disneyland crowds for the afternoon (our last day there-Saturday). There was lots of runnin' in and out of the water, chasing waves, getting chased by the waves, squealing, throwin' sand in the water, writing our names (or Buzz's name) in the sand, finding seashells, getting our pants wet, staying back away from the water (Bubb) 'cause we're not too sure, tasting the salty water, seeing how far out we could go...

Then, Port fell in...completely! He was soaked from head to toe. He cried a little. We took off his wet clothes, and he ran around in his undies and was happy again.

(poor Tatey!!)

And that was our day at the beach
:)

::disneyland::

We went to Disneyland!!!


Earlier in the year (Spring-ish) Matt and I were talking about how completely in love with Buzz and princesses our kids are. We went to Disney World when Chloe was 1, but she wasn't into princesses yet and there was no Portie or Coopie yet either. So we thought we'd better go before they grow out of loving these characters so much. Mom and Kevin said they'd love to come too (and we're glad they did!!). AND yes I was 6 months pregnant-and knew I would be back when we were planning this trip in the Spring, and yes I got really tired and my feet hurt, and yes I had to be in quite a few pictures (which I usually do not do while pregnant) looking huge, and YES it was completely worth it!!

We got the 3 day park hopper tickets. So we got to go to California Adventure too. It's hard to say which park we liked better (if we had to make a choice, we'd probably say Disneyland, but they were both SO fun!).

We left early Wednesday (12-8) morning. 4:30 to be exact. The kids got up great, and did AWESOME in the car! We made one stop about 5 1/2 hrs into the trip and didn't stop again until we got to California. What a bunch of troopers! We couldn't have asked for a better road trip!



Since we went right before Christmas, it was all decked out in Christmassy stuff. When we went to DW, it was the same kind of thing-we went right after Christmas, and we love it! They played Christmas music through their speakers outside the whole time, and there were trees and wreaths and garlands everywhere.



Our plan for the few days were were there was to do as much as we possibly could until we just couldn't go anymore. The kids did great. They even handled the walking pretty well. We rode lots of rides (Nemo, Buzz, Dumbo, Tea Cups, some roller coasters, and some carousels to name a few).

Portie was way excited to be tall enough to ride the bigger rides (the cars, Space Mountain, etc).

The Buzz ride...oh man we only got to ride it about a hundred times! We got to shoot Zurg with lasers and see who had the most points at the end of the ride. We all loved it-espesh Portie and Coop.


We also ran into Buzz while we were there!! Portie was SO excited! He happened to be wearing his Buzz shoes and shirt that day, so he got to show him. Buzz gave him a thumbs up. Portie was so cute with Buzz! He just LOVED seeing him! It was precious, and, of course, made me a little teary.



Chloe, being the princess that she is, got to go get her hair done at the "Bippity Boppity Boo-tique." What a fun little experience! The ladies in there called her "princess" the WHOLE time, she got a pretty royal treatment-nails, make-up, hair done, sparkles. She just loved it! It was fun to watch her sit in the chair and get pampered a bit. It was very "Chloe."

(before)


(during)


(after)

The hair lasted for 3 (yes 3!!) days. Those Fairy God Mothers can really cake on the gel and hairspray!

So, after her hair appointment, we took her over to the "Princess Fantasy Faire" where she got to meet some princesses-like really meet them, in real life!! It was the sweetest thing to watch! She was so starstruck and excited at the same time. I got a little teary again.


So the day we went to California Adventure we discovered Chloe is a thrill seeker!! She was all over those big roller coasters and the Tower of Terror (which is one of my faves!). She and Matt rode it twice in a row, and then they rode the California Screamer (a big ol' roller coaster) twice. Matt really didn't want to go the second time, but he did just for her, and he was a little sick afterwards! He usually doesn't get like that either; he loves roller coasters too. But way to go, Dada-takin' one for the team! Port wasn't big enough to ride the Screamer, but he could've ridden Tower of Terror, but he didn't want to. Which I'm kinda glad for. I think it would've been too scary, and we didn't want him to get too scared and not ride anything else.

While we waited for everyone on the big rides, Bubb, Port, and I rode a carousel, saw Woody, tried to ride Toy Story Mania (but it was closed-they were having problems with it), watched the little army men play some music, and fed the ducks. The little boys got a little sleepy too.


That same day, we went back in the evening for the parade. It was pretty fun. Short and sweet-just like we like 'em :) We got to see Buzz (see those excited little boys??) and lots of princesses. We saw Santa, Mickey & Minnie, Goofy, and I'm sure some others.


