Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had so much fun teaching Hannah all about Christmas. She loved our Christmas tree, especially the star on top, she learned Jingle bells, (this was my favorite because after Brian spent two or more weeks teaching her the correct version of the song, I spent an afternoon teaching her "Jingle bells daddy smells, mommy is so cute" which she proceeded to sing every time thereafter) and really got into Santa Clause and his reindeer. We also taught Hannah about the birth of our Savior and her favorite book (over all the Santa Clause and other Christmas books) was a simple retelling the nativity story.


Christmas Eve was spent with my family up in Yuba City. The whole gang was there, and these days that is no small feat. My family has always mainly celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. We have a big meal and then our Christmas Eve program. In my parents house Santa Clause is very much alive and well and so every year we read The Night Before Christmas, Polar Express and other stories and poems about Santa Clause but we always finish our Christmas Eve focused back on Christ with carols and the nativity story.

Normally we open presents at our house Christmas morning and then go to Brian's parent's house but of course Brian's parents are half way across the world so we spent Christmas day at our house. We did talk to Brian's parents and Brian's sister and her family in Utah thanks to Skype. We are so thankful for all the technology that has let us stay in touch with Brian's parents while they are gone.

Hannah was very excited to open her presents Christmas morning.

I think Hannah liked the bows most of all!

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree"

For the Simmons family Christmas officially begins the day after Thanksgiving and the first official act of our Christmas season is to cut our tree. For the past several years we have gone to Apple Hill but this year we decided to stay closer to home and went to Bill's Christmas Tree Farm conveniently located just off Jacksonville Hwy about 10 minutes from our house. They had a small petting zoo (2 goats and some chickens and rabbits in cages) and wagons for kids to ride in.

Hannah didn't stay in the wagon to long but loved running through all the trees.
What we didn't realize is that the traditional firs don't grow down here in the valley so all they have is the bushy trees (like the technical name). We almost went with one but at the last minute decided that we liked our traditional fir trees and bought one of their pre-cut noble firs.
Here's the tree we almost got.

Here's what we ended up with.

"I am the very model of a modern major general"

I love the opera and Brian is nice enough to take my at least once a year (and I even think he is starting to enjoy it). This season Sac Opera opened with Pirates of Penzance and it was wonderful. If you ever have a chance to see this show I highly recommend it. It's about a young man who is accidentally apprenticed to a pirate instead of a ship pilot but once he is set free from his apprenticeship he decides it is his duty to hunt the pirates. It is extremely funny and witty, the music is marvelous and it is one of my all time favorites.

Twilight

So you may or may not know that I have become a avid Twilight fan. I loved the books and am almost embarrassed to say that I have read them all several times (I even made Brian read Twilight but don't tell him I told you). Needless to say I was extremely excited about the movie. Well, the big day came and a group of us were their for the first showing at 12:00am.
I promised myself I was going to like the film no matter what, but they sure made it hard. I had no problem with any of the actor/actress choices (of course no one can be as gorgeous as Edward and the other Vamps are supposed to be) but I felt like they took out all of Edwards charm and didn't show how Bella and Edward fell in love. I could go on and on but I will just say that it was less than stellar and disappointing. In allegiance to the books, I will like the movie anyways and am excited for the next one.

Cabo

We have enjoyed some great trips this year and our week in Cabo San Lucas was no different. We had a blast and were especially glad to have my sister Kristin, her husband Darin and their youngest daughter Sydney with us. We were able to stay in a great resort a few mintues walk from downtown (thanks again Doug and Cindy). Here's the view of it from our balcony.

Yes, that is a ship in the pool!
Most of our morning were spent hanging out at the pool which the girls loved.

We also went deep sea fishing. Brian gets horribly sea sick so he opted to babysit the girls. After a full morning we had two bites, one was a beautiful El Dorado (mahi mahi) and the another that got away, and were headed back when Darin and Kristin spotted a Marlin. We had seen quite a few but hadn't been able to get them to bite. Well, this one took the bait and after 1 1/2 of hard work Darin was able to reel in the beautiful black and purple 200lb 9ft Marlin. Congrats Darin. We then released it.

We also took a snorkeling cruise. Even the girls got in and saw some fish.

Of course, we loved the beach and warm ocean water.

Fall Carnival

This year our ward had a carnival to go along with the trunk or treat. The primary sponsored it but each organization put together a booth. The booths were all scripture themed and it was so much fun. Here were a few of the booths.Adam and Eve's apple bobbingDaniel and the Lion's Den tossJonah and the Whale fishingMalachi's Tithing toss
This year I decided to make our costumes, anyone who knows me knows that this was a big stretch for me but I think they turned out pretty well. Hannah was a chicken, Brian was a bull and I was a pig.

Apple Hill

Brian grew up going to Apple Hill with his family every fall and we've decided to make it one of our family's traditions. Our adventure started with breakfast by the pond at High Hill Ranch. We had apple fritters and hot chocolate. Very yummy.

Hannah loved crawling around the pumpkins and sitting on the hay bales.

We went to Bolsters Hill Top Ranch for the main event of picking apples. Brian picked most of the apples but Hannah picked a few too.

I think Hannah's favorite part was running through the apple orchard. The orchard is on a hill mostly sloping down so Hannah would start to run and then because of the slope would get going too fast and fall. She would then pick herself up and do it again.

After repeating this a number of times, at least ten, she finally fell and then just laid in the grass.

Camping

Our ward had a fun overnight camp out this weekend. Brian and I like to go camping and try and do it at least a couple of times every year but this summer we just didn't make it so this was our camping trip. We went up to Camp Navoo which is a camp just outside of Placerville owned by a couple of stakes. We had dinner and then a big campfire and just played a little the next morning. It was short but we loved being outdoors and most importantly handing out with our ward. (We really love our ward!)