USAA Holiday Party

Brian's work party was at the Alamodome.

This year some little girl gymnasts performed in the hallway, doing tumbling, lifts, and drops. It was neat to watch them.



fudge-making


fresh, warm fudge... YUM!


The band that came was REO Speedwagon.



We caught the tail-end of a mentalist show. Whoa... he reads minds?!


We stayed after the show, and I let him hypnotize me. It was pretty cool.


with Santa and Mrs. Claus


It was a great night! Thanks to our friends for watching the kids!

Mother/Daughter Date

A friend in the ward organized a "princess lunch & a movie" to go and see The Princess and the Frog on opening weekend. We weren't able to make it to the lunch, but we went and saw the movie with the other girls. I liked it, but it's pretty scary for a four-year-old. I'm glad that Kara and I could go on this fun little date.



Kara HAD to get a picture with Alvin and the Chipmunks (even though she has no idea who they are!) in the theater lobby.

Children's Christmas Party

Brian's work had a party for the employees' families. Joshua and Kara got to go sit on Santa's lap (but we didn't buy the expensive pictures, and we couldn't take our own), and we went to a show: "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." Later, they played a few carnival games before we went home (so that Brian could finally sleep-- he'd been at work all night!).

Joshua let me know that he was mad that Daddy stepped out for a minute.


trying not to smile while mad


Kara sat up front with the other kids.


Yay, Daddy came back!

PetSmart Visit

Now, I love animals. I think they're really cute and fun. But I don't love them enough to own and take care of them. Kara has let me know several times that she would LOVE to have a cat, but she knows that the soonest she can have one is after she moves out of the house. We might someday have something low-maintenance, i.e., fish, hamster, etc., but that's not happening right now. So to somewhat ease the kids' animal-longing, we go to the pet store a couple times a year. They love it.