Disneyland - Day 2

Up and at 'em for Day 2 of our quick trip. Eating at the Rainforest Cafe is a must for us. We made our reservation and called an Uber to get there. Well, this one didn't work out as well as our yesterday Uber. The guy seemed unsure of where he was going. I would think if you drive in Anaheim, you'd know where all the Disney attractions are. He went on the freeway and passed the Downtown Disney exit. I started to worry (after all, we had a reservation that we had already paid for). He took a different exit and ended up in a parking garage type area with 10 or so lanes all going forward to toll booth type things. We figured out that he had gone to the Disneyland entrance for those needing to park a car in the theme park lot. Uh..... So, I suggested he back up before anyone came behind him. He did and we backed out of the lanes and headed toward the freeway. Problem was, he was about to get on the freeway's off ramp. In essence, we would have been going the wrong way on the freeway. Yikes! I yelled to go right and he did. Then, I was able to guide him to the correct turn and he let us off in Downtown Disney. We were slightly late for our reservation time, but they took us in and we had a great breakfast.... after a life threatening ride.

After breakfast, we walked through Downtown Disney. They had some CRAZY Lego figures they had built. Huge and very detailed. Cole was especially impressed.

We were at the entrance for Disneyland when the doors opened. We headed straight for Hyperspace Mountain. There was NO line!!!! Yes!!!! We were running up toward the entrance when we heard someone call to us. We turned around and it was Chris Woodward, a friend who lives in our ward. He had brought his entire family to Disneyland and he was waiting in line to get Fast Passes for Hyperspace Mountain. We gave him our tickets and he agreed to get us Fast Passes. We rode Hyperspace Mountain twice, then hit Star Tours twice, then Buzz's Blasters. The Woodward family was still on Autopia, so we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. Then, we met up with the Woodward family to get our Fast Passes. 

We next hit Tarzan's Treehouse as well as the Matterhorn. Then, it was time for our Fast Passes at Hyperspace Mountain. After that, we picked up Fast Passes for the Indiana Jones ride. However, there was only a short line for that ride, so, we hit that one twice. Next, we headed over to the Haunted Mansion and then back to the Indiana Jones ride.

Unfortunately, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was temporarily out of service. We checked back a few hours later, but it was still out. Small World was closed as they set up for holiday Small World and the Jungle Ride and Splash Mountain were also closed. Bummer. It's all good, though, we got in a lot of rides.

We learned that our flight was delayed, so, we ate while we watched the parade and then shopped for our gifts to remember this trip (and a little something for our teachers and friends).

We returned to our hotel to pick up our luggage, caught an Uber (this driver was kind, a college student, and followed all necessary traffic rules), and went to the airport. We had plenty of time to do some homework as we waited for our delayed flight. We were supposed to get into Salt Lake just before 10. It ended up being just after 1am. Ugh! Oh well - it was worth it - we had a great trip!!!!

Two days probably wasn't enough, but we'll be back again Mickey - you know we will!!!!!

Disneyland - Day 1

We wanted to visit Disneyland, but SO didn't want to go when it was crowded. We checked the "Crowd Calendars" and they said that the few days after Halloween were "Ghost Town" days. So, we decided to have a quick trip. We got up super early, caught a flight to LAX, caught an Uber to our hotel (across the street from Disneyland) and we were in the park when it opened.

Because Space Mountain was being transformed from the Halloween themed Ghost Galaxy back to Hyperspace Mountain, it was closed our first day. So, we decided to hit California Adventure our first day. We went straight to Radiator Springs Racers. There was no line, so we went twice. Later, we came back with our fast passes and went again. We love this ride!  Our second ride (no pics here) was Soarin' Over the World. It has always been Steve's favorite ride - well, Soarin' Over California was. Now, they have transformed it into flying over world landmarks and natural geological features. It was great. We went on that several times as well.

After that, we walked around the midway and decided to ride on the ferris wheel. Unlike any time we have been there before, Reagan, Cole and Steve wanted to go on the movable gondolas. Usually, we sit in the ones that are fixed - they don't move. This time, we were in a gondola that swings back and forth as you go up and over the wheel. Ugh - I was SO sick. They were all making fun of me, but my stomach was about to hurl and my head was pounding. I was dizzy and anxious and scared. It just wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get my bearings. That ride couldn't end soon enough for me.

