Evans do Disney 2014

It's no secret that Jason and I love Disneyland. We were annual pass holders for two years before we added the littles to our family, and we've taken great care to pass our love on to our children. We were able to take a trip last month with our good friends and it was just perfect. We were there for 5 days, which I know sounds like a lot of time and very tiring, but when you're there for 5 days you can take it slow and really enjoy the Disney magic. We indulged in plenty of churros and cotton candy, and all four of us were in bed by 7:30 at the latest. It was truly amazing. 

Prepare yourself for a picture overload. I made a goal to not turn our vacation into a picture-fest, but rather let everyone enjoy themselves and snap a few pictures along the way. But even still, 5 days of Disney festivities results in a ton of pictures, especially when the highlight for your daughter is meeting the characters and having her picture taken with them. Clayton, on the other hand, was quite wary of the characters and wanted to have nothing to do with them.

New Years in Arizona

Over Christmas, my amazing father-in-law was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Malforme, an aggressive and terminal form of brain cancer. We were able to head down to Mesa right after Christmas and spend time with him and the rest of Jason's family. Despite the circumstances that brought us all together, we had a blast. My littles adore their cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Of course all of us being together was perfect opportunity for family pictures!

Our Christmas Card

For those who didn't get one of these gems in the mail, here's our 2013 Christmas Card!

Photos by the lovely and talented Yan Photo

Meeting Santa

For a myriad reasons, and none really relevant at all (it's cold, it's late, she's young, we're lazy) we've never taken Norah to meet the big guy in a red suit. Santa, that is. I know, there are those diligent parents who buy new outfits and take their little one to the most convincing, jolliest Santa they can find each and every year. They take gorgeous professional photos that their children will always have to cherish forever. Or something like that. 

Not us.

But this year, I got my act together and we took our littles to meet Santa. Or, rather, my brother Geoff invited us to his work Christmas party where Santa was conveniently going to be, passing out candy canes and posing for pictures. Perfect. Norah was giddy with anticipation, and the moment she saw Jolly Old St. Nick her eyes lit up and she was in a magical trance. Norah asked for hairbows, kitchen toys, and books with the biggest grin on her face. Clayton cried. All-in-all, it was a success! Oh, and then we played ski-ball, which is of course the best arcade game on the planet, and Clayton forgot his traumatizing experience - until a few days later when happened upon Santa at University Mall and the whole scenario replayed itself. 

Frozen

On Thanksgiving we went and saw the movie Frozen with my family. We immediately purchased the soundtrack and instead of 24/7 Christmas music, we're listening to 24/7 Frozen. And I kind of love it. My little Norah was born for the winter, I swear she doesn't feel cold and ever since it snowed she just wants to "run and skip outside." So she does.

Hat from Simply Batty

Annual Pumpkin Land Visit

Almost every year I can remember growing up, my family went to Pumpkin Land in Vineyard. It's been a tradition that we've been able to carry on with our children and I love it almost more than my littles do.