Kandid Memories

Happy 100th Birthday Arizona!!

2012-02-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Eli had his 3rd grade music program today. It was called "Arizona Centennial Celebration".

Apologies for the poor photos..I took them on my video camera. :P

The 3rd graders performed music all about Arizona and her history. They had a guest speaker, Gilbert's former Mayor Dale Hollack, who spoke to the children about the history of the town they live in and had a slide show of Gilbert "Then" and "Now". The kids went crazy over seeing the changes our town has gone through over the years. It was pretty neat! :)

Not only did Eli get to perform, Walker was asked to be apart of the band that accompanied the program. He was on percussion, playing some mad cow bell action!! :D

Since it was like a family affair, I thought I'd throw in a picture of Alayna too! :P

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Birthday Arizona!

Rome 'Was' Built in a Day!!

2012-02-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

Walker has been studying Rome in school and they had a big final project due this week. They were given a list of buildings they could make and he chose The Circus Maximus!

I admit this week was really crazy and we unfortunately procrastinated. We were up late finishing this the night before it was due. I do NOT recommend trying to build Rome in a day..but just know that it can be done! LOL!!

For each structure the students made, there was a list of things that had to be included for their grade. The center barrier or spina had pillars at each end around which charioteers had to maneuver around carefully. The pillars or spires towards the Arch of Titus were called Meta Prima. The ones near the Starting Gate were called Meta Secunda.

Chariot Racer.

Although most Roman charioteers (called aurigae or agitatores) began their careers as slaves, those who were successful soon accumulated enough money to buy their freedom.

Egg Lap Marker.

This was used to keep track of the laps the racers completed. As they finished each lap an egg would drop down.

On the other end of the track they had dolphin markers count the laps as well. The dolphins would tilt forward as each lap was completed.

Apollo.

The Royal Seating....pretty self explanatory. :P

The Arch of Titus.

The Starting Gates.

Another part of the requirement was to make the building curved and to show the bleacher seating used in the original structure.

Outside of the Circus Maximus.

One kid happy to have it finished on time!!! :P LOL!

Prince Alarming

2012-01-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

Walker was in his very 1st play for Drama Club!! He was so excited and worked very hard for several months, once a week after school, before the BIG night! :)

All the plays were based off of different fairy tales. The play was called "Fractured Fairy Tale". Walker's vignette was called "Slurping Beauty". It's loosely based off of "Sleeping Beauty".

The story goes that the Princess a.k.a. Slurping Beauty, had never had soup before because the Wicked Fairy had put a spell on her that would cause her to slurp if she ate it. But one day the cook brought her soup by accident and she LOVED it. She begged her father the King to allow her to have soup again. He worried, because he thought no one would ever love his daughter if they heard her slurp her soup, but couldn't bare to deprive his daughter from something she enjoyed so much. So, he allowed his daughter and the kingdom to have soup once more. As suitors came to meet the Princess they would hear her slurp her soup and leave because of her poor manners.

That is until... Prince Alarming came for lunch one afternoon. He would tell the Princess his funny jokes and laugh in an 'alarming', almost donkey like way, and she enjoyed her time with him. She would slurp her soup and he didn't mind at all...and they lived.....
Happily Ever After!!! :)

Ya that's right...my boy got the girl!!! LOL! :P

Walker at 11 Year Old Over-Night Camp

2012-01-24T15:25:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my first guest post. My name is Jared, and I will be guiding you through the fun world of an 11-year-old's scout camp. Unfortunately, our illustrious host, Vanessa, was unable to join us, so it is left to me to be your eyes and ears. Please excuse me from her usual quality of photographs and wit.

Walker was very excited for his first of many scouting overnighters. This is about the age when I decided that it wasn't really for me, so I'm kind of excited to experience it all as well.

Over the weekend, we camped in a big park a few miles from our house. We arrived at 3 or 4pm, and after setting up our tent, the first activity that was up was horseback riding.

After the horseback riding, there wasn't much else planned for the evening. We had some hot dogs and miscellaneous snacks before heading over to the opening ceremonies. Then the boys ran around like maniacs for a couple of hours before hittin the sack. Walker is blessed with an awesome father, so he went to sleep after a little playtime on the ole Galaxy Tab 10.1. The rough life.

The next morning, we work up, ate, and started the activity circuit that has been laid out. First up was archery.

You can't see it very well, but there are a LOT of arrows behind the targets :P

Next up was a small fire building challenge where they had to build a fire tall enough to burn through the string. They were allowed one match which quickly went out. This took a bit of time.

Next.... hunting with stones!

Walker went with a side arm rock skipping technique that was a bit interesting. It ended up working rather well. I think he had the most "kills".

And javelins!

And darts!

If you haven't gathered, this was all supposed to be Native American themed. Naturally tee-pees must be erected with proper lashings, etc.

And torn down...

They also made medicine bags which I failed to get a picture of the final product.

A Cheyenne (?) woman spoke to them all about their culture.

The "camp out" culminated in the building of man-powered catapults with which to hurl bags of flour at your opposition.

Things quickly broke down into a full on battlefield. The fog of war caused much friendly fire. It really did look cool in real life. It felt epic :P

The lashings held, but the pole couldn't handle the stress. And that about did it. Luckily Walker will be 12 before the end of the summer, so he will be able to go to scout camp this summer. Here's looking forward to it!

Funny Find...

2012-01-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

Alayna had asked to watch a movie in my bedroom. I went in to check on her and this is what I found.....

How does she fit in there? LOL!!! :P

And yes, this will also be proof to her children when she wants to take away their 'blankie'. I can show them that she was 5 and still had hers! :P

On the Road Again!

2012-01-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Monday morning came too soon! The week just seemed to fly by. It was so nice to see Jared's Mom and Rich and be in the country for a while. I think I could get use to living out there. :)

We left bright and 'dark' and started for home. We stopped at a few more souvenir shops this time and at the Running Indian Trading Post in Las Crusis, New Mexico who did we run into????

Bo Duke from the Dukes of Hazzard!! He was so friendly and chatted with us for a little bit. Unfortunately, Jared and I both left our phones in the car so we didn't get a picture of him...dang! He seemed to be just passing through and got in his yellow Polara with his little white dog and drove off into the sunset. I don't know why that strikes me as funny but it does. :P I think every girl my age had a crush on him growing up. I'm happy to say even now at 51 he still looks great! :P

I was a little star struck. I couldn't believe of all places we'd run into a famous person was out in the middle of nowhere! :P

The kids did an awesome job once again as we drove the 15 hrs. home. It was a wonderful site to behold when we came across this......

We were all very happy to be home again! :)

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve was fun for the kids. They stayed up til 12am New York time when the ball dropped. They toasted in the new year with sparkling apple cider and their Mamaw and Pampa! :)

New Years Day we went to church with Jared's Mom and Rich.

Before we left Mamaw read Alayna a story. It was a precious moment. :)

After church we decided to try family pics again. I was hoping for better lighting and I needed to get some shots of the kids individually.

Family Tree! :)

Love this picture of Jared! :)

We finished up and the kids heard Hayden was back for a visit and he brought some fun stuff with him! :)

BB Guns!! The boys have never shot BB Guns before! They thought they were totally awesome!

Showing the boys how it's done!

Hayden also brought over his ATV. Another first for out kids! :) Rick is a brave man. He let Alayna drive! :P

Mamaw enjoying watching all the grand-kids. :)

Ever since she caught that first butterfly she'd carry that jar around hoping to catch another one! :D

We were able to pry the kids away from all the fun stuff for a few minutes to take some group pictures with Mamaw and Pampa. :)

Happy New Year!!!! :)

A Little Squeeze!

2012-01-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

The next morning we were all up and ready to make fresh squeezed orange juice!

Eli learned how to use a kitchen knife with out cutting himself. :) He worked as fast as he could to keep up with the squeezing crew!

It was a group effort! :)

Our expert squeezer. :)

Mmmmmm..It was soooooo goooood!!!

The farm is such a beautiful place and we hadn't taken our family pictures yet this year so I took full advantage of the gorgeous backdrop!

Hehehe! I love this one. The kids had NO clue we were doing this! :D

She was DONE taking pictures...But she still looked adorable!

After the photo shoot, Mamaw thought it would be a good time to show me how to make homemade rolls. I didn't argue. I'd given up making bread about 10 years ago because it always came out like a brick. I've been wanting a lesson for a while now cuz I LOVE bread! :P

They turned out great! I totally forgot to take a picture of them though..darn! I don't know if I'll be able to recreate them again. It might have worked just because Mamaw was helping me....but I'm going to give it a try this next week. :)

Come and Sit a Spell

2012-01-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

On the 4th day, we sat around and took it slow.....

We just visited and relaxed all day.

It was perfect!!

Where the Wild Things Are...

2012-01-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

There is a really cool place about an hour and half drive out from where Jared's Mom and Rich live. It's called Fossil Rim. It's a wildlife preserve you drive your car through and you can feed the animals. The animals get so close and some try to climb on in your car if your not careful!! LOL!

This little girl was sooo precious! I wanted to take her home! :)

Gorgeous view!

After feeding the animals for a while we decided it was our turn to have a snack. We stopped at the little shop they have half way through to grab some chips.

I think they are both glad to be together! :D

At the same stop they have a petting zoo for the kiddos!

We headed back to the car and I snapped a pic of the kids....

Then Mamaw snuck into the shot too! LOL! So funny! ;P

The giraffes were by far the coolest part of the experience. They were so friendly and I think they are just beautiful animals. Their eyes are amazing!

This guy was sneaky though. Or I should say his friend was. He had us all mesmerized and we were busy feeding him tons of tasty treats. Meanwhile, his partner in crime snuck in the other side where Walker was sitting and before we knew it, he had his entire head in the car and in the bag of feed munching away!!! It scared Walker at first until he realized what was happening. It was sooo funny!!!

Zebra's are pretty awesome too! :D

It was a fun outing. It's easy to forget all the beautiful and inspiring creatures God has created for us when you live in the city. Having an experience like this that brings you so close to them and feeding them by hand reminded us to more fully appreciate them. It was a great day! :)

The Country Life!

2012-01-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

The kids just couldn't get enough nature walks in each day! On one of their excursions they found a butterfly and caught it. They brought it home and we put it in a jar.