As we walked back around, we stopped to take a picture in front of Ariel's Grotto. I made Reagan and Steve pose close to how I remembered they posed once before. It was in December of 2009 and we were at Disneyland with Rachel and her family. We ate dinner at Ariel's Grotto for the princess dinner. It isn't fair, but Reagan looks like she is older in the picture on the left, but Steve looks exactly the same!

Next, we hit the Frozen show. It is in the theater where the Aladdin show used to be. It was just like a broadway show - very entertaining and fun to watch.

We hit Bug's Life, which was actually now a preview for the new Disney movie Moana. Reagan and Cole are super excited to see this. We decided since it comes out around Thanksgiving and one of the main character's names is Maui and we will be in Maui, we will see it there. We also rode on the jumping jellyfish. Cole convinced me to ride Screamin with him. Steve went with him last time and designated me to go with him this time. I don't really like roller coasters. I shouldn't say that, I like Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, but I'm not excited about this Screamin ride. So, we waited in line and I was more and more anxious. We got on the ride and went to the starting point (where Steve and Reagan were waiting for us). The countdown to starting off crazy fast began.... 5..4..3..2..1.. and......... nothing. Seriously, nothing. The other cars took off at 1 and went through the course. We sat. I was getting more and more nervous. Steve couldn't believe it. Then, the music stopped. Steve said "She finally goes on it and it breaks." We sat for another few minutes and then it counted down and we took off. Whoa - that was QUITE the ride. Not sure I'm aching to go again, but Cole loved it! 

After that, we picked up some churros (Reagan and Cole always have to get some and send a pic to Shanny since she loves churros as well) and headed to the Redwood Creek Challenge Course. Reagan and Cole's favorite thing on this was the zip lines. They went again and again and again. Finally, they ran around the course for a while. 

We were killing time while we waited for the World of Color show to start. As we were talking, we decided to skip the World of Color show (we've seen it before) and head over to the other park. Maybe we could get some of our rides in that park done tonight and have more time tomorrow for other rides.

That ended up being great. We hit the Buzz Blasters, Star Tours, the Monorail and a few other rides. We were beat by the time we headed back to our hotel. We had a great, first day. I'm not sure I'd agree that it was a Ghost Town, but it wasn't as crowded as we've seen it in the past. One day down, one day to go.

Happy Halloween!!!!!

It's here - it's FINALLY Halloween!!!!! We got ourselves all dressed and put on our makeup and had to take a few pics before heading to school. 

Cole has a Dino Charged Power Ranger mask, but isn't allowed to wear masks at school, so, we had to get creative with our make up. Reagan wanted hearts everywhere, but again... that may not last all day at school.

Cole has a Dino Charged Power Ranger knife, but again ... no weapons (even play ones) allowed at school. Sorry Cole.

Reagan has been walking around the house all week yelling "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD" in a super shrill voice. Yep - she's got this Queen of Hearts thing down!

I followed them into school to take pics of their classes. (It is sort of a tradition that I do this for other classes as well.)

One of the crafts at Cole's Halloween party was to paint a wooden frame and I had the class Halloween picture printed up so each child could put one in his or her frame. We also made spiders webs using popsicle sticks and yarn.

Each of the classrooms decorated their door for Halloween. Cole's class won first place!!!!

After school, we did homework, ate dinner and headed out trick or treating. I'm sad that I didn't take as many pics as usual. We love meeting up with our neighbors and being able to visit with them for a while. It was a great Halloween. The weather was very mild and we were able to trick or treat for a couple of hours. Of course, we had to hit the Steffen's house - they have the BEST Halloween decorations outside of their house. We also saw our friends Kathy and Dick and many of the people in our ward. What a fun day!!!!!!

Halloween Eve Sunday

When Sunday is actually Halloween Eve, you HAVE to wear orange to church, right?

We all had a little something orange, so we donned our orange and black in preparation for tomorrow's festivities.

