San Diego Wild Animal Park

Joy, Tatum, and Ty invited Mattie and I to the WAP on Monday, and we were thrilled to go! Mattie got to see lots of cool animals up-close, like giraffes, monkeys, elephants, and lions!

We had a lot of fun, but notice the red cheeks on Tatum and Ty?... it was HOT!

The BFFs

A fantastic carousel! Mattie wanted to ride the giraffe, but it did not go up and down, so she chose the gorilla instead ;)

Road Trip to AZ!

We got the call early Friday morning that Auntie Amy was finally heading to the hospital to have that baby we had been waiting on for weeks! Ryan and Mattie had fun playing around the house while we waited to meet little Samantha...And she came home Saturday night, just before bedtime, so the girls got to meet her when she was just 24 hours old! Look at that precious little girl!

Mattie was jealous of all the baby attention, so she coerced Uncle Jason into holding her like a baby....

Mattie got quite a few opportunities to hold baby Samantha, and she did a very good job being gentle. But each time, the baby had to go back to mommy or daddy, Mattie sobbed very sad tears because she did not want to give her back! Looks like someone wants to be a big sister!

For now, cousin Ryan gets to hold that title.... but hopefully it will happen for Mattie soon enough :)

Big Bear Getaway!

We had so much fun in Big Bear last weekend! There was lots of eating, playing, and sledding with a bunch of our good friends!We shared a cabin with the Silveris, Lee and Isaac, and Shauna...

And our good friends, the Orliczkys, have a cabin, so they came up to play with us!

Mattie LOVED sledding!

Very happy to meet Frosty...

Good Ol' Tire Swing Fun!

What a great getaway!

Fire Station Visit!!!

We finally got to go visit our friend Mike at his fire station! The kids had a great time and got to do so much fun stuff! Here is firefighter Zack helping Mattie try on his fire clothes!The kids got to take turns using and holding the huge fire hose!

Sylvie's dad was able to come along and help, good thing, that hose was heavy!

The top of the fire truck had a huge latter that Mattie balanced her way across a couple of times...

Driving the back of the truck w/ Mike!

Thanks firefighter Mike, for a great field trip!

Christmas Day 2009

Santa brought Mattie the scooter she asked for... she was quite thrilled...

Too bad Santa didn't assemble it, before he left it... Mattie waited patiently while daddy used the "mouse-ka-tools" to put it together...

Then she rode at our place and again at Grandma and Papa's later...

She also got a harmonica and had fun showing off for Papa....
Her other grandparents came over for dinner, but I did not get any good pics.... but I have a cute video that I will put on FB if anyone wants to check it out...
So sad Christmas is already over!

Christmas Eve 2009

Mattie and I started the day with a visit to Spectrum to watch ice skating, watch Santa at Nordstroms, and ride the carousel....

Then we headed to the Family Holiday Party when daddy got home from work... there was some running around outside...

Some pool table fun....

And some dress-up, which is Mattie's favorite thing to do... what a fantastic party!

The Week Before Christmas...

We have been way too busy, but we just can't turn down fun!
We hit up D-land on Sunday night w/ the Gordys, and Mattie had fun w/ Aaron, despite the long lines and holiday crowds...

Then we hit up D-land again on Monday b/c grandma got in for free on her B-day... the lines and crowds were way worse, and we only stayed for a couple of hours... but Mattie was happy to show grandma around...

We had a BC reunion brunch on Wednesday at our house b/c there are so many kids now... a restaurant probably would have kicked us out ;) Another good time, of course, including some friends that we rarely get to play with... Here is the kids table, w/ Mattie, Mollie, Aaron, and Sylvie, and Will in the background... Wes is too small to sit at a table this year and AJ was sleeping....

We also got to play w/ Cousin Helia, who is going to Law School in Montana, and we only see about once a year lately! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, more pics to come!