Scenes from a Merry day

 Christmas Eve 2010.....

Avery's note and treats for Santa

CHIRSTMAS DAY!!

This is a blanket I made for Jake with all his sports jerseys since 1st grade.....

Another great year, another great Christmas spent with family!  We are so blessed.  Love to all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!

Today we are home doing our Christmas Eve preparations and enjoying a break from all the rain!  We are baking pies, cleaning and Nate is busy making a Yule log.  Nate and Jane go to a little French cafe every Saturday called Chocolatine.  They were taking orders for Yule logs, or Bush de Noel.  Nate decided to make his own.....can't wait to try it!

I am loving baking pies with these cute little pie birds!  "Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye, 4 and 20 black birds baked in a pie"???  remember that nursery rhyme??  How dang cute are these??

Merry Christmas to everyone!  Have a great Eve and a great day tomorrow!  Love and miss you all!

A Merry Day!

This last March our family participated in the Disneyland "Give a day, Get a day program".  Because we gave a day of service we got 6 free tickets to Disneyland!  We waited until now to use our tickets because we didn't want to miss 'Christmastime' at Disneyland.  The weather was PERFECT and the lines were SHORT:)  The two things you hope most for!  We had such a good time and made another family memory. It was a fun way to start off the holiday season!

 I asked Avery if he would go on Space Mountain again and his response was"maybe when I'm 8"

All about teeth

I guess we prefer our children to have straight teeth over new bathrooms......gotta love the monthly ortho bill!! (notice Jakes "fangs".... this poor boy is going to be in braces till hes a daddy himself:)

 On the other hand....Avery got 10 "perfect brusher" dental visits so he has earned a ticket to Disneyland!  Way cool.

Just another Sunday Morning.....

NAUGHTY....guess the time change didn't keep the scoundrels away:)

NICE........see, they do love each other.

BEAUTIFUL......lovely autumn Calif. morning.

Halloween 2010

Just returned home from our ward Trunk or Treat!  Because Halloween is a Sunday this year this was the kids chance to collect as much candy as possible!  Good times!

 great pumpkin done by the missionaries!

ward friends!                                                   

crazy kids.....one in particular!

Gotta love Halloween!

can I really be 38??

WOW, 38,  I remember when my mom was 38.....that is weird.  Yesterday was a great day thanks to Nate and the kids!  Nate and I headed down to Ikea and then out to lunch.  Later that night we went to 

dinner with the kids and my mom and dad.  Great way to start off the downhill slope to 40!  Yikes!

 THE CRAZY 

PARTY PLANNERS

confetti, horns, balloons & these 5...what more could I ask for????

me and my dad

mama and me

my well behaved children....

One last hurrah before dumb school starts!

Nate and I decided that we needed one final hurrah before school starts next week!  A family favorite of ours is the fun Danish town of  Solvang....a quick little drive up the coast.  We spent the night and had fun swimming, shopping and of course eating.....who can resist the pastries??  On the way home we stopped in Santa Barbara for lunch at Wahoos....another favorite.  Ventura Main street was our final stop!  Good times....I am sad and not looking forward to being back on a tight schedule!!  Good bye

summer freedoms!

While we ate a cute little danish man played the accordion....a memory was made.

School shoes???

Jake chowing on aebleskivers

It's about stinking time!!

 Avery lost  his first tooth!!  This darn tooth has been loose for about 3 months!  He has been wiggling it like crazy and waiting patiently.  The Lytle boys tend to be very slow when it comes to teeth falling out.  Jake is 15 and still has quite a few baby teeth!  He will probably be wearing braces on his wedding day.  Hope the tooth fairy brings something good!

Not my doing....

Seriously, who lets their kid do this??? Answer:  My husband.  Isn't it every boys dream to have a mohawk once in their life??  It is ALL getting shaved off before Sunday..........

week two is thru.....

We are home and sad.  We had such a great time in Utah that nobody was happy to wake up in their own bed this morning........we started the week off by dropping Jake off for the week at BYU for EFY.  He had such an amazing time and wishes he was still there.....

Here is what we did week two:

 Kennecot Copper Mine....really quite amazing!

we saw the newest Utah temple

we visited our first home and then showed the kids theirs

Jake should be next to Aubrey

went to the Dinosaur museum at T-giving Point with Lyric and Gregory

saw the Christensen's and their handsome boys

spent MANY hours on the tramp out back

After picking up Jake at BYU we ended the week at a Pioneer celebration at Nate's brothers neighborhood.  Zip line, water slide and fireworks made for a super fun day!

We had to take our yearly tramp pictures with the Nelson's.....everyone is growing up!

We got to spend so much time with family and friends....it is always so sad to say goodbye!  Thanks to all of you that made this such a wonderful, memorable two weeks!  Until next year.......

Thank you to these 3 for being the best hosts ever!  We love you!