happy new year.
This is what we did in the last month of 2010!

We went to Disneyland with our friends and saw the Christmas parade. The boys loved it! Bentley said his favorite part was Mickey and Minnie ice skating.



Gaige thinks he is a kitty. He meows, Bentley rides him, gives the kitty toys and pets him. Matt and I are not fans of the kitty.


We spent Thanksgiving with my brother's family in San Clemente. It was tons of fun and my kids didn't break or spill anything! Gaige did however crawl under the table and lick Alexa pretending to be a kitty. We also realized that even if our dad is not present at our Thanksgiving feast we will still have to have a can of cranberry sauce sliced and placed on a plate in his honor. It just feels like something is missing when it isn't there even though we all hate it, except for Dad. Gaige said he was thankful for his daddy and Bentley said he was thankful for his mommy. And no, we did not prep them to say that.


December 9th, we celebrated the upcoming arrival of Jenna's baby boy by going to El Torito. We had lots of fun and are so happy for our favorite family to have one more amazing person in it!


Dec 21st my brother Garic and his family came to my parents' for a few days. We had so much fun playing with them, despite the 7 straight days of pouring rain. The boys love all of their cousins. And we had a great time hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law and their family.

We have a fun Christmas tradition in the Power Family that all of the grandkids LOVE. We have a pickle ornament that is hidden on the Christmas tree and each kid has a turn to find it. Then they get their first gift of Christmas. ALL of the Power kids love this game and the dads all have fun hiding the pickle on the tree for each of their kids.



December 24th. On Christmas Eve we went to Trace's house for dinner. Leslie made an amazing roast beef dinner. Then Alexa read the nativity story and Chance had us answer questions about the nativity story. Then we did another Christmas tradition in our family. Grandad reads "The Night Before Christmas" to the grandkids. He's been doing it for at least 15 years. That is how old the pop up book he reads from is.
(Bentley has been practicing his photography skills. He took this pic of Matt and Gaige.)

After a fun filled night at my brother's we headed back to my parents' and wrote a note to Santa and made a plate of cookies and milk for him. We left them on the fireplace and then put the boys to bed.

December 25th. Christmas Day Gaige woke up and collected all of the jingle bells off of the "tiny" Christmas trees and brought them up to my mom. Then Bentley woke up and they both went and checked out their stockings. And then the presents kept coming and coming.

The best part was giving my parents their Christmas gifts. I made each of them a scrapbook. For my dad I "scrapped" a handwritten history of his life he had written about 20 years ago when my brother Brick was in college to help Brick with a college assignment. Brick found it a few months ago and emailed it to all of us. So I scanned in all of the pictures my parents have of my dad's childhood and family. Janni edited them for me and I compiled a scrapbook of the story with pictures.

For my mom I "scrapped" her wedding pictures. She never really had a wedding album and about a year ago we bought an album to make one, but we never did. So I made her wedding album.

For each of my siblings I compiled each of our favorite recipes and some of our favorite recipes from our mom and made a Power Family Recipe book. The books were complete with some recipes that make my brothers giggle, like rumake and peas on bread.

After presents we had breakfast, apple pancakes and sausage, and then started playing with all of the fun new toys. Among the favorites were zhu zhu pets, wii - mario kart, helicopter, and travel Thomas tracks.

Trace, Leslie, Alexa, Chance, Dane and Blake came over and we had dinner. The boys have so much fun with their cousins....all of them. They are so lucky to be surrounded by so many people that love them.



After dinner at my parents' we went to Matt's sister Carrie's house to spend time with his Mom, Richard; sisters Carrie, Lori and Barbara; nieces Kaylee, Madison and Ashley; and nephew Kevin. The boys were spoiled to death and we had so much fun.



December 27th. We have a new niece, Violet Johnson, so we went to visit her in Santa Barbara. She is beautiful and so so sweet. She reminds me of baby Bentley, so petite and perfect. We had a great time with Matt's family playing games and hanging out. Uncle Jerry even let Gaige "help" him play Uno.



December 28th. We celebrated our 8th anniversary. Are you kidding? Have we really been married for 8 years? Matt and I have "been together" for over 12 years so to me it seems like we've been married longer than 8 years. To celebrate our eternal love we went to a really really great Mexican restaurant in Marina Del Rey, Baja Cantina. Then we stopped by Foster Freeze to get a mud pie Twister, the best ever! We had a great time and are thankful for our friends Em and Duncan for watching our kids while so we could have a peaceful dinner! I am also grateful for an eternal companion that is so amazing, in every way!