A Trip 3 Years in the Making...

We just got back from a fabulous family vacation. With Sean being in school, we weren't able to go on a vacation during that time. There was a 2 week gap in between him being done with school and being licensed so we planned a vacation. We decided to go to California. We spent a couple days with my cute cousin Kristin and her husband Tyler and their cute kids. They were amazing hosts and we had a blast with them. After we stayed with them, we headed to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. We were so excited to get there. As we were driving down the 405 in Los Angeles- if you have been there you know this is a crazy freeway. We were driving in the carpool lane and heard a weird sound we were trying to figure out what it was when we heard the dreaded thump thump thump and knew that we had a flat tire. Sean then started trying to get us over 4 lanes of busy traffic. We were able to get over and Sean started unpacking the trunk to put the spare on. A policeman pulled over and told us he had called someone to come and change the tire. He told us to stay in the car with our seatbelts on and basically hope they we didn't get hit. Sean decided that he would just change the tire instead of waiting the 15-20 minutes it would take for the towing company to get there. He got it done and we found a place to get a new tire. And then we FINALLY made it to Disneyland. We stayed there 5 days and had a BLAST!!!! We had a fantastic time. We would just go when the girls woke up and then come back to the hotel and have lunch a little nap and then head back for the night. It was a good system for our little family. It was super busy there- I will not go again in the summer time, but that was when we could go. After we were done at Disneyland, we headed down to San Diego. On the way we stopped in Oceanside and Sean was able to do some surfing and me and the gals played on the beach. We spent 3 day in San Diego, took in Sea World, and headed home. We were gone for 13 days- so it was really nice to get home. We took over 600 pictures which means this post will have lots of pictures (if you want to see a the collage bigger just click on the picture).

Tyler works for Fox so he took us to the Fox lot and gave a tour. It was really cool. Brooklyn likes to watch the Simpson's with Sean when I am not home so she was happy to get her picture taken with the wall. We went to the beach with Kristin and Tyler and the kids and had a good time. The water was pretty cold so there was a lot of playing in the sand. The kids did a lot of bickering back and forth, but had a good time together. Brooklyn and Vinny put some music on and started dancing. They were so funny. Thanks Atkinson family for letting us invade you guys- we had a blast with you!!!

Our first day at Disneyland the gals decided to dress-up. Gracie was Tinkerbell and Brooklyn was Minnie Mouse. Brooklyn was so excited when we walked in and one of the first things we saw was Minnie Mouse. We also got the gals their cute mouse ears with their names on them. Gracie decided sometime during the trip that start giving a big cheesy smile. She cracked us up with it. We only had a few hours the first day because we had tickets to go to a Dodgers game.



We had a blast at the game. The Dodgers were playing the Padres. Brooklyn picked out her cute hat that says- Dodgers Princess.

The characters. We spent A LOT of time in line to get pictures with these guys, it drove Sean nuts, but Brooklyn loved it. I wasn't sure how Gracie would do. But as long as I was right there she did good.

Our first ride we did was the Tea Cups. The gals LOVED Dumbo and A Small World. At night time we would do them over and over.

Brooklyn was so excited to get her Autotopia driver's license (she thought it was real) and was even more excited to actually drive the car.

One of the favorite parts for the gals- getting to see the princesses. Cinderella was the first one we saw and you can see Gracie wasn't so sure so Sean got in the picture. She had dressed up as Snow White one day and so was happy to see her and she loves pink so she loved Sleeping Beauty. Brooklyn was in heaven with the whole thing.

The gals LOVED playing in Minnie's house

Just some random pictures. At California Adventures Brooklyn got her face painted. She actually got 2 days out of it. The picture on the top right, the gals were so excited to ride the train and that was their reaction to getting to ride it. We loved the Toy Story ride even though the wait was 45 minutes or more- we look stylin' in our 3D glasses. Brooklyn and Gracie looked so cute dressed up. Sean and the gals waiting for the High School Musical Parade. The last picture was taken of us the last night in front of the castle. The gals loved the castle.

Our last day there, I took the gals to Disneyland while we were there we were able to see Tinkerbell. The gals loved her. Sean had gone surfing while we went and got stung by a sting ray. He said it felt like 20 bee stings in the same spot. He soaked it in hot water and rested for a little bit and then was ok.

We had a blast in Toontown! In the top right picture you can see Gracie cheesing it again.

The High School Musical Parade. We spend a lot of time waiting to see this. We read the schedule wrong and sat waiting for it one day for 20 minutes and then we were told it was blacked out for the day but would be going the next day. We went the next day and realized it wasn't showing that day either. We were finally able to see it. I love how the gals are taking it in- laying on the ground (gross)! Brooklyn loves Loves LOVES all things High School Musical so she was very serious about the whole thing and took it all in. Gracie loved the music and was up dancing to it.

Sean surfing and the gals playing in Oceanside

On Sunday, we went to the temple. They are doing construction on temple.

After the temple, we went to La Jolla Cove. It is a beautiful place. There are rocks there where Sea Lions or Seals I don't know the difference hang out. We were hanging out on some rocks where I got the picture of the wave hitting. I was getting nervous and told Sean I thought we should go and I headed off with Gracie. The rocks are super slippery and I totally fell carrying her. Luckily I was able to save her from getting hurt. But I didn't end up so lucky- my knee got all scraped up and bruised, the other foot got scraped up, and my hand. It hurt so bad. I was wearing a skirt so I am sure that the many people that saw it happen and didn't ask it I was ok got quite the sight! :) We did see a pod of dolphins swim by and witnessed an amazing sunset.

We had a blast at Sea World. (I actually didn't take too many pictures here.) We fed the dolphins and that was really cool. They have the Sesame Street characters there and Brooklyn was excited to get a picture with Elmo.

We had so much fun on this trip and made so many fun memories as a family. The flat tire and Sean getting stung weren't fun. A funny thing happened to me. I went and rode the Matterhorn while Sean took the gals on Small World and we were pretty close to the end when the ride just stopped. They got on the speakers and said it would be shut down for 45 minutes. I was thinking great. We were right by an exit door and couldn't figure out why they just couldn't get us off through it. Finally, 20 minutes later they did. A kid had been sticking his legs out of the ride so they stopped it and escorted him off to security. At the same time in Small World they were riding along and then starting going backwards. Those are some random things that happened. The worst thing that happened on the vacation was when we got word that my brother-in-law Greg was admitted into the hospital and was very sick. Things were not looking good and I happened to call my Aunt Paula- she was upset and said they had taken Greg into emergency surgery to take out his infected gall-bladder and that things weren't good. I felt completely helpless and all I wanted to do was be with my sister. Sean and I started looking for flights to try and get me to Utah. It was about 10 o'clock and we could not find one until the next day. The surgery ended up going good. He stayed in the hospital for several days after. He had salmonella, bacteria in his blood, and a bacteria in his stomach. We are so glad that he is getting better every day. But other than that it was really an awesome vacation for our family. I can't wait to do it again!!

Oh Brooklyn!! (part 2)

So I thought this gal had grown out of the funny things she used to say. But, tonight she treated me with another classic Brooklyn line.

My family and Sean's family surprised him tonight with a dinner for finally being all the way done with school. On the way over I worrying that we would be put upstairs. Sean's grandma was coming and she is in a wheelchair. So I just figured if we did a couple of the men could carry her up. Well Brooklyn comments in her sweet 6 year old attitude voice (sense the sarcasm), "Well, I bet Lance Armstrong could carry her up ALL by his self."

UH! Ok- wherever that came from.

Oh Brooklyn!!

Thanks to everyone who voted for Brooklyn's picture- sadly she didn't win. But that is ok- we are already planning on going- that would have just been an added bonus.

So tonight, the gals and I went to enjoy some ice cream at Casper's. We were having a good time and Brooklyn looks out the windown and says, "UH OH!" I ask her what is wrong- wondering who it is she saw. She then tells me (still staring out the window), "there are A LOT of cute boys coming in." And in walked 5 or 6 teenage boys. I was trying so hard not to die laughing. When it was time to go and we were out in the car, she kept opening and closing the door. I finally told her stop doing that and looked over and saw the boys getting into their truck. She told me she just wanted to hear what the truck sounded like. Heaven help me when she hits the teenage years!

Please Vote for Brooklyn- again

Thanks so much to all of you who voted last time for Brooklyn to win the trip to Disneyland. We are going to try again. If you are reading this Wednesday night- please come back tomorrow and vote. If you are reading this Thursday- please vote. It is actually going for another week so if you want to vote every day that would be awesome too! Remember hers is #47! Cross your fingers! THANKS!!
http://www.todays1065.com/pages/disneyland/

Relay for Life!

Last weekend we were celebrating those have won the fight against cancer, remembering those we have lost to cancer, and fighting back!! This was our family's 8th Relay for Life. And through AMAZING AMAZING friends and family and AWESOME businesses we were able to raise $7070!! THANK YOU so much!! The Herald Journal actually came and did an article of our team. There was a way cute picture of Gracie and my dad in it. You can click on this link to read the article https://secure.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=8972648e586070b96e97.

(Thanks Nat and Kami- I took pictures off of your blogs.)

Here is the crew- I can't help but think that my Grandma Vone and Grandpa Butch would be so proud of what we are doing. My grandma passed away from colon cancer and my grandpa from pancreatic cancer. We did our first relay a few short months after my grandma passed away and it was a form of healing for us.

