May 2014

May 3rd was Noah's baptism and we got to sit behind this little cutie.

Afterward we just had to stop by Smith & Edward's because we were already so far north ;) Of course we loaded up on candy!

On the 9th, I got invited to a special Mother's Day program by Christaian's and the other Chinese immersion first grade classes. He gave me a poem and a marigold which he'd planted in a pint milk carton.

Here's some of his other school artwork which had been hanging up:

On May 10th I took the kids to Kaysville Animal Days. They got to hold chicks,

and pet bunnies.

Christian saw this rock wall and thought it would be easy to climb. To his surprise, this was as high as he dared go!

We saw lots of cute farm animals,

and did pony rides.

Holding snakes is pretty cool.

Overall, we were not impressed this year and the kids were sad that we missed the Logan one.

Luckily, Krispy Kreme donuts make any day better!

The 11th was Mother's Day. I don't look very happy in this photo, but I think the sun was just in my eyes because I was trying really hard to fake it.

I had been telling the kids for a week that all I wanted was for them to clean up a bit, but they didn't care to do any of it. That morning I waited in bed to see if either of them wanted to bring me breakfast in bed (or even just a ready-to-drink protein shake), but when they finally woke up, they just ate cereal and made a mess of the kitchen and family room. I didn't even get a "happy Mother's Day."

I tried to hold it together, but started bawling while getting ready for church. Not really mad at the kids, just more disappointed in myself that I raised them to be so ungrateful :( I eventually got over it.

Here is Faith, up to bat on the 15th. Again this year our lives have been overwhelmed through May & June with two games and at least one practice per kid, per week!

May 16th was the sixth grade Spring Fling and the theme is Hawaiian luau.

Spring fling is an annual rite of passage for sixth-graders at Heritage where they eat snacks, dance and do activities. I volunteered to help with food and made a bunch of fruit skewers with Raylene Bott, from the ward.

There were also Hawaiian meatballs, cookies (including cute flip-flop ones made out of Nutter Butters), chips and salsa, cocktail weenies, and bottled water.

The decorations were also really fun. I loved this Lightpost made into a palm tree, complete with brown balloon coconuts!

There was lots of line and partner dancing. Here's Faith with two of her dance partners. They also did water balloon volleyball.

In addition to all the baseball and softball we've been doing, we've had soccer as well. Here's buddy on the 17th after a game.

Later that day was their spring piano recital. Faith wasn't feeling well and nearly missed it, but I pushed her to come into the church where it was being held for just her song, and she pulled through like a trooper. They both did such a great job!

May 20th we were at the Layton ballfield by Surf and Swim for another of Faith's games. Christian's favorite activity during the half hour of practice time before the game is walking the trails by the creek there. Here's an artistic shot we took on the bridge :)

On the 22nd my mom and dad came to see her play.

We got creative for memorial day breakfast on the 26th. Here we have Taste Treat Delight (doctored up cream of wheat cereal with eggs, butter, and brown sugar, with crushed graham crackers on the bottom) with a topping of whipped cream and strawberry/blue decorator sugar/star sprinkles!

We finally picked up our garden plants from J&J nursery. We loved this display of patriotic Americana! Christian decided to wrestle for the picture.

On the 28th I volunteered at the sixth-grade water party. We did a relay race where the kids, while blindfolded, had to pour water from one cup to the next,

and another where the kids had to pass a topic what sponged from feet to feet, over their heads.

May 29th was field day, and because I'm a glutton for punishment, I was volunteering again. This day I helped with the water relay where the kids soaked a sponge in water, ran to a bucket and squeezed it out, then ran the sponge back to their teammate. The team to fill their bucket the most in a set amount of time, won. Christian had field day in the morning and I was only able to volunteer in the afternoon due to work, so here is Faith, going for gold!

The 30th was the last day of school.

Faith had a sixth-grade graduation program and my parents, Tony's parents  and Tammy came. They had speakers from the D.A.R.E. program, which they were also graduating from, and lots of fun songs.

My little girl isn't so little anymore!

She adored her teacher this year, Mrs. Austin.

