can you ever post too many pictures of Disneyland??

These are not at all in order, they are actually going from Day 7 to Day 3. We went to Disneyland on Tuesday with my dad, again on Wednesday with my brother, his wife and my nephew Gavin. Thursday we went to the beach, I love taking my kids to the beach. Friday we hung out with friends and then to Disneyland again on Saturday with my Dad. Sunday the kids and I drove back to Utah with Ryan's mom (she flew down just to drive back with me, she is a saint) and Ryan stayed in CA for 2 more weeks.

We took so many pictures at Disneyland and I'm glad we did because the little things are so easily forgotten. It is so magical there and it was a great way to spend time together.

This ferris wheel was very deceiving. It's just a ferris wheel right? No. It slides back and forth so you feel like you are going to fall.





This was one of my favorite rides. Not the actual ride but to ride it with Gavin and Charlotte made it my favorite. They were hilarious. They were cracking up together and screaming as we spun around, so precious. Pure joy on their faces.

We bought the kids autograph books and it was fun to spot characters (wait in a line) and get an autograph and picture with them.
my personal favorite. I love Mary Poppins, I want to be like her, accent and all.


Charlotte's favorite character, went back for a second hug and couldn't stop waving good bye.

It was a long wait to see Minnie
I think she likes this hat. That was an easy decision. And the mirror was a good babysitter.



The fun is about to begin. I'm thinking Christmas card photo.

oversight.

our california trip is very jumbled. These pictures weren't on the back up hard drive so I forgot we had them. On our drive down we stopped in St. George to stay at my Grandma's house, my moms mom. The kids thought it was great to be staying at a new house and were quite entertaining for my grandma and Seth. My Grandma always loves to talk politics and a bit of conspiracy theory and I think it's great, she makes me chuckle. She is very intelligent and still sharp and very up to date on her current events ;) Growing up, she lived in Bountiful in the coolest house which from a California perspective, had a huge yard. She loves to garden and I always remember her as a very hard worker and always self reliant. I'm glad we stopped by and I'm thankful my kids could make memories with their great grandparents.

California Day 1 (of fun)

Day 1 was really on the 19th of September but we started having the real fun on Monday. Okay not true because shortly after arriving at my dad's house, the kids were playing with the dogs and swimming in the pool. Monday we hung out with my brother and his family and took a bike ride down to the beach. So fun, wish I could do that daily. For dinner my dad took us to Medieval Times. The kids LOVED it and it was fun to watch their excitement. The show is a little different for adults, I couldn't help but watch these "knights" and think "really? This is your job? Are you planning to go to college some day?" But the kids thought it was great and that's all that mattered :) They were screaming, waving their banners and cheering so loud. We cheered for the yellow knight, he didn't win, darn it. But, he did hand his carnation flower to little Miss Abbey!

In an effort to keep this mass update in order and because some needed photos are at Ryan's studio I will post something unrelated until those pictures are found. My good friend tagged me with eight questions.
1. What is one of the top things on your bucket list of things to do before you die?

hmmmm, I have never thought of a "bucket list" or have never thought, "I want to do ______ before I die" Off the top of my head, I would love to visit all 50 states and stop at places that have been featured on "DIners Drive in's and Dive's" This means I am either boring, have an eating problem or live such an exciting life that this is the only thing I still have not done ;)

2. When was the last time that you laughed so hard that you cried? Who were you with and what were you laughing about?

how about peed my pants? After 4 kids that would be easier to recall than crying. I'm sure it was on our cruise with our BF's Ryan and Jess. We have a lot of fun together. In fact I know I cried from laughter but too long of stories to explain.

3. What was your favorite family vacation as a child?

we would drive to Utah a lot to visit family, I always enjoyed that. I wish I could make a bed for my kids in the back of the car like we used to.

4. What is the absolutely best and most memorable meal that you have ever had in your life?

I loved our Thanksgiving in Italy.

5. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I could give the same answer as #1 but I think it would be amazing to go to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Judea, Galilee, pretty much places that Christ lived and ministered.

6. What are you a little scared to do, but secretly would still like to try sometime?
sky diving.

7. What is your all time favorite movie and why?

I'm not a big movie person. Mary Poppins is a classic, love the music in that movie.

8. What do you like to do for fun and relaxation?

read, bike or run, be outdoors, spend time with the family.

Ryan's One Man Show

Astoria Fine Art, Jackson Hole, WY

our JULY camping trip

yeah, it's time to catch up and yeah, I'm really that far behind.
kind of a long boring story, but Ryan had to drive all of his painting up to Jackson Hole, WY for his art show and so we decided to take the whole family and then go camping in Yellowstone for a few days. We made plans to borrow my aunt's trailer which I picked up Wednesday and we were leaving early Thursday. Getting the trailer took longer than expected and I was still driving back home at 11:30 p.m. when one of the tires of the trailer blew on the freeway. Awesome, I'm with my 4 kids, in the middle of the night, sitting at a vacant gas station, waiting. In a nut shell, we bagged the family trip. Ryan still needed to get his paintings to Jackson, so he drove a truck up with his Dad and then they flew home. Meanwhile, I took care of the repairs and went for plan B, camping up American Fork canyon at Tibble Fort.

It was so nice to camp in a trailer and the kids loved our little house in the mountains.

we swam in the reservoir


played

Brody got to help with the fire

admiring his hard work and resting before he started poking sticks in it.



Ryan's parents came up for dinner and to enjoy the great outdoors.

Fabulous Fall weekends

The last two weekends have been wonderfully full of Fall activities. Last weekend, Ryan was out of town so don't let me paint the wrong picture, the kids were far from perfect and pleasant all the time. My friend told me about discount tickets to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point, so I jumped on that and took the kids on Friday. It was a very warm day and there wasn't a ton of shade. But this place had plenty to do and we spent a good portion of our afternoon there.



dress your own scarecrow

one snow cone, maybe I should've ordered 3. I can't bring myself to pay $2 for ice, let alone 4 cups of ice. Wow, I sound really cheap.


the duck races were so entertaining for all the kids. I sat on a bale of hay for a good 20 minutes while they pumped water and made their rubber ducky go back and forth.



Saturday morning my mom watched my kids so I could go for a lovely bike ride in the canyon with my good friends


while listening to conference the kids helped my mom and i can tomato's. We got done so quick with their help, I was surprised at how hard they worked, even Charlotte helped by peeling the tomato's.


when the day started to get long and the kids started to get restless, aka, sick of being home and watching conference, we made caramel, marshmallow, chocolate and crushed oreo apples.

When the same restlesness occured during Sunday session, we headed up Payson Canyon and went hiking at the Grotto. It was sprinkling at first but it stopped and it was so pretty and smelt so good.

Brody thought we couldn't see him because he had a camo jacket on. He would hide and then jump out to scare us and I had to keep acting like "oh my gosh Brody, I didn't even see you there."






This last weekend included another bike ride, the perfect way to start off the weekend if I do say so myself.


On Sunday, in an effort to savor the colors before they are gone, we went up Provo Canyon and walked and hiked around by Aspen Grove.

hey, I appeared on the blog