Sadly...she didn't make it...:(

Another awesome thing about going to the farm is it's a stone's throw away from the oldest Dr. Pepper plant in the world! Besides being the oldest Dr. Pepper bottler in the world (since 1891), Dublin Dr. Pepper also has the distinction of being bottled with Imperial Pure Cane Sugar- The original Dr. Pepper formula! Let me tell you it is very good! I don't even like regular Dr. Pepper but I like Dublin Dr. Pepper! :P

I think our children officially became addicts while we were there! We don't usually let them drink soda..but when it's a special thing you get only once in a long while...might as well enjoy it right!?!

Coming to the farm also means Mamaw's home cooking which means we have to make her happy and eat the tasty things she makes. This picture of Jared pretty much sums up how we spent 99% of our time! :P LOL!

She sure is an amazing woman! I've learned so much from her over the years. Love her!!! :)

Having a great time!

At our last family reunion that was in Texas, Pampa got bows and arrows for the kids to play with. He dug them out and dusted them off again for us.

Eli is so tenacious. He will practice and practice and practice at something until he's great at whatever it is. He spent so many hours outside perfecting his shot. He ended up getting pretty darn good! He shot that arrow through a stick!!! LOL!!!! :D

Later in the evening Mamaw and Pampa took us to their friends goat farm.

There were so many goats!!

Oh and the cutest puppies ever!!!

And a sweet baby calf.

Alayna was upset cuz we really couldn't pet the goats....

If you look closely to the middle of the photo above you can see a dog. The cute puppy I mentioned above is the same breed. They are super cute when they are little but they are trained to be protectors to those goats. The owner told us very matter of factly, not to make any sudden movements around the dogs. It sorta freaked me out. There were almost as many dogs as there were goats, which made me feel like we were going to be 'lunch' at any moment! LOL!!!

Make Room...We're Comin' !

2012-01-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

We decided to go visit Jared's Mom and Step-Dad in Texas. I've been thinking about them a lot lately and felt like we should go pay them a visit. :) We were going to initially make it a surprise but later decided they might want to plan a little so we called them about 2 weeks before and shared the news. They were so happy and excited!!!

So, the day after Christmas we piled into the car at 4:30 a.m. and made the 15 hour drive to Comanche, Texas! :) The kids have never driven that long before and I was nervous about how they would handle it. I didn't need to be though. They were great!! I was so proud of them. I almost couldn't believe how well they did! :D

They watched a LOT of movies! LOL!

I mean a LOT! :P

We drove and drove and drove and finally we made it to....

It pretty much looks like Arizona. :P

They had this giant roadrunner on the top of this mountain. We don't know why...but we thought it was funny so we took a picture of it. :P

Then we drove some more....and we saw this!!!!!

Cool how our kids just happened to already be out of the car huh?! LOL! Look closely on the ground..that's SNOW! :) It wasn't enough to play in but it was enough to enjoy! :P

We were soooo excited to finally be in Texas. However, we were only half way there.

Then we drove, and drove some more. And we saw this...

Juarez, Mexico. It is pretty crazy to see the conditions these people live in. The shambles of houses literally one right next to the other. It was a sea of dilapidated homes. Made me a little sad....

So we drove and drove some more and finally made it to the farm around 7:30pm. We were greeted with two very BIG smiles and lots and lots of hugs! :) We were pretty tired from the long day so we hauled in what we needed for the night out of the car and went to bed! :P

The next morning we felt much more rested and couldn't wait to get out in the country air!

I think they might like it out there! :)

Alayna heard rumor that Pampa had chickens and if she asked real pretty...she might get to help him collect the eggs. By mid-afternoon she just couldn't take waiting any longer and asked Pampa if they could go down to see the chickens. He told her it was time and well this was her reaction.......

Hahaha!!! She SPRINTED down to the hen house! It was so cute! :D

Look at those BEAUTIFUL, FRESH eggs! Mamaw made up those eggs the next morning for breakfast and they were the most melt in your mouth, buttery eggs I've ever had! My mouth is watering just thinking about it now! :)

Mamaw checking on the progress in the coop.

She even got to feed them!

This is Butterscotch..She is the prettiest chicken Pampa has. :)

The other ones are nice looking too. :)

While we were tending the chickens the boys went out to explore the great out doors with their cousin Hayden who lives a stone throw away from Jared's Mom and Rich. Whenever we come out the boys just pick up like they've never been gone. They get along so well. Hayden is such a nice boy and his manners are impeccable. It's yes Ma'am and no Ma'am. I LOVED it! Now how do I get my kids to be that well behaved??? LOL!

Once the chickens were fed and the eggs were collected Mamaw and Alayna brought them back up to the house.

She was thrilled about her adventure and the spoils it brought!

The rest of the day we played outside and just soaked in nature. It is so quiet on the farm. :)

Jared decided to go check what was in the well house. He was quite surprised when he opened it up and there was a black and white tail aiming his way! Hahahahaha! He shut that door in record time! :P We affectionately call it the Skunk House now. :)

The kids couldn't get enough of exploring. :)

Since Mamaw knew we were coming she didn't send our Christmas gifts to AZ. We got to open them there with her. She made Alayna her very own apron! Isn't it darling?

She made me one too!!! :D

Christmas!!

2012-01-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

This year we have 8 a.m. church. So even though Santa came and the kids REALLY wanted to open their presents right away, they had to get ready for church and do their very best to be patient and wait til we got home. I have to admit, I don't know if I would have been able to do it if I was a kid! LOL! Luckily it was just an hour of Sacrament Meeting. :)

They did it though, and as soon as we walked in the door, wrapping paper starting flying!! :P

The craziness is over! :P

It was a small Christmas this year. The kids didn't even notice. I really want the kids to be aware of the Spirit of Christmas and not the Commercialism of Christmas. I think it was a success! :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Eve tradition at Grandma and Grandpa's continued for another year. :) My mom LOVES Christmas. It is 'her' holiday, and we love to make her happy by gathering together at her and Dad's house! :)

The cousins love to see each other! :)

Jared likes to take his nap! LOL! :P

And the rest of us love to eat! :D

Mom goes ALLLL out with the food. She could have fed a large army! LOL!

The kids performed their special musical numbers.

They sounded great! :)

Alayna sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Christmas has a famous star right? :P

Then the mayhem began.....

The gifts!!!

Jack Skellington and Sally! Nice!! :)

Eli was the Sr. Present Passer Outer this year! He did a mighty fine job! No presents were lost, misplaced, or given to the wrong recipient. :P

Grandma and Grandpa went above and beyond once again. The kids were thoroughly spoiled..and our bellies were sufficiently stuffed!

We ended the night with what else...fireworks!!!!

It was a wonderful day spent with family. After not having Thanksgiving with everyone this year, it really made me appreciate that much more the time we were able to have together this Christmas. :)

'Tis the Season!

2011-12-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

We started our Christmas celebrations early over at Jen and Marcos' house this year. They invited the family over for dinner..and since it was Alayna's actual birthday we celebrated that too! :)

The little ones! :)

My man!

Me! :)

The big ones?? LOL!! :P

It was nice to have Jeff's girlfriend Bea come to our festivities this year! :)

Jen was so nice and picked up a cake for Alayna. Isn't it cute? ;)

It's funny how we all live so close to each other yet, we don't get together more often. Maybe we should make that our New Year's resolution?

Happy Birthday Alayna and Merry Christmas! :)

The Destroyers!

2011-12-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

Eli put another season of flag football in the memory books. He still loves the game, and it's a lot of fun watching him spin his tires out there. :P

Here are a few pics of his last game.

Such concentration! :P

I really dislike the company that did the team pictures. Everyone looks like green aliens!

Eli's decided to take the winter season off and start back in the spring. It will be nice to have a bit of a break. :)

Happy 5th Birthday Baby!

2011-12-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

Alayna had her 5th birthday party today!! She had all of her cute little friends, as well as her family over to celebrate.

Every year I make her cake. I usually make something that expresses what her interest was for that year. This year has been the year of the dollies and doll houses. She will play and play and play with her dolls. She's so AWESOME at entertaining herself. She gets caught up in her imaginary world for hours at a time. I just love hearing what the 'girls' are up to every day! LOL!!

Left to Right: Alex, Isaak, Alayna, Lola, Emmy, Eli, Charlie, Hailey.

The Party People!! :D

Everyone waiting their turn to take a swing at a really cute pink My Little Pony Pinata she picked out. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. :( You'll just have to use your imaginations....

Look at that gorgeous girl!! :D

All of the little girls just couldn't keep their hands off of the cake once I brought it out. Every one of them said they wanted a cake like Alayna's for their birthday! :P Sometimes I can be a rock star mom!! LOL!

She had such a great time playing with her friends and cousins. It's always fun to have a day that's all about YOU! Happy Birthday Baby!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

2011-12-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

Hello Family & Friends!

We wanted to take time and keep everyone up to date with the happenings at the Kitch household. This past year has been crazy busy! We’ve had lots of bumps along the way, but we have tried to make the best out of those challenges. All of which would not be possible without all of the prayers and love we have received from each one of you. We want you to know how blessed we are for all of your love and support.

Jared is still working at Coppersmith and Kolb, and we are extremely thankful to be employed. We know so many aren’t as fortunate with this economy. We are also happy to report that he has not had any more episodes since February! He does however, have a greater sensitivity to heat since his last relapse and tends to get easily fatigued. He tries to be more careful not to be outside in the heat too long. A nice cold ICEE tends to help a bit and put a smile on his face at the same time! :P He started taking piano lessons from the boys’ teacher, and he sounds great! He’s always wanted to learn how to play.

As for myself, I’ve been reflective this year. I can’t express how grateful I am that I’ve been able to stay at home with all three of the kids while they were little. Between Jared’s hard work and lots of coupon clipping we’ve somehow been able to manage it. I feel in my heart that it has been not only a gift to me, but to the kids as well. It has been a true joy!! This year I’ve been able to get a Joy School co-op together for Alayna and 6 of her best friends. It has been a lot of fun! Hard to believe this will be my last year teaching. Time sure does fly! The family keeps me busy, as well as my church commitments, and fitting in whatever new recipe I’d like to try! J

Walker loves 6^th grade! He has a wonderful teacher this year and he’s really enjoying Social Studies. So far they have learned all about Greek Mythology, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt. His favorite has definitely been Greek Mythology! He’s still in ALP for math and language, and devours books like candy. He’s still playing piano; this will be his 6^th year! He tried trumpet in band last year but has traded it in for the drums. He’s doing very well! He’s also joined Drama Club, and they have their first performance next semester. This summer he took a real interest in swimming, and we plan to get him into a swim school in January. Walker earned his Arrow of Light and moved up to Boy Scouts in July. It has been quite a transition from Cub Scouts. He has a lot of awesome activities to look forward to this year.