That evening, Tony was so excited to find this official Pittsburgh NFL football on our back patio. Our neighbor's cute little niece must have been playing with it and left it there.

Tony went over to their house and asked if Stevenson would sign this football for him. He said, "Of course!" and then Tony said, "Well, actually it's yours." :D

California Vacation 2014, part 4

April 1st We got to Disneyland and in-line by 9 a.m. so that we could be some of the first ones on Peter Pan ride, but the line was double to triple what it normally is during the middle of the day!  Decided to go to Tomorrowland and ride Star Tours again, instead, where there was only about a 10 minute wait.

Christian bought a light saber & pirate Mickey ears hat and Faith bought a Minnie ears headband. We then saw Captain EO, there was no wait for it, go figure ;) 

We finally gave in and waited over 40 minutes to ride Peter Pan.

Next, we rode Pinocchio and then Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again.

We walked across the street to McDonald's for lunch, and boy was it hot! The weather had been mild and perfect up until these two days, and now it had reached an unseasonable 97°!

Walked back to California adventure and went on Monsters, Inc. Christian saw a family where each person had a churro and said, "All those people have WHOLE churros! Where do they live? In a cave with no house payment?!?" (Because we made the kids split a churro a few days before and said it was too expensive for them to each have their own. Haha!)

Went on California Screamin and Tony got us fast passes for Soaring Over California while the kids and I hung out in air-conditioned shops so we wouldn't melt, and I checked us in for our return flight.

We had to get in one more ride on splash Mountain!

We had to have one more taste of dole whip, this time just in cups not instead of floats, and then watched the parade at California adventure,

Next, we slowly floated around on this Cars Wheel ride. The kids' vehicle moved much better than ours because they floated on air blowing up from the ground, and Tony and I weighed ours down too much!

We then went to The Winery restaurant for our 6:20 PM reservation. We were super upset when we didn't get our appetizers for 30 minutes, and then didn't get our dinner for 45 more!

We were super disappointed in Tony's pasta and the serving size of his chicken entre, my green beans (which were uncooked), the tiny size and lack of flavor of Faith's salmon. Christian enjoyed his spaghetti and my fillet mignon with herbed butter was excellent. The desserts were really good, too.

We went to the pier for our reserved spot for World of Color which came with our dinner. Faith met some fun teenagers to chat with and they and buddy played the online "Simon" type game where the winner of each round got to control  the ferris wheel lights. 

The show was amazing! Lots of cool water, fire and laser action. Tons of fun clips from movies such as The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more.

After the show we walked into downtown Disney to the ginormous  Disney store and the kids each picked pillow pets as final souvenirs. Faith got Lady from Lady and the Tramp and Christian got a Pluto pillow pet.

On the 2nd We got ready, packed up and checked out of the Del Sol Motel. Christian came out with the phrase "poop my pants and call me pudding" in the car. (?) Grabbed some breakfast from McDonald's.

Drove to Huntington Beach and spent nearly 2 hours playing in the surf. Tony wore his Wrangler jeans and long sleeve shirt so he wouldn't get anymore sunburnt. 

The kids played with this cute baby in a wetsuit who had two serious surfer parents.

Tony bought a California flag beach towel and we sprayed off at the outdoor shower again.

The kids and I got changed in the car and then we got stuck in a traffic jam due to road construction. Finally got to the Long Beach airport and got through security in just a couple of minutes because it was so dead. I even got TSA pre-check!

Faith begged for chocolates when she saw the see's display there. Tony found an egg shaped box which was half off but and bought it for us to share.

We enjoyed our snacks again on the return flight!

We even got to sit together again, this time on row 6 (C, D, E, F) and didn't even have another traveler between us. 

Tony thought it was funny that Parowan was one of the few Utah cities listed on the display that tracked where we were in the sky since his mom is from there and it's a tiny, little town.

We got into Salt Lake,

took a taxi back to Con-Way, and drove straight to my mom and dads to pick up Skittles. She was sooooo excited to see us! We were happy to hear that after that first night or so, she settled down and was a good girl for grandma and grandpa.

We still can't believe how amazingly fun this vacation was!!!

