iPhone photos - Christmas edition

 Here are some photos off our phones. Most of them check off some of our Christmas season wish list items! : ) 

The bottom two houses were set to music on a radio station we could tune to in our car. The top photo is a photo of a camera screen, someday i'll get the real photo. ; )

We have spent a lot of time at Disneyland this season, soaking in all their Christmas festivities. But I think our favorite is the snow! : )

Brody has been busy making yummy cookies from scratch! Im in Christmas cookie heaven! I also decorated the gingerbread house. : ) 

Toward the beginning of the month we went to Orange building I think it was, to see all the nativity sets they had on display from around the world. It seemed like they had hundreds! It was so neat to see!! The top left is a live nativity. 

These last two I had to add out of excitement! This is our wonderful new brewer. It's perfect for our Hot Chocolate, Apple Cider and Tea cravings this time of year!! It has some amazing features, I am so excited to learn all about it and put it to work! : ) 

And last but NOT least, our new mattress!! It's too soft and comfy for my own good, I never want to get out of bed! haha. 

Our list is coming along well! Lot's more will be checked off on our trip to UT for Christmas!! : ) 

Happiest Anniversary!

We had such a wonderful and mellow Anniversary this year, it was really nice. 

We had won a spot at Disneyland for their traditional Candlelight ceremony, and I was SO excited to see that it happened to be on our anniversary! It was for four so we invited my parents to come watch with us since they have never seen it. : ) 

The performance was just beautiful!! And we were able to sit nice and close, so we got a great view of all the performances. The only way you could get a seat is if you won an Annual Passholder slot, so that was pretty special for us Disneyland lovers. : ) 

{ another item checked off : ) } 

This video is really worth watching!

 It was just so beautiful! The last song on here is Silent Night, which they had the audience sing alone, as well as a soloist...in person, it just gave you chills it was so pretty!

After the show we split off to make our dinner reservations that Brody made for the two of us at Carthay Circle in California Adventure. The restaurant is done in old Hollywood glam and is stunning! We got there a bit early and enjoyed an appetizer in their downstairs lounge (the beef tacos below), I have been craving them again ever since. Easily one of my favorite things I have eaten at the resort! We asked to be seated outside, and had such a wonderful view of the Buena Vista Street Christmas tree....and then the fireworks!! : ) 

(below you can see from California Adventures tree to Disneylands tree) : ) 

Our waiter was so nice and offered to take the photo below, and I love how it came out! It rare that a "stranger" takes a good photo : ) 

More fireworks and view : ) 

 

After dinner we strolled through the parks enjoying the Christmas decorations and headed to Napa Rose, in the Grand Californian Hotel for their "World's Famous Hot Chocolate". It was an hour before they were to close, and the lounge was almost empty. We got a perfect spot right in front of the fire (which you could really feel it's warmth, so perfect for a chilly night) in these big comfy chairs. It was so lovely to sit there in that setting enjoying the hot chocolate and little doughnuts. And let us tell you, that really is the worlds best hot chocolate!! It's a little thick and rich, but in such a great way! 

It was a perfect anniversary evening, and another wonderful December 11th memory! : ) 

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Last night we went shopping for our little Christmas tree and found a great one! 

One of my favorite things about this time of year is going to a tree lot, they smell amazing and it's so fun to pick out a tree. : ) 

We brought him home and trimmed him up! It's so cute and beautiful!! 

The bottom right photo was Brody's idea to get a photo with our tree, he set the camera up for it and everything! I LOVE the idea of getting a photo with our Christmas tree! : ) I love that he thinks of things like that. 

Also, I whipped up that little tree skirt from leftover flannel fabric we had. I love how it came out! 

And we checked off another box : ) 

Christmastime list-o-fun!

I saw this idea on Pinterest and we had a lot of fun modifying it for us! In such a busy time of year, it is so easy to forget to do some of the things you were looking forward to doing during the Christmas season. I think the pin called it a bucket list, but that always reminds me of passing away...soooo I changed that too, I'd like to think we won't kick the bucket before next year. haha. We're excited to start checking off these fun ideas and make the most of this Christmas.  : ) 

KOST 103.5 Christmas Kick-off party

You may remember that last year I was lucky enough to be the 20th caller and win tickets to KOST 103.5's private Christmas party at Disneyland. That was SUCH a great event! 