LOVE our babies!

Ward Halloween Party

We always have a great time at our Ward Halloween Party. We get together, have dinner, play games in booths and celebrate Halloween.

I donned all black and my witch hat made by my friend Stacey years ago. Steve grabbed a whip and a hat and a leather jacket and decided to be Indiana Jones. Reagan was the Queen of Hearts and Cole was a Power Ranger.... not just ANY Power Ranger - he was a Dino Charged Power Ranger :)

The Primary was in charge of the booths and we had a cotton candy booth, face painting, a fish pond game, a bean bag toss, an obstacle course and a few others. We also had a parade around the cultural hall for the children to show off their costumes. It was super fun!

Our friend, Brad Kearl, was dressed in all black with little chickens attached to him. I couldn't guess what he was until his wife clued me in..... a chick magnet. HA!!!

Handsome Cole

Steve and Cole went out into the yard one night to play. The leaves were changing and it was beautiful.

Steve snapped some pics of our handsome Cole.

I've always loved seeing him in his school uniform. He looks so grown up.

It didn't matter that he was in his uniform, he was still going to climb all around the rocks and trees in our yard.

He LOVES our yard and he loves to climb. I guess he has always been that way - a total boy!

Happy 75th Birthday Dad!!!!

As I mentioned in my last post, it was my Dad's 75th birthday. My youngest sis - Amber - tried to coordinate a great day for him. She asked each of us 5 sibs to send her our favorite pic of ourselves with Dad as well as a letter to him. She was going to put all the pics and letters in a binder for him.

She said she was looking for a poem or verse or something to put into words how she was feeling. She was looking at song lyrics and came across a song by Natalie Merchant entitled "Kind and Generous". She said she felt like the words totally expressed what she was trying to say to our Dad.

Well, since Amber and her hubby Jared are in a band, she decided to sing the song to my Dad. She graciously allowed us (unskilled singers) to be her back up singers. We got to sing the "na -na - na - na" and the "Thank you - thank you - thank you".

Steve filmed it so we could remember and we gave Dad our book and sang our little diddy to him. I must admit that I agree with Amber - the words are very appropriate. I hope Dad liked it.

We had a fun day celebrating with our sibs that are local and being with Mom and Dad. It is especially wonderful to celebrate Dad since almost 15 years ago, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer and we were told it was terminal. He had surgery, chemo, radiation and all sorts of treatments. Later, it spread to his lungs and he had another surgery to remove part of each of his lungs. He went through chemo and radiation again only to have it return twice more. We are so blessed to have him still with us and for him to have a relationship with Reagan and Cole. They love him so much and I can't imagine raising them without him as part of their lives.

So - Happy Birthday Dad!!!!! 75 is a great milestone for anyone, but especially for you!!!

A Hike up to Bell Canyon

As we have posted about, many - many times before, we love to hike up to Bell Canyon. It is so close to our house and is a great, little hike. We got up early and headed up the trail.

You can see across the entire valley and the reservoir up there is beautiful. This day, the level of the reservoir may have been the lowest I've ever seen. 

Of course, we brought bread to feed the ducks.

It was a bit chilly first thing in the morning, but it quickly warmed up. Yep - fall is definitely upon us. 

We walked over to the other side of the reservoir, hiked back up to the trail and headed home. It's my Dad's birthday today, so, we are going to visit him and to celebrate. We need to get cleaned up :) Steve took a little video while we were up at the reservoir:

Sharp Shooters?

Cole received a BB gun for his birthday (early for his birthday - like back in August....way early). He loves to shoot it. Steve was teaching him how to hold the gun and noticed that he had his arm crooked around in a weird way to hold the gun. He was putting the gun on his right side, but using his left eye, so he had to hold the gun in a weird way. Steve tried to teach him to use the other eye, but he couldn't. Turns out Cole is left eye dominant. We actually went to Scheels to speak to a gun expert. He said that while Cole could probably maneuver the gun now, as he graduates to heavier guns, he will HAVE to switch eyes or switch hands. We opted for "switch eyes". Steve put tape over the left eye of Cole's shooting glasses and within a week, he was holding the gun correctly and using his right eye. YAY!

