Mele Kilikimaka

What a wonderful time of the year!

Here are some shots of another one of my "at home photo shoots." We took pictures on the fence that keeps the cows in our neighbor's back yard.
This is the very best picture I could get of Ella. She was freezing and not about to do it the easy way.
This was my alternative choice for the Christmas cards. Hahaha.
I give up! She is not my ideal "client."

Ethan had a little Christmas brunch with some friends. We had his favorite- cinnamon rolls- with Christmas sprinkles and chocolate milk.

Santa came to visit us a few days early this year, because we spent Christmas day in Hawaii. Ethan and Ella loved every minute of it. We had so much fun watching them open their gifts.Ella is our little animal lover. Ethan was able to pick out something for Ella, and he chose to get her a pretend cat that really purrs and meows. Ethan knows Ella so well. She was so happy. That is her new favorite thing. She carries it everywhere. I tried to turn it off and it actually hissed at me! Hilarious.

Ella gave Ethan a new SpongeBob game for his DS. She knows him so well too- he loved it.

Christmas in the air!

Ethan made a darling Christmas tree costume at school! So we took a plate of cookies to Kent at work and Ethan delivered them in his costume. Ella helped me make the cookies (she washed her hands first).

We had lots of fun putting together goodie bags and treat packages for our friends.

I went a little crazy with coordinating the presents with the tree (and rest of the house). I had so much fun though.

Spokane Anniversary

Kent and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary in Spokane. We had a wonderful weekend in the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in. It is a historical hotel that has been redone. They had a gorgeous "Marie Antoinette" ballroom that was decorated for Christmas. In the lobby they had a festival of trees. My camera isn't great, but you can see the balcony with all the trees, and the main tree behind us. We loved going out to dinner without kids (love 'em- wouldn't change 'em). We laughed and talked- TALKED! It was so wonderful. We are here at P.F. Changs where they gave us free appetizers since we were celebrating.
Kent was a good sport to go Christmas shopping with me. Our hotel was right down town so we could walk down the street to the Shopping Square. They had a huge tree in the mall and the streets were lit up with Chirstmas lights. It was so romantic.
Our hotel had a darling Candy Shoppe, that I spent lots of time in. Each night the "turn down service" at the hotel would leave some candy from this shoppe. It was divine. Don't tell Kent they left candy- I stole his. YUM!!!!

Isn't it precious? LOVE this place!
In the lobby they had a gorgeous fireplace and trees all around. What a wonderful time of year to go on an anniversary getaway. It was just so.... can I say magical?

Getting ready for Christmas!

We bought our first Christmas tree! We've been using a little one of my parent's tree since we got married (thanks mom and dad). Ethan and Ella are having a great time decorating and redecorating it.

Another Roadside Party

Kent's boss, Gary (with his wife, Katie, and son Jon), drove down to Utah for Thanksgiving too. They were just a little bit ahead of us on the freeway when Gary called to tell us they had run out of gas. They were about 15 minutes up the freeway, so when we saw them on the side of the road we stopped to wait with them until "Triple A" showed up. They were good sports to let us take pictures!
Then we all went to dinner together. It was a darling little restaurant with a train that rode on some tracks around the ceiling throughout the whole diner. That is why Ella is not looking at the camera. The kids loved it.

Roadside Party

Since Ella got sick, and I wasn't able to go to the cabin, I met a couple of my family members on the side of the freeway to exchange gifts (let's be honest- I don't have my shopping done yet so I really just collected gifts). Ethan was heartbroken he didn't get to spend more time with his cousins so he cried and cried until we promised to go back soon.

Ethan's uncle Greg was gave Ethan some toy jets for a belated birthday present. We had so much fun with those on the ride home because we watched "Top Gun" in the car and played with our new jets! Thanks Uncle Greg!

BYU Game! Kent was able to go with his brothers and his dad to the BYU vs. UTAH game. This is them on the field before the game. The girls went shopping. We were happy to hear BYU won so our husbands wouldn't be mad at us for spending money! They had a great weekend full of sports. The night before the BYU game, they were able to go to the Jazz game and sit on the floor!

