Disneyland October 2009

I'm sitting here in my hotel room with three little girls sound asleep as two girls and their daddy are still at Disneyland watching Fantasmic. We have come to the end of our much anticipated five day vacation to Disneyland. I am sad that it is over but I am also happy to return to normal life. I'm sure that we have put many, many miles on our stroller over the last week. Our feet are sore, our backs are tired, we're feeling sleep deprived...but it's all worth it! We had such a wonderful time! We were able to ride every ride in the park at least twice. We met a ton of characters, ate a lot of good food and spent some time with grandparents and uncles. We each had our favorite rides. Mine is Space Mountain, which has been converted to "ghost galaxy" for the Halloween season. My daring girls loved Tower of Terror (yikes) and California Screamin' (big, big roller coaster.) Even Lydia had her favorite..."The bus." (meaning the bus ride from our hotel to the park.) Casey just loved everything. Below are just a few of the 170 pictures I took this week. Enjoy!





We had an early morning special entry to ToonTown where we met all of the core Disney characters....Donald. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto.



I just love this picture. This is the family waiting to go through "It's Tough To Be A Bug." My mom, dad and brother Todd were so great this week! They turned into little kids that got just as excited as the girls about the rides and festivities. (Uncle Todd was SOOO much fun to have around! My girls just ADORE him. All week long, he spent his time with a girl holding each hand, the other three fighting over who got to be with Uncle Todd next!)



Here's the family in front of the castle. Note the pumkins in the background. Disneyland goes all out in their Halloween decorations. (We went to Disneyworld a few years ago for our tenth anniversary and were so disappointed that there were very few Halloween decorations. When we asked them why there was so little, the Disneyworld folks said that "it's a Disneyland thing.") My only disappointment with the week was that it was very crowded. When we went to Disneyland as a family five years ago in October, the park was very quiet. Disney has gotten really good at promoting their Halloween stuff to the public and it's made October quite busy. Maybe in 4-5 years, we'll try to go in January. (I hear that's the quietest month in the whole year)

mixed emotions

It's been a week of very mixed emotions. Casey and I have both been stressed about the upcoming weekend. I had the Primary Program to get finalized and Casey had a very important Bridal Show at the Fairgrounds where he is unveiling the newest addition to our rental business...photo booth. (more on that later). He spent the whole week stressing about getting it up and running as the software was very complicated. I spent the week calling every child and leader in our Ward to remind them about Primary Program practice. Then, on Friday, we received some devastating news. One of our dear friends, Chris Younger, passed away. He leaves behind three very young children and a wife. (Not to mention his father and mother, who we just adore.) Suddenly, all of our weekly stresses were brought in to perspective and all we could concentrate on was this poor family. When something like this happens, you want to draw your own family closer, hug them a little tighter and tell them that you love them more often. Anyway, we muddled through the weekend (everyone was a little distracted and emotional at the Program Practice but we pushed through it.) Then on Sunday, the beautiful children in our Ward put smiles on everyone's faces with their beautiful singing. The Program was so wonderful and the spirit was very strong. Children are so wonderful aren't they?

Here is Casey's new photobooth. He is pushing it to weddings and schools. For weddings, the guests create a "photo guest book." They take their picture, and receive two copies...one that they get to keep, and one to put into a special album where they can then write a message to the bride and groom. The bride and groom then have a photo book with each guest and a message, instead of just a list of names in a guest book. Casey had a sample at the bridal show and the brides and grooms were going crazy over it. Casey was very encouraged that this would be a huge hit. For schools, we're just going to rent it out for proms/grad parties etc, for the kids to take their pictures as a keepsake. I am trusting Casey's business instincts that this will make us some extra money....he hasn't led us astray so far! Smart guy I married!

Here are Allison and Maggie on Primary Program day. Where are Maggie's shoes? They did such a good job on their parts and their singing!

Finally, here's our week....enjoy!

This summer, Jillian had a sleep over at her friend Juniper's house. Juniper loves to take photographs and so the two of them did a "photo shoot" in Juniper's backyard. As you can see from the pictures, Juniper also did Jillian's hair and stunning make-up. Anyway, we laughed at these pictures because Jillian is so serious in them. Jillian has her serious moments but for the most part, she is a goof-ball...I thought I'd scrapbook a page to forever document Jillian's day as a supermodel!

Another week gone by....here's what we did. Enjoy!

Counting Down to Disney!

