Nana's Visit Part Three - Halloween Dinner and Weber's Farm

On Sunday we had the traditional Martinez Halloween dinner of homemade corndogs

I made a few other Halloween-ish side dishes and decorated the table for a fun and festive meal

after 3.94 years of mothering I finally earned rockstar status with green food coloring in our water 

They don't look like much, but trust me, homemade corndogs >>>> storebought corndogs 

On Monday we went to Weber's Farm

It had everything we could have asked for-
hay maze, tractor ride, duck races, tire mountain, boo barn,
and our very favorite- the slides.
Also, apple cider donuts and the best cider I've ever tasted.
It was a perfect way to spend our last day with Nana.

 "I'm Queen of the Wooooorld" 

M's turn as queen 

Jilly kept yelling at me to put my hands up.  This was my best effort.

Come back soon Nana!!

Top 13 of 2013

13. House Projects- new bathroom vanity, crown molding, painting/decorating the girls' bedrooms

12. Lots of sewing projects and new crockpot recipes

11. Bryan's 30th Birthday

10. Trip to Sunriver, Oregon

9. Spring trip to Arizona

8. Trip to Utah

7. Bryan ran a marathon

7. Mattie learned to sit up, crawl, pull herself up, make lots of noise, and eat solid foods

5. Jilly started preschool, moved into a big girl room, was potty-trained, got rid of her paci, and turned three

 4. Weekend in Tahoe

3. Thanksgiving Trip to Arizona

2. Week at Sandbridge Beach 

1. Baby Mattie!  We can't imagine our life without this sweet happy girl

2013 will go down as the Year of the Road Trip and the Year We Became a Family of Four- an excellent year indeed.

A California Christmas

All of Bryan's brothers and their families were in town for Christmas.  There were bike rides, an endless supply of treats, Christmas traditions, movies (Saving Mr. Banks is wonderful), bowling, family pictures, BYU bowl game, presents galore, and lots of blurry iphone pictures (sorry!)  Best of all was getting to be with family; when I asked Jilly what her favorite present was she said "Kirra!"  

Christmas Sunday-

Matching doll and girl dress-up-

A doll house of her own-

Christmas Eve jammies-

After opening her sleeping bag Jilly spent the rest of the morning snuggled inside 

Puffs- doesn't take much to make this girl happy

One of my favorite gifts- a quilt block from a quilt my great-grandma made

Go Mighty Cougars (the girls were so, so good, Mattie slept for half the game and Jilly loved cheering "Go BYU!" We just wish the outcome had been different...)

Best part of the game was getting to catch up with Lisa

On Christmas Day I finally got out my real camera for a few pictures of the girlies-

It was a very merry week

An Arizona Thanksgiving

Since my family is scattered around the country (California, Utah, Idaho, Virginia, Washington D.C.) we decided to meet at my aunt and uncle's house in Arizona for Thanksgiving. This worked well for us because we got to go a couple days early to see our new nephew.

Jilly told everyone we were going to "Kirrazona"- she was so happy to see her cousin.  The girls had so much fun playing together and the boys of course got some biking in.  We also played mini golf, saw Despicable Me 2 (well, Mattie and I saw most of it), and went out to eat.

my pretty sis-in-law and sweet baby Knox

the moment my baby became a giant

 and then the real giants showed up

 besty bests reunited (love Kirra's silly face)

 Nana and the crew

ice cream cones all around at Jason's Deli

On Tuesday afternoon my family started arriving and we headed to my aunt and uncle's house.

On Wednesday we shopped at Last Chance (the guys were happy to stay home with Jilly) then we went to see Catching Fire (soooo good.)  I'm so spoiled- my sister Bethany had already seen Catching Fire so she took Jilly to see Frozen and my mom offered to stay home with Mattie.

On Thursday the boys played in a turkey bowl then we had our delicious Thanksgiving Feast. That night we went to a nearby resort that had ice skating, a train ride, and lots of Christmas lights.  

 This is my sweet cousin Julia.  I'm the oldest cousin and Julia is the youngest- she's only three years older than Jillian and Jilly loved playing with her.  Jilly couldn't quite figure out how to say Julia so she just called her "my favorite friend" the whole time.  

 On Friday we hiked Camelback Mountain (again spoiled- Jilly stayed home with my aunt and Julia and Bryan carried Mattie in the bjorn.  He went most of the way, but not all the way to the top since it got pretty steep at the end.)  We enjoyed the hot tub and heated pool in the afternoon then went out to eat to celebrate my mom's birthday and to my cousin's basketball game.

Mattie's first hike!

Jilly and Julia both happened to have this little dress 

On Saturday we snapped a picture of us all together, packed up, got some lunch, then made the long trek home.  

It was an excellent, excellent Thanksgiving.