Week end get a way

Paul was talking with his sister Patty who lives in San Diego. She asked why we hadn't been out to visit this summer. He told her all the things that had been going on, and that would still be going on. We looked at our calendar and saw that we only had two birthday partys for the kids to atttend, so why not get a way for the week end.
We headed out on Thursday afternoon and got to Patty's by 10. On Friday we went to the beach with her whole family, plus Dave and Heidi, Steve and his family, Shannon, Dillan and Eden. The beach we went to was Ponto...Patty's fav. It's free and really close to her home.
We had a really nice spot on the sand...lots of toys for the kids to play and even more food. Tug of war, boogie boarding, surfin', kick ball, whiffle ball and some badmitten and volleyball were a few of the things we did while we were there for 6 hours. The weather was great and no one wanted to leave.
Once back at Patty's we had taco salad and hung out and visited. On Saturday we drove up to Paul's other sister's home (Cindy). She was having a big birthday party for all three of her children, their birthdays are just weeks apart. It was a warm day, but the kids had fun bouncing in the bounce house and eating all the cake and ice cream. It was great to see their kids and home. Most of all visit with them. We later went off to the beach to cool off.
Sunday was church and a very yummy lunch, then we drove off to home. It was a short and fun trip. Our friend Brennen Watts came with us and make the adventure even more rememberable.
Thanks Patty for calling.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Snow Day

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our friends the Layton's invited us to see the Festival of Lights up in Sedona with them. So we packed up the kids and made it a full day. We first went up to NAU in Flagstaff to sled and play in the snow. This time we found two places to play. The first one was the school playground. It was alright, but not the best hill for sledding. So after a while we headed to where we had gone a few weeks eariler. The other side of the school, a big open field with a great hill. There we had a lot of fun, mostly trying to climb up the slippery hill. No one got hurt, just lots of fun.
Then we headed down Oak Creek Caynon, to Sedona for dinner and the lights. That was so beautiful, at every turn it was even more breath taking. It was such a wonderful day. Good times baby!

Do you believe?

Monday December 15th our family had family home evening. It was a very special one. Aaron played "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" for us to sing, and then Paul read "The Polar Express".
Paul sat on the rocking chair and read each page, then showed the pictures for all to see. Rachel was wondering if there were tickets in the book. Paul kept reading until the last page...then something happened. TICKETS fell out of the book. 6 tickets to the Polar Express Train in Williams, Arizona. (Just east of Flagstaff)
So we all yelled and were so happy about the thought of going to the North Pole.
Then Paul told the kids that we were keeping them home from school for the day. We found out it was to snow up in Flagstaff and we wanted to play before going on the train ride.
It was really hard for the kids to fall asleep.
On Tuesday we headed out around 10ish and were full of smiles.
Our first sight of snow was around 11:30am. It was on the ground everywhere and the temperature was 32* and then it started to snow! What joy filled our van. We all got a headache from Aaron yelling "It's Snowing, It's Snowing".
We made a stop at the Flagstaff Wal Mart for the rest of the snow gear we needed. Yeah for Wal Mart! We love there prices! While walking around the store I asked everyone I could where the best place to take kids to go sledding. I got a few different placed and decided on NAU as the place for us. Once on the campus we saw some sledders and asked...they pointed us to the elementary school and we were off. The snow had stopped coming down and the wind was at a slow whistle.
Brandon was the first off with the sled and headed down the slope. (it wasn't that big...but just the right size for us)
There was a very big open field and a wide open space of snow that hadn't even been stepped on yet. Brandon and Brittany decided that they would be the first. Aaron and Rachel had fun going down the slope and then making a snow man. Brandon even started making a snow cave,(he had just learned how to make them as he's going snow camping in February with the scouts).










It started to snow again and the clock said it was time to leave so we wouldn't miss the train for the north pole. We got to the city Williams around 5 and parked the van in a great spot. Paul checked in and we headed over to a Mexican restaurant to eat dinner.

After dinner we walked back to the Train Depot to climb aboard the Polar Express. It was snowing and blowing, and was very "brrzee" (cold).



After seeing the train conductor and showing our tickets...we climbed aboard for a trip to the north pole.


Once the train left the depot our hot chocolate and cookies were given to us. It was yummy. Then the train conductor announced that we had passed through the tunnel of light that took us to the north pole, so we'd better look out our window to see if we could see santa.
Sure enough, there he was.Then we were told that Santa was going to come on board the train and see each once of us.

As you can see, Santa just walked down the aisle and handed all the children a bell. And yes we could all hear them ringing!

What an amazing trip we had in one day. We will never forget it! Never! Good Times Baby! Good Times

Grandma and Grandpa Steenhoek Mission Farewell

Here we are at the temple grounds of the Los Angeles Temple. Paul's parents were having their missionary farewell. All of his brothers and sisters were there with Families in tow.
Well...not all the family was there. Dan, the oldest brother was by himself. His family of 5 were unable to make it. Debra, a younger sister was there with only two children. Again, they couldn't make it. Other than that...this was the crowd we hung out with for two days.



On Saturday morning at 6 a.m. the kids who could did baptism's for the dead. It was Brittany's first time being able to go. Paul was able to do the baptism for both Brandon and Brittany. After that all the adults did a session in the temple. It was only 9:30 and a whole day ahead of us.

We next went to practice our singing for the Sacrament meeting program for Sunday. All the adults sang a song, Come thy fount of every blessing. All the kids sang, I hope they call me on a mission, and Love is spoken here.


After all the singing everyone jumped into cars and headed for In and Out Burgers. We ate at the park next to La Brea Tar Pits. Once done eating and running around we headed into the the museum. All the children loved it. The movies we watched, all the bones they saw and the smell of the tar pit outside...kept them all running from one place to the next.


As if that wasn't enough to do in one day. We went back to the temple apartments we were staying in, and changed into swim clothes for a swim party. Quite a few of the cousins were having birthday's and they wanted to have a party. So swimming it was, with a BBQ as well. I am not sure how many people we got into the small pool. But it did do the job of cooling everyone off.


Sunday morning was wonderful. Hank and Ada gave great talks. The music that was song sounded great. The breakfast buffet was FAB, the luncheon was filling as well. WE will all miss Grandma and Grandpa Steenhoek for the 18 months they will be gone in England serving the Lord. But we will be ever so grateful for all they have done for us, and they example they are to our family in every way!
We love you.


Just a side note...Thank you Heidi's mom, Connie for coming and helping Heidi to drive. We loved having you there...We love you.
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