Trip to the North Pole

Really started to feel like Christmas at the start of December when we took a trip to the North Pole!  We drove out to Arizona, was so weird to be going east...we stayed at the Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon which was nice and cozy and all decorated for Christmas

The Polar express was pretty booked so dates were slim pickings. We had tickets to go on a Sunday night, so we decided to start off the weekend with a visit to the Grand Canyon

 it was beautiful up there...hopefully when the kids get bigger we can go for a hike farther in :)

 getting a closer look

 

 back to the hotel for some indoor swimming...was nice we had the pool all to ourselves

 met up with Caron who told us about Bearizona, which was so cool, my favorite part of the trip

 drive thru zoo, they give you a little box radio that tells you about the animals as you pass

some would come really close

kids were scared, freaking out at first, asking why we would take them there, but toward the end they calmed down and were fine :)

my jacob moment...hee!

 big bear

 

at the end where the bears are they tell you to keep your windows rolled up, pretty crazy...bear crossing...if they go past a certain point near the gate they get zapped

 the second half is walking through to see the smaller animals...we made it just in time for the bird and owl show, they flew right over our heads...Jaylin went on stage as a volunteer

 

then for the moment we were all waiting for...Polar Express to the North Pole!

 cookie toast

 

hot chocolate served...

getting comfy as they read the story

The North Pole...

 Santa aboard the train passing out bells

 

then this girl asking for a picture...looked like a real Santa who didn't know what a phone was :)  On the ride back we sang Christmas carols...It was cute, fun, but I did have higher expectations, was thinking it would be more of a full on show, lights dark, someone telling the story loudly over the mic, like we were part of the book :)  was a good experience though, I heard other places may do differently, so we may have to go on more!

 When we asked the kids what the best part was, Jayme's said the Grand Canyon,  Jaylin the Polar Express and Jayson said watching the bears trying to get out of the zoo...so I guess going to all three was a success!

Christmas Pre-Parties

Lots of prepartying this year :) 

first cookie exchange was with the women's group at the church, tons of cookies, this wasn't even all of them...

super cute set up along with fun Christmas Carols

 new friends

few weeks later, annual cookie party at Michelle's

I did oreo balls and tried something new, peanut butter and jelly cookies I saw on pinterest, which actually came out good and easier to make than I expected, even though I burnt the first batch...Michelle did peanut butter kisses and snickerdoodles

Caron did her signature sugar cookies for the kids to decorate...taste, decorate, taste, decorate :)

I put together my own little treat basket for my team...I tried, I think I can make it a little better next time, but was in a rush and didn't start earlier like I should have

  I tried to do as less baking as possible, so the only thing I had to make was the pretzel turtles, thank goodness I could just pick up most of the stuff like dunkin donuts, packaged lady fingers, Christmas oreos...it was the lemon drops and goldfish I didn't like, I didn't get a chance to make lemon drops/cookies so used lemon heads and there were no Christmas goldfish, so I used the cupcake ones, but still think these two could have been better, more Christmasy, let me know if you have any ideas for next time :)

 6 smores for Roasting, I put 12 Graham crackers, 6 chocolates and 6 marshmallows in a baggie, 5 golden nuggets were the hershey nuggets, 4 candy canes, thank goodness the bakery down the street had macarons for the 3 french macs, cause I picked them up the day I gave these, 2 dove chocolate candies and the kids said these snowman cookies from Starbucks were good.

 Melissa sent me this, thought it was cute and tried it, pretty easy, chocolate dipped marshmallow wrapped up...the hardest part is glueing the eyes on the outside of the plastic, the nose were sticker gems

 actually I did alot of marshmallows this month, maybe since I discovered smore pops, super easy, something I let the kids do since it's okay for it to look messy :)  it's just chocolate dipped marshmallow, then rolled in crushed graham cracker

The Clothing team did their holiday party at Cosmo.  They opened up an ice rink at the top where Marquee is, pretty cool to be skiing on top of the strip :) 

 rink was pretty small, but it was fine

 it was more about being by the fire and the yummy treats :)  hope to bring the kids before it's gone

took my lil team for an early Christmas dinner at Marrakech

wash hands first

food was really yummy!  dipping the bread in the sauce was good :)

steak skewers

some belly dancing

lots of events this month, so hard to be good!