Coop and I waited a lot on this trip. We couldn't ride most of the rides (he's too little, and I'm too big), so we waited and watched. It was good though-we didn't mind. But when we got to the ones he could ride (carousels, Dumbo, etc. ), oh man, was he excited!! We'd wait in line for a bit, and he'd say "Bubba tuhn" and sometimes he'd cry when it was time to get off. I think he was just so happy to get to do something too. It was pretty cute.


The bumper cars...They had fun trying to hit each other. There was a sign that pointed the direction all the cars were supposed to go, and Matt, of course, went the opposite way just so he could ram into Chloe and Grandma. Portie might've loved it :)


We got to see World of Color there too. It was pretty amazing! There's the lake, and these water fountain things that shoot up with lights and images are displayed on the water...Anyway, it was really cool and colorful :)


Our last day we went in early (we had passes to get in an hour before the park opened-which worked out great since it was Saturday and busier than the other 2 days). So we got in there and finished up the things we didn't get to do on Thursday...


(small world-all Christmassy)

Portie got some Buzz toys at the park. He was so cute about it too...I told him to ask Dada, and so when Matt got off the roller coaster, Portie told him he wanted to show him something in the store. He led him in there and showed him, and a few minutes later, here came Portie with a BIIIG smile on his face carrying a bag. He and Coop played with the toys a lot at the hotel. Our hotel was awesome! It was right at the entrance to the park; so we rode the shuttle every day to get to and from the parks-which was so nice. We didn't have to worry about parking or anything. The kids slept on the sofa bed...they liked it :)


Then Sunday at 4AM, we headed home! The kids did awesome in the car-again!

And that was our Disneyland/California Adventure trip! It was fun, it was NOT relaxing, and we're SO glad we got to go! We're so glad Mom and Kevin came too-it was really nice to have 4 extra hands with us and to share the fun with them.

::Christmassy things::

Yesterday we did a few "Christmassy" things.

We adopted an angel this year (from the Salvation Army). It's been really kind of fun. The kids have enjoyed it too. We picked a 10-year-old girl who wanted Barbie dolls for Christmas. We got her a warm winter coat, some clothes, and a couple of Barbie dolls along with some outfits for them. I hope she likes her stuff and has a fun Christmas.

We delivered it yesterday...

There were a couple of tough things about this deal. 1, How do you explain why she needs help because she might not get any presents for Christmas when your kids all believe in Santa?? And 2, I wish we could've felt a little more connected to the girl or the family we helped. We just dropped it off, and the Salvation Army said "thanks" and "God bless," and that was it! Maybe that's a selfish gratification thing, but I think Sub-for-Santa might be what we do next year-just because that way we know who the stuff is going to, and we can connect the gifts with a family of actual people instead of just a number.

We're so glad we did it though :)

Our other "Christmassy" thing yesterday was going to see Santa! We do it every year, and it's usually pretty hard (somebody's crying, somebody's cold, somebody's tired of waiting, etc), but we still go back the next year. It wasn't as cold this year as last, but really wet and slushy. Chloe had a rough go. Her feet were cold and wet (soaked through her boots) and she got hit in the face with an icy snowball that some other kids were throwing around. Poor girl. She was trying not to cry before she saw Santa.

They had some hot chocolate.

Portie wasn't too shy, but he wouldn't really talk to Santa. He pointed at me when Santa asked him a question, and I had to answer :) I told him Port wants a remote control Buzz.

Coop, well, still not a fan of Santa. He told da-da through his cries "mah all done, da-da!"

Chloe, of course, was just fine. She told Santa she wants a guitar for Christmas.

And that was our night.

In other news...

We LOST Bubb's "beeky" at Matt's basketball game last night! We were pretty worried about how he'd sleep and considered going to the store to get more for him, but we didn't. We were hoping he'd lose it at some point, and we'd just say that was it for the binky (because neither one of us has the heart to take it away from him), but when it comes down to it, that's easier said than done! He did fine though. He slept great last night and didn't cry for it or anything, and so far today, he hasn't even mentioned it. Hopefully we're done with the "beeky han." Keep your fingers crossed!!

::Chloe's bad day::

"...that's how boys are at this age, baby. They just DUMB!"

-Claire Huxtable

Okay, so it wasn't a bad DAY, it was more of a bad bus ride home. I picked her up from the bus stop yesterday, and as soon as she saw me, her little face dropped, she tilted her head to the side, looked down, walked slower, took heavy steps, and got in the car.

