Vacation part 2

We decided to do Disneyland during the week to avoid the crowds. Our first day of Disney was on Monday. The day started a little rough. The kids were way excited to go to Disneyland but I knew Londynn would probably fight us on the rides, and she did. We thought that if we started her on way easy rides and worked our way up that she would be good. We started with the teacups and right away it was "I don't want to go on that ride", being the mean mom that I am I made her go on it. It took a lot of talking to and convincing her that it wasn't scary. Once the ride started the words that came out of her mouth were "that's not so bad after all". It ended up being her favorite ride and we rode it many times. This was the perfect time of year to go. I don't think we waited in any line for more than 15 minutes.

That first day we all wore ourselves out, as you should at Disneyland and by the end of the night I ended up with the worst migraine of my life. So not fun!

On Tuesday we decided to take the day off of Disney (we had a 3 day pass) and just relax and do a little shopping. Wednesday and Thursday we hit it hard again; however, by Thursday we were worn out and only lasted about a half of day. When we go again I think we will do the 3 day pass again but this time allow enough time to have a day off in between each day.

This here is the Londynn "I don't want to go on that ride" face.

The 2nd day she was rewarded with these ears for trying new rides.

The whole fam (and some strange guy in the way)!

My cute nephew Bryton and Mark. Bryton wasn't quite sure what to think of pluto.

Boston loved seeing the characters. Londynn not so much. She viewed them from a distance.

This was Boston when he saw Woody from Toy Story. He LOVES Toy Story. I would say this was probably the highlight of the whole trip. It was so fun to see him get so excited.

Mark, Heather and Bryton.

Boston with uncle Derek

Overall the vacation was a success and we all had a fun time. We had plans to stop in St. George for the night to split up the drive but our kids surprised us and were awesome in the car so we drove straight through. And there you have it......

Vacation part 1

Anyone else not a fan of blogger? I finally sit down to do the long process of uploading photos and for some reason I was able to do a few and now I'm getting an error. grrrr. So now this post will be split up.

Well we finally went on our first "real" family vacation this past week to California and Disneyland. We were fortunate enough to be able to have my whole side of the family join us on vacation. I think it made it just that more enjoyable (that and we had help with the kiddos, that's always a plus). In order to save us $$$ we opted to make the long drive instead of flying. I was dreading the drive not knowing how the kids would handle being in the car that long. We left on Saturday and stopped for the night just outside of Vegas. It was the perfect length of car ride for the fist day.

That night we headed to the outlet malls for a little shopping because what's vacation without shopping? The next morning we made the rest of the treck to California. The nice sunny weather in California was VERY welcomed. That first day it was close to 70 and nothing but sunshine. We didn't waste anytime hitting the beach that night. This was the fist time my kids have seen the ocean. I don't think they cared much about the water but they loved playing in the sand.

washing apples

So Londynn just came to me and handed me an apple and said "mom here is your apple, I washed it for you." I asked her how she washed it and she said "with my tongue". Gotta love that girl!

sssssnakes

Aunt Cristy has a snake at her house and this is what happens when she babysits.

Apparently Londynn wouldn't have anything to do with the snake and Boston was in total heaven. I just get the heebie jeebies when I look at these pictures. eeewwww

Binky free

Well Boston is officially Binky free. He turned 2 in September and I knew I should probably take it away but he's my baby and I just didn't have the heart to do it yet, that and he only needed it when he took naps and at bedtime. Well the other night Jared put Boston to bed and a couple minutes later he started crying (this is very unusual for him) so we went it to see what the problem was. We opened the door and he cried binky broke. Sure enough the top part of his binky was completely off. He had bit it off. Instead of getting him another one I thought this was the perfect time to try and do away with the binky. We told him it was broken and we had to throw it away. We gave him loves and laid him back down. He has now slept 2 nights and had 1 nap without a binky. Who knew it would be this easy?

Heartbroken

I knew when we decided to start a family that part of having children would include some heartache a long the way. Tonight was a perfect example of that. Londynn started dance a couple months ago and tonight was her first dance recital. We invited the grandma's and grandpa's and and some aunts and uncles to come watch her dance. I warned everyone that I wasn't sure if she would actually get on stage and perform but we would love to have them come anyways. The big day finally arrived and Londynn was fully aware that if she got on stage and danced that we would reward her by going to the store and letting her chose out a new barbie. She was so excited. Jared and I were actually both nervous for her all day. I just wanted her to participate and enjoy the experience with the other girls.

As part of there dance costume there was a flower for there hair (on a band). The moms decided that instead of wearing it in their hair they would wear it on there wrist as a bracelet instead. There is a reason for me sharing this, just stick with me. So we put it on Londynns arm and was set to go. Her class lined up ready to go on stage and Londynn surprised me and let me go sit in the audience. I thought all was good and she was actually going to dance. I sat in my seat with butterflies in my stomach for her. The curtains opened and there she was. Not a moment after the curtains opened Londynn started running for the side holding her arm, pulling her hair band off. It was obviously bothering her. I thought she was just going to give it to her teacher and return to the stage but instead she started crying. The teacher tried to get her to return to her spot on the stage but she wouldn't. There she stood on the edge of the stage crying while the others girls continued to dance. I was heart broken for her. Not only because she didn't dance but because I knew she was expecting a new barbie.

When the dance ended I up met her out in the hall and gave her loves and asked her what happened. All she talked about was how the flower was hurting her arm and then asked if she got a barbie. I felt like the mean mom telling her no barbie. I totally understand the fear of getting on stage. I'll admit she gets it from me, but how could I not reward her for the effort? So we did. We took her to target and she got to chose a treat. Definitely not a barbie, but hopefully next time. If my heart aches for her at this age I can't even imagine what it will be like when she is a teenager.

Here are the girls lined up and if you look closely you can see londynn making her way to the side.

...and here she is on the side of the stage where she stayed.

month and a half recap

Wow it sure has been awhile. I'm sure you are all dying to know what we have been up to. So in no particular order here you have it.

When I saw Disney Princess on Ice was coming to town I knew I wanted to take Londynn. I made aunt Kelsey come along with us. Londynn LOVED it. At intermission I asked Londynn if she was ready to go home or if she wanted to stay and watch more, she didn't even hesitate with "I want to see more". It was fun to see her get excited over the princesses.

I celebrated another birthday and Jared bought me these.

What's Thanksgiving without the leftovers? We were at the Stouts home for Thanksgiving this year and Thanksgiving isn't complete without leftover turkey and green olive sandwiches. We decided that we would make our own turkey and rolls so we could have leftovers. Let's just say they did not disappoint.

I know you are all thinking how yummy that sandwich looks. It makes my mouth water. Yummy!! I'll admit it is one of those things that is an acquired taste.

What's Christmas without making sugar cookies? The kids sure enjoy helping but I'll admit that it takes a lot of patience on my part to let them "help".

We recently attended an ugly sweater party and boy were our sweaters ugly. I can't help but laugh looking at this picture. The sweater is a "little" to snug and that ugly blue thing underneath it would be a dickie. Sweet!!!

Boston recently learned how to sing his abc's. It's so dang cute. This is a video where you will need to close your eyes because our camera is THAT bad (no worries though because we are getting a new one for Christmas. Yipppeeee!!!)

And there you have it. Our exciting lives for the last month and a half.