WE believe................

Santa is forever in our house.

If you don't believe, you are present-less on Christmas. That goes for adults as well as crumbsnatchers.

I have never stopped believing in the man.

Tommy has been re-convinced and my 3 munchies will never doubt Santa and all his plans.

Just to make sure, we semi-surprised them with a little trip up north......to the

POLAR EXPRESS!

A huge storm came through this past weekend and lasted pretty much all week. I had begged for snow during prayers and for forgivness for lying point blank to my kiddos faces. We told them we were letting them take Thursday and Friday off for family time at home because of great grades. The part about family time and great grades was 100% true, but we were not wasting a wonderfully chilly weekend inside the confines of our house!

I had started planning this trip last December but could not book it until July 1st because of a new reservation schedule with the hotel. July 1st came and went and I was starting to panic because their system was not up and running...... Finally I was able to make the reservation around the 8th of July and found myself trying to figure out how I was going to keep this baby a secret.

I was completely devastated when Jaxi was trying to help me with my crutches when I dislocated my knee and he read my day timer/ calendar planner. I saw him looking but was so out of it from the pain that putting 2 and 2 together took me like 5 minutes. When he grabbed my hand and asked, "what's this?" I knew he had read, "<-POLAR EXPRESS CONFIRMATION # 679654->" AND SAW THAT WE WERE TAKING THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY TO GO UP NORTH. WHEN WILL I LEARN THAT JAX AND BRINKLEY ARE BIG?

THE GLOW IN HIS EYES WAS AMAZING. HE NOW HAD A SECRET AND HE COULDN'T STOP SMILING. ALL I COULD SAY WAS, "NOW YOU KNOW WHY I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS STORM DOWN HERE.........AND ALL THE SNOW UP NORTH!!!"

WE HAD PURPOSELY PLANNED ONE WHOLE DAY AT THE HOTEL BEFORE THE TRAIN RIDE TO SWIM AND HOPEFULLY PLAY IN SNOW IF THEY HAD IT........ AND SNOW THERE WAS..................TONS OF IT.........EVERYWHERE!

SWIMMING WAS NOT NECESSARY. ALL ANYYONE WANTED TO DO WAS THROW SNOWBALLS AND MAKE SNOW ANGELS!

WE BUILT A FORT BEHIND THE TRAIN DEPOT, THREW SNOWBALLS UNTIL THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING, WALKED THROUGH THE TOWN OF WILLIAMS, SHOPPED, ATE DELICIOUS MEXICAN FOOD, THREW MORE SNOWBALLS AND HAD A WONDERFUL FAMILY VACATION THAT ENDED WITH A VERY UNSUCCESSFUL TRIP UP TO THE GRAND CANYON. IT WAS ALMOST 20 BELOW ZERO WITH THE WIND CHILL AND THE CANYON WAS COMPLETELY FOGGED OVER... BUT WE MADE UP FOR IT WITH A STOP AT THE FLINTSTONE VILLAGE... ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES TO VISIT.

ALL IN ALL, THIS TRIP WAS A HUGE HIT... EVEN IF BRINKLEY KNOWS THAT THIS NORTH POLE WAS MADE OF CARDBOARD AND STICKS AND JAXI KNOWS THE TIME TUNNEL FOR TRAVEL WAS A BUNCH OF LIGHTS JUST THROWN TOGETHER ON A WALL.

WE STILL LOVED IT AND

WE ALL DO BELIEVE!!!!!