Disneyland Day 1

We had a long drive into California Tuesday night in the rain. It rained for about an hour getting out of Phoenix and then about the last hour and a half getting into LA. The traffic was crazy in the rain. We could hardly make out the lane lines and we were so happy to finally get to our hotel. Wednesday we woke up to it still sprinkling. But we decided we were going to go ahead and go to Disneyland anyway. Our hotel was about a 20 minute walk to the park. So we headed out with umbrellas, ponchos and plenty of snacks to hit our first day at Disneyland. We loved seeing the legos in downtown Disney before we even got into the park.

 

I made the kids stop and get a picture outside the park. They were anxious to get in, but humored me. And it turned out okay because we got to see a fly over by Peter Pan.

When we got into the park, we started with Peter Pan, because we had missed that last year. We loved it. We were able to ride most of the ride's there including;  Mr. Toad's wild ride, Dumbo, Mattahorn, Space Mountain, Star Wars, It's a Small World, Autotopia, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, Pinocchio's Daring Adventure, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Indiana Jones, the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. With the help of our Max Passes we did not hardly wait in any lines at all. Rook was too short to go on a couple of rides and chose not to go on others. But for the most part we just had a really good day.

  

Most of the princesses weren't out because of all the rain but we did manage to see Tinkerbell who helped Evie fix the butterfly on her ears.

Autotopia was definitely a favorite of all. The older three got to drive by themselves which they loved and Evie and Rook both loved being in charge of the wheel.

The rain kept the people away and it was a pretty magical day at the happiest place on earth. One of my favorite things of the day was watching my kids be kind to each other. Emmy had spent the days leading up to Disneyland taking Rook on walks because last year he complained all day that his feet were sore. It must have helped because he told me as we were leaving the park, "Mom, I didn't complain one time that my feet hurt." And he hadn't. Evie got pretty cold at one point and Addy took off her jacket and gave it to her. And as we were walking back to our hotel it started raining pretty hard and Rook wouldn't stay under the umbrella. So TJ walked back by him and wrapped his poncho around him. It makes my heart happy when they show each other they care.

I Love to See the Temple

What a beautiful experience we had in the temple with Emmy this morning. She turned 12 yesterday and we got to be in the temple with her today. We wanted it to be a little calmer so we dropped the kids off at school and then went to the temple. She rode over with my mom and dad and Jamie’s parents met us there. What a cool experience for her to be in the temple with both sets of her grandparents. When we were getting our clothes President McClure, the temple president was talking to us and we told him it was Emmy’s first time of being in the temple so he said that he wanted to talk to us. So we went into one of the comfirmation rooms. There was one other young man who was going through the temple for the first time and his parents and then us and emmy and both sets of grandparents in there. His comments touched me. And he teared up as he spoke about the importance of the work that we were doing. Then we went into the dressing room to change. Emmy was almost giddy she was so excited. She put her jumper on backwards at first and had to go change it. Then we went into the font. My dad led me into the baptismal font and he baptized me first and then he baptized emmy for a couple of names and then Jamie baptized her for the rest of her names and then Jamie’s dad baptized him for several of their family names. Jamie and his dad were both pretty emotional. And then we went and showered and changed and then went to do the confirmations. Jamie got to confirm his dad for their family names, and then Jamie’s dad and my dad confirmed Emmy for her names and then Jamie and my dad got to confirm me for the names that I did. What a special experience to be sitting in that chair with Jamie on one side of me and my dad on the other side of me and getting a tiny glimpse of what eternity must feel like. Sitting between the man who first helped me gain my testimony of the priesthood and the one who continues to bless me and my family with the power of the priesthood. What a cool experience. I love them both so much. Emmy was so fun to watch today. She was so excited to be there. She asked me if we could go back tomorrow. And then if we could go back on Saturday. I’m going to have a hard time getting her to the temple as often as she wants to be there. But what an awesome problem to have. She is going to be amazing!!! I can’t wait to watch her grow. I can’t wait to for her to go on a mission and get married. She is such a sweet girl. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the wonderful experience I had with her today. What a tender mercy.

I didn't know that Jamie's parents were doing a session afterwards so I didn't get a picture with them.

Emmy's 12th Birthday

Emmy wanted a donuts and hot chocolate party for her birthday. We kept it pretty low key since we are still redoing our kitchen. But she had some friends over and they played some fun games. We also opened presents, went to Texas Roadhouse with Grammy and Papa, and ate another llama cake. It was a good day. I love this girl and am so grateful to be her mom.

Happy New Years!!!

New Years Day consisted of a polar bear swim and sparklers.

We usually do fireworks on New Year's Eve but it was raining and really cold so we waited until New Year's Night. It was still really cold for us but we at least made it through the sparklers.

Christmas Eve

Annual Christmas PJ pics.

Giving Machine and Christmas Carol

We had a fun night. It started at Mod Pizza. Then we finally made it to the giving machine. We had gone by a few nights ago to see what we wanted to buy. The giving machine is one of 4 machines that the church has put over the world. It is a vending machine where you can put money in and choose what you want the money to go to and then the church will make sure that item gets donated to somewhere in the world. The kids each got to pick something they wanted to donate. Emmy wanted to donate a goat (of course) and so she spent part of her money to pay for half of it. We helped the kids donate what they wanted, and then I was standing there and thought of grandma and had to donate a sewing machine. Hopefully someone will use it as much as she would have:) After that we crossed the street and went to see Christmas Carol. This was the first year we took the kids. Rook was a little restless but I think the rest of the kids really enjoyed it.

Evie's 7th Birthday

Happy Birthday Evie!!! We love you and are so grateful you are part of our family!!!