Footlocker and Day 1 and Disneyland!

With all that comes with XC, there are also out of state races! They are optional but since this would probably be the last year he could go with his team, we let him go. The race was in Walnut California....only 30 short minutes to DISNEYLAND! I've been working on Chad, and so have his girls for years to go to Disneyland and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go. 

OK, back to the race. The weather was awesome and the race started bright and early at 7am! I had to laugh at the guy in the Santa suit. Every time we saw him he had shed a few more clothes and by the end was holding his whole santa suit. Too funny. There were other fun costumes like a banana too. 

It was inspiring to watch all these runners run up one small mountain and down and then up and across another plateau. Wow what a workout! Just walking it would be difficult but Carter did awesome!

There he is crossing the finish line. He said it was super tough but he loved it!

It was fun to watch the Rich boys and cheer them on too. 

Way to go buddy! Now hurry up and get in the car and lets go to Disney!

We made it! And since the park had already opened the lines weren't too bad and we started our 2 day vacay in California Adventure. 

We immediately went to Cars land. My favorite!

This guy still gets excited about McQueen!

Waiting in line for the Cars ride Rylee found a little treasure in the rocks. 

We rode single rider line so we could go quicker and we only ever waited about 10 min to go on. So we were in different cars and everyone was ok with that but Ry, but we still had a ton of fun and rode it several times within an hour. 

The swings are always a hit! and the girls rode them over and over!

Bing Bong Bing Bong!

I just love this sight!!

And there were treats, so many treats!!!! The kids got to experience Jack Jacks cookie. 

While they rode Guardians....

Me and Bri went and did a photo shoot and did the cute Finding Nemo Crush experience. She liked it and I wasn't sad about it either. 

Incredicoaster is always everyone favorite. Bri was hesitant but absolutely loved it!

We're starting to slow down....

We watched the water show to cap the night. We were all so tired, all the kids were leaning on me to sit up. Poor Carter was just spent. I didn't take that into account. After playing super hard for about 10 hours we finally cut out early to head to bed. 
But this face made it all worth it. Disneyland is magical, I just can't always explain why, but the look on even my big kids faces made it all worth it. 

At the hotel we raised our feet up for recovery. Oh it felt good to be in bed! Good night!

 

Kicking off December!

For not having a lot for November, I'm sure going to make up for it in December! Hang on, here we go. 

In early Dec, Brekkyn asked Carter to Winter Ball. Cute cheeseless pizza, adorable. Haha, he was very surprised. And when I asked for a pic, this is all I got. 

I did get this one later. They're lookin good!

We kicked off the Christmas spirit by attending Eclipse 6 concert. Oh this was gooooood! These guys are so talented and it really brought the love of christmas time. 

Since we had a vacation coming up and we were packed to the gills in our car, we let Bri open gifts early the night before we left. 

She was happy that many things could come on the trip with her and be useful. 

The next morning on Dec 6, bright and early, we were off to California! I'll explain why in the next post. Here are the girls hanging out in a cool little couch area once we got to our hotel. 

 

Thanksgiving Week

We were thrilled to death when Chet and Mindy decided to come visit us for Thanksgiving! Chad had to work some of it so they were gracious enough to make the drive. We did all sorts of fun things including Beauty and the Beast play at the Hale Center Theatre, Moana 2 at the movies, playing at the church, and temple visits. We also hit up ice cream and had a mini concert with Maycie and Bri and Morgan playing their instruments. Here are some fun pics of our fun. 

We really had a great Thanksgiving lunch. Chad smoked a turkey breast and it was so good. We had all the fixings even lasagna. The rolls sadly did not turn out, darn you Beehive Rolls! But everything else was fabulous!

Mindy offered to do our family pictures too so we spent one morning exploring Tooele before we landed on these places. I LOVE them so much and they were perfect for our christmas cards. 

 How cute are my kids?! Later in the week we traveled to Emma's sealing in the Pocatello temple. Chet and Mindy were not allowed to go but were happy we could go. There was heartache in many hearts that day and we can only pray for and hope for the best for Emma. We still had fun at a hotel with Chet and Mindy and lots of Chad's family gathered later at a hotel to chat and catch up. The Hymas fam does have a strong bond even though we don't get together too often. In this month of gratitude, I'm especially grateful for the family I married into that made it feel like a real holiday even though my parents were gone.