NYE in Vegas

We broke up our drive home after Christmas by stopping to see our good friends in Vegas. They heated their pool for their family to enjoy over break and even though it was dark, misty and cold outside, the kids jumped in with no hesitation. No one was mad about trading snow pants for swimsuits.

The next day was New Year's Eve and everyone was back in the pool first thing in the morning. 

Bella was nice to lend her old floaties to the boys.

These separated friends can never get enough of each other.

Nash relaxed as usual.

Crew and Bella had no idea they were about to get annihilated by their older brothers.

We considered staying in Vegas for the ball drop but I was sicker than a dog at that point. Weeks of December stress, lack of sleep, travel and being in the cold finally caught up with me and nothing sounded better than my own bed. We completed our drive back to California, put the boys to bed early and rang in the new by sitting on the couch in sweats, surrounded by piles of tissues. It was an anti-climatic way to end 2016. But I love the fresh start of a new year. I couldn't wait to hunker down and de-Christmas, purge and organize. Of course, not before spending a few days in bed recuperating from another whirlwind holiday season.

Ringing in the New

We stayed in and ordered Thai food on New Year's Eve so we could watch the big Michigan State playoff game for the national championship. Unfortunately the game didn't play out so well, but we sure had fun cheering on our Spartans this season. The best part about living on the west coast is we could watch the ball drop at 9pm, light some sparklers and call it a night. 

The sparklers gave the boys a second wind and before we knew it they were parading around in all sorts of inventive costumes. We needed some light entertainment after that disappointing football game.

We rang in the new year at everyone's favorite place.

I'm not sure why we bother bringing sand toys to the beach because the boys always prefer to play with nature's souvenirs.

It was a little chilly but I don't think I'll ever get over being able to go to the beach on New Year's Day. Here's to another year of spending holidays at the ocean...

Christmas Break Wrap-Up

We're only 18 days into 2015 but it already feels so ancient to write about the end of 2014.

It was so nice to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's at the cabin. If we would have been at home, I would have found a thousand things to do. But being away forced us to relax. We bowled, we swam, we watched movies, we built new toys, we played new games on repeat and we avoided going outside in the below freezing temperatures. 

Grandma gave all the boys matching shirts for a photo op, which ended up being incredibly tricky to squeeze in. With four babies on different nap schedules, there was rarely a time where everyone was awake. I knew we'd have higher quality photos in the daylight but it just wasn't in the cards. We made do late one evening with as many indoor lights as we could find. 

We had Troy's aunt and uncle and cousins over that evening, so at least there were lots of extra helpers to encourage the little ones to cooperate. Somehow, Finn slept through all the commotion.

We stayed up late playing the game Quelf with cousins. There was one point where we had to use sign language to communicate (which none of us knew) and we were laughing so hard it brought us to tears. 

It got too cold to play in the snow so we ventured out to the hot tub instead. 

It took 7 people, 3 days and 1700 pieces to complete the Salt Lake temple replica. 

We finally got to the gingerbread house and gingerbread cookies once Christmas was over. 

It was so cold on New Year's Eve that when Troy went out to the car, he found that a bottle of sparkling cider had frozen and exploded, sending tiny pieces of glass all over the vehicle. 

We opted to take the family to an indoor aquatic center to avoid the cold. 

Blake let Crew push him into the pool over and over and over. 

Finn slept through the event as usual. 

We kicked off the New Year with takeout and watched fireworks from the hot tub when the clock struck midnight. 

Ringing in the New

We came home just in time to spend New Year's Eve with Troy's family before they were whisked away to Hawaii again.

After a long drive home, and an even longer hotel pit stop where Nash decided to crawl on me the majority of the night instead of sleep, I could not have been more thrilled to come home to the best meal of the year.

We have a New Year's Eve fondue tradition that is out of this world amazing.

There are really no words to describe my enthusiasm for fancy cheese fondue.  What a great way to kick off 2012.

We also let the boys stay up late and enjoy another round of Christmas. Again, not a bad way to ring in the new.

Blake's best line of the night upon receiving a toy gas tank: "Mom, will you cut off the tag? Oh wait, we better leave it on so I don't forget what it goes to." (The tag had a picture of a car on it.)

We played a rousing game of "The Game of Things" (best large group game ever) where every passing hour seemed to get funnier and funnier. We were all pretty delirious from lack of sleep by the time midnight rolled around.

We ended the night with fireworks that were sure to wake up anyone within a two mile radius.