Thanksgiving in Palm Desert

So after a whirlwind trip to Hawaii and a birthday celebration for Maddie, we packed up all of our things and headed out to Palm Desert for a family vacation for an entire week. We were so excited to just have a week to ourselves to relax and hang out with the kids. We spent ALL day Sunday getting ready for our trip. I am amazed at how much stuff and time it takes to get our family away for a week. When we arrived at our hotel the kids were asleep so we carried them in and went to bed. In the morning, they woke up so excited to be in a new place and all together as a family! Since it was our vacation we did a lot of splurging. We went to McDonald's for Breakfast that first morning.

Then we headed over to Costco to get some groceries. The kids all had so much fun having Daddy race through the parking lot with them all in a shopping cart. Just look at this bunch of adorable kids!

We got some yummy smoothies. (another splurge! I never buy the kids each their own)

After we got back we went swimming. The pools are heated and it was pretty chilly outside. (Its usually high 70's but it was low 60's during the day).

The next day we went to the Living Desert Zoo. We'd never been there before. We go to Palm Desert a lot but it is usually in the Summer, and who wants to go to the Zoo in 100 degree weather? We took advantage of the cool weather and it was an amazing place! I wasn't expecting much and I was pleasantly surprised. I went crazy with the camera and took a ton of pictures. There was so many cute ones I posted a lot.

Chris had so much fun carrying Libby in the snugli the entire time.

They had a large model train city and it was adorable.
Sawyer and Carter could have spent hours there!

I loved how the zoo was so picturesque. Most of the areas that had animals looked very natural and beautiful.

The kids liked learning about the Cheetah.

They even had a petting zoo

The Giraffe was my favorite!

I thought it was so cool that they had a camel you could ride on! The kids had a blast!

They had lots of areas for kids to play

Carter and Sawyer with the beloved cougar

With the name the Living Desert, you gotta have a ton of cactus. It was fun to see all the different varieties. Carter and Sawyer liked posing in front of this Saguaro Cactus.

The next day we headed over to our favorite restaurant at JW Marriott, Mikado. The kids love the fact that the chefs cook right in front of you and they get to see lots of fire! The boat ride to the restaurant is the best! The boat driver was so nice, he let each of the kids have a turn driving the boat.

Maddie had a little incident the night before Thanksgiving. She was running in the villa and tripped and fell on the corner of the coffee table. She chipped a large portion of one of her permanent teeth and had a pretty nasty cut on her chin. I took her to urgent care and luckily I was able to contact a dentist I had recently trained on Dentrix. She was very nice and met us at her office on Thanksgiving day to fix Maddie's tooth. Luckily it didn't need a root canal and Maddie was very relieved that her tooth was as good as new when we left!


So this was my very first time making a Turkey and boy was it interesting. I had to thaw it gradually over the few days before Thanksgiving. When it was time to prepare it I couldn't believe how gross it was! It was like a huge slimy alien. I've prepared a lot of raw meat before but never anything this big so it was a new experience. I strictly followed my mom's instructions and boiled the neck and gizzards, Nasty!

The end product was beautiful I might add. I was so worried it might not be done because my little turkey timers never popped out, but it was absolutely perfect!

Chris got to carve his first turkey

It was wonderful to have Chris' family and my parents join us. The kids got to eat outside and the view was just beautiful. I couldn't get over how lovely it is in Palm Desert in the winter.

We used paper plates since we were not at home but I did try to make things look nice. My mom made the cute center pieces.

Here is the delicious spread....

Libby enjoyed her first Thanksgiving and made a mess!

Here is the 39 and over table (as Kelli put it!)

And the 39 and under table!

I love Libby's mess under her high chair. Notice her name tag placed next to it! Thanks Hannah for cleaning it up!

After cleaning up we played some games and had some delicious pie. Then everyone went home and we "Tangled" which was adorable!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I'd love to do it again. It was fun being away from home and surprisingly not stressful at all. I thought it would be so much work but with everyone's help it was easy!

The next day we took our Christmas card pictures. Here are some of the outtakes, as you can see we had a hard time getting Sawyer to cooperate.

Palm Springs Aerial Tram

On Christmas Eve day a bunch of us went up to the Palm Springs Tram with the kids. It was really fun! I had gone on it before when I was in 5th grade on a field trip. They have new trams since then and they rotate as you go up so you get to see the entire 360 degree view of the mountain and the valley. It is a little bit scary, as it climbs up 8500 feet to the top of the mountain. At the top of the mountain it was about 30 degrees and there was tons of snow. Who would think that you can go to Palm Springs to play in the snow? The kids were very excited to play in the snow but soon discovered that snow is cold and hard to walk in. Maddie complained a lot and decided she'd had enough after 10 minutes. Carter on the other hand had a lot of fun. Sawyer was very frustrated trying to walk in it and kept falling down. I'll admit it was pretty cute! We had a great time and enjoyed a beautiful view and a white Christmas!

Christmas in the Desert

For the first time ever, we celebrated Christmas away from home. We went to Palm Desert with my parents, Heather and Cisco, and Chris and Amanda. Wes and Kristy also came out on Christmas eve. We had a great time and although it was a little different being away from home it was fun. We spent the first half of our week preparing for Christmas and the last half recuperating from Christmas! I will admit it was sure nice to just relax on Christmas day. I took a nap and it was so nice! We had fun going to the pool, going to the movies, playing games and spending time with one another! We went on the Aerial Tram and played in the snow, Here are some highlights from our trip.

We folded down the back seat and the van was jam crammed!

Maddie with Grammy

The kids had fun decorating Grampy as a Christmas Tree.

We loved being a the beautiful pool

Our Christmas Tree (check out that gorgeous view in the background)

All the cousins in their traditional Christmas Eve Jammies!


Santa has arrived!

Carter with his Stocking

Sawyer got this adorable scooter from Santa

Santa couldn't resist bringing Maddie a baby doll this year!


Sawyer is an old pro at opening gifts now!



On Christmas day we had dinner at the JW Marriott hotel at a restaurant called Mikado. It one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the food in front of you. Great entertainment for the kids!



Carter and Daddy



Sawyer stuffing his face with Fried Rice!