Eli is in the 3^rd grade now. His teacher called us just before the end of the 1^st quarter and couldn’t say enough wonderful things about him. She told us he is a leader in the class, and the other students look up to him. She thanked us for being such great parents and that Eli was a reflection of our good parenting. I can’t tell you how amazing that made us feel! Not many teachers go out of their way to make phone calls to the home anymore unless it’s bad news..LOL! She told us that Eli is one of her top students and she’s excited about challenging him this year. He is also in ALP again this year. His favorite subject is math….he certainly got that from his Dad and not me. :P Eli is on his 3^rd year playing the piano. He has a very natural talent for it. He also joined chorus this year, and even though it starts before school, he never misses practice. Music runs through that kid’s veins. Eli made the decision to be baptized in April. It was so nice to have those that were able to come and celebrate his special day with him. It was a beautiful baptism! He also joined Cub Scouts and has been working hard earning his achievements. Football seems to be his sport of choice. This season is wrapping up and he’s shown a lot of improvement. Eli’s got some “wheels”. He’s really fast!!

Alayna is in her last year of Joy School! There are 7 girls including her. She gets to rotate to each friend’s home which is a new experience that will be a big help as she makes the transition for next year. She loves school, and it gives us both a little time to play. J Next year she’ll be ready for Kindergarten and I can hardly believe our baby will be leaving the nest. I’m sure it will be harder on us than on her. LOL! Alayna is our creative child. She loves to draw, color, cut, paste you name it. She LOVES a project! She’s very imaginative, and I adore hearing her play with her dollies for hours on end. The conversations they have between each other are great!! :D She took her 1^st ballet class this year, and she did very well! Her teacher recommended that she move up to the next level. We got to see her perform a little recital, and I have to say it was the most darling thing ever! It brought back fond memories for me as well. J She has all of us wrapped around her finger, and we all know she’s the Princess!

Well that is us in a nutshell. We hope your families are well! We pray for each of you, and count you in our blessings!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a healthy and Happy New Year!

Love,

Wedding Bells are Ringing!

2011-12-11T23:00:00.000-08:00

My cousin Kerry McCarthy got married tonight. It was a simple, but beautiful wedding. We had so much fun dancing and celebrating the couple's special day! :)

Thank goodness for cell phone cameras!

Grandpa and Alayna dancing together. This melted my heart! :D

Love it!

How many brothers would do this with their little sister??? My boys ROCK! :P

They had a photo booth as well. The kids can never pass up an opportunity to play in a photo booth! :P I love the props they had in there.

The kids had a great time. We all did!!

Congratulations Kerry and Todd Baird!

Christmas Pics!

2011-12-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pics of the kids I shot for Christmas! :)

I love the shadows on wall. I needed to scoot Alayna back a tiny bit though..:P

This one was my favorite....Pretty cute kids if you ask me! :D

Boy Scouts

2011-12-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

Walker earned his Boy Scout rank advancement tonight!

Special thanks to my friend Cyndi Flores for snapping this pic for us. I forgot my camera at home.

Walker is giving me the Mother's Pin that goes along with his advancement.

Brother Chris Watt (on the right) is his 11 Year Old Scout Leader. He does an amazing job with the boys!

He's been working since July to get this award. We are so proud of him!

A Different Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T08:39:00.001-08:00

I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. Since we moved into this house I've hosted Thanksgiving dinner here every year. This year however, with just having had gallbladder surgery, Mom offered to give me the year off and have it at her house. Which I was very thankful for!

The night before Thanksgiving however, Mom called and said Robin was sick. My family and I had been sick for the past month passing around to one another and just recovering from surgery I just felt too tired to go through all of that again. So I had to tell her that we wouldn't be coming. I felt terrible!! :( I know how much work goes into preparing such a large feast for the family and holidays are all about spending time with those you love.

So this year we had a 'different' sort of Thanksgiving. It was such short notice and not a whole lot of places are open on Thanksgiving Day, but we found one that would take our lonely family in for turkey meal. :P

Anxiously awaiting our T-Day meal with all the trimmings. It actually was really nice to spend the holiday with just my little family. Better yet...I was even happier about not having to clean up afterwards! LOL! :P

After lunch we went to see "The Muppets" which was a big hit with everyone. It brought back memories from when I was a kid. It was cute. :) We had a very nice and relaxing day. I am Thankful! :)

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree!

2011-11-23T08:13:00.001-08:00

Eli's class is having a pie day today. Each kid is allowed to bring in any kind of pie to enjoy all to themselves during their Thanksgiving festivities. I mean what a dream come true! One kid plus one whole pie...awesome!! :P

Since I'm still recovering Jared took it upon himself to help Eli who desperately wanted a homemade pie not store bought pie(can you blame him? lol) for the big day.

I can't tell you how this warmed my heart as I watched these two guys work hard to make this delicious masterpiece as I got to sit by and snap pictures of it all. :) I mean...they even made the pie crust!!! I was so immensely proud! I just love baking! I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Such concentration.....

Look at that crust pinching action! Gorgeous! :D

The filling is already smelling DIVINE!

All the hard work paid off! What a BEAUTIFUL pie son!

WAIT!!!! Don't eat it yet!!!!! LOL! :)

It was so fun to see how proud he was of his labors, and he will enjoy that pie even more when he gets to actually eat it today at his Thanksgiving party. Great job guys!!!

Thankful!

2011-11-22T10:46:00.001-08:00

We have a tradition that we started last year of making a Thanksgiving Tree. Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. It is such a blessing to take time and remember all that we have and give Thanks. This year we bumped up the scale and size of our tree to make it a real focus for our family to see and remember all month long.

Jared did a great job making our tree! :)

Isn't it beautiful!??! We had a great time coming up with all the things we are Thankful for. I love to read the things the kids come up with. Some of them surprised me. :)

I'll leave you with a great quote I read recently:

"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God's love."

-President Thomas S. Monson

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep....

2011-11-22T10:10:00.001-08:00

A few nights ago we were having family prayer before bedtime, as we do every night. I guess Alayna was just too tired to make it to the end! LOL!

Isn't she precious??? I think it's so sweet that her arms are still folded... Love that baby girl! :)

Blackmail!!!!

2011-11-20T10:21:00.000-08:00

This post is strictly for blackmailing purposes!! Hahahaha!!

Alayna and Eli were playing dress-up and Eli came strutting out in her clothes thinking he was so "pretty"!

He was acting SO funny I had to capture it for later use! LOL! Just wait til you're 16 Eli!! Aren't I a good mom? Hahahaha!!! :P

Full of 'Pride'! :)

2011-11-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had parent teacher conferences with the boys' teachers. Both of their teachers couldn't stop gushing over how awesome they thought they were and then, just the other day, Eli brought home this little trinket.....

We are SO incredibly proud of him and his hard work this year! Way to go Eli!!! :)

Alayna Ballerina!!!

2011-11-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

This Fall I asked Alayna what class she'd like to take through The Town of Gilbert Parks and Rec. She LOVES art and she usually asks to take a class that involves making crafts, drawing, or some type of project. But this time I told her she could try a Ballet class if she wanted...you know, trying to broaden her repertoire.:P To my amazement and delight she said she'd LOVE to try ballet! :)

It was an 8 week class and she enjoyed every minute of it. She was counting down the days before the session started, and then would count down the days til the next class. She adored wearing her ballet outfit and tights and shoes. This girl was in heaven!

On the very last day of class, the teacher invited Moms, Dads, Grandmas, Grandpas and whoever would like to come watch the girls perform a little recital. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen!! :P

I love how Alayna always waves to me during performances! It cracks me up!

What a beautiful Soutenu! :D

Yes that's my daughter facing the opposite direction! LOL! :P

Ta-Da!!!!

She did such a wonderful job! Her teacher was very impressed as well and spoke to us after class. She recommended that Alayna move up to the next age group! :)

Halloween Extravaganza!!

2011-11-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

This year we had 3, count 'em 3 Halloween events to go to! By the time Halloween actually came I'll admit I was Halloweened out..but we pushed forward and went Trick-Or-Treating any way!

The first party was put on by our friends in the Ward, The Sanchez's. Every year they put on a great shin dig! This year was Pirate themed and they built a pirate ship in their back yard that also doubled as a kid friendly night club! It was great! They also had a photo booth and of course my little 'hams' couldn't pass up the chance to capture their faces for their posterity! hahaha!

Alayna and her BFF Lola taking advantage of this awesome memory maker! :P.

My three Trick-Or-Treaters! Walker's 1st costume (yes 1st...he had 3 of them this yr!) was a witch riding a ghost. It was one of those blow up costumes. Alayna was Cinderella and Eli was a Hobo!

Our friends The Riedlinger's photo bombed Alayna and Lola's session. You can see by Lola's expression she was NOT happy about it one bit! Hahahah!

This one cracks me up! Eli's giving us a 'gun show'! LOL!

The next night was Trunk-Or-Treat! AKA the Motherload!!! The kids bring home so much candy on this night it's a bit insane! It is a lot of fun though!

Every year we try to find a cool idea for our pumpkin. Jared carved this design this year! We got so many compliments!! It turned out GREAT! :)

Walker is getting to that age where he wants to be with his 'friends' more than his boring old family..lol..so that's why he's missing from these pictures. :P

Do they look ready to hit the candy utopia??? :P

Even Jared got into the spirit this year and he made his own costume. The Twilight book series has vampires that sparkle in the sunlight, which Jared finds obnoxious and not holding to the 'true' mythology..so he decided to parody the book by going as a Young Adult Vampire. :P

The kids were allowed for the first time this year to go to school wearing their costumes instead of changing into them later in the day. Walker decided that the blow up costume was too cumbersome to wear all day, so he wanted to use Dad's costume idea, but taking it the extra mile and making it even better. The bottom corner of his shirt says, " I sparkle." Walker is so much like his dad..he found the mythology in the book to be annoying as well and he loves satire, so this was perfect for him....did I mention he's only 11! He cracks me up!

Walker trying to feed on Eli! LOL!

I'm really sad that I didn't get a picture of Walker's last costume. It was clever. He went as a "Cereal Killer". He had a knife through a box of cereal with milk for blood pouring out of the box. He's so creative! :)

Halloween night we went Trick-Or-Treating with our friends The Campbell's. We head over to the Island's where all the houses are close together and they hand out mountains of candy! We had a great time! I was even able to walk for an entire hour before having to call it a night with my foot. I was pretty proud of myself! It's so awesome that it's finally starting to heal!!! :D

Happy Halloween!

