Disneyland

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since we got back from our trip to California, and I am just now getting around to posting about it! I will show a few pics from Disneyland, then to another post about SeaWorld, then the beach. I may throw in a few others later when I get the pics from my moms camera too!

We had such a great time, and we managed to surprise the girls! They thought we were going to Utah to look at houses for spring break. On the way there, we told them the truth. They were very surprised and sooooo excited! Payden was actually speechless! We spent a night with Uncle Von and Aunt Connie on the way there, and another night with them on the way back. They live in Las Vegas, so it was a nice stopping point. Then we spent 5 days in Disneyland, a day at the beach, and two days in SeaWorld. It was a fantastic trip, the weather was beautiful, we had no car troubles, no sick kids, no lost kids, (well, we lost Ava for a few minutes in SeaWorld, but I won't count that) no real problems of any kinds. Our most serious problem was actually kind of funny. We realized we forgot the umbrella stroller, so we bought one when we got there. It proved to be a popular pattern. At one ride, someone took our brand new stroller thinking it was theirs! Jason informed me that someone took ours, and I told him to go find the other one that was theirs. It looked just like ours, but with more wear and tear. After that, we put the umbrella stroller in the big stroller when we left them!

Here is our picture with Mickey, which we only had to wait about 45 minutes for. Corrine loved all the characters, and hugged them right away. She would see a character and say, "An hug"!


The bumper cars in California Adventure were fun. Payden and I also went on the rocket one that shoots you straight up really fast, then drops you faster. Payden and I also went on Tower of Terror. She was the only one brave enough to go with me on those two. I don't think I would want to repeat Tower of Terror. It was scary!


This was also in California Adventure. We went there on our last day, but I really didn't want to rearrange my pictures!

Tinker Bell was a big hit.

Corrine just about got eaten up by the princesses. One of them asked her if she could stay with her all day!

Eeyore liked Corrine as well. He hugged her and rubbed her head for a while.

The girls loved Toon Town. I like it to, so much to look at.

I had to get a fortune from Esmeralda. It remined me of the movie Big.

This was in Minnie's house. Ava and Corrine could have stayed there all day! This was a dishwasher that when you turned the knob, the dishes danced around in bubbles. Very entertaining.

I think Minnie was Corrine's favorite. We bought her a litte Minnie doll she liked her so much. She ran right up to her and hugged her legs.

Here is Ava looking at the bigger than life Buzz Lightyear before the ride. She was in awe!

One time when the girls were off with my mom, we saw Minnie. This was actually the first time we saw her. She loved Corrine; she took her hand and petted it and then caressed her head. Corrine just looked at her and grinned. So sweet!

Here is the girls in Toon Town Jail!

This is a picture of Its A Small World Jason took at night.

This was one of Ava's favorites. Its A Small World After All gets sung around here a lot now. On most of the rides, I had more fun watching the girls reactions that the actual ride. This was one of them. Ava had a face of rapture the whole time. I really wish I had a camera on the rocket on I went on with Payden, although I doubt I could have held on to it on that ride! When we reached the top of it, right when we started to shoot down, I glanced over at Payden. She had her eyes closed, and her tounge stuck straigt out so far, it was pointed at the end!

Ava loved the big Castle when we first came in. She was so funny. She went on Matterhorn, which is a really mild roller coaster, and liked it. So we took her on Space Mountain, because she also really liked Star Tours. She HATED Space Mountain. Too much for her. After that, she asked many times before she got on any ride whether it was a roller coaster or if it was dark! Michaela and Payden loved everything, and were having so much fun that they didn't really even whine about getting tired. We pretty much got to see everything. We found out that if you get to the park at 8am right when they open, you have about 1 to 2 hours to ride the rides with minimal wait times. After that, we could count on about 30-45 minutes waits for EVERYTHIHNG. We acutally waited an hour just to see the princesses!

We had such a good time we were planning our second trip before we left. We would like to go again in a couple of years when Corrine will be a little older. Can't wait!

Chaos

We are leaving for spring break on Friday, and since I am working tonight, Wed., and have dance and Achievement days on Thursday, I figured I had better start packing yesterday. We are hoping for some warm weather, and I thought it might be nice to pack shorts.

I started with Payden and was innocently decieved into thinking I could finish everyone quickly because of how easy packing Payden was. She had tons of shorts and t shirts, and I had her done in 10 minutes.

Well, Michaela is growing like a weed and had only two pairs of shorts (that were really kind of tight) to her name. Payden has a bunch, because that is where all of Michaela's went.

So off to Ross ( I love Ross) to purchase her some shorts.

Then I move on to the little ones, and can't find the things that I put away from last summer that I thought would still fit this summer. Jason came home, and he got all the bins down from the garage. I did find lots of things, but not those that I had saved from last year.

My house was full of piles of clothes; ones I didn't want anymore, ones that Corrine can wear now, ones that Ava can wear now, and ones that were in between that I wanted to make sure we could find NEXT year.