California Vacation 2014, part 3

The morning of April 29th we up early to use our early entry to Disneyland. We got ready, ate motel free breakfast, and made sandwiches from leftover chicken from Medieval Times to keep I the fridge for lunch.

Just before leaving our room, we realized that Christian's iPhone was lost!! We spent the next half hour calling the lost and found departments at Medieval Times, Walmart and our motel. No luck :-(

Got to California adventure just before opening time and waited in a big, huge glob of people. Then got in line for the popular, new Radiator Springs Cars ride. We had to wait over an hour for this one. The ride was okay, but not "all that." At one point it was like you were drag raceing another car, and that part was pretty fun.

Next we went on California Screamin' roller coaster, then Toy Story Mania (which is the ride where you play virtual carnival games),

and then rode the Ferris wheel in one of the swinging pods.

We went back to the motel for lunch and almost died of heat stroke on walk back! We were astonished to find these plates with a note in Spanish which said our maid had found Bud's iPod in the trash!!!! We sure lucked out and were so grateful that we had Guadalupe called to our room and had Buddy give her $10.

Faith is such a sweet sister!

Tony stood in a long, hot line for Dole whip floats for all of us since we were hot and we'd heard they were good, and in the meantime, the kids and I shopped :)

We ate them while in line for the Jungle Cruise and they were amazing!

Next we went on Star Tours, and it turns out that Christian was the rebel that we were protecting from the alliance! We saw his photo up on the dash screen, and everything!!

We went in the Innovations building and saw these cool Iron Man Suits.

We even met Thor there and posed like the other Avengers!

We did the Roger Rabbit ride and looked  at chip and dales treehouse and the other stuff in Toon Town. We decided to skip the long wait to get a pic with Mickey.

We had to wait in line 40 minutes to ride The Matterhorn. Most of the lines had been 20 minutes or less, so not bad. It was a much rougher ride than I remembered!

Headed back to the motel where the kids and I changed into our swimsuits and went to the pool while Tony (who doesn't like to swim) did the laundry and picked up dinner (guacamole bacon burgers) from Carl's Jr. What a guy!

The pool was very cold so I sat in the hot tub while the kids swam. For the last little bit, Christian came in the hot tub with me and Faith finally joined us at the end.

On the 30th we started out on Snow White's Scary Ride,

 then the Teacups and Storybook Land boats.

Got wet on Splash Mountain and did thumbs up for the photo! 

Did the Winnie the Pooh ride (which was Faith's favorite the first time she came to Disneyland), then Haunted Mansion because it had only a five minute wait, then Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

We ate lunch at Café Orleans where we ordered two regular monte cristo sandwiches and one three-cheese (Swiss, mozzarella & Brie). They were $17.99 each!! But they were delicious!

We had heard great things about Jedi training, but had never been to it before. We staked out a spot early and hyped Christian up so he would scream loud, jump high and have a chance to be picked.

He did it! He trained as a Jedi with a light saber and then got to fight Darth Maul.

Next, we went to the Aladdin live show in California Adventure. Tony even took Christian to go to the restroom before the show so he got to see the whole thing this time! 

Afterwards we browsed some monsters University gear while Tony refilled the water bottles,

then walked back to Disneyland to watch the parade. We put on some miles, baby!

On our way to the candy shop, a little girl stopped Faith to ask her if she wanted to trade pins. Tony had gotten 11 older Disneyland pins from a guy off KSL for just $10 and the kids had brought those along with their original pins to do some trading. They could trade off of the black boards in the shops, as well as some employees' lanyards and had done a bit of that just for fun. Faith was thrilled to be asked and traded her strawberry Mickey head for the girl's Mickey Mouse. It was so adorable! 

We also made a quick stop to go on Mr. toads Wild Ride, then got some cool caramel apples at the candy shop Christian got Olaf, the snowman from Frozen, and Faith got Mini Mouse.

We ate leftovers for dinner that day. That evening when I went to take the kids swimming again, we found that our motel's pool was closed for repairs. We were pretty bummed until we learned that they could swim at the hotel next door's indoor pool!