Vacation Pics

The Happiest Place on Earth!

We began our journey Sunday the 19th. After church we loaded up the van and drove to my parents home in Idaho. We stayed yhe night there and then got up early the next morning to drive to California. We conveniently put the boys car seats in the back of the van, with Grandma and Grandpa in the middle. We drove all day to Barstow, CA with a stop in Vegas at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, and a trip to the M&M Factory. Tuesday was a day for shopping. Barstow has some great outlet stores and we found some great deals! Wednesday was when the real excitement began. The boys got their first Disneyland adventure! It was so much fun to watch the boys' faces as they took in everything Disney. Pason is just barely tall enough to go on most of the bigger rides. His favorites were Splash Mountain (he got soaked) and Star Tours. He didn't really like dark tunnels on some of the rides though. Carter's favorite was the Nemo Submarine. He would fuss and say he didn't want to go on almost all the rides. Then when he got off he would say "That was my favorite!" The next day was Jared's 30th birthday, so we started the morning with a character breakfast buffet that was soooo yummy! We saw Minnie, Pluto, Lilo, Stitch, and Max (Goofy's son). They sang to Jared and he got to blow out his candle on his mini Mickey Mouse cake. Then we went to California Adventure and then returned to finish up at Disneyland. I think everyone's favorite ride there was Soarin' over California. And we loved the parade there. It has all the Pixar characters starting with Lightning McQueen and ending with Mater. Carter was so excited and he kept waving and staring at McQueen. Both boys fell asleep as we were leaving the parks both days. We had a wonderful time, and Mom even got her Disney wish. There was no whining at Disneyland! Friday we were back in Barstow. We took it easy, shopped a little more, had a BBQ with my grandparents and Aunt and Uncle, and the boys played with my cousins. Saturday we drove back to Idaho, and Sunday we drove home. I think we logged around 36-37 hours of driving time, but it was worth it. We love Disneyland! I was also very grateful to have the chance to take my boys to my grandperents house. It is so far away and I hadn't been since before we got married. Now it's back to normal for awhile. Here are some of my favorite pics.

Flu Shots

I took the boys in for their flu shots today. Carter was upset before we even left the house, so we said a prayer that he wouldn't be scared. As soon as we were done with his prayer he stopped crying and was fine. He did cry a little when they gave him the shot, but he was very brave. Pason also did a very good job. He didn't cry at all. I'm so proud of my tough little boys! After shots we went to Dad's work and went to lunch to celebrate the end of another busy tax season. Hooray! Daddy's home!

Winter Wonderland

Last Friday night it statred to snow. It snowed all through the night and we woke up to about 6 or 7 inches, and it was still snowing. It snowed all day Saturday, but it was a really wet, heavy snow and some of it actually melted off. It was still snowing when we went to bed and when Jared woke up for his early church meetings at 5:45 am. They decided to cancel Sunday School, and RS/Priesthood/Primary/etc., but we still had sacrament meeting for the people who live in town. Jared spent all morning shoveling snow at the church, then came home and shoveled snow at our house and for our elderly neighbors. It finally stopped snowing Sunday afternoon. The news reports said we got somewhere between 18-24 inches of total snowfall from this storm. Pason is loving the snow. Carter is loving hot chocolate (he only stays outside for about 20 minutes). I had fun taking pictures of the boys in the snow, but I'm glad it is supposed to warm back up into the 50's and 60's this week. Who'd have thought we'd have snow like this in early October!



"Wow! Look at all that snow!"



Our backyard winter wonderland.



And the grand total is....

Breadmaking 101

I decided to forget about my failure in high school home economics and give it a try, and the result was delicious homemade wheat bread. 4 1/2 years of carrying around kids must have strengthened my arms enough that I could actually knead my bread dough! I guess all that wheat in my food storage is good for something!

Random Happenings...

-We decided to go for a good old fashioned Sunday drive the other day. The leaves are all turning colors, so we grabbed the camera, climbed in the van and headed down the road. We were driving on a road that goes along the river enjoying the views when we saw a flock of blackbirds in the middle of the road. As we got closer the birds started to fly away, only they weren't quick enough. They flew right in front of us. There were a ton of them and it reminded me of that movie we watched in 9th grade English,"The Birds", which totally gave me nightmares. Anyway, we left at least 4 or 5 of them dead in the road and I don't know how many more injured. Then we got to an overlook where we stopped to take pictures, only to discover that I had forgot to put the memory card back in the camera! Oops! So much for a nice Sunday drive.
-This morning Jared asked me when I was going to make some homemade wheat bread. I said I was nervous to try it because I have never been very good at kneading, and I was afraid the bread would turn out heavy. Pason piped up "Don't worry Mom, I'm strong. It won't be too heavy for me!"
-We were at the park with some friends and one of my friends told me that she had tried and tried to teach her daughter to pump, with no sucess, but that she had just been informed that Pason had taught Bailey to pump because he is, in his own words, "an expert pumper".