Our Visit to Fire Station 68

On Tuesday, we got to take a trip up to Los Angeles to take a tour of Fire Station 68 where Ryan (who just married my cousin, Carolyn, earlier this year) works! The kids weren't sure what to expect at first but when we got there, they were in awe. The kids love their Uncle Ryan and loved seeing him in his firefighter gear. He gave us a tour of the station and showed us the ins and outs and what they do everyday. I have a new admiration for firefighters, let me tell you. In between calls, they do their own maintenance on the fire engines, cleaning of the station, cooking for the whole crew, grocery shopping, I mean, where do they find the time to do it all?

We got there at the perfect time. There weren't any calls that they had to respond to and we even got to take a ride on the firetruck! Ryan got to drive and it was cool seeing him do that. Justin and Owen got to sit in the front seat and I know Owen must have had a smile on his face the whole time. Owen was very curious about all the buttons and I'm sure he wanted to press them all. Savanna was a little hesitant at first. I kept telling her that Uncle Ryan was here and he wouldn't let anything happen to us. When he got called to put all of his gear on quickly, she got scared that something was going on. But after that, she was just fine and loved seeing everything! This was an experience I will never forget and we are so grateful to Ryan for this opportunity!

I took a lot of pics and of course my battery died right before our ride out but this is everything until that point. Enjoy the slideshow:

Family Holiday Party

Last Saturday, we had a big family gathering to celebrate the holidays at our house. We had about 30 people over and lots of great tasting food. It was great to see cousins, aunts and uncles that we haven't seen in a while. I really appreciated them making the trek to our place. Justin put a jumper up for the kids and they all had a blast. I just love this time of year!

But we do miss our East Coast family very much and wish we could see you all this year. Just remember that we are always thinking of you all and love you very much!

Savanna's Holiday Performance

Last Friday was Savanna's holiday show at school. All of the kindergarten classes performed on stage and sang a holiday song. Savanna's class was last, out of six classes, and they all did so well being patient and waiting for the other classes to go before them. Her class got to sing two songs. They were told to wear hawaiian outfits and they all looked so cute!

Here is Savanna and her class as they walked in and sat on the floor:

Savanna is the 7th person from the left on stage:

This is their first song called, "Caribbean Christmas" (I hope you can hear it because it's so cute!):

And their second song, "Jingle Bells":

All done and getting ready to leave the stage:

Savanna with her teacher:

Snow Day

I'm going to try finishing more posts that I wasn't able to do last night since the computer started acting up on me. :(

A few weeks ago we had a big storm and after all the rain was gone, the mountains were blanketed with snow. The view of the snow capped mountains from our house was amazing! We all were anxious to get to the snow and have some playtime in it. So the weekend following the big storm we decided to head up to Big Bear Mountain. It was supposed to rain that day as well, but we still wanted to go and hoped that the roads would be open. We bought chains, just in case, too. We weren't able to go all the way to where the ski resorts were, but we just stopped on the side of the road where you can just park and play in the snow. We also bought some sleds for the kids. We had a blast and want to go back again before Savanna goes back to school.

This is the view of the mountains from the main road by our house:

Trying out the new sleds:

I think the storm brought 14 inches of snow, it was so fresh and powdery:

Savanna loved the sleds, but Owen, not so much:

I helped him build a snowman instead:

The beautiful nature surrounding us:

We loved listening to the water flow from this stream near us:

Owen was saying here that he was stuck. It was hard for him to walk because with every step he took, the snow would be up to his knees:

Owen's snowman:

Savanna's snow princess:

Making one last snow angel before we left:

This was the view on the way down the mountain. You can see that it's sunny over the city but very dark and cloudy over the mountain:

Random Pics of the month

Here are some pics I took during the month that I thought I would share with you all:

Savanna and Owen with their cousins, Maddy and Mason:
Savanna trying on Justin's snowboarding gear:

Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph and Frosty came to Murrieta. It's a really cute event the city puts on where they go around to different neighborhoods in the city and a local high school choir sings holiday songs:

Saying bye to Santa (or as Owen calls him, "Chatta"):

I volunteered in Savanna's class on Polar Express Day. They got to make a Polar Express candy train and watch the movie. It was really fun helping the kids out! They also got to wear their pj's to school, too:

Trimming the tree

The same day that we had pancakes with Santa, we decided it was time to decorate our tree. We took everything out on Thanksgiving weekend and we always start decorating the outside before the inside. Savanna did a great job helping me this year. She understood that the ornaments shouldn't be clumped up in one area and that they should be scattered all over the tree. Owen had a little trouble with getting the ornaments to hang correctly, but luckily I gave him the plastic ornaments to hang. I really love the way it looks!


I realized that I didn't have a pic of the outside, so I braved the chilly weather and just took this pic:

Pancakes with Santa

I can't believe how fast this month has gone by. And I can't believe there are only two days left until Christmas. We've been quite busy this month and I'm trying to play catch up on my blog, again. So here goes!

Earlier this month, Savanna had a PTA event at school where she could have pancakes, sausage and juice and then visit with Santa. She was very excited to go and made sure we remembered since it was on a Saturday. Once she got to the front of the line to see Santa and he asked her what she wanted, she paused and said she didn't know! Owen was okay with seeing Santa from afar but he would not come close to him or even sit on his lap. Maybe next year!

Here are the kids ready to go have pancakes with Santa:

Owen decided he wanted a candy cane instead of pancakes:

Waiting in line to see Santa:

Turkey Day

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a little get together/potluck with family at our house and I was excited to try a new turkey recipe that I found in the paper! Let me tell you, this turkey came out delicious and it was done in only 90 minutes! I was shocked too! I kept looking at the meat thermometer wondering if I was reading it correctly! But yes, this 14 lb. turkey was done. And the house sure smelled good! I think I will use this recipe from now on. Everything was so good! I wish Thanksgiving was more than once a year. I just love turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy and cranberries. Such a good combination. I just love food too much. Okay that's enough of me talking about food.


Here are a few pics from our potluck:

My cutie of a nephew, Mason:
Justin with his buddy, Brendan:

The kids table: