Disneyland!

I can't believe I'm finally posting our trip.  It feels like forever ago.  I apologize if this post is long.  I didn't know which pictures to leave out.  I was so happy to have picture after having my camera stolen the last time we went to Disneyland!  I even came home and made a Shutterfly book!

 I know we left around the 25th of February.  We stayed in St. George two nights.  We took a couple hours on Saturday to visit the Draper's.  It was good to see them again.  The kid's were so anxious to get to California.  We had made a count down and everything.  I think what made this trip special was the fact they had to work for it.  We had a chart they had to complete together for 90 days.   It should have been easy but took them a couple months longer than we thought it would. 

We made it to California on a Sunday night and found out the weather would be bad the next day, so we chose to wait one more day before going to Disneyland.  Aghhh!!!!!  I was so sad.  The kids were pretty patient and understanding though.  

 We loved staying at the Embassy Suites.  The kids loved the glass elevators, the streams full of fish and turtles, and the big breakfast every morning.  

 A view from the top of our hotel.

We had fun eating at the Rain Forest Cafe after our day at the beach on Monday.

 We went to Newport Beach and Corona Del Mar Beach

 We loved being at the beach even though it was a little chilly.

 Corona Del Mar Beach

 The Newport Temple

Disneyland at last!!!!!!!!

 Savannah and I had a 'ball' going to the princess lunch at Ariel's Grotto!  The food was good but we mostly went to see the princesses.  They were all so beautiful!  I was living my childhood dreams through my little girl!

 Cinderella

 Sleeping Beauty

 Mulan (our fav...gorgeous and so sweet with Savannah)

 Snow White

 I think Space Mountain was about our first and last ride.  Even little Savannah loved it!

 The classic Tea Cups

 It's a Small World!  Really....we saw a family from Richfield, Quinn Harper, our old neighbors from South Weber, and Steve, Barbara, Spencer and Chistianne Crump!

 A good place for these kids.  Ha Ha!  They were really little angels on this trip (most of the time).

Minnie Mouse!

 Parker hung out with Savannah and I one afternoon.  He really got into meeting the characters too.  I was soo Happy!!!!

 Mickey Mouse

 All ready to get "Wet" on Splash Mountain

 Everyone snaps a picture of the Disney picture after the ride.  

 Tiger

 Eeyore

 Tarzan's Treehouse

 Goofy

 All ready for the Tower of Terror!  This was Ashley's favorite ride.  It's sure not mine.  Even Savannah said she loved it!  That girl wasn't afraid of anything!

 It was fun to see the "Cars."  When the Cars Land opens it will sure add a lot to California Adventure.

 What a bunch of characters!

 My four kiddos!  Love them so much!!!!

 Savannah and I snuck away again when we saw the Fairy Godmother and her mouse friend.  The rest stood in an hour line at Space Mountain only to have it break down on them.

 Fawn, from Tinkerbell.  I know, I had to ask who she was!  She was gorgeous!!!

 Tink

 So Happy!!!!!

 Woody, made out of Legos in the Downtown Disney District

 Another Snow White

 The Tower of Terror

 Nate and his girls taking a little lunch break.  We packed our lunch and brought a bunch of treats so we wouldn't have to buy the expensive food in the park.  We did awesome.  

 Waiting to get on the Jungle Cruise.  Parker's favorite ride when he was two (the last time we went).  He's grown out of it now.  I still like it though.

 Parker was sure excited to see the Star Wars guy.  They have a whole show now called, Jedi Training.  It was pretty cool to see Darth Vader and other characters for real.

 We always took a picture of where we parked each morning so we wouldn't lose our car.

 It was sure fun to be there on Leap Day.  It was the first time in Disneyland history that they'd open the park for 24 hours straight.  We only made it from 8:30 am to 9:00 p.m.  It got way too crazy as the day went on.  All the high school and college kids and crazy Disney fans came for an all night party.

 The cool lion that moved and roared at our hotel.

What a wonderful trip!  We loved all three days at the park.  We felt the kids were just the perfect ages.  It will probably go down in the memory books as one of our all time favorite family vacations.

Hope you enjoy!

Can You Believe It?!?!

I know, it's been forever, but I finally sort of have a minute to add some new pictures.  I wish this was easier!  We are doing well finally after having several of us sick.  I'm actually happy to say that January and February have flown by.  I've kept myself busy with sewing projects and just recently painting projects.  I've been planning our trip to Disneyland!  We leave on the 25th!!!!  I'm so excited!!!!!!  

As the kids get older I realize just how lucky I am to be a stay at home mom!  I am constantly driving them all over the place.  We were really busy for awhile with both Madi and Parker in basketball, Madi and Savannah in dance, Madi and Ashley in piano, and let's not forget....Scouts, Activity Days, Young Women's, Preschool....oh, and Ashley has early morning Math, and Parker has after-school reading class too!  Madi and Ashley are both starting Volleyball this week and Madi will be trying out for the traveling basketball team.  It's not going to slow down for awhile.

I'm still the Activity Day Leader and the pianist in Relief Society.  Nate is still the Young Men President.  We are busy but happy.  

I had to post this picture of Parker because he has watched me sew doll clothes all winter.  Well, he must have felt left out because he begged me to make some for him.  I let him pick out the material and so I made his doll a pair of Utah Ute pajamas.  If think it's sweet.  (Don't tell him I told you, he's embarrassed)

Our house is always a party around the holidays.  Madi and Ashley begged me to let them have a Valentine's Party.  We had 17 girls here!  I should have had Savannah and her friend Ellie in the picture too.  So.... if you count them and myself, that was 20.  Nate and Parker didn't want to have any part of it so they went to the Boat Show in Sandy and then to a BYU basketball instead.

Food

Dancing

More Dancing.  I pretty much let them plan all the games.  I helped with a few but I pretty much let them do what they wanted.  These girls have ideas and know how to have fun.  They played hide in go seek in the dark for a good share of the time. 

I thought it was cute how most of them wore pink or red!

Crazy!!!!

Parker's talked his dad into buying him Cosmo?!?  Which is it guys?  BYU or Utah?  (look at his p.j.'s!)

Parker shooting the ball.

Getting advice from Dad at half time.

Dribbling.

Madi's team won the Championship game!  Madi's #24.  I took video and forgot to take more pictures.  Dumb.  We were so proud of them.  She's doing well and scoring every game.  She made 6 points in the championship game.  That's a lot considering they only score between 12 to 24 points the whole game.

Savannah's enjoying her American Girl Doll, Ella.  They were exercising in this picture.

Our yellow playroom was fun, bright, warm and hammered.  The pictures don't show it, but these walls were drawn on, had holes in them etc.  Our Ace had my favorite Benjamin Moore paint on sale for 75% off and I knew I had to paint.

So here's what it looks like now!!!!!  We used mom's Bennington Gray (really tan) and turned it into Parker's new room.  He's thrilled to have a bigger bedroom and two closets now!

Here's Parker's old room.  He picked out this beautiful blue color for it.  But, we decided to let him move into the playroom.  Now, I need to decide if I should move Ashley in here (she loves blue and green) and let Savannah have Ashley's pink room or should I use it for my sewing/playroom or do I use Savannah's room upstairs for my sewing room (Savannah sleeps downstairs anyway)?  We're still undecided so it may just stay empty for a while.

I kind of like the empty look for now.  Anyway, yeah!  I posted!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I sure love you all!  Have a great week!