I asked her what happened, and she told me about how she got 5 "wows" in a row-a thing her teacher does when they do a great job on their class work. She writes "wow" on the papers, and if you get 5 in a row, you get to pick a prize. This was her second time to get 5 "wows." She picked a little plastic slinky. She said she was letting a little girl on the bus try it, and when she was handing it back to Chloe this (way cute) little boy who was in her class last year, took it and broke it! She pulled a broken slinky out of her pocket.

She was heartbroken.

When we got home, she threw the slinky in the trash and threw herself on the couch and sobbed (and I mean really sobbed!). I felt so bad for her, and was trying not to laugh at the same time. I told her about how boys are just like that, and nobody knows why. When they like you, they do dumb, mean things to you like pull out your hairbows, throw your papers and crayons on the floor, scribble on your class work, tell you to tell your mom they like you and then tell you the next day that they lied and they don't like you (all of which has happened to her), etc.

The two little brothers kept hugging her and telling her that that boy was dumb. And Bubb kept saying "whatda mannuh, kiss?" Poor girl, but at least she's got two little boys at home who are sweet to her (most of the time).

::helloooooo snow!::

It's {unofficially} winter!!!

We've had LOTS of snow in the last couple of weeks! We had 2 major storms each giving us about 8 inches. The first storm was pretty major. The news was announcing business and school closures, Matt's work sent out a big email telling everybody to go home, and they asked people working later shifts not to come in at all! It was a big one!

So our grass is completely covered, so is the driveway, and our mailbox (almost)! It's pretty exciting. Chloe built a snowman-and a pretty good one, I thought! Port likes to see how deep he can get into it, and Bubb just kind of watches and likes to scoop it up in cups. He calls it "no." And when I ask him if it's 'nowin', he'll say yeah, and that it's "Bubba 'nowin'" or kiss or Porter "'nowin'." Matt still loves to plow it with his 4 wheeler (and so does J). Me on the other hand, I only like it if we're home or if Matt's the one driving. I'm still not a good driver in the snow. I blame that on a Texas upbringing (how long can I use that excuse??).

It snowed most of the morning today and we're supposed to get snow again on Friday and Sunday. Man! Of all the winters NOT to be able to go snowboarding!

::thanksgiving::

"My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."

-Thomas S. Monson
(October 2010 General Conference)

(All 3 babies sleeping together @ Grandma Kitty's)

This year we were with my side of the family for Thanksgiving. We went down on Wednesday night and came home Friday. The kids thought it was the funnest thing ever! Billy and his family stayed there too, so it was nonstop playing with cousins for almost 3 days!!

We cooked lots of delicious things, ate a lot, and saw Tangled (which was SO cute!) on Thanksgiving day (which I think is an Asay family tradition that I think we oughtta carry on :) ). We (and by we I mostly mean I) were in charge of stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin cheesecake. It all turned out pretty good. We ended up with a few leftovers-fewer than we should have thanks to the neighbors' dog! It was pretty cold weather (in the teens during the day), so Mom had a table set up in their garage to put food on. The garage door had been shut most of the time, but got left open because we'd been to the store and back a time or two on Thanksgiving day. When we were leaving for the movie, we noticed a dog in Mom & Kevin's front yard chewing on a turkey carcass. Then we realized it was our turkey!! (Mom and Kevin were going to make soup or something out of it). Not long after we noticed our Honeybaked ham was missing! Kevin found a broken platter in the front yard. DUMB DOG! Mom didn't think it was too funny, but hopefully she'll laugh about it next year :) We shopped on black Friday (as usual), but not with the 5am crowd. It was just too dang cold! Mom and I went out at about 9 and got a few things, and I'm happy to report that I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping!!

We have so many things to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my Father in heaven and all the things He has blessed me with. I'm so thankful for my family. I love Matt with all my heart and still look at him and get a little teary because I just think he's the most amazing person in the world. He's the best dad, the best husband, and makes life so fun. Each of the kids are happy and healthy and bring so much joy into our lives. I'm so thankful for our new baby that's due in March. We can hardly wait for her to get here! I'm thankful for our home, Matt's job, our health, our families, and all the little things here and there--like automatic garage door openers and those little plastic tips on our shoelaces so we can get them through the holes easier. We are just thankful.

In other news...
We decorated for Christmas over the weekend. The kids were SOO excited to help. When Matt was bringing in the tree, Coop kept saying "whoa, Da-da!!!!" and now every time he sees the tree, he says "Da-da did dat chwee, Mom" and "good job, Da-da!" Portie loved decorating the tree. Every time he'd hang something on it, he'd ask if it looked okay. Chloe can't get enough of Christmas music and turns on the same CD over and over again and dances around the living room. We got a grand fir. It looks pretty, and it's the most fragrant tree we've ever had. The whole house smells like Christmas.