Our California Christmas...

This year was definitely our most exciting Christmas yet! We planned a big surprise for the kids and it turned out great! I was so proud of myself for not spilling the beans, I thought for sure I'd let it slip or just tell them out of pure excitement but I didn't! Yay me:)

Anyways, Judd and I decided back in October that we wanted to go to California for Christmas and surprise the kids. We had told them that we were going to be spending the holidays in St. George with Judd 's mom and dad so that's what they were expecting. We loaded up the car and made the drive to St. George a few days before Christmas and had a sleepover at Grandma Bundy's house, but when the boys woke up the next day they found suitcases under the tree.

They were a bit confused and I'm sure at the moment wondered why Santa had come early and brought them something as lame as a suitcase for Christmas...we had filled the suitcases with clues as to where we might be going and why they would need a suitcase. I had thought this out so carefully in my mind and included things such as stuffed sea creatures, wild animal toys, dvd's for the ride, even a mickey mouse towel and keychains of Disneyland but as they went though and looked at all the stuff they were completely lost. They loved the things we had put inside the suitcases but they were so confused as to why it was all thrown in a suitcase. They probably just thought I wasn't in the gift wrapping mood or something, and they kept saying it isn't even Christmas yet...Judd and I were just cracking up about it. We explained that the suitcases were not from Santa but that they were from us because we thought they would need them for a "special trip" we were going on. We kept asking them where they thought we might be going and told them that the things inside were clues.

Well, I guess our kids just aren't the brightest because it took at least 20 minutes of hinting and spelling in out for them and they still didn't get what was going on. It was so stinkin' funny! Finally Judd was like "We're going to Disneyland, Sea World, the Wild Animal Park and the San Diego Zoo and we're leaving right now. Do you want to go?" They just looked at us in shock and we told them to go get dressed because the car was ready and waiting. They raced to get ready but I still don't think they fully understood what the plan was until we pulled up to the hotel later that night:)

We had a blast! We spent Christmas Eve at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, which the boys absolutely loved. They are all SO into animals so they were in heaven! Then on Christmas Day we went to Sea World, which they also loved. It was so nice because there weren't a lot of people there since it was Christmas Day so we got to see and do everything we wanted with no crowds. They even had Santa Clause there with the polar bears and penguins and they had all kinds of Christmas shows and displays with the animals. It was so cute!

The boys were having the time of their lives but they were so worried that Santa wouldn't find us at our hotel...it was all they could talk about. I was a little worried about it too, but he was very sneaky and still managed to leave behind his loot without waking up the boys:)

The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo for most of the day and then headed to our hotel in Anaheim. We stopped at the beach for a bit on the way and enjoyed the awesome 70 degree weather, it was perfect. Cooper had never been to the beach before and he absolutely loved it! I think it was his favorite part of the trip, he was so cute:)

We spent the next 2 days at Disneyland, which of course was magical! Our kids had never been before so it was so fun to see the excitement on their faces. We had a great time and the lines really weren't too bad there either. The decorations were amazing...they seriously transform the entire park for the holidays and they even had snow falling down at one point. It really was incredible! Cooper was so good and happy for the entire time and the big boys were great too. It was such a fun trip and we were so glad that Judd's parents were able to enjoy it with us. Judd and I both have crazy schedules so it was so fun to just be able to spend time together and relax. I loved spending time with all of my cute boys (and my in-laws too), it was a Christmas to remember!