This year it was at DCA and it came up on us so fast that we didn't even have time to win tickets. We were up at the park that night and after fireworks we went out to see how the check-in was going for the party. We saw a lady and her husband use the sign below to successfully get some extra tickets from people who had them. She through away the sign and they went in, I then retrieved the sign to see if it would bring us the same luck....and it did!! 

We were in! 

It was pretty fun to see the park so empty! It hasn't looked like this since it opened back up after all the remodeling. We got some peppermint hot chocolates and listened to Mark and Kim from their morning show, kick off the party. 

Here is the video of the KOST Holiday kick off! When they switched their station over to Christmas music, and started the party there at the park! That was pretty fun!! 

Us goofing around in Cars Land and holding up 1-0-3-5 on Radiator Racers, haha

We had the whole animation building to ourselves

And below had some fun taking some "glamor shots" on an almost empty Hollywood street! ; ) 

(Incase thats a bit hard to read, it says KOST 103.5 on the ground in the top photo)

We had a blast on Soaring over CA (the foot shadow pic), and visiting the Buena Vista Street Christmas tree! : ) 

A Cast Member took this for us, which was so nice. It's just too bad that it came out a little dark. Oh well! : ) 

Since it was raining a bit that night, it made the parks look SO pretty! 

Such a fun experience, but we both thought it was MUCH better when it was at Disneyland (mainly because it snowed on a practically empty Main Street every hour)!
So glad we got to go last year! : ) 

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we went to AZ to spend Thanksgiving with Brody's family. It was a fun weekend of family, yummy food and good times. : ) 

Turkey nails and the first sign of being close to our Thanksgiving destination! 

Thanksgiving eve we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and Marley (our niece) was so excited to help out.

The photos to the right show little Marley sneaking cookie dough when Grandma wasn't looking, after being told not too. Thats a hard one for anyone to resist : )  

Thanksgiving helpers!

AD (and the dogs) keeping Levi entertained : )

I have noticed in life, that animals always seem to know the person in the room who is allergic to them. Haha! 

As usual, Brody was quite the helper! Always helping with the cooking and the clean up! He's an amazing person, always cheerful, and ready to service. : ) ...And I snuck in Charlie Browns Thanksgiving!

Starry AZ night! 

(Taken by Brody) : ) 

S'Mores by the fire! 

Then we had some fun with the camera and the flashlight on my phone! :) Greg (Brody's Dad) wrote Arizona (top left), and I messed around with the rest. It was pretty fun! 

The morning we left, we got our favorite breakfast at Joe's Farm Grill....a favorite of ours for years! : ) It was SO good! And a great way to start off our road trip home. 

And right before we got on the freeway, we made a stop to see the new Temple under construction. It's just beautiful!! : ) 

Oh yes....about half way through our drive, we hear a big POP sound and then quickly notice that we had been visited by a rock! It was a bummer but kinda fun to watch it keep growing as the drive went on. And now Brody has a nice new windshield! : ) 

It was a great Thanksgiving and so fun to see everyone for the holiday! : ) 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This past friday night we went up to the parks to see if they had more Christmas decorations up (before the advertised time), to our surprise, it was ALL up and running!! 

Since DCA is all new this year, so are all the Christmas decorations and entertainment! 

These are the Buena Vista Street (DCA's version of Main Street USA) Bell Ringers. They play and sing Christmas carols! So very cool! 

Every night (I think it's around 5pm) they have the Buena Vista Street tree lighting ceremony! 

This tree is so beautiful! I love all the old fashioned decorations, on the tree and everywhere on BVS. They even have a department store Santa with a little elf helper who hands out candy canes. 

Cars Land is all decked out!! There is so much Christmas detail, it is pretty amazing! 

We LOVE having a Starbucks in DCA, we were able to get our favorite peppermint hot chocolates while we walked around and enjoyed all the lights!! : ) 

Then we headed into DL to see what had been added since we were last there. 

So fun to see the tree and all the lights set up! 

Small World was even open before it was supposed to be. : ) 

The real surprise and huge cherry on top was that they did the Christmas fireworks and SNOW that night!! Below is a clip from the fireworks (sorry about the focus, our little point and shot had a hard time focusing on the always moving fireworks) : ) 

There is nothing like the snow at the parks! And it was extra special since it was the first of the season, and a total surprise!! : ) 

I just love how this came out : ) 

Such a fun way to keep off the Christmas season!! : ) 

PS: Plus, it was FREEZING that night, and everyone was all bundled up in coats and gloves. Really added to the Christmas spirit! We were loving it!!