Christmas Time

Jay almost ruined Christmas :) 

 Me and the kids picked out a tree that was too tall, the saw Jay had wasn't big enough to cut the bottom so I thought we agreed he would go buy a bigger saw at Target, but instead he went with his first idea of cutting off the top...I was so upset, pouting, saying we had a Half tree...he said he would buy me a new one, but I think we made it work...hee!  It served it's purpose :)

 

so cool instagram photos can send like normal photos, I am new to iphone and instagram...haha!  We did our Christmas early before leaving for San Jose...had boiling crab for dinner followed by presents

Jaylin was so happy she actually wanted to cry...dramatic...she got her girltech, diary that only opens to her voice...

Jaylin got Jayme duck tape, I guess it's the trend :)  duck tape wallets?  

bey blades and ninjago's for Jayson...I don't know what it was, maybe cause it was just a simple Christmas with just us, we just felt so blessed, really one of the best Christmases ever! Plus Jay and the kids got me clothes and my first pair of Uggs and Fryes :)

We debated going to church in Vegas or San Jose, but we decided Vegas, Caron and her little ones came with us, then we met Michelle for coffee at the new coffee shop nearby, Tipsy...cute place with yummy chai...plus the three of us wanted to get together before our week long vacation apart, we really are sister wives...hee!

Christmas Eve with the deguzman side...got to see cousin Abigail, haven't seen her in over a year, such a cutie pie

fun little thing we've done the past few years, Auntie Kat gets the kids McDonald's gift cards and we all go before we part ways...the kids love it, paying for their own, but always sad when they say goodbye to each other

Christmas Day with the Robinos side

was so nice to have mom's cooking all day...teaching Jaylin how to roll lumpia

 so random, so when Dee asked me and Melissa what we wanted for Christmas we both told her, whatever...clothes, accessories, something you would wear, so she got us both the same top she had along with similar but different jewelry  AND my mom got the boys manny pacquiao jackets from the Philippines, so we had to take a picture :)

how cute is this money tree Melissa made us, gotta love pinterest!

got to meet cousin Desmond for the first time and hang out with Alex, love them!

 

 group shot...open mouth smile is about as silly as I can get :)

 went to visit grandma the following day, Still strong at over 90!

 Ruby was so nice and got a group of us together last minute the day of for a family pizza night, was so nice to hang out and actually have time for the kids to play together

future scu gang or U.C. Irvine, Jayme loves it in Irvine, we told her she could go to school there :)

 jayson and mateo became good friends, played bey blades, wrestled, won bingo together

 our last day there, we had a little food tour of our own in San Jose, wanted to go to a few places I kept hearing about over facebook...first stop was Grub Shack in downtown San Jose, so good...I usually don't care for teryaki chicken, but I tasted the kids and it was so tasty, they loved it!  I only got a few bites :)

known for their Kahlua sliders which were bomb.com...haha!

 

Jay loved the Thai Basic Chicken!

 

 Lourie met us for lunch and the guys let me go back in the kitchen for a picture...from house parties to all of us being all grown up...hee!  We all used to hang out back in the day and it has been forever since we've seen each other, but I will be coming here more often...had no idea these guys could cook so good, they will have lucky wives one day :)

next Philz coffee for their famous Mint Mojito Iced Coffee, it's different, refreshing!  I am a fan!

Melissa watched the kids and we went for double date night at Alexander's Steakhouse

 cleansing/preparing our palet was quite delicious

 known for their Himachi shots, now I know why :)  yummy!

 filet was good, mashed potatoes were very good, so creamy and had potato chips in them

 grand marnier souffle...I enjoyed the passion fruit macaron in the back, the filling tasted like ice-cream

we got this pretty dessert too, a little too chocolaty for me, but the hazelnut ball with the cookie crumbs was good

and such a nice touch that everyone gets cotton candy at the end, not just regular cotton candy but flavored, I think it was watermelon and then they sent us home with a sour apple one

 then next morning we had a goodbye breakfast at Bills Cafe...mimosa bowl...bloody mary was good, spicy and good :)

as usual the kids hate leaving, asking why we can't live in CA or why we can't live with Auntie Melissa

we'll be back though, in a few weeks :)

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!  Can't wait for 2013, actually looking forward to eating good again...hee!  Happy New Year!