The Relay begins

Our survivors (in purple) my cousin Janalee and our good friend Karen

Our 3rd survivor- my Uncle Bruce

My kids had the time of their lives- I couldn't keep track of Brooklyn through pretty much the whole thing. Thanks to my cute cousins for going with her wherever she wanted to. Nat had her wagon up there and the kids hitched rides any chance they could.

Uncle Brett giving them a ride

This year we tried something new and did a bucket auction at our campsite. I am still not over the generosity of the many businesses that provided items to be included in this. We were able to raise over $1000 just through this.

The campsite next to us had a "petting zoo" of stuffed animals that you could buy. And before I knew it the gals had talked Pops into giving them some money and had bought 4 stuffed animals. So in this picture, Brooklyn had put Paula in charge of them.

The gals and my cute cousin Elisha- Brooklyn pretty much attached herself to Elisha's hip.

There was a DJ there and a stage and the gals danced on it for probably close to an hour. I couldn't believe that Gracie was loving it as much as she was. We couldn't get them down. They were sad when we left for the night. And first thing when Gracie got back- she wanted to go to the stage and dance.

Brooklyn taking a breather

My uncle Bruce even got in on the action (as did Pops but I had the camcorder going and didn't get a picture)

4th of July and Bear Lake

I am so far behind on this blog- so get yourself a yummy snack, a good drink, get comfortable, and enjoy this long post! I LOVE summer- I love BBQ's, fireworks, playing in water, running from one activity to the next, being with family, I love it all. I especially love the 4th of July- it is my favorite holiday! We always go to Bear Lake over the 4th of July. This year, before we headed up, we attended the 4th of July festivities in Stone, Idaho. There was a HUGE parade- consisting of maybe 10 "floats." Sean's grandpa has restored an old truck and he drove it with the kiddos in it. Brooklyn was ecstatic all week just thinking of her parade debut. I didn't think Gracie would ride in it, but one look at the candy bag and she was sold. They had a BLAST!! We hung out at Sean's grandparents house all day with family and then went to the BIG firework show. Like the parade, it was small, but for a small town it was nice.

The gals in their 4th apparel

Our little family

Sean's cute grandparents and the gals. The gals adore these two- so do I.

Sean's grandpa posing with his classic truck

The gals in their parade debut

Brooklyn enjoying the fireworks

The gals and Sean having fun with the sparklers. Quite surprisingly, Gracie was enjoying them. I think that 2.2 seconds after this picture was taken, she touched the flame and burned her finger- ending her fun with sparklers. Sean's grandma spoiled us with a fun firework display at their house.

On sunday, we headed up to Bear Lake. My dad and uncle Ric put on their usual 4th feast. We had a blast up there. I have had a part-time job this summer so I was driving back and forth- I would hate to think I would have to do that every day. But, luckily the gals have grandma and Nat that watched them while I was gone. We enjoyed the beach, swimming at the pool, playing in the sprinklers, visiting, and looking for deer. The kids loved the night that we saw one right off the side of the road and they were able to sit and watch it. I LOVE Bear Lake. I have so many fun memories of up there and can't wait for my gals to start creating their own memories of up there. I am glad my grandparents had the vision of it being a gathering place- and for my parents keeping it so I can create those precious memories with my own little family.

Enjoying the beach

Hey good-lookin'

This gal cracks me up- good thing she has her goggles and snorkle to play in the sprinkler

Again she cracks me up- at one point she also had on a life jacket to complete the ensemble. She loved swimming.

Gracie being ever so cautious- I was shocked that she enjoyed swimming as much as she did. She couldn't get enough. She even got brave and rode down the slide with my cute cousins.

Willard Bay

A few weeks ago, me and the gals met the Andie's and my parents at Willard Bay for a day of fun! My uncle Ric was camping down there and invited us down. My cousin Kami's father-in-law brought their boat up. I had never been to Willard Bay- it is way nice and has a fun beach area. Brooklyn and I had a BLAST out on the tube! Gracie stayed at the beach with grandma and Pops and Paula and Kami. Gracie does not like to get dirty and I guess she was quite funny. She would not walk on the sand without her shoes on and if any sand got on her foot she would freeze and whine until someone picked her up. So they laid a towel down for her and she would play and then sand would get on the towel and they would pick it up and clear it off. She is so funny not wanting to get dirty. Brooklyn was in Heaven out on the boat- she has never done anything like like so it was way fun hearing her laugh and giggle the whole time!

(Tomorrow is the Relay for Life- if you want something fun to do come up to the USU track come visit us at campsite #2 and enter our Bucket Auction for some awesome prizes!)