An important part of the Christmas holidays is decorating sugar cookies! It was even better this year when we could do it with our cousins. Lindsey is sure Santa will be impressed with all the cute creations they made.

Pizza Throwdown

My brother Bruce and his family are here from Utah and

my brother Eric and his family are here from Idaho.

We've all been having a great time together at my parents home.

Tonight we decided to have a pizza throwdown for dinner.

Megan created a Hawaiian pizza, Kyle and Kris went with pepperoni,

mushroom and olive and Bruce went crazy with a stuffed pizza.

There has been 18 of us around the table since Sunday,

wild and crazy, but a whole lot of fun!

We all voted on our favortie pizza's and it was a tie...

the Hawaiian and Stuft pizza came out on top.

So happy baby Jack is here to entertain all of us.

I'm his favorite even though Kaitlyn keeps fighting for the title:)

It's Official...

Logan is actually 10!

Since we had his party with his friends in October we feel like

we've been talking about it forever, but he can

officially claim double digits now!

He started the day with breakfast in bed...

and finished off with dinner at Outback.

He said he had a great birthday!!

Christmas with Grandma

Grandma Jackie is headed to Aunt Michele's for Christmas so

we were able to celebrate a little early with her.

It was hard to talk the Kaitlyn and Logan into opening presents before Christmas.

It was a fun evening and just got us more excited for the big day!

Visiting Bethlehem

On Friday night we traveled to Bethlehem.

OK - it was really a live nativity in Santa Clara, but they do a great job

of making it look and feel like Bethlehem.

We were greeted by Roman guards that took their job very seriously.

Next we had to sign in at the census to be taxed.

We watched as Mary rode on a donkey and Joseph knocked on several

doors before they were given permission to stay in a stable.

One of the wisemen rode in on a camel.

I would have loved to have pictures of the manger scene, but my camera didn't

cooperate. It was really nice and the songs they sang were beautiful.

We also were able to wander around the market.

In the pottery area the kids were able to make little Bethlehem coins.

It was great to have the live animals - it really added to the experience.

Logan did not want to go - Friday night is usually his time to party

with the Wrights and he didn't want to miss that, but part way

through the evening he said, "this is much better than I thought it would be".

We were all impressed with how well it was done.

It was a great experience and I'm so glad we went.

Thanksgiving Week

We had a great Thanksgiving week.

Mike was able to take a few days off so we hung out together and had fun.

However I do admit to telling the kids when they were fighting in the

car on Tuesday that I wish they were in school instead of driving me crazy.

Fortunately we recovered from that day and the week improved from then on.

We went to a couple of movies, had family pictures taken,

got our teeth cleaned (which is actually fun when Grandpa is

your dentist and you get to go out to dinner afterwards), and played games.

We also decorated the house for Christmas.

On Thanksgiving Day we traveled to Mike's Aunt and Uncles home

and enjoyed spending time with them. It was fun to catch up

with Mike's cousin Laurie

Uncle Bob took us on a tour of all his Indian artifacts -

it's better than going to a museum.

Logan enjoyed watching some basketball with Uncle Bob.

We all had a very nice day together.

On Friday we went to my parents for Thanksgiving Part 2.
Grandpa helped Logan practice for his upcoming basketball season.

He wanted Logan to practice dribbling with his left hand so he

tied Logans right hand around his waist so he wouldn't be tempted to use it.

After all that eating we got up Saturday morning and

decided we needed some exercise. So we went to Kaitlyn's

school to run a mile around the track. Kaitlyn was mortified

and wore a hoody sweatshirt that she tucked her hair into

in case anyone from school saw her. Logan came in first and I came in last,

but I was happy with my time so its all good. We actually all had a

good time and will do it again soon.

We were all grateful we were able to spend so much time together!

Soccer Season

Soccer season is now over, but I don't think I posted any pictures

during the season - so here are some highlights...

Opening Day Parade

Logan played for the Sharks and had a great season.

They lost their first 2 games and then won all the rest.

This was Kaitlyn's 9th year playing soccer.

She played for the Storm.

It wasn't her favorite season, but she still had a good time.

I wasn't able to get very many good pictures of Kaitlyn

and she wouldn't approve most of them for posting on the blog.

So this is the best I've got.

Kaitlyn and her friend Brooke have played on

the same team for several years now.

Farewell to soccer and on to basketball!

Veteran's Day Parade

Logan's Cub Scout Troop was in the

Antioch Veteran's Day Parade

this morning.

We have never gone to the parade before so I didn't know

what to expect, but I thought it turned out to be a great experience.

The parade started with a military helicopter

flying over the parade route and then the rest of the fun began...

I loved this little man. He drove down the parade route very

slowly pulling his rusty old Radio Flyer wagon with his stereo

system playing patriotic music.

Logan wasn't as impressed because he was very slow

and Logan's troop was right behind him in the parade.

It was lots of fun and I think we'll be there again next year.

Happy Veteran's Day!