The glorious month of October has arrived and the kids are frantically counting down to our trip to Disneyland! We've been saving for four years (since the last time we went) for this trip and finally, this year, we have enough money to do it! We are spending five days in the two parks, along with my parents and brother. A day doesn't go by when I don't hear, "Mom, how many more days?" The last time the kids went to Disneyland, our oldest was seven!! Anyway, only two more weeks to go!

In other news, Lydia turns three in January and I just this week started working on her baby book! The problem with waiting that long is that I forget the little details that were so fresh in my mind right after she was born. After having five of the same sex, at the same hospital, with the same doctor, everything gets jumbled together in my mind. Below are some samples of pages I have completed. Enjoy!

Finally, here is the day to day comings and goings of our last week in September/first of October!

God is in the details

Ever wonder what that quote means? To me it means that despite His glorious, all-powerful, great-ness, He is still my Father and He cares deeply about even the little details in my life. Because He cares about such details, as I look back on everything that has happened to me in my life, I see God everywhere. I had another little moment happen today that re-inforces my belief that God is in the details. Casey was doing some repairs up at Shot Gun Creek park, about 30 minutes away, deep in the mountains. (See previous post for the wonderful story of how his employee took out a park toll booth with the business truck, hence, the repair job that Casey was doing today.) All morning I felt prompted to go up there and see how he was doing. Knowing that I didn't have a ton of time before I picked Allison up from school, I loaded Lydia up in the car and drove the 30 minutes into the mountains. When I got there, I applauded Casey's good work on the toll booth and took Lydia and the dog for a little walk. When I decided it was time to go, I went back to where Casey was working and discovered that the battery had died on his van. Keep in mind that we were far, far away from any civilization and, since the season was over, the park was deserted. Furthermore, Casey's cell phone had no signal that far out. Now, had I not been there to give him a jump, Casey would still be wandering around the mountain, trying to find someone to help him start his car...and I would be home, panicking, not knowing where in the world he was. Does it sound like a little thing? Perhaps. Does it prove to me that my Heavenly Father cares about even the smallest things in my life? Definately. Heavenly Father does give me trials (note the $650 repair job on the truck and the toll booth) but when we respond to those trials in a Christ-like way (which was terribly hard to do a few Saturdays ago when the accident happened), I believe He compensates us in little ways. The key is to recognize those details. Though I don't always recognize His hand in my life, today, I was able to.







Here's a scrapbook page that I made this weekend of our little monster. Enjoy!

Charlotte's birthday

This weekend has been filled with birthday festivities. On Friday, we had a little family party for Charlotte (who turned 11) with presents and cake. On Saturday, Casey and I took Charlotte and two of her friends (Jenna and Anya) out to dinner and a movie. We had such a great time. While waiting for the movie to start, we quickly wrote up a scavenger hunt for the three of them to do at the mall. (we had an hour in between dinner and the movie.) So, with scavenger hunt in hand, we turned them loose on the mall. We gave Charlotte my cell phone and told them that they could go on their own...and to meet us for the movie at 9:00.. The girls were thrilled that we allowed them to be "parent-less" for a whole hour. Of course, little did they know, we followed at a safe distance...for most of the time. It was a great night!

We've been staring at this cake for a few days now and were excited to get to actually eat it!

Charlotte got a new watch from her aunt and a scooter from us.

We ate at "Hole in the Wall" BBQ because Casey still had some gift certificates from them. (He had done some trade this summer) As a result, the whole meal was free and the girls pigged out on french fries, strawberry lemonades, BBQ and a brownie sundae for dessert.



Finally, we went to the late 3D version of "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs." The girls insisted on sitting far away from Casey and me. The movie was cute and extra fun in 3D.

Another try at a marshmallow fondant cake

Well, my kitchen floor is covered in a layer of sugar...but the cake is done! I made the marshmallow fondant the night before and today, I assembled the cake. (the fondant freezes really well if you make too much and want to use it for another cake down the road.) It took me about 90 minutes or so to finish the whole thing. I am learning new things with every cake. Freezing your cake, and then frosting it and covering it while frozen is MUCH easier! Also, if you rub the surface of the fondant with another piece of fondant, it buffs away the powdered sugar that might remain from rolling it out and makes it somewhat shiny. Anyway, I was happy with the way it turned out. (Though as I look at these pictures, I see a lot of mistakes)...so don't look too close :)