We had the wonderful opportunity to visit San Diego for the whole week of Thanksgiving this year. My mom had the wonderful idea of renting a beach house as our Christmas gift. I loved this idea considering my kids have enough "stuff" and they really don't need a lot for Christmas. I figure spending quality time with the family is better than more "stuff" any day.
It was so nice being right by the beach. We could go out for a walk, play in the sand, or go on a sea shell hunt at any time we wanted. In fact it was so hard to pry the kids away from the sand once they started digging with their shovels. We were lucky to get them inside long enough to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us.
We made a lot of sand angels which would leave lots and lots of sand everywhere that I'm surprisingly still finding in the laundry.
Not to mention sand in their ears. I don't know how they managed to get so much sand in their ears. Yuck!
We had passes for Sea World, Wild Animal Park and The San Diego Zoo. We took full advantage of being able to visit these parks whenever, and as much as we wanted that week. We even spent two full days at Sea World, and one full day each at the other parks. The picture above is at the Wild Animal Park. They were a few wild animals themselves. :)
It really was fun to ride in the bus/train (I'm not sure what they call it) through the wild animal park. We were able to see a few new baby giraffes and learn some fun facts about the animals there.
I think all of us really enjoyed feeding the birds nectar at the Wild Animal Park. The birds would just hop right on your arm for a treat.
Avery was able to get two at a time.
Aliza was thrilled considering she had just purchased a bird stuffed animal from the gift store. I love this picture because you can see the excitement on her face.
Like I mentioned before we did spend two full days at Sea World. They were begging to go back right after we left the first day, so we went back for more. Avery and Aliza LOVED the tram ride that took you over the ocean. We did that two times too.
In Sea World they do have a fun section with a Sesame Street theme. It was full of rides and fun activities for young kids. Aliza was in heaven.
Abbie and Avery claimed that they were too big for Sesame Street, but they seemed to be having a great time too. All of the rides seemed to be suited for all ages.
Abbie's favorite activity of the whole trip was feeding the sea lions. She used her own money to buy fish for them to eat (3 times), and to my surprise she didn't even mind handling the dead yucky fish (Eeeww). It was fun to see all the sea lions begging for food. We just had to watch out for the swooping seagulls overhead who were very aggressive. Micah and I would have to be on lookout whenever she brought out a fish to feed them.
Abbie was always so torn trying to figure out which one to feed. They had their begging down pretty well.
The girls loved the shows which we did see a few of them twice too. It really is amazing what they can do with these animals. Both days that we were there it never seemed overly crowded which was nice. We were always able to get in to see the shows, and never waited in line for anything.
Look at all those people.....
Touching the star fish and sting ray's is always fun.
Aliza needed a little boost to touch the sting ray's.
They thought we had food and would come almost out of the water which gave us a good look at them.
Our last day in California we did attempt the Zoo. Unfortunately everyone else in California was there that day too. It was REALLY busy, and a bit cold that day so I didn't get many pictures. We did wait in line 30 minutes to see a new panda bear cub which was really cute. The mom panda and the baby were playing together which was fun to watch. The mother actually chased the baby up the tree and shook the baby out of the tree. As the crowd gasped the zookeeper informed everyone that it was normal for them to do this, and the baby was fine. Interesting way to toughen up your baby I suppose. We had a fantastic trip! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Chidester!!!
This is a picture of the girls impatiently awaiting the go ahead to open presents. Two day's later we were headed off to Utah to spend the holiday with family. The girls were so excited to see snow that we packed all the snow gear in hopes of making a snow man. When we got there this is all there was. But of course Abbie couldn't help but run outside and make the best out of what snow was there. 
This picture of them in the snow didn't turn out that great, but I think it's funny that Abbie's scarf landed right on her head for the picture. On the day of Christmas Eve we went to see the movie Tangled which was so cute, but Aliza thought it was a bit scary. She spent a lot of the show asking to go home. 
Each Christmas Eve we have a fantastic connection with the North Pole because Santa always arrives at the Phillips family Christmas Eve party. All of us young or old get a chance to sit on Santa's lap for one last request before the big night. You can tell Aliza is willing to sit on his lap, but still a little nervous. This is the first Christmas that all of our kids were ready and willing to talk to Santa. Nobody was clinging to me or hiding in the other room. It was nice.
Abbie played a wonderful duet this year for Santa with her cousin Zoee on the violin. They played We Wish You a Merry Christmas with great confidence. Santa enjoyed it so much he asked to hear another carol next year. Can't wait to see what they come up with. If you know Abbie you know she will be literally thinking about it all year to prepare.
Avery was thrilled to get a Barbie doll from Santa on Christmas Eve. Her comment to me was that he really must have read the letter she mailed a few weeks prior. I'm sure he did.
Christmas morning was so much fun this year. Aliza was asking for a new doll and roller skates which he did deliver. She was ecstatic and couldn't wait any longer to break into the skates. She got pretty good at them on the carpet. On a slicker floor is another story.
Our kids must have been really good this year because Santa brought both Abbie and Avery Nintendo DSi's. They have been begging for them for quite some time and they worked out great to keep kids entertained for the long car ride home. Aliza did get a Leapster to keep her entertained.
Later that day we were able to visit with Great Grandma Joy and Grandpa Alvin, then we headed over to my parents for more present opening. We stayed with my parents for a few nights so we could attend our old ward in Saratoga Springs. I still can't put into words the way I felt at our old ward. When we walked in we were greeted with hugs and happy hello's that made it hard to hold back the tears, but I did. Then after the meeting we were able to see so many people we have missed dearly. Abbie made the comment later that evening that it felt like she was a movie star with everyone surrounding her. I thought that was a funny comparison. Oh, how I have missed our old ward and our friends in Saratoga.
This is Aliza Christmas morning wearing her stocking stuffers from Santa. We of course had to try them all on before breakfast. My mom put together a yummy after Christmas lunch Sunday afternoon which was perfect. We were able to visit with my sister and her family that afternoon. Monday morning we headed over to play with friends (the Hacketts) for most of the day. We ended the evening with our dear friends the Bass family to have dinner and walk around temple square. It was a perfect evening other than the fact that absolutely no food area's were open. We tried many places and they were either too busy or closed. After walking around for quite some time we just hit Trax over to the Gateway to grab a bite to eat. It was so fun to be in Utah again. I didn't realize how much I do miss it. We made it home Tuesday mid afternoon with the luck of not hitting a single snow storm going to or from Utah. We are now enjoying our time together before it all starts up again Monday morning. Yuck!
Technically I don't buy them Christmas dresses every year, but this year I couldn't pass them up when I realized that this may be the last year we could get matching dresses for all three. Not just in size, but Abbie is getting too old to want to dress like her sisters. So this was technically for mom and I loved it.