Didn't I start out packing?

I still can't find the things I set aside last year, and am getting tired and frustrated with all the endless piles of clothes.

Which also now have to be washed, because even though they went into storage clean, somehow they just don't smell clean when you take them out.

After I get tired and decide to finish tomorrow, I remember where those clothes are. You know, the ones I set aside, the ones I KNOW I told Jason to put somewhere up front in the garage, the ones Jason has been looking for the last 45 minutes?

Yeah. They are in a bin in Corrine's room, right in plain sight. The problem was, that bin has been sitting there since summer last year, and has become such a fixture in her room that I ceased to see it anymore, so it wasn't really in plain sight.

But it was.

Sorry hun.

What started out as what I thought was going to be a relatively simple process has taken me a day and a half to accomplish and made a mess out of my house, and also caused a lot of frustration.

Anyway, I am glad I started packing on Monday, because if I had left it until Thursday I would have lost my mind.


Or three of my kids would have either gone naked or worn their winter stuff. I would let them choose.

So now, all the kids are packed, the in between clothes are in a bin we probably won't find next year, and I can continue packing.

Geesh.

And also , my post below is really fun. Ignore the part where I said I would write 6 things but there are really only 5. It is still fun.

Liar Liar

So I saw this on another blog, and thought it looked fun. I worry, however, that my inability to lie may ruin this post. I will try to be a more adept liar for all of your entertainment! I will tell you six astonishing, shocking, unusual things, and you have to pick which one is the true one. If you know me well enough to know which one it really is, then don't give it away!



Here goes:



1. I once met Will Smith at a grocery store in Boston while visiting my aunt.



2. I secretly had my favorite pet stuffed when it died; I keep it in my cedar chest.



3. I have auditioned for Michael McLean's commitee and they didn't think I had potential.



4. I was onced stalked by a mountain lion and rescued just in time by a friend's dad.



5. My wedding was postponed one hour because Jason was sick in the bathroom.



Good luck! I can't wait to hear your guesses!

Crafty Girls

On Sunday, we decided to make some head bands and clippies. These are the ones I made, the girls ran off with theirs before I could get a picture.

I made this one and it is SO CUTE, but Ava won't wear it. She just won't.

We had fun sitting there for a couple of hours, being creative and talking. It was so fun, I want to do it again. I would like to make a more sophisticated head band for me, and I saw some other ideas I want to try.

I need to get some more head bands and supplies, then we will have another crafty girls session!

The Best 4 Words

Mommy, I yuv oo!

Last night, at Family Home Evening, were having a lesson on the power of music. As part of the lesson, we had a picture of Christ sitting on the table. Corrine ended up sitting in front of it, and as it was laying on the table, she laid over it and kissed Jesus right on the mouth. No one else had previously done this, and nobody asked her to. She had no example, at least no worldly one, to follow. It was so cute, and really brought the spirit to our FHE. We all were pondering how she knew to kiss Jesus, how she knew how special he is.

I often think that because we have such a wide range of age in our girls, that the little ones don't get much from FHE.

I guess I was wrong. All you really need is a picture of Jesus for a 20 month old. And her little sweet spirit to remind you about the basic, pure love of Christ we should all have.

A tribute to teachers

I volunteer in Payden's classroom every Tuesday morning for an hour. I love to do this because she will see how important education is to me, and I get to observe her in the classroom and also get a feel for the class itself. I have done this with both Michaela and Payden since they were in kindergarden.

Today, I was talking with Payden's teacher, Mrs. Thompson. She is a wonderful woman and teacher, and we were blessed to have her 3 times; Micheala for 1st and 4th grade and Payden for 4th grade. She was telling me about how she wishes some of the politics in the district were different, because they make it harder for her to teach. She says that in order to teach the way she wants, she ends up taking 2 to 3 hours of work home nightly. I told her that this is what makes her a good teacher. I was touched that she cares so much about her students that she would go to that extra work for them. She could easily not do it; and the kids would probably suffer for it. But she cares enough to do it right.

I also observed today how her care of her students goes far beyond the call of duty. A student of hers was complaining about his stomach hurting, and she quickly deduced that it was due to his insubstantial breakfast. He didn't bring a snack, so Mrs. Thompson got in her cubbard and gave him one of her 100 calorie bars. She didn't have to do this, and I am sure she does it often.

I know that teachers use their own money to buy things for their classrooms and for their kids.
I know that they sacrifice their own time for activities and projects just to give their kids a good experience.
I know that there are probably countless other things that I don't even know of that they do to improve the lives of the kids in their classrooms.
I know that they do it in the face of poor pay, and frustrating economical and political situations.

And I know that the lazy teacher that doesn't do these things is the exception, not the rule.

I have friends and family members that are teachers, I have had excellent teachers for my kids, I have had superb teachers myself.

I want to thank all of you teachers out there for going the extra mile, for caring about those kiddos you have in your classrooms for so many hours, for loving them when they are away from home.

You are truly appreciated.