We had a wonderful Christmas season spent with lots of family, but I didn't take many pictures of it all. So here are the few that I do have.
Christmas Eve at church
At my parents farm
I will never get tired of her missing front teeth!
The year of Star Wars!
My sister and niece, Elliana - she was the source of many laughs, she is so funny!
Darn sun - I love this picture, but the lighting is not great. Grandparents are the best!
Spencer and Jenna's first newlywed Christmas! Love them!
She still loves her babies so much - it was time for a new stroller so she doesn't have to hunch over. She loves this thing!
The girls! Ready for baking!
Our Texas family came up north for a few days. They had been praying for snow and God did not disappoint - we had a blast playing outside!
The crew on the sledding hill - just missing my Mom as she stayed home to have food and hot chocolate ready when we were done. (and Nick took the picture)
I saw these cupcakes on a local morning show and they looked adorable! I found a coconut cupcake recipe and they not only looked good, but they tasted amazing! (as long as you like coconut)
Basic Vanilla Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pans with papers.
In a separate bowl, beat 1 stick softened butter until smooth, about 1 minute.
Add 1 cup sugar and beat until creamy, 4 more minutes.
Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, then add 2 teaspoons vanilla.
Beat in the flour mixture in three additions on low speed, alternating with 1/2 cup milk total.
Beat on medium-high speed until just combined.
(To make them coconut, replace the milk with unsweetened coconut milk.)
Divide the batter among 18 muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes until the tops spring back when touched. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a cooling rack.
Basic Vanilla Frosting
Beat on medium until combined: 1 1/2 sticks softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and beat on medium-high until creamy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in 2 tablespoons milk until fluffy, 1 more minute.
(again, replace the milk with unsweetened coconut milk for coconut cupcakes)
Pipe a mound of frosting onto each cupcake, then roll in coconut flakes and shape into a mound of snow.
For the Christmas trees, melt green candy melts in a piping bag or ziploc bag in the microwave and pipe over pretzels. Shake on sprinkles before it hardens and let cool. Stick a tree on each cupcake and wow your friends! So easy, so cute, and most importantly, SO delicious!
We spent a day each at Legoland and at SeaWorld. Our SeaWorld day was the rainiest, but we were prepared with our tourist ponchos, and it wasn't so bad. Actually when it rained the hardest, we were watching the dolphin show so we stayed dry in the stands.
Sea World trees!
Shamu Show!
That bird right there kind of stole the show. He walked right in front back and forth until the trainer opened the 'treat' box of fish, then he grabbed one and flew away. I'm guessing it wasn't his first time!
Beautiful animals!
My favorite part, the penguins! The penguin ride wasn't running (bummer because apparently it was a good one) but we still got to see the penguins at the end. I spent quite a bit of time chatting with one of the staff members, asking questions. I should have taken a picture of this one certain penguin - he was right in the corner of the window we were standing in front of - but he had a great story. I already forgot his name, but apparently his egg was damaged so the keepers took it out of the enclosure to try to save it. They didn't think he would make it, but he did!
Always goofy!
The Seamore and Clyde sea lion show was one of our favorites so we had to go see all the sea lions - they really are quite strange, but so cute!
Beautiful Christmas tree!
The kids' favorite part of Sea World was touching the Stingrays - we spent a lot of time there! In the Christmas tree picture above, you can see Rylan's wet shirt from leaning over to touch the stingrays. We had to change before we left because they were both soaked!
Rylan also loved the roller coasters at Sea World. We finally convinced him to try an upside-down coaster (after he'd been too scared at all the other places) and go figure - he loved it! Mackenzie was too short though, so Nick and I took turns going with him. I have always loved roller coasters, but I think my coaster riding days are over - dang getting old and the motion sick crap getting worse!
I like the water rides though, those are typically straight up and down - it's going fast around corners that make me queasy. Here we were on the Atlantis water ride - Mackenzie and I in the back, Rylan two rows in front of us. Nick opted out of this one since we would have had to find a locker for the backpack first.
Our last day was spent at Legoland. We really did pack a lot into a week, so our last day felt a little more relaxed and that was good. Nick and I stayed off most of the rides and just happily watched the kids go on them. It's a beautiful thing watching your kids grow up!
All the Lego creations were amazing!
The water ski show was fun - the stage part was cheesy, but the tricks on the water were pretty good!
Video of the wakeboard and air chair.
My favorite part of Legoland was the banyan tree in the Botanical Gardens - this amazing tree that grows roots straight down from it's branches and spreads like crazy. It's only around 80 years old, so it's quite fast growing, but it was one of the most beautiful natural things I've ever seen. Pictures can't do it justice, but these will give you an idea.
That's all one tree!
Seriously, amazing! I SO wish I could have this in our yard!
Mini Land was neat - we went back a few times to see it all.
I think the kids both liked building and racing their own Lego cars the best.
What a fun place!
And one more from Universal that I just found on Nick's phone - the first picture of the first day.
What a fun trip - it already seems so long ago, but what good memories we have!
