Disneyland Trip Day 1

For Christmas this year we gave the kids a trip to Disneyland.  The time finally came to head out to California.  Sadie woke up early and got the kids up and ready to go.  I got up and packed the car.  Rob got up and made sure the house was ready for us to be gone for a week.  By 6 am we were in the car headed toward the freeway.  We were going to be in California by 3 pm!  

We got onto the freeway and the car started shaking really bad.  Rob insisted that it was just the road, but I knew it wasn't.  He got off and we drove around for a while.  We were trying to come up with a plan.  I called a few car rental places and they didn't have a van and the rest of the places didn't open for a few hours.  There were some tears and angry feelings.  We just wanted to be on the road.  But looking back I'm glad the car started having problems right away or else we might have gotten stranded in the middle of nowhere. (tender mercy) After a while we were able to find a mini van and we went home and made the switcharoo and were finally back on the road to California.  Nothing could keep us from getting there!

I took two pictures because I cut Rob's head off in the first one.  Then I did it again in the second one.  Ha ha!

My kids are excellent travelers.  We made it all the way to St. George with no stops.  

The whole way there I made friendship bracelets.  I made a mickey mouse colored one, but the black thread broke twice in the middle of the bracelet.  So it didn't make it to my wrist. 

You can't see her in the picture, but Finley is off to the right wide awake singing her lungs out.  I'm pretty sure she's the only one that didn't sleep a wink on the way there! The other kids were tired from the early morning.

We finally made it to the house we were staying at with my parents and my brother and his family.  We got the kids situated in their beds.  Zac slept on a cot in a closet.  :)  Then the next morning we woke up bright and early to get to Disneyland! We had to get up and ready to leave the house by 6:45 or so.  So it was pretty early.  

Finley started off walking...when we got to the crowded park it was easier to keep her in the stroller until we made it to the first ride.  

Beauty and the Beast made out of Legos.

After rope drop we went on lots of the little kid rides.  We started with Peter Pan and then hit Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and then Dumbo.  We got separated a bit, the older kids were with my brother's family but they got to ride a few more rides than us because we had to navigate the stroller.

So we rode the rides with Emery, Riley and Finley.  So fun.

Uncle Scott and Cade on Dumbo.  

We finally caught up with Sadie.  She hung out with us for a while.  I think we got our first churros of the trip.

We rode Space Mountain.  Finley was sitting next to me.  Riley and Emery were in front of me with Grandma and Grandpa in the front.  Rob is in the very back with his hands up.  Riley didn't really like that ride.  She didn't want to do it again.  :)

They told us on one of the rides that if we didn't wear our mask correctly they we wouldn't be able to see our picture.  Well...I guess this one slipped through the cracks.  ha ha.

I think this was the Dumbo ride.  Finley was at the controls.  She mostly liked staying down low.  

Waiting for It's a Small World.  I was so glad we wore our bright yellow matching shirts this first day.  It was so easy to spot the kids in the crowds.

It's always such a relief to get on this ride because the line is right in the sun.  So it's nice relief to sit on a boat and go through the air conditioned ride.

Star Tours.  I think I rode this ride the most out of all the rides.  Whenever we saw that the line was only 15 minutes, we would run over.  I saw so many different versions.  It was fun every time.  Especially the first time when Sadie was the Rebel and it showed her picture.  

Checking out the Genie and some of the princesses.

Toon Town.  We were separated from the group at this point, so this was the only picture I got.

Our whole group fit on one of the boats for it's a small world.  At least I think that's what ride this is.  I can't remember.

I think this was Riley's favorite ride.  Big Thunder Mountain.  We would run over and ride this one whenever the line was short too.

Lots of waiting.  And me stressing about the kids losing their masks and then not being able to ride a ride.  Ha ha.  The did a good job keeping track of them.  We didn't even lose one!  I'm sure they were filthy by the end of the trip though.

Whinnie the Pooh ride.

Trying to find relief from the sun.  It got to like 90 degrees.

I don't remember what ride this was.  

Finley and Riley chose some lolipops to spend part of their gift cards on.

We are more focused on riding rides while we are at Disneyland.  So our pictures turn out like this.  ha ha!

Riley's sucker kept her busy in the lines.  

I think this is Big Thunder Mountain again.

This is one of the Star Wars rides.  It was pretty fun.  We did it multiple times in a row because the line was short.

THis was Zac the first time on Space Mountain.  He looked a bit scared.  

Rob took Finley home early on the first day.  I she was so tired and so was he.  :)  It worked out great because he cooked the lasagna for us for dinner so it was ready when we got home. 

 

We got home from our first day and the kids got in jammies while we waited for dinner.  This is what Riley did.  :)

New Years Eve

On New Years Eve, we woke up to lots of fresh snow to play in.  There is no greater motivator for my kids to get up and moving in the morning than fresh snow to play in.  They went out and played for a few hours.  Rob shoveled the driveway and made a huge pile for the kids to slide down.  

That evening Zac and Rob got tickets to see the Jazz basketball game.  They rode the train down to Salt Lake and had a blast.  They were definitely nose bleed seats, but I think Zac was in heaven.  We need to take him to see BYU play sometime!  

Crys and Alan came over and we hung out.  Junie and Finley played and the older kids played video games.  After the boys left for the basketball game and Crys and Alan went home, us girls did karaoke and played games.  It was a fun night.  