He built all sorts of targets to shoot at ... paper plates, cups, boxes, magazines, you name it and he shot at it.

Well, Reagan likes to shoot as well. I had to laugh how sort of official she looks in her school uniform and the shooting glasses. She's cute no matter what she wears. 

Halloween Decor

You know that I love Love LOVE Halloween decor. It is so fun and so bright and so thematic. I just love it!

This year was no different. I loved putting everything up and getting out our decorations.

I also love changing out the pictures around the main floor to show Reagan and Cole's Halloween pictures from their past Halloweens. I love to look and see their costumes from when they were 3, 5, or 8. So fun!

I also love getting out our collection of Haunted House luminaries (and adding to the collection).

We added a few things from Bath & Body Works this year. They had some cute ceramic figures that matched this year's haunted house luminary.

Of course, Reagan and Cole love to decorate their rooms with Halloween items. Reagan always decorates her American Girl Doll's table.

Cole's Trampoline Tricks

Cole has a friend at school named Harvin. They text back and forth on the iPad and talk about what they are doing. One day, when we were in the backyard, Cole asked Steve to video him doing his trampoline tricks so he could send the video to Harvin. We did - he did some flips and twists and jumped from the rocks. I enjoyed it as well and thought I'd share it with the blogosphere :)

Reagan's Primary Talk - She Wrote it Herself!!!

Reagan was assigned to give the talk in Primary. She had a week to prepare and the topic was "The blessings of the Priesthood are available to all." I kept saying that I would work on putting some ideas together for her. Nope - she was not having it! She said "It's my talk and I'm old enough that I should be writing my own talks." So, Saturday night, she disappeared into the playroom and after about 30 minutes, she emerged. I asked if I could take a look at it. She seemed to think that I was somehow invalidating her work if I looked it over. I explained that everyone needs to have things looked over. I told her how I would look over some of Daddy's letters or contracts to make sure there were no misspellings or grammatical errors and how I had another attorney look over every document before I submitted it to the Court (when I was practicing law). She seemed to be less concerned so, we took a look. I was amazed at what a great talk it was..... written by a 10 year old by the way! The only thing we changed was that she mentioned that boys could give Priesthood blessings when they turned 12. We talked about the differences between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods and how a man must be an Elder before giving a blessing. Other than that, no changes. I asked her how she knew how to write this talk. She said "Well, I included a scripture, a personal experience and a quote from a general authority." I asked where she found the quote - certain that she didn't know how to search LDS.org and find something topical. Her quick response? "From my notes taken during conference." Of course - she is amazing and we are so proud of her.

Since she was telling a story about my mom, I wanted to video it and send it to my mom. So, I included it here as well (she asked Steve to be her "assistant"):

A Busy Saturday

For his birthday, Cole received this big Lego set that was called Enter the Serpent. He got right to work building it and it was quite a task, but he finished it. He really is a great Lego builder. If Reagan is building and gets stuck, he can almost see where she went wrong (without the instructions) and can take apart only what is needed to get her back on track. Some of his sets have over 1,000 pieces. He just sits down and methodically builds until the set is completed. This one is super cool.

After building, these two headed out into the yard. They explored, played games and threw that football around. Love it!

Steve always tells them that he build this yard for them (even though we weren't even married when he built the yard). He did imagine throwing a football with his son (and daughters) and jumping on the trampoline and - most of all - climbing on those huge, granite rocks :)

It's definitely fall and I'm sure the weather will start turning soon, but for now.... we're loving it!!!

The trampoline always seems to be the center of the play in the yard.

I think Steve loves it as much as the kiddos do. They laugh and laugh and laugh.

Cole scares me to death with his tricks. I'm not sure why. I did tons of tricks on our trampoline growing up. I can't put my finger on why I trusted myself, but don't trust him. I am constantly warning him about landing on his neck or bouncing off. I hope he is listening.

After playing, we headed to a birthday party for our friend Benjamin. It was at All Star. They played laser tag, had glow in the dark bumper cars, played mini golf and spent tons of time in the arcade. They had a great time!!!!