Joy School Halloween Party!

2011-10-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today Alayna had her Joy School Halloween Party! The 1st of 'many' celebrations this year. We have back, to back, to back parties this year!!

Alayna really wanted to be Dorothy, but time ran short and so did the costume store...they didn't have any Dorothy costumes left in her size. Darn! :( Maybe next year we'll get there earlier to get just what she wants.

She wasn't too heart broken though. She was just as happy to be Cinderella! What a good girl she is. :)

Doesn't Cinderella have a pet spider named Fred? Our Cinderella does! LOL!

The girls put on a Costume Parade for all the parents and whirled and twirled to show off ! :) It was pretty darn cute!

After the Moms left they had their class party, including some trick-or-treating and cupcake decorating! Alayna said, "It was sooo much fun Mom!"
And there you have it! :D

Bike Rodeo

2011-10-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last night Eli's Cub Scout Pack had a Bike Rodeo. They had the police department, fire department, and a trick/stunt bike rider dude come out and talk to the kids about bike safety. They handed out pamphlets, coloring books, helmets, and all sorts of fun stuff!

After they listened and learned about how to be safe and have fun on their bikes they had a bike parade. Each boy decorated their bikes and got to show them off to all the parents and siblings. They LOVED that part! :P

At the end of the night they went to 4 different stations where they drove through some awesome obstacle courses and raced with one another. It was a really cool Pack Meeting! Everyone had a great time and the weather was perfect for it!

Before everyone went home they awarded a few boys with certificates for the best decorated bike.

Pretty sweet decorating job huh!?! :P

Eli Won!!! :D

You Are Super Cool To Me!

2011-10-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning and found this letter from Eli to Walker on the counter....

Makes your heart swell doesn't it????

I'm so blessed that my kids get along so well and genuinely love and respect one another. This was such a gift to find today! I love my kids!!! :D

Disneyland- Fall Break 2011!!!

2011-10-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

It was Fall Break and you know what that means!!! Disneyland!!!

We've gone twice already this year but since we had annual passes we wanted to make sure we got the most bang for our buck,so we decided to go one last time this year. :) October is a great time to visit Disneyland. They have Halloween decorations everywhere. It's so festive! :P

We drove out Thursday morning and checked into our hotel around 3pm. We stayed at the Ramada Plaza Hotel off of Katella and Harbor Blvd. It was a nice hotel and just a short walk to the park. They had a good free continental breakfast as well...that's always a plus in this Mom's book! :)

The lobby had a cute display so we snapped a quick pic before heading over to Disneyland. :) (Apologies for the grainy pics..my camera was freaking out this day...I figured out what was wrong later...)

My 3 Amigos! :)

Alayna pouting...I can't even remember why she was sad. Probably because she was tired from the 6 hr. drive?

I just adore the fact that my children really do enjoy being with each other! Love it! :)

Walker has gotten more and more in to the 'pin trading' game. It's fun to see what he's willing trade for. :)

He's so Goofy! LOL!

My dumb foot is still causing me problems so we rented a wheel chair again. However, it does have it's perks...like getting onto the rides lickity split. Here we are waiting to get on to Pinocchio through the handicapped line. We rode all of Fantasyland in a matter of an hour! Awesome! :D

On Friday we were feeling a bit more rested and headed to the Park bright and early to get tickets for World of Color. Don't those faces make you smile?! :D

We decided not to walk over after the 1st day. My foot just couldn't handle the distance, even though it was like 1/2 a mile. We took the tram...

We typically don't spend a lot of time in Toon Town, but little Miss wanted to see Minnie and Mickey so we headed over there to say Hello!

Mickey's house has a picture of himself and Walt Disney...I love little touches like that. :)

She was having a ball looking around and playing with everything inside Mickey's house.

Big bonus is at the end of your tour of his house..you get to meet Mr. Mouse himself!!! :D

Minnie was out taking pictures as well. We couldn't pass up the chance to visit with her, so we waited and waited and waited on her porch.....

Eli was less than thrilled about waiting...I tried to get him to smile for me to help pass the time. This was his attempt at "not" smiling just to be ornery...LOL!

It did take a while to see her. She was really busy making pies and she had to check them every 15 min. or so. But we finally had our moment with her!

She was very nice and blew us lots of kisses. She welcomed us into her house and was a very good hostess. :P

Who doesn't enjoy a tea party!? Alayna loved her kitchen! :)

Ok, so I bribe my kids when we go to Disneyland. I just want them to 'try' everything before they decide they don't like it. So I told Alayna if she rode all the rides I asked her to I'd buy her a cotton candy. (Is that wrong?? LOL!!)

Well..she couldn't pass up a deal that sweet! She was hesitant and told me the whole time we waited she really didn't want to but in the end was a good sport and rode Big Thunder Mountain. I was very proud of her! It didn't change her mind though..she didn't like the ride. LOL! However, it 'did' work on Matterhorn! She loved it!

In all the times we've visited Disneyland/Disney World we've never met Mary Poppins. She's always on her way somewhere and not taking any more pictures or autographs. It was another close call this visit but I was determined. She was walking off with Bert and I started pleading, "Mary, Mary!!!!! Will you PLEASE take a picture with us!!!????!!!!" She graciously stopped we got our picture and I'm one happy Momma! Alayna was tickled pink too! (Too bad the sun was directly in her little eyes though...)

Pommes Frites with Cajun Roumalade

Mickey Mouse Beignets with Raspberry Coulis and Vanilla Bean Creme Anglaise

We had a fun last day on Saturday. We had lunch with our good friends the Watt's at my favorite place Cafe' Orleans. They had never been there before and therefore have never had the Pommes Frites or the Mickey Mouse Beignets. Sad I know!! LOL! After trying them I'm confident that I've officially created a new tradition in their family! :P Mmmmm soooooo goooood!!!!! I found recipes for both of these amazing treats and I can't wait to try to re-create them! :D

Left to Right: AnneMarie, Chris, Erica, Me, Jared, Bailey, Chandler, Walker, Eli & Alayna

We always have a great time at our home away from home. It might be a while before we get to go back. I think the family is ready to explore more of the United States. We've been playing with the idea of perhaps R.V.'ing up to Yellow Stone next summer. We'll see!!! :)

Gratitude...

2011-09-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was driving the boys to school and I'm watching them in the back seat in my rear view mirror. Alayna and Eli were sitting next to each other in the 'way back', and Eli is just staring at her.

She turns to him and asks, "What?"

He replies in a sweet and sincere voice, "I'm just looking at you cuz you are so pretty."

Alayna smiled. :)

My heart just melted! What a precious and unexpected moment I was allowed to witness between my children. Words almost can't express the overwhelming gratitude I have that my kids love each other and get along so well. I've been told this 'stage' won't last forever and in a few years they won't be able to stand one another or be in the same breathing space...but that day hasn't come yet...thankfully! I pray that it never does...but just in case, I had to write this down. :P

I'm Your Biggest Fan!

2011-09-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

It's no secret we love Disney in our house. So when we found out that you could write to your favorite Disney character and they would send you something back we HAD to do it!!! :)

I wish I would have made a copy of the letter Alayna wrote to her favorite Princess..Princess Jasmine. It was really cute and thoughtful. I'm kicking myself for it, but you'll just have to trust me. It was adorable! :P

We sent her fan mail a month or so ago and everyday we'd go to the mailbox to check to see if Jasmine's letter had come. It's really hard to be so patient when your 4 and 34! LOL!! :P

However, today was our lucky day... Jasmine's package finally arrived!!! :) We couldn't wait to go home and see what she sent!

Totally awesome huh!?! :D

We were really excited to see not only did we get a picture and autograph from Princess Jasmine...Aladdin and the entire gang were in on the action too! :)

We found a cute frame and it's hanging in a very special spot Alayna chose in her room. :)

Here is the Address:

Walt DisneyCompany
Attn: Fan Mail Department
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, Ca 91521

1st Day of Joy School

2011-08-30T13:09:00.001-07:00

Alayna had her 1st day of Joy School today!

She has been counting down the days until she was going to start school again. She's been counting by how many Church Days (Sundays) until she was going to get to go back. :P Every once in a while she'd update us and tell us, "Just 4 more Church Days"..."Just one more Church Day". Sooo cute!

The day finally arrived today, and she was so excited she got herself dressed and ready in record time. She ate her entire breakfast and was staring at the clock until it was time to leave. (Not that she can tell time..LOL! )

I have to admit I was excited with her at first. But then I realized that she was leaving home. I mean, I'm excited that she gets to go and be with her friends and learn and have a great time. But, I'm sad that she's growing up tooooo fast and my last baby is going out into the great big world. It all makes my heart ache a little.

I picked her up after school and she had been crying. I guess there was a 'learning opportunity' about sharing with a few of the girls just before I arrived. Sister Esperson assured me that it was all fine. These are the things I suppose that will make her stronger and ready for next year when she goes to Kindergarten. :)

My heart still aches a little though....

Here she is showing off her art project after her 1st day. Alayna L-O-V-E-S art!!! :D

I love that sweet girl!

Summer Photoshoot

2011-08-20T18:36:00.001-07:00

So.... back in April I took pictures of Eli for his Baptism portraits and swore I would return the next week with Walker and Alayna. Well, it's only been 4 months and I finally made good on my promise! LOL!!!

Enjoy! :D

Ta Da!!! :P

Twice the Joy!

2011-08-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

In just about a week Alayna will be starting her 2nd year of Joy School! :D

We took a few pictures for her window and this was the one 'she' chose to use. The yellow flower was also her idea. I think I have a little photographer in the making. She's growing up too fast!

I'm really excited about this year. I was able to get 6 other moms (so 7 children total) to agree to do a co-op. Our group will be large but the children will have so much fun!

Each mom will take a Unit (which is about a month give or take). I'm not quite sure what I will do with all this new found 'free time'! :D

It will be good for Alayna to have a little bit of time away from home/Mom to prepare her for Kindergarten next year. Did I really just say Kindergarten? Next year? Oh my!!! She really is growing up too fast!! Sigh....

It's going to be a fun year getting to know the Moms and their children.

I LOVE Joy School!

Summer of Swimming!

2011-08-09T16:56:00.001-07:00

I think my kids became part fish this summer! :P

We participated in every session of swim lessons this year but one. Only because I wasn't aware they started so soon after school let out.

