Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving at Ryan's aunt Diane's house in San Diego this year and had a wonderful time. Diane's family was all there (except Micheal on his mission in Tucson) and Terry and Debi, who happened to be watching Emma and Preston while Lisa and Ryan were enjoying a cruise. The kids' favorite part of Thanksgiving was by far the hot tub in the back yard. Maylan even jumped off the diving board twice into the non-heated pool and Brandon put his head under the water in the pool, too. They did have incentive, though. May earned five dollars for her jump and Brandon earned a dollar for his head dip. Thanks Diane and Marty for a great Thanksgiving!

One of the things we love about California is within an hour from our house, we can be swimming at the beach one day and freezing in the mountains the next. Friday after Thanksgiving, we headed to Big Bear just for the fun of it. We had lunch at our favorite pizza place, Maggio's, and then headed out to the cold to brave the Alpine Slide.

Maylan and Ryan heading up in the lift. The first time we went up, May rode in the lift all by herself and thought she was hot stuff.

Ryan and Brandon trying to slow down at the bottom. Brandon's second trip down the mountain was with Grandpa and was a little more adventurous and little slower than his ride with Daddy.

Maylan was able to ride by herself for the first time this year. She said it was too hard! I agreed because Emma and I were following right behind her and it was definitely a good thing we were in the slow lane! For Maylan's second ride, she chose to ride with Ryan and go a little faster.

The three kiddies at the bottom.

And naturally I had to throw in a cute one of the baby. I was so glad she got to wear a little of her cold weather clothes finally because I love a baby all bundled up. It's been so hot here that I've been worried she's going to outgrow her cute winter clothes before she even gets to wear them. Luckily for us, she's still just a little thing. She just turned six months old yesterday and at the doctor a few weeks ago wasn't even 15 pounds yet. She still wears 3-6 month size clothes and size 2 diapers. She hardly ever eats more than 3 or 4 ounces at a time, either. We've tried a few solid foods, but she just isn't that interested. We're fine with that, though, because we'd rather she didn't grow anyway! She's pretty active, though, and seems like she's just about ready to crawl. She loves to be on the floor and gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth a lot. She can scoot herself backwards really well and I don't think it will be too much longer before she's figured out how to go forward. That's when the real fun will start, I know.

So, this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that I had a wonderful week. I got to spend time with both sides of our family and was able to do many fun things with my kids. It's been a great kick-off to the holiday season and now I can't wait for Christmas!