Disneyland!

We spent 2 days at Disneyland/California adventure and it wasn't enough! I absolutely love Disneyland and can't wait to go back again. It really feels magical and is such a happy place.

Dylan and Cassie just outside of Disneyland. They were a little too excited to look at the camera.

Toon Town. What a fun place!

Deciding what to do while the kids play in the fountain.

Cassie hanging out on Pluto's bed in Mickey's house. What a cute place!

We even got a picture with Mickey Mouse. Everyone except my dad!

Dylan did really good, but he would take off sometimes and it was hard to keep an eye on him. He would run up any rock he saw and wouldn't stop for anything. We only lost him once, or maybe twice, but I think he learned his lesson.

Mickey Mouse hats!

Chillin with Mater and Lightening McQueen.

Cassie with Grandma and Sam in a spinning ladybug ride. Dylan was tired of rides by the end of the day so I stayed out and watched with him. I was glad to have an excuse to sit out because the kids rides made me a little sick. Too much spinning.

Eating Churros with a Penguin.

Dylan and Candace coming out of the Finding Nemo submarine. All Dylan wanted to do at Disneyland was go on this ride and we finally got on it at the end of our second day. It is the newest ride at Disneyland so the line was always so long. And honestly, it really wasn't that great, but the kids loved it.

Next time we go on a trip like this, I think we will spend the whole time at Disneyland and California Adventure instead of Sea World and the Wild Animal Park. There is so much to do at Disneyland and it took us a little longer to get around because of the kids and having to take turns going on all the rides. But we would get stroller passes and fast passes which would get us on the rides really quickly, so really there wasn't a lot of long lines. Just lots of kids to haul around. They all did so good though. However, they may have gotten a little overwhelmed by everything.

We saw the laser light show "Fantasmic" at Disneyland and it was really neet. The kids eyes would light up so much and you could tell they loved it.

If any of you are Dancing With The Stars Fans, then you may be jealous to know that we were at Disneyland the same night that Jenny Garth danced with Mickey Mouse. Okay, maybe you're not jealous. There were so many people there anyway you really couldn't see anything.

Oh, here are some pictures of us swimming at the resort one day. It was such a fun place. Nate, Dylan and I had actually been there a couple of years ago and Dylan took his first steps there.
Here he is below in almost the same place he learned to walk. It was fun to go back there, it is a really nice place!

Both my kids loved the water, but I couldn't believe how much Cassie loved it. I tried holding her in the water and she just wanted to take off. So I put some water wings on her and she kicked those little arms and legs and did so good. She swam all over the pool by herself with out me even near her. It was nice to not have to hold her in there all day.

Here are more random ones. I got a little camera happy at the pool.

All in all it was a great trip. The kids did so incredibly well. Dylan even learned how to pee in a bottle, due to California traffic. And something gross that you probably don't need to hear... Cassie wanted to drink it. She thought it was juice and was very upset when I wouldn't give it to her. That's all.

Thanks mom and dad, for making this trip possible!

P.S. - I brought home all the little park maps and everyday since, I have found Dylan playing with them. He sits Cassie down beside him and points to everything we went to and tells her all about it. It is so fun to watch. I hope they remember some of this.

Sea World

I love this picture. I was trying to get the dolphin in the background as well, but ended up getting this. I think it looks pretty cool.

Sea World was really fun. We only spent a day there and we did almost everything we wanted to do. Only one of the big rides was open (Atlantis) and it was pretty fun, but wet. We did a LOT of walking that day because there were so many shows going on and we had to back track a lot to get to them. We were all so tired by the end of the day, but again, all the kids did so well.

This is one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken! This walrus hung out right there forever and the kids loved it! (Dylan and Sam above, Cassie and Sam below)

And what would this post be with out a picture of the great Shamu?

Dylan, Aubrey, Sam, and boy who wouldn't move so I could get a picture. They were touching sting ray. I thought it was pretty neat. They were so soft and slimy!

Aubrey in her wheel chair. She hurt her knee the day before and couldn't walk on it. It hurt her so bad that we went to the first aid station at the end of the day to make sure she was okay and they gave all the kids stuffed animals. They were so happy, and so was I! Dylan and Cassie loved watching the penguins earlier and they both finally got a stuffed penguin. You see, most attraction Parks of this kind have this smart idea of strategically placing the gift shop right where you exit from the exhibits/rides. Of course, my kids go running over and always want something. Dylan and Cassie really wanted a penguin after we watched them earlier in the day, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on a little stuffed animal. So, you could only imagine the light shining in their eyes when they were given the choice of any stuffed animal they wanted (okay, out of 5 or so). Dylan chose the biggest penguin and Cassie chose the smallest penguin (she has a thing for tiny things or "babies", as she calls them). The stuffed penguins have been loved very much since coming home with us.

It was a fun day had by all. And who would have guessed that we would run into an old friend from good ol Hill Spring. (Jodi Lewis). It was fun to see her and her cute little family. We saw them at Disneyland later that week as well.

More to come still..........

We're Back!

Well, the kids and I made it home on Sunday after a long day of flying. We were so happy to see Nate at the airport, since he had to come home a week before us. We had such a great time with my family and I miss them already! I feel so blessed to have been able to spend so much time with them.

We started out in Vegas for a few days while Nate attended an ER conference at Planet Hollywood (in Vegas). He enjoyed that, but I think he enjoyed driving the rental car every day even more then going to the conference. You know you have a sad life when riding in a rental car is the most exciting thing that happens in your day. Let's just say that we will be lucky if both of our cars make it through residency.