Ella got sick

Friday night, I was going to go up to my family's cabin in Bear Lake, Utah. After I had packed up the car, we felt like she was too sick to go up there without seeing a Dr. first. She was wheezing and coughing like a seal. We took her to the doctor and he gave her a steroid shot because she had the crupe. I was sad not to be able to go to the cabin, but my family was very supportive and Ella is feeling much better now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for my beautiful family. They are so much fun to be around. I am thankful for my husband who is so patient with me and my children who love me unconditionally.Here the kids are tackling Papa.

Ethan and his cousins were jumping and dancing for Grandma's camera. I thought this was such a funny picture. We had dinner with Kent's family in Alpine, Utah. His parents, from Florida, were able to be there along with three of his siblings. There were 10 kids and 10 adults. The food was fabulous and the conversation was even better. There is never a dull topic with the Copelands. We had a great time.

After dinner we went through the ads to see which sales we would want to hit the next morning. Ella looked through so I would know which presents she wanted. Only a few more years and she'll be invited to do the shopping thing with us. (Okay- maybe more than a few...)
Although it was a "ladies" morning. George (Kent's dad) decided to go with us. I guess between the option of going shopping with the women or staying home with all the kids, he decided to take his chances with his wife and three of his daughter-in-laws. After we put him to work holding our place in line- which wrapped around the store- and keeping track of our many, many trinkets. Knowing what he knows now- I wonder if he would have made a different decision. He was a great help though and we were all glad he joined us. Love ya George!

Driving to Utah for Turkey Day!

Since we drove from Washington to Utah for Thanksgiving, we had an 11 hour road trip ahead of us. We had to get creative. Here are some pictures of Ethan as Prince of Tin-Foil Town and Ella as the princess.

Happy 5th Birthday Ethan!

I cannot believe my little baby (he would be so mad if I knew I called him a "baby") is five years old! He is such a sweet boy. I look at him all the time and can't believe how lucky I am to be his mother. He is so smart and loving. He is always trying to protect me and take care of me. He always tells me how much he loves me and how "bootiful" I am. I am grateful that is a healthy and happy kid. If I could make a wish for him as he grows it would be for him to be a confident, generous, loyal person with integrity and spunk. I hope he'll always know who he is and what he wants. I hope he will be a good example to those around him and not give in to pressures of the world. I love the stage he is in right now. He is constantly- and I do mean constantly- asking me questions about words, and meanings of things, and the reason why things happen (sometimes I am too exhausted to answer him- but I still love this stage). It reminds me of how much what I say and how I teach him will effect how he views life. I try to remember to stay positive and happy and show him that life is to be enjoyed and to help others around us. I love my little Ethan and wanted to put some things in writing about how amazing he is and I am thankful for these last five years with him and I am grateful for the future he holds. Thanks for reading! Happy birthday my little man! So we began a new tradition with our little family called the birthday fairy. "If you are really good all year long- you will wake up and have a present left in your room when you wake up on birthday morning." Needless to say, Ethan was very good. The birthday fairy decorated his ceiling with balloons and left him a present to open as soon as he woke up. After Ethan opened his present, I saw him look out the window and whisper, "thank you birthday fairy." It was such a sweet moment.
There is no better way to start your birthday than with a sugar high. Ethan requested his favorite food of- cinnamon rolls. It didn't stop there. He wanted sprinkles on top and then dusted with powdered sugar! Whew. Breakfast of champions!
Ethan was so excited to take cupcakes to his preschool class for a party at school! I thought this picture was hilarious since they had chocolate all over their faces.
Here is a picture of his whole class and his two teachers. Ethan is in the backrow with the Spiderman shirt.

Spiderman Party!

Ethan has been all about Spiderman, so naturally that is what kind of birthday party he wanted. I was thankful that it was after Halloween so I could recycle my Halloween decorations.

Lots of birthday fun!

Ethan has been wearing his costume almost every day since Halloween. Today was no exception. For those of you that have heard my talk about Ethan's little friend, Cameron- that is him next to Ethan.

Spiderman even made a guest appearance to help break the Pinata! Ethan's eyes almost popped out of his head! It was so great. We're very thankful that Spiderman came to see Ethan.