Do you see any gills??? LOL!

Alayna took to the water like crazy! She would have been happy if we let her move in and camp out there all summer long! :P

BIG bonus...The last session most families don't sign up for. Alayna had private lessons!!! :D

Walker and Eli were in the same class. That was pretty nice. :)

Eli's backstroke...looking good!

Walker's backstroke...nice extension! :P

Notice Walker's face is banged up. He tends to forget to put his hands out in front when he dives. Poor kid. LOL!

It was hot out there this summer, but it was so worth it to see each of the kids progress in such a short amount of time. It also was great exercise! It can be a challenge coming up with ideas to keep the kids busy.

Walker loved it so much he's asked to sign up with one of the swim schools in hopes he can get good enough to join a Swim Team. I thought that was a WONDERFUL idea!

Boys' 1st Day of School

2011-08-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here we are again!! Another school year had begun!

We had a great Summer, but it's back to routines, homework, and poster board projects! :)

Walker is in the 6th grade this year! It's blowing my mind that this is his last year of Elementary School. He's becoming such an amazing young man. I am so proud of him! :) He has Mrs. Anderson as his home room teacher and a new ALP teacher Mrs. Powell. Both seem to be really good teachers, which we are ready for after a 'rocky' year last year.

Eli is in the 3rd grade, and he's really happy with his teacher Mrs. Della Cerra. He knows everyone in his class this year. He's so funny to watch around his friends. He's really developed a new self confidence recently and he struts around like 'The Man on Campus'. LOL!!

I have a good feeling about this year! :)

Faith in Adversity

2011-08-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

I had a few people ask me to post the talk I gave on Sunday...so, here it is. :)

The topic this month has been faith in adversity. We’ve heard wonderful talks. Sis. Bartlett and Bro. Brinkerhoff’s in particular stuck out in my mind, on how their faith carried them through extremely difficult times in their lives. I was so moved by their stories and testimonies. They overcame Goliath size trials in their lives. I am grateful for their example and experience, and as I go through my own adversities, I can recall their steadfastness and hopefully apply it when those times arise in my life.

I think when we go through hard times it is easy to be consumed by ourselves. It’s easy to give into sulking, feeling picked on and in some cases become depressed. I know I have succumbed to all three of those things. It’s hard to be patient and accept the Lord’s will as he refines us into whom he wants us to be. Living as the ‘natural men/women’ we are, we want what we want when we want it. And for me I wanted it about 10 minutes ago! When we don’t receive what we feel is our just dues we sometimes begin feeling entitled, which is when the tiny crack begins to take form.

Here’s an example. We went on a family vacation this summer. Moms you know what that means. You make the lists and check them twice. You wash the clothes you pack the clothes. Make sure the coloring books, toys, floaties, beach gear, dvd player and appropriate dvd’s are packed. Leapsters, DSI’s, and tablets are charged and ready to go. Everyone’s favorite pillow and blanket must not be left behind so throw that in too. You make a menu, shop for the food and then prepare and make all the meals that you can that will fit Jenga style into the ice chest. And that’s just getting ready to leave. Hmmmm…someone remind me why we vacation?? LOL!

So after all the fun times were had on our trip we are about to pull into the garage back home. I turn to my ‘sweet’, ‘darling’ children and remind them that Dad and I will need help unloading the car. Now I figured that little reminder would do the trick. I mean, I have taught them over and over again to be hard workers, to look for things that need to be done, to show respect to people who have taken care of them.

I was all prepared for them to jump to work with smiles stretched across their faces. Because after all I just planned the perfect family vacation and surely they want to show their gratitude by doing their part.

Then, I hear one child from the back of the van say (with a whine), “You know I’m tired when we get home from vacations.”

Well!!! You can guess that that little comment ruffled my feathers. Which lead to a full on lecture about how blessed we are to have been able to go on vacation at all, and how I’ve worked so hard to even make this happen and the least you could do is bring in the luggage. Which lead to some serious back pedaling by said child.

I like to think I’m a pretty good parent. Jared and I try to teach our children to have integrity, and help others and to be kind. But when it comes to certain areas such as feeling entitled, expecting to be waited on hand and foot, perhaps we need a little more work. Now I know that this is an isolated incident. I know it's not the end of the world and that this particular child really can be a good worker. But this along with a succession of other instances lately have really made me think about how entitlement can be so detrimental and how I don't want that feeling in our house.

I know there are so many other parents out there who want the same thing. Polls suggest that a feeling of entitlement among kids is one of the single biggest worries of parents in our society today.

Let me take this a step further… Don’t we all feel entitled? Not just our children. We as adults have these same feelings and thoughts. We are not exempt just because we are no longer under the age of 18. We hope we are further along in the process… but certainly not exempt.

Maybe we are accepting of the burden of packing and unpacking from vacations. Maybe we can help our neighbor without whining about how hot it is outside. And maybe we’ve learned it’s ok to share our toys. But… have we learned to be patient? Have we learned to endure to the end? A friend of mine’s mother has a saying, “Life is Long.” I know I feel like enduring to the end seems like a huge task. And enduring to the end well seems monumental.

Have we learned to give in to God’s will? Does our sense of entitlement during adversity diminish the lessons we could or should be learning to improve and perfect us as children of God? Do we let the trials in our life weaken our faith or strengthen our faith?

Elder John K. Carmack said in the March 2002 Ensign Article, “Too often we allow ourselves to think or even say words like these: “I don’t deserve this setback. You’d think after all I’ve done, it would not have to be like this. Why must I prove myself over and over again? This is my time to rest from all this responsibility. I’ve done enough.”

Perhaps the Savior is teaching us that if we are serious about desiring greater faith, nothing short of maintaining a constant eternal perspective will do. If we place any condition on our willingness to serve the Lord with all our hearts, we diminish our faith. If we have complete trust in Him, our faith will increase, and that means the strength of our belief and our power to act will increase. We will not think we have done our duty and that is enough. We will continue with pure intent and total commitment the rest of our lives. Maintaining such an attitude is the way to increase our faith.”

What happens if we allow entitlement to weaken our faith during times of trial? For me, I see it as that tiny little crack I mentioned before. With this tiny crack our foundation becomes less strong. It doesn’t necessarily mean we fall to pieces right then and their but we aren’t as solid and sure as we were before. What is our foundation? Our foundation is our faith in Jesus Christ. In (Alma 44:4) it says: Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith. This scripture tells us we are promised that if we hold to our faith we will be supported and preserved by God. That is music to my ears!

But is that easier said than done? There have been many times in my life I haven’t fully understood why a trial has been placed upon me or my family. I always miscarry a pregnancy before I can carry a successful pregnancy. I suffered postpartum depression after my 2nd son was born. Later that child at 1.5 years old was hospitalized for 2 weeks and at that same time my husband had hand surgery and his boss came to the house and told him the company was downsizing. After having my daughter I was hospitalized with a severe kidney infection for a week. My extended family chooses to be inactive and most have left the church. My husband suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. And more recently, you may have noticed me hobbling around in a super fashionable black boot that I know so many of you are so jealous of.

I injured my foot 7 months ago and until recently no one has really had any clear answers as to why an injury that should take about 6 weeks has taken about 5 times longer than anticipated. I have received two blessings over this time frame, and the eternal optimist in me felt pretty good after the 1st blessing was given. It was straight forward and it felt pretty promising. Fast forward 5 more months and there was still no big improvements. I asked for a 2nd blessing. Before the blessing was given I had all of these GRAND thoughts about what the Lord will have to say. I had visions of being miraculously healed. I envisioned myself running through fields and being able to dance in the streets! I felt I’ve carried this burden long enough, surely He will say, “Vanessa you’ve suffered enough, be healed.” Well, long story short He did not. Instead I was told that some trials are placed upon us for our own good and so that we may grow. The blessing then continued on to list things I needed to improve on.

Well….that was a tough pill to swallow! My heart sank and my faith was absolutely tried even further at that moment. I felt I had endured all that I could handle already. I was at my breaking point. But here the Lord was telling me, “Sorry Charlie…I’m not quite done with you yet.” My feelings of entitlement were bursting at the seams. I had to take a step back and allow the words of that blessing sit and stew in my mind a while. It was hard…really hard…but I had to soften my heart and put my pride aside to be able to accept that Heavenly Father wanted even more from me. We all have adversities. I’m sure mine probably pale in comparison to those that you may have to endure. But commonly, these trials can make us or break us. No one leaves this life unscathed.

A lot of times we find ourselves asking the ‘why’ questions. However, the ‘what’ questions give us something to ‘DO’ and are typically more productive and less likely to drive a person mad. What am I supposed to learn? Or what is the best solution to this problem? What is thy will? I have a ‘doer’ personality. I see a problem and I want to fix it. But as we all know sometimes nothing can be done and that is when the biggest test of our faith during adversity comes, as we must rely completely on the Lord. When answers don’t come the way we want them to or in the time frame we want, doubt enters and we begin to feel like our prayers aren’t being heard. Feelings of loneliness creep in and our faith begins to waver.

Satan sees that little crack again, that imperfection, and little by little picks at it. And what started out as a small crack becomes a crevasse. If we aren’t careful he will continue to pick and dig until finally the damage is irreparable.

We can fortify our faith and keep Satan at bay by trusting in the Lord. We can keep strong by not allowing our feelings of entitlement to stand in the way of what will help us to become humble, meek, and submissive to our Father in Heaven’s teachings. Just as we try to teach our children lessons that to them, don’t always feel is fair, or lessons that seem too hard, or lessons that at times seem redundant, we have to be teachable as well. In Doctrine and Covenants 8:10 Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not.

In the July/August edition of LDS Living Magazine there was an article about Attorney Keith N. Hamilton who joined the Church in 1980 and served as one of the first black bishops. His example of faith through adversity in his life are certainly noteworthy. He talks about his great-grandfather, a slave freed by the Emancipation Proclamation while living in what is now known as West Virginia. His great-grandfather became a Christian minister, as did his Grandfather, he affectionately called ‘Granddaddy.’

He goes on to say, “I cannot remember a time when I did not believe in God. Some of my earliest memories involve going to Shiloh Baptist Church in Norfolk to see and hear Granddaddy preach his sermons. He died in February 1962, and his passing was the first time I experienced the death of a close loved one…. To my dismay, I soon became much more familiar with death, viewings, and funerals than I would have liked, as over the next 10 yrs. I attended the funerals, in chronological order of my mother, maternal grandfather, my paternal grandmother, and my father. My maternal grandmother and all my great-grandparents had died before my birth; thus, shortly after my 14 the birthday, I had no living forbears.