So much snow.  It was so pretty.

It took him forever to shovel.  I usually give up and just start pushing the snow to the side but he brought ALL of the snow from the driveway into that pile.  I was watching from inside the warm house.  

Kinda surprised this didn't end in tears.  :)

Love these kids.  I love that they can play outside for hours.

See Emery's hood in the snow there?  Yeah.  They buried her.  

I always make them pause their playing for pictures!

We skipped the cheese fondue this year because when we do it with the chocolate fondue, I always eat too much of the cheese fondue and run out of room for the chocolate!  

Here's Rob and Zac on the train.  

They were way high up there!

When we signed Zac up for rec league they got these free tickets with the season.  He loved it so much!

The free tickets came with a free churro and drink.  

Two handsome guys right here.

The only picture I got of the fondue.  We had a good spread.  The most popular dippers were the fruit and the wafer cookies!

I love seeing that smile.

Girl party at home in our jammies.  

Such a fun New Years Eve!

Happy 15th Anniversary

This year Rob and I celebrated our 15th anniversary.  Crazy that it's been 15 years....it seems like it's been shorter and longer than that.  :)  We have been through so many things mundane and exciting, happy and scary.  But I'm so glad I've had Rob by my side through it all.  

Something I've been wanting to do is visit the Food Nanny store.  She opened a new store about 15 minutes from my house and she sells all kinds of expensive stuff there.  Ha ha.  But when we got there we saw that it was closed until after the new year.  So we just did a drive by.  

I had to hop out for a picture!

Fortunately, this store is right next to the world's biggest Costco store.  I told Rob we had to go check it out.  It really is big.  We were pretty amazed at the size of the cooler areas.  They were way bigger than the one we usually go to.  They had lots of things we've never seen.  We didn't get a cart and it's a good thing because we left with an armful of stuff.  ha ha.  If we had a cart we would have gotten a lot more!

In the freezer section, they had whole lambs you can buy.  

Emery said she really wanted to do the donut on a string game.  So we got some donuts and made that happen.  :)

Riley's strategy made me laugh!

Finley enjoyed the taco we brought home from Taco Bell for lunch.

Then we went and saw the new ghostbuster movie in the theater.  We really enjoyed it.  When they first started the previews the sound was SO LOUD.  I was thinking I was going to have to cover my ears the entire movie.  But they turned it down a bit, thank goodness.  It was a little much for my old ears.  

Anyway, then we got burgers and ate them at home.  Thanks to Sadie and good kids so we can go out and spend time alone with each other.  It's so great.  Happy Anniversary!

Also, I think it is worth mentioning that it was also the 4th anniversary of me finding out about my brain tumor.  I can't believe it's been that long!  I still feel effects of the surgery at least a few times a week.  We call it my "tubey" referring to my shunt that has a tub running from my brain, down my side and to my abdomen to drain my cerebral fluid.  It is often painful, but every time it hurts, I'm reminded of the miracle that I'm still here.  I'm so grateful for the doctors and nurses who helped me in my scary time of need.  I hope they are all doing well.  

 

Christmas 2021 post

 Yes...it took me almost a month to get around to posting these Christmas pictures.  This year, one of my goals is to stay up to date on the blog.  So, once I've caught up, I'm going to try to post at least weekly.   

Christmas this year was very laid back.  We just hung around at home and got together with Crys and Alan a few times.  This year we tried to watch as many Christmas movies as we could before Christmas.  We got the Home Alone movies, Noelle, The Santa Clause, Elf, and more that I can't remember.  (another problem with delaying posting about things on the blog) We opened our Elf chart gifts on Christmas Eve, and watched Noelle and went to bed excited for Christmas.  

On Christmas we woke up and opened our stockings and some presents.  Then Rob made Eggs Bennedict for breakfast and the kids picked out stickers for their new water bottles from Grandma.  After that, the kids got to open the big family gift.  I think they liked it.  :)  

Here are some pictures.  They are all out of order.  Enjoy.

My friend Laurel gave us this cute Bingo game with a bingo cage and everything.  It's so fun!  We will definitely be using this for parties in the future!

I got a new Dutch oven.  The first thing I made in it was Chili. 

We got these new hair curlers.  They are so easy to use!  I love it.  

We went to Crys and Alan's house on Christmas for lunch.  They got yummy barbeque food. Then we watched Encanto.  

Of course we did Christmas nails.  

Took a picture of Junie and Finley in front of my favorite wall in their house!

Crys, Sadie and I spent a good chunk of time putting this marble maze together.  So satisfying.  

They played lots of video games.  Uncle Alan has the best handheld games to play.

I didn't take lots of pictures, but Crys had everything decorated so cute.  

This was our big family gift.  

We're taking the family to Disneyland in February.  :)

First they all opened Mickey Mouse jammies.  Then we had them open a couple of Disney board games.  Finally, we sent them on a treasure hunt to find some Disney gift cards they can use at the park.  

Rob did a great job on the Eggs Bennedict.

Picking out the stickers they want for their water bottles. 

Riley had Finley for the kid's gift exchange.

Finley had Emery. She got her one of those plasma ball things.  

Emery had Riley.  She got her accessories for the doll house.  

Zac and Sadie had each other.

Christmas Eve.

They were a bit excited.

Putting snacks out for Santa and the reindeer.  

Zac and his friend got Takis and chocolate from their friend Ashton.

Elf Chart!