It was so nice of Lani and Casey to let us stay with them, especially under their current circumstances. They are such a neat little family and have been through a lot these past few years. I hope we weren't in their way too much and I hope we helped them out a little. It was nice to have the one-on-one time with them. Dylan loved playing with Max and Sam and he asks about them every day. However, Dylan and Sam sure can get into a lot of trouble together.

Cassie hurt her fingers really bad the first day we were there and cried almost non-stop for 2 days. I was really nervous about going to California with such a sad little girl, but she felt better after those 2 days. She also was upstairs playing very quietly one morning and when I checked on her, I found her looking like this:

She had gotten into my make-up. Silly little girl. And no, I hadn't done her hair for the day, hence the craziness of it. I wish I could have seen her putting the make-up on.

So after a few days in Vegas, Lani and I packed up the suburban (I guess I should give Nate the credit for the packing), said goodbye to our husbands and headed off to California with all the kids. Casey was kind of the reason why we were all going to California, but he wasn't able to come with us. I felt bad for him, but it would have worn him out.

We met up with my mom and dad, and Candace and her family at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. It was pretty fun, but I was ready to leave there after 2 hours. We went on a little Safari, watched an elephant show, and looked at all the animals. The highlight of the day (okay, there were actually 2 highlights of the day) was when we were stuck on the far side of the park and my dad thought he new the quickest way back to the entrance and the rest of us didn't believe him. So we all went one way and he went another way. After we left him, we waited a ways up because we knew he would hit a dead end on his path and that he would have to head back our way. Sure enough, a few minutes later he came around the corner with a big smirk on his face. Apparently (for reason we are all not sure of) he came to the dead end and decided to find his way through the trees. He came to a gate and opened it and found himself amongst the elephants. So he exited as quickly as he could and then found himself face to face with a wild deer, which he says started "pawing" at him. Silly dad. So he ran back to the path and took the path we told him to originally take and found us. It was so funny how he told it, you have to know my dad. Should have been there I guess.

Oh, and the other highlight of the day was when we heard the story of how Jason almost got put in Jail in Mexico earlier that morning. We won't go into details, but apparently you are not supposed to take rental cars into Mexico.

Here are a couple pictures from the Wild Animal Park:

We were trying to get all the kids to arrange around this egg for a picture, but Dylan and Katelyn both wanted to sit in the egg, and of course they wouldn't share. So I took the picture anyway.
Cassie and Henry both did so good while sitting in the strollers all day for 4 days. I couldn't believe how well all the kids did. My parents sure helped me out a lot with keeping an eye on them at the different Parks. My dad became my official stroller pusher. Thanks mom and dad.

Okay, so I didn't take many pictures at the Wild Animal Park. I found on this trip that we didn't have a lot of time to stop and get pictures. I was always chasing a kid or trying to figure out where to go next before the crowd got bigger.

This post is taking entirely too long, so I will post Sea world and Disneyland later.

Vacation

Tomorrow we are flying here for a few days:

(Las Vegas)

The we will be going here:

(Sea World)

Then we will top it off with a couple of days at this place:


See you in a couple of weeks!

(Nate only gets to spend half of the trip with us and we will miss him lots!)

Halloween pictures

Dylan and Cassie absolutely loved trick-or-treating. This first picture is of the first house we went to and it was pretty cool. They had a lot of scary things outside. If you look closely, you can see someone sitting on the patio step dressed as a monster. It was sitting very still so the kids didn't notice it was actually a person until the lady roared at them. Cassie went all hysterical and was running away screaming. The lady then felt really bad and took off her mask and gave them extra candy. It was pretty funny.

Cute little penguin and lion. If I emailed you pictures last year, then you probably remember these costumes. They are the same ones as last year. I guess I am pretty boring, but I didn't want to go out and buy new costumes when we could squeeze the kids into these again. And look, they are cute.

I love Dylan's mane in the picture above. He was so funny in his costume. He would run around and it would flow and bounce in the wind. Very funny. Also, did you notice what he is wearing on his feet? Yes, those are flip-flops. And if you look again, you will notice they are 2 different flip-flops. This is one of the battles that I choose not to fight. I mean hey, does it really matter? I think he learned his lesson when the rain storm hit a 1/2 hour into trick-or-treating and his feet about froze off. Silly kid.
Our ward play-group ended up on Halloween so we had a little party at the church.
Cassie loves slides. It was fun to watch her go flying down this in her costume and then get stuck on the floor at the bottom. The penguin was perfect for her, since she kind of waddles like a penguin anyway. When we were trick-or-treating, she was always the last one to reach the door. When the bigger kids all cleared the way, a little penguin would waddle around the corner and the people passing out treats kept going off about how cute "he" was. Yes, they thought she was a boy. But that is okay, it was oringally Dylan's costume anyway.

I am not sure why I posted these 2, but I guess it is because my kids are always hanging around the food table. I can't get them to eat at home, but when we are anywhere else they always go to the food. Hm, I wonder where they get that from?

I love Halloween and I am sad that it is over. I always get sad when any holiday ends.

The kids love having access to so much candy (yes, I am the kind of mother that lets my kids their halloween candy when ever they want. I mean hey, they are going to eat it all anyway, so why not get it over with? (some restrictions apply)). But anyway, a little something funny...every time I check to see how much candy they each have left, I notice that Dylan's bag somehow has become a little heavier and Cassie's is getting quite a bit lighter. So I kept an eye on Dylan and when he thinks no one is looking, he sticks his whole head into Cassie's bag and takes what he wants and puts it in his bag. Sneaky little boy!!!!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that Cassie's first 2 year old molar came through. Let's just say that it hasn't been the happiest week in our home. But finally, we have a break through.

Now let's just hope that the other 3 molars don't try to come until after our little trip next week.