Growing up when I did, and where I did, was not coincidental either. I lived all of my days prior to leaving on my LDS mission in either Virginia or North Carolina. As a product of the Civil Rights era, I remember experiencing segregation, prejudice, and overt acts of racism as a child and teenager. Throughout my entire life I have witnessed the struggles of my people, in person or through the various forms of media.

…”I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in August 1980…..Two missionaries “tracted” me at my off campus residence and two weeks later I got baptized. I chose to become a member of the LDS faith following a divine response to my sincere prayer, and because of the truthfulness of the Church’s doctrine, but certainly not because of any social or cultural benefit or advantage I expected to gain…

He says: “In order to qualify to return to our Heavenly Father’s presence after our mortal probation, every person must pass through the trials and tribulations of this life. So, too, it is, and was, for many nations or groups of peoples. The scriptures are replete with evidences that at times the Lord’s people must pass through severe hardships, due to no fault of their own, in order to serve as instruments in demonstration to others of His love, mercy, compassion, power, and divinity. Should it have been, or be, any different for us of this dispensation?

In Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet there is a writing entitled “On Joy and Sorrow” wherein he eloquently describes the relationship of opposition in all things, saying:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises
Was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,
The more joy you can contain.

….Those of us that have experienced trials, hardships, and adversities have a greater capacity to recognize, receive, and contain the joy of the gospel than some others because of the deep sorrow carved into our souls by past experiences.

Adversity, through its many forms and faces, has dug a deep well of sorrow-and thereby created the potential for greater joy in the lives of many peoples, not just blacks of this dispensation. Early LDS Church members suffered great hardship in establishing the Church in the Eastern states, as did the pioneers who crossed the plains into the Rocky Mountains. Twentieth-century Jews experienced horrendous atrocities during the reign of Adolf Hitler. Trials and adversity have been the lot for all for God’s peoples in all dispensations, including this dispensation…”

ELDER JOHN K. CARMACK Of the Seventy (Lord, Increase Our Faith March 2002)
We do not increase our faith by following a formula, although the ingredients of fasting, prayer, and righteous living are part of that process. Increasing our faith requires trusting the Lord with our whole souls. We cannot say, “We have done enough and deserve to rest.” Nor does the increase come through definitions, logic, or philosophy. Rather, we must:

• Do what is right and serve the Lord because we know, trust, and love Him with all of our souls.
• Harbor no thought that we deserve a reward or thanks for what we do, although rewards will surely come.
• Humbly ask, seek, and knock.
• Never demand anything of our Lord, because we are always in His debt.
• Leave to Him the final decision in all things, having the attitude “Not my will, but thine be done.”
• Be prepared to sacrifice, even unto death, for our entire mortal lives.

As members of the Lord’s Church, we can increase our faith, if we desire, by going beyond the minimum requirements of the gospel and developing complete trust in the Lord.

I want to bear my testimony to you that as much as it seems ideal to go through our lives as if everything is butterflies and rainbows… it is not God’s plan. He has to stretch us and take us to places we would never go on our own. These experiences are what shape us and make us who we are today and who we will become tomorrow. Each one of us will be tested in one way or another, multiple times throughout our “Long Lives.” He will allow us to fall to our knees and plead our case before him; He will hear us as we cry out His name as we feel frustrated, scared, panicked, lost, concerned and even when we feel we are all alone. When we become humble, meek, teachable, patient and faithful, He will come to us in the very hour of our need. But in His timing not ours….ELDER CARMACK also said, “Increasing our faith requires trusting the Lord with our whole souls and striving to act as He would in all circumstances.” We should not question the Lord’s will or allow our feelings of entitlement to stand in the way of being able to grow in our faith and sainthood. I just want to close with two quick scriptures on this subject…. (Ephesians 5:20) says, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” and in (D&C 98:1) “Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;”

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Boys!

2011-07-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

It seems like it is Boy Season around here. There are several ladies in the ward that either just had a boy or due to have one in the next few months! :)

This week I co-hosted another baby shower, this time for my good friend Kelli England. She's expecting a little boy next week, and so I made her this cake for the shower. :)

I did actually use the same fondant I swore I would never use again. It cooperated a bit better this time. However, I see things I should have thought through better...like cutting the strips with the circle cutter so the circles would lay flush with it instead of on top and bumpy. It also appears a fingernail might have caught one of the inner circles. Oh well..I learn new things with each one! :P I've never taken a class...LOL!

Amazing Jakes

2011-07-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

Last week Alayna got an invitation to one of her Joy School friends, Jeilissa's, birthday party! Even better..it was at Amazing Jakes! It's basically like LasVegas for kids!! LOL! Even better than that..the boys were invited too! :D

These two girls are so sweet together. They were inseparable the entire 4 hours..yes you heard me right..we were there for 4 hours!! They had a BLAST!

Note to self: Run a brush through Alayna's hair after swim lessons before going to cool birthday party!LOL! :P

Oasis in the Desert!

2011-06-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived and it has brought its usual scorching high temps!!! Luckily Jared's brother Jeff invited us over to swim in his apartment's pool and have a BBQ! It was a BEAUTIFUL thing!

The cousins were giddy about it too! :P

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

2011-06-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to Lakeshore Learning Store on Saturday. They offer FREE kids art activities every Saturday during the summer. You can't beat that! :)

Such concentration! :P

They were quite proud of their creations! (Note Alayna's cool rider pant leg. Last week at Eli's swimming lessons she slid off the bleachers and skinned that little leg pretty bad. Poor girl. :( )

I'm hoping to take them back each week. They have some pretty cute ones planned in the future. I also heard Lowe's has free projects on the 1st Saturday of each month, so I plan to check them out next week! :) I LOVE free stuff!!! :D

Walker's 11th Birthday Sleepover!!

2011-06-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Summer is a really crazy time to have a birthday. Everyone is out of school and usually on vacation. I think we tried 3 different days to try to get a party going for Walker before we were able to finally make one work. It ended up being on Thursday night, even though his birthday isn't until July 1st! :P

Walker wanted to have his friends over for a Birthday D&D Gaming/Sleepover Party!

We bought him a Nook Color for his birthday. That boy reads books like nobody's business. I can't get to the Library often enough for him so we decided to get him an E-Reader so he can get them 24 hours a day! LOL!! Jared and his tech savviness also turned it into a full blown tablet. He unlocked it so it was able to play games on it as well. :D Walker was thoroughly STOKED! :)

Don't you just love how Walker is ALWAYS smiling!! He just lights up a room! :)

He invited his buddies Andrew, Alex, Chase and Jeremiah.

That's a BIG bag of M&M's! :P

I slaved and slaved over making those ice cream sandwiches! LOL!!

It was a very low key birthday this year, but he had SO much fun!! They had pizza and ice cream sandwiches (that I slaved over)LOL! Then, the boys played D&D pretty much all night with Jared as the D.M. Around 10:30pm they finally stopped and put in a movie. Around 1:30am we still heard them out in the living room giggling!

Happy 11th Birthday Walker!!! :)

Arrow of Light

2011-06-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Walker received his Arrow of Light at Pack Meeting last week. The Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts is what getting your Eagle in Scouts is. It's a pretty BIG deal!!

We held a very special ceremony with an Indian Chief and Medicine Man for the boys who had earned their Arrow of Light. It was really cool!

The Chief and Medicine Man walk in beating their drum and shaking a medicine stick. They get up to the front of the Pack and ask, "Are there two boys who have worked hard and are worthy to receive the Order of the Arrow?" The Pack answers, "Yes!"

He goes to Walker and Chase and has them follow him as they walk around the room. It is symbolic of walking through the forest and he is their guide.

I love that Walker looked right at me with such a big grin as he was being led out. :)

He leads them back to the front of the Pack and shows them that there is a fire. As a Scout they are to always be helpful. To help the Pack they can show their willingness by laying a stick on the fire to keep it burning.

Then he asked the parents of the boys to stand.

He asked us to follow him as well. This is to symbolize how as parents we are there to always help our boys along their way.

He then asked the boys to say the Boy Scout Oath.

Their Cub Master, Brother Campbell, then presented them with their Arrow of Light patch. This patch will be one of the very few patches that will transfer to their Boy Scout uniform.

The Chief then explained the meaning of the Arrow of Light.

First, the sun. The sun sheds its light on all that we do. A reminder that Cub Scouts should be a light for those around them.

Second, the rays. The seven rays of the sun representing the seven days of the week. A reminder that Cub Scouts should do their best every day. Also each of the rays represents 7 great virtues:

WISDOM- Having wisdom doesn't mean that a Scout is smarter than others. It means that he uses what he knows to live a better life -- to be a good example for other people, young and old, Scouts and others, family and friends.

COURAGE- Having courage doesn't mean that you're never afraid -- very courageous people are often afraid. However, facing danger despite your fear is the act of a brave, courageous Scout.

SELF-CONTROL- Scouts have to know when to stop. When you can stop yourself when you have had enough or done enough of something -- enough eating, enough playing, or even enough working -- then you have self-control. Know what behavior is correct in each situation, and do it. When you have self-control, you are growing up as a Scout.

JUSTICE- Justice is part of the Pledge of Allegiance: "with liberty and justice for all." Justice is being fair with others that we go to school with, work and play with. Justice means it doesn't matter who the person is, or what color they are, or what they do ... Scouts are fair to everyone.

FAITH- Scouts believe in God. Faith means that we believe in God and other things we cannot see. When you know God exists in your heart, you have faith.

HOPE- Hope means you look forward to good things that you believe will happen. You hope for better things tomorrow, but you work hard today to make those good things happen.

LOVE- Scouts have many kinds of love. Love of family, home, your fellow Scouts, God and country are all a part of Scouting. Every kind of love is important for a full and happy life.

You will find that if you live by these seven virtues, you will be happy and will make the people around you happy as well.

And finally, the arrow. The arrow which is symbolic of everything which is straight and true. Just as Cub Scouts should be straight and true in their lives. It also points forward to the trail of Boy Scouting ranks and higher challenges.

After he explains the meanings they present the boys with a pin. They boys place the pins on their Mother's necks as a token of thanks for all of our help along their way.

