A new addition

Our family has a new addition.... Introducing GOLIATH. He is our pure bred German Shepard puppy. He is a fun new addition to our family.

Much needed Vacation

This year I was fortunate enough to have three weeks off for Christmas Break. Sean took one week of vacation and we decided to take the family on a vacation. I tried to convince him to take a week cruise somewhere close, but he was determined to try something new. Sean had recieved a fax at work of one of those "killer" deals on a vacation. The flier stated... "5 night/ 6 days all inclusive vacation for $149 per person, Kids under 6 free". Sean convinced me to call and get more details. We thought $300 and airfare, we can handle that! After calling and having the salesmen talk to me for an hour and promising me that it would only be $300 for all four of us we booked the trip to Cancun, Mexico.

Two days after they charged my credit card for the $398 (they didn't tell me about the booking fee) I recieved an e-mail with the number that I needed to call to book the dates at the hotel. Upon calling them they told me that January is considered peak season and that it was another $300. We also wanted to make sure that we were staying at a family resort so it would be another $300 to upgrade to the resort we wanted (Sandos Playacar). After getting upset at the agent and speaking to two managers I was able to get one of the $300 fees waived, but had to pay the other. We were now up to $698 for the vacation and we hadn't even booked flights!

I ended up pricelining the flights and got a pretty good deal on them. The only weird thing was we had to have a stop and layover on the flight. We left from Ontario airport, flew to Salt Lake City, UT then to Cancun. On the way home we had to fly from Cancun to Altlanta, Georgia then home to Ontario. We really learned how hard it was to fly now. It was not the 5 hour flights that was hard, but getting through security with two small kids and six carry on luggage pieces. We also had many weird looks and comments because we put those animal backpacks that have tails that we hold has handles on them. They really made sure that the girls never left us and that we didn't have to worry about them. I would recommend them to anyone who is flying with small kids, but be prepared for the comments and looks from other people.

When we finally got there and took a long van ride to the resort we were pleasantly surprised. The resort was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the food was great. Our room was very large. We had two queen beds, a pull out coutch and a great balcony to sit in and relax. The resort had plenty to do. It sat right on the beach with hammicks, beach chairs and a waiter to bring you drinks all day long. There were five different all you can eat buffet resurants, six sit down resturants, a great kids club where we could check the girls in for the day for activities and have them watched, and a great spa to relax in.

The girls loved seeing the Iganas that ran around all over the resort. They played with kids in the pools, played at the beach, and ate anything they wanted. They really got used to having the "fruity drinks" (virgin strawberry daquri's and pina coladas) all day long. Kyla was in an amazing theatre production that they put on there called "Disney Spectacular" where she was Simba and a fish in Little Mermaid. She said it was the best part of the whole trip.

I was able to go Scuba Diving for the first time ever! It was amazing. I chased a sea turtle, played with flamingo fish, and saw lobsters and crabs. Sean was also great and had me swim with the dolphins which has been a life long dream. We really had a great vacation filled with fun, food, and adventure. Here are a few photos and videos from the trip!

All Dressed for Christmas

The girls have to pick out and wear Christmas Dresses every year. This year they choose the same dress and they had to take a picture in front of our Christmas Tree. It was one of the best pictures that we have from the girls!!!

Family Pictures

Every year we like to take new family pictures and give them (and hopefully recieve them) as gifts for christmas. As we were getting ready to decided on pictures this year my oldest brother (who is making that big jump into homeownership) did them as a gift for us. We went out to Fairmont Park in Riverside and took pictures out on a bridge just as the sun was setting. Here are the best of the photos...

Great site to use and check out!!

If you have not already done so you really need to check out and sign up for the bolg frog. It has great blog add ons that can really make your blog stand out!

All I want for Christmas is my bottom tooth!

I can't believe that we have a child that has lost a tooth already. About a week ago Kyla came to us saying that her tooth was loose. She spent about a week wiggling it and playing with it. Last night Sean finally helped finish the tooth and Kyla lost her first tooth. She was so excited and loves the "hole in her mouth". The tooth fairy knew that a first tooth is very important and she gave Kyla a unicorn stuffed animal. She loves her doll that she calls Princess. It is so exciting to see new stages of life coming to pass and it is also heart breaking to see how fast my girls are growing up.

Trick or Treat

This was a fun Halloween. Kyla knew what was coming and enjoyed every second of it and the anticipation of it. Aubree caught on really well. We started the festivities at our ward trunk or treat. The girls had a lot of fun with their friends from church. That is were Aubree learned what it means to go trick or treating. We then had school on the day of Halloween. Kyla was allowed to wear her costume to school and participated in the parade the school had. I had to dress up for school also which meant that I had to work on sewing Kyla's costume and my own. That night we got dressed up and as a family went trick or treating. The girls had so much fun, but learned they didn't want to walk that much and we had to pull them in the wagon.