Then their Father's present the boys with their Arrows. (Insert OOOO's and AAAAAH's here :P)

The final step is the Crossing Over part of the ceremony. The bridge symbolizes leaving Cub Scouts and entering the Scouting Program. The boys had to take off their kerchiefs and slides and then 'cross over' the bridge where their new Scout Master, Brother Aaron Murphy, greeted them and shook their hand to welcome them into his Troop.

It was a great moment as a mom to see my son's hard work and effort being acknowledged. Walker has learned so much through the Cub Scout program. It has taught him important life lessons and I've seen him grow into an outstanding young man. As he continues into the Scouting Program I'm sure he will continue to grow into an outstanding man! :D

Sword of Darrow

2011-06-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Walker and Eli joined a Young Reviewers Book Group a few months back. They were asked to read "The Sword of Darrow" by a father and son team, Hal and Alex Malchow.

Once they read the book they were asked to give input to what would make the book better. They were asked to tell them things that needed to be changed such as, characters that seemed not developed enough, story line that didn't make sense, spelling errors etc.

After it went through the Young Reviewers it went to their publishing company and then to print. The Young Reviewers were so good at catching spelling errors, even after they had paid a company to proof read it, that he submitted 30 pages of errors back to them. It is the most correctly spelled book out to date! LOL!

Once the book published, each Young Reviewer received an autographed copy of the book in the mail. That same week the boys received their copy, they got an email announcing Hal, the father, would be coming to Tempe, AZ at Barnes & Noble for a meet and greet event!

It was a really cool experience for the boys. They were able to hear more about the authors and their story of how this book started as an idea and then a reality for them. They were able to ask questions and each of the Young Reviewers received a "Sword of Darrow" t-shirt!! :)

They really felt apart of the process!

A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned!

2011-06-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

Eli and Walker opened their very first savings accounts today!

We have decided in our family that the boys would earn money this year for good grades. I know a lot of parents give allowance for chores, but we feel that chores should be done because it helps us to feel closer to each other. It builds and strengthens relationships, and it gives them a sense of responsibility. It teaches them to work and serve others because that's why God put us in families..to ease each others burdens. If everyone pitches in a little... a lot can be done! :)

We feel that school is their job. And with any job a person has they want to a paycheck. So we gave them a pay scale.

A's = $5.00
B's= $3.00
C's and Below = $0.00
Specials if they get an "E"=$3.00 anything below that $0.00.

It's been a great teaching and learning experience for all of us. They are expected to pay tithing on what they earn, and put 20% into savings. The rest is up to their discretion to spend how they like. (Mom would like them to save that too..but it's hard when they have money burning a hole in their pocket. LOL!)

We are blessed that both boys are outstanding straight 'A' students. They have been keeping track of their money at home and today they had enough to take to the bank to open their very own savings accounts! :D

(Cell phone pics again...Better to have poor quality ones than none at all I say. :P)

It was a BIG day!

The first of many 'official' documents they will sign in their lives! :P

Walker was so excited. He told me that he felt like he was growing up! He said I got my very own library card a few weeks ago and now my own account! (Warmed my heart!)

As a bonus...each time they come in and make a deposit they get to choose a prize out of the Treasure Box!

Kids get all the cool stuff. I want a Treasure Box! LOL!

Boys Will Be Boys...

2011-06-16T16:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday afternoon I was in my room and the next thing I know there were blood curdling screams coming from the other side of the house yelling, "OPEN THE DOOOOOOR! OUUUUUUUUCH!!!! OPEN THE DOOOOOR! MY FINGER!!!!!!"

I raced as fast as one can on crutches, and found that Eli and Walker had been actng like boys. Eli decided to try to shut Walker out of his room. However, Walker's thumb was in the door-hinge side of the door while Eli was closing it over and over to get it to shut.

I assessed the damage and it wasn't pretty. We put an ice pack on it and gave him some Tylenol to relieve the pain but he said it just wouldn't stop hurting. I asked him if he could bend it? He showed me that he could at the base knuckle but not at the top knuckle. He said it was really painful.

Sometimes it's hard to decide if as a parent you are overreacting or if you are following your instincts. But my gut was telling me his thumb just didn't look 'right'. So, I took him to the Pediatric Urgent Care...we've become somewhat of 'regular' customers there this year. :S

They took x-rays and put a hole in his nail to help drain the blood that collected underneath to relieve the pressure. The Dr. came back and said he broke the tip of his bone and wasn't quite sure if there was any damage to the joint/growth plate so she put him in a splint and referred us to an Orthopedist.

This is what he looked like that evening, poor kid.

I called early the next morning to 3 different specialist to try to get him an appointment and finally found one that had an opening before Monday. We went today to Dr. Yospur, who let me tell you was AMAZING! He and his entire staff were so friendly and helpful. I was truly impressed and recommend him for any hand related needs. :P

Dr. Yospur took off the splint and looked at the x-rays we brought with us and determined that the growth plate and joint were fine. The tip did sustain a break/fracture but the treatment for that is pretty much what he had already been given..the splint.

WARNING: Graphic Pic Below....also very blurry (cell phone pic) lol!

Ouch! :(

They gave us a choice to stay with the one he currently had which didn't offer a whole lot of protection. He could get a custom one that basically fit over his thumb. Or he could get a more stable one that fit more like a glove and was also custom made for his thumb and hand. We opted for the more stable one since he's a kid and kids tend to whack things accidentally. :P

The black part is a soft sock type glove. The blue part is the splint. The material is warmed up and molded to the hand and then sprayed with this instant freeze stuff from a can to harden it. He was happy he was able to choose the color of the splint and the velcro. :)

He said it feels much better in this than what he was wearing before. He feels it's more protected which is what we were going for. :) He goes back in a week for a follow-up, but they expect he'll need to wear it for 3-5 weeks depending how fast he heals.

We are pretty bummed though because he had just started swim lessons on Monday. He only got 2 lessons in and they told him NO SWIMMING. :( I hope he can get it off in time for one of the later sessions this summer. He was looking so forward to it...

Disney Day 5...Joe Time, Agrabah and Bob??

2011-06-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

Our final day at Disney is always bitter sweet. We get one last chance to see and feel the Magic but we don't want to say good-bye.....

In the past we've had such a hard time saying so long that we don't leave until 6, 7, 8, and even once 9pm and that makes for a really hard and sometimes scary 6 hour car ride home. Pulling off the highway running around the car trying to wake ourselves up is NOT a good thing to do.

We've matured in our decision making and now we try not to leave any later than 3pm. :D Since we have limited time we hit the last few attractions we can, purchase souvenirs, load up the luggage and head home.

The 1st on our list on our last day was a family favorite The Tiki Room! Where the birds sing words and the flowers croon! :)

I love the classics. Especially because the music use to be well...music. In the Tiki Room I love the water fountains that transport me back to another era, and I feel Walt's imaginative hands in the entire experience. It's a good time! :)

Did you know that The Tiki Room is the only attraction with a bathroom in it? That's because it used to be a restaurant! Fun fact! :P

We had been trying over the past week to see Jasmine and Aladdin but every time we came they either weren't there or were about to leave. The stars aligned on the last day and we finally got to meet them!

Jasmine has become Alayna's favorite Princess and she was dying to meet her. You can't tell from the photo but she was super excited! She even chose a little Jasmine plush doll as her souvenir at that HUGE World of Disney store in Downtown Disney on our way home. :D

I love how Eli shows me the autograph he got in his pictures with the characters. He's a clever kid! :) Too bad you can't read it...maybe I need to give them a sharpie next time. :P

Look at my young man! :) It looks like they are trying to lock him into place...he gets so shy around girls. :P

Walker really impressed us this trip. He really showed us what a mature young man he's becoming. Jared and I kept telling him throughout the trip how proud of him we are. It's been a few years since we've gone on vacation with just our family. We like to invite other family/friends when we go, but it was great to just have it be our little family this time. It really gave us a chance to connect with our kids and experience them in a different way. I know we probably wouldn't have been quite as aware of the changes we saw in Walker if we had been traveling with another group. I'm so glad we didn't miss out! :D

That was pretty much all we had time for so we left the Park. Walker had purchased a lanyard and 2 pins earlier in the trip so he could start the exciting journey of pin trading. I already mentioned Alayna bought a Jasmine doll, and Eli got an adorable puppy at Build-a-Bear. He dressed him up as a Jedi and named him Pupi-Wan. So cute!

We went back to the hotel to say a wistful good-bye and loaded up the car and headed for home. I had remembered from past trips there is a Bob's Big Boy I see off one of the exits but we are always in a rush to get home or I space it until we've already passed it. I had put it on our 'to do' list so we got to try it out this time.

When Jared and I were kids we loved to go to Bob's Big Boy. It was THE place to go. The food was tasty and you could mix your own syrups into your sodas and their desserts were delicious!

Unfortunately, they all closed in Arizona. You can't go to Bob's anymore. So we were stoked about re-living our past!

Unfortunately, again...it wasn't anything like we had remembered. It was an equivalent to a Denny's. It was sad..very sad. :(

I'm glad we stopped though and gave it a try or we'd never really know. It was also fun sharing a part of our childhood with the kids. They thought it was really neat to go where Mom and Dad use to go as kids. :) And as a side note: The kids thought the food was GREAT! So maybe that might mean the food was never that good but as kids you think it's good??? LOL!

We had an AMAZING 5 days and we loved every minute! I love my little family and I couldn't have had more fun with 4 other people. It was perfect!

Disney Day 4...Merfolk and Storm Troopers!!

2011-06-10T19:42:00.001-07:00

We did our best to get to the park bright and early! We wanted to make sure we got to everything we needed to before we had to leave the next day.

We walked out of the hotel straight into Downtown Disney, and snapped a few pictures along the way. Did I mention the Grand Californian Hotel also has a Downtown Disney entrance?! SWEET!

Walker took this pic of us. Not too shabby! :)

Banners promoting their summer offerings. :)

We've never actually walked through this store until this trip. It's HUGE! When they say World of Disney..they are not kidding!

Once we entered the Park we had to make sure we met Rapunzel. Alayna has been dying to meet her. However, so is every other little girl and the line was an hour long. The boys went on Splash Mountain while she and I waited in line. They got back just minutes before it was our turn to go in. Alayna was at her limit by the end but she was SO excited once they let us go inside! :)

She's trying to be so patient. :P

Drum roll..........

She couldn't believe her sweet little eyes when she saw her. She said, "It's her! I see her! And her hair is soooo long!" :) It was precious!

I thought she was a great face character. She was very pretty. :)

The brothers didn't want to lose out on the fun.....lol!

Walker is so funny...he gets very shy and nervous around the Princesses. He stands about 10 feet away from them when they talk to him until they grab and pull him in for the photo op! LOL!!! :P

I was a little sad however, that Flynn Rider wasn't there with her that day.

We were starting to get hungry and we wanted to try out Carnation Cafe to mark another 'to do' off of our list. :)
The food was pretty good but our favorite part was dessert. We ordered The Matterhorn!!! It is four scoops of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, topped with caramel, hot fudge, and strawberry, then piled high with whipped cream and a cherry. YUM!!!!!!!!!!
Our next 'to do' attraction was the movie house. They have several vignettes playing different old cartoons of Mickey Mouse. It's very small in there but it was neat to see some of the classics. :) It was also a great place to get away from some of the hustle of all the crowds.

The kids were itching to get some pool time in so we walked back to the hotel. The boys had been wanting to ride Grizzly River Rapids so they got in their suits and headed over there and Alayna and I went down to the pool where they caught up with us later.

Nice..huh?! :D

They have a nifty water slide too!

View from the pool looking towards the wing where our room was at.

We spent a good couple of hours swimming to our hearts content. Alayna was a little upset about the salt water they used in the pools. She said it was gross...lol! I told her to stop drinking the pool water! Hahaha!

The kids had an amazing time!

It was wonderful to have a break during the middle of the day and be able to get back to the Park so easily when we were ready to. Have I mentioned how AWESOME the Grand Californian Hotel is? :P

We love the Aladdin Show. It's a MUST everytime we go.

I'd pay $30-$40 to see it, but it's FREE with Park admission!! It's a wonderful production! If you've never seen it you really should! :)

Eli loves Autopia so we rode that next. We got about 1/4 mile down the track and a poor 8 year old boy was driving with his mom and he turned the wheel right when he should have turned left and well......

He launched the car off the track and into the bushes!!!! In all the years we've gone to Disney I've never seen a car launch off the track like that!

Everyone was fine thankfully, but they had to evacuate the attraction. The 'suits' came out and then everyone was ushered out by Cast Members. We had to sit and wait for them to bring me my wheel chair. We were the very last ones out. :P

For our inconvenience they gave us a fastpass. Since we had the wheel chair it basically was a fastpass so we found a family and gave it to them. :) It was fun to spread some 'magic'!

Disneyland just opened a new attraction, The Little Mermaid, in California Adventure.
The building is pretty cool looking. DCA has been in need of some of that magic that Disneyland is famous for. It has been a struggling Park since it opened about 10 years ago. This ride is definitely a step in the right direction.

How many wonders can one cavern hold? :)

Animatronics have come such a long way. The way Ariel and Ursula moved was unlike anything I had seen before. It was really cool!

All of the most popular songs were played through out the ride.

It was great to see Disney going back to their roots and putting in classic style rides for the whole family to enjoy! :)

The much anticipated Star Tours ride re-opened this weekend at Disneyland Park. They shot new film with George Lucas and it has over 50 different ride combinations. So the big draw is to try to ride as many times as you can to get all the different combos. Pretty clever!

We rode this ride 3 different times of day on 3 seperate days and guess what.....yup, it was the SAME everytime!! Now what are the odds of that??? We have the strangest luck! LOL!!! Jared is still cursing that ride. Hahaha!

They even have souviner popcorn R2-D2.

And plenty of any other type of Star Tours souvenirs you'd like to take home! :)
Later that night we went to see World of Color. We went to the 10:15pm showing. Walker was beat so he went back to the hotel room and Alayna fell asleep in my lap. Eli was determined to stay up and watch it though. He was excited to to see it again. I highly reccomend seeing it. One of the neat things about this show is that it's easily updated. We saw it just this past Christmas and it had several new sections added to it already. It's pretty impressive what they can do with a bit of water. :P

Disney Day 3...Ain't it "Grand"!?!

2011-06-10T15:51:00.001-07:00

We had tried to ride Winnie the Pooh the day before but right as we got up in line the ride broke down and they sent us all away. Alayna was dying to go back to try again so we made a 'Bee line" for that ride first thing in the morning! (Get it? Bee line...Bee. Line. Hahaha! I kill me! :P)

Upon exiting the ride Walker spotted this sign and he thought it was rather gross..LOL!

My sweet kids! :)

On our way over to ride the canoes, which we've never ridden before, we ran into these fun guys! :)

I'm not sure why we've never ridden these before because they were so much fun! You can get pretty wet if the person in front/back of you isn't careful with their paddle. But that's all apart of the experience as the woman in front of Alayna found out! Hahahaha!

We're not sure how the guides paddle these canoes all day everyday...it was a major workout! But then again, they had some major guns! :P

We worked up a nice appetite so we went to have lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant that just revamped their menu so we had to mark off another 'must do'. :) Jared ordered the chili cheese burger with onion rings. I got the fried green tomato sandwich with a side of tangy coleslaw. Walker ordered the chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries. Eli got the kids burger with sweet potato fries. And Alayna got the kids chicken with apple slices. We all were pretty happy with our choices. The onion rings were REALLY good!

For dessert we got blueberry pies and the biggest lemon cupcakes EVER! I swear those things weighed a good pound each! Both were VERY tasty!!! MMMM!

We rolled ourselves out of there and started heading out of the park to check into our 2nd hotel, The Grand Californian Hotel!

But before we left to do that we spotted Minnie and well...we had to say hello! :)

We were so excited to be able to stay at the Grand Californian Hotel. We used our credit card miles to pay for it. Otherwise we wouldn't ever be able to really afford to stay there. The hotel is connected to DCA (Disney's California Adventure Park) so you can run in and out to your hearts content!

The room was a good size and there was a trundle under the bunkbeds so everyone had a bed! :) Every room has a balcony too!

The view from our room! Not too shabby!!! :D

Even the toilet paper is gussied up! :P LOL!

It's been a dream of mine and Jared's to be able to stay at this hotel. We were almost wishing it wouldn't live up to our expectations so we wouldn't have to yearn to go back. LOL! Sadly...it did and we will now always know what we will be missing. It really changed the way we vacationed at Disney..it was WONDERFUL!!!!

After taking a break at the hotel and eating lunch, we felt refreshed and refueled to head back to the Park. Our next 'to do' was to ride the monorail so we boarded at the Downtown Disney Station.

It takes you around and drops you off in Tomorrowland right by Finding Nemo. It makes it a very fast and convenient way to enter the park. :)

We hadn't ridden Peter Pan yet this trip so we made our way over and jumped in line.

It really is a simple yet great ride! That's probably why the line is almost never under 45-60min! :P

Alayna had never ridden the Casey Jr. Train so we had to mark that one off the list as well.

It's similar to Storybook Land but faster! :P

I think she likes it!

She loved the part where Casey climbs the hill and says, "I think I can, I think I can! WooWoo!" :D

Jungle Cruise was next. It's a classic! :)

The waterfall...

The backside of water!! Hardy, har, har! :P

Do you want to see something Bizarre???

Hahahaha!!! I had to! :P

Disney Day 2...Let the Magic Begin!

2011-06-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

The 1st thing on our agenda for "Things we never seem to get around to doing", was Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. You take a raft across the Rivers of America and your children are free to get lost, I mean...play for as long as they like! Or mom and dad get tired of waiting..lol!

Love that little smile! :D

Don't I look just pathetic??? LOL! I have to tell you too, that this island is not very accommodating for wheel chairs going solo. I almost flipped backwards down a hill at one point. Some sweet lady caught me just in the nick of time! Hahaha! I highly recommend a buddy system if you need to be in one of these things.

Jared followed the kids around as they walked across bridges, climbed over obstacles, discovered caves, explored tree houses, found tombstones and discovered treasure! :)

The kids loved the Pirate's Lair. I'm glad we finally made it over there!

Next up was Huanted Mansion. This is one of Walker's favorite rides.

Alayna on the other hand was quite distraught. She has ridden this ride many times, but the last time she rode it at Christmas, Jack Skellington was there to make it more kid friendly (don't ask me how a skeleton can do this, but she LOVES the movie 'Nightmare Before Christmas'. She's a very unique little girl. LOL!) he won't be back to visit until October and she wasn't too pleased with this information and then refused to go on.

So..after the boys and I rode Haunted we stopped at the little park area by New Orleans Square to eat some lunch we packed in. We had a cherry pit spitting competition but Jared blew everyone away with his skilz and it really wasn't a fair competition. :P

Next, we headed to ride Pirates of the Caribbean because that's my very favorite ride! They've added Black Beard to the fog/mist as you enter the cavern, to coincide with the newest movie they released last month. He replaced Davey Jones.

After my Pirates fix, we went over to Main Street to catch the new 'Soundsational Parade'. Another item we checked off of our 'to do' list. Of course we got there a bit early and so I took some pics to pass the time. :) Let me also add that being in a wheel chair has some pretty nice perks. You get special reserved seating for parades and you save several hours a day not having to wait in long lines at attractions. I guess that makes up a little bit for feeling like a dork riding around in one.

I had heard really good things about his new parade, but you never really know until you see it for yourself how good it will be. I am happy to report it was FANTASTIC! Disney has gone back to the good 'ol classic parade with great characters, wonderful music, and it doesn't have any awkward pauses during its route. Two BIG thumbs up!!!

Here are just a few of the characters and floats from the parade:

The parade starts out with these drumline guys who are really good. They get the crowd pumped with a groovy rhythm and I'll admit it took me back to my marching band days...I loved it! :D

Minnie and Mickey follow and Mr. Mouse is ACTUALLY drumming along with the music! No acting here folks! :)

Donald Duck is always a crowd favorite. Did you also know that he just celebrated his 77th birthday? Yep..June 9, 1934, he debuted in the Silly Symphony cartoon, "The Wise Little Hen".

It's fun having a little girl to enjoy the Princesses with! :)

The newest Princess...Rapunzel! :)

The parade ends with Mary Poppins who is my all time favorite, and the music 'Step in Time'. Now, if we could just manage to get her autograph. It seems every time we go the line closes right in front of us or she's about to leave...Maybe next time! :)

Our next 'to do' was Alice. It's very odd that we ride every ride in Fantasyland pretty much every trip but seem to NEVER make it to Alice in Wonderland. This time we made it and it was a great little ride. One note: When the ride first opened it went in chronological order, but it lacked a big finish ending. So when they re-did Fantasyland they changed it and put the Tea Party at the end to give it a better finale. Fun Fact! :P