Disney PART 1

I LOVE Disneyland. Living in California, I grew up going there nearly every year. So many of my childhood memories are tied in that magical park. I can still remember our character breakfasts, thinking the monorail was totally awesome, and nearly every souvenir I chose there! Naturally, I'm constantly dreaming of taking my own little family to the land of Disney. It's so neat re-walking (and riding) through so many fond memories that take me back in time while simultaneously creating new ones with my own children!

I've always wanted to go to Disneyland while its decorated for Halloween (we've already established how much I love Halloween), but never knew that Disneyland hosted a "Halloween Party". I was thrilled when I read about it and found out about the special Halloween parades, fireworks, trick or treating, costume wearing, and villain meet-and-greets. I decided there was no better celebration to honor my 29th birthday, and quickly began my "Disneyland Jar" (a high-tech money saving account stashed in my drawer where I stashed all money from photo shoots, selling old things etc). Another perk of AZ living is a mere 5 hour drive from Disney! Wahoo!!

A couple months later we were on our way and I could not be more excited!! It was our first official vacation as a family and my sister Kirsten was going to fly into CA and meet us. We swung by the airport, picked up Kris, and headed to our hotel to prepare for an early start the following!  I was amazed we got up, packed, prepared our days snacks and kid necessities, loaded into the car, parked, and over to the gates a few mins EARLIER than planned! Success! Getting there in time on the morning is crucial to the flow of the whole rest of the day!

We headed into California Adventure first, where we had zero wait to meet the man himself - Mickey Mouse.

Then of course straight over to get our Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers! While waiting for our passes to be up we able to walk right on to a lot of rides and meet some of Emmett's favorite characters. Nothing like morning in Disney.

I've been anxiously waiting to visit Cars land for years now, and it was everything I dreamed it would be. The attention to detail was impeccable and just like everyone says, it truly feels like you walk right into the movie. The Cars characters were also a lot cooler than I thought they would be! They're not just statues - they actually drive, and talk too! Radiator Springs Racers is gorgeous and they replicated Ornament Valley so well. It really feels like you're driving route 66 in the desert. As it should; I read the ride cost over 200 millions dollars, being the most expensive in the park and one of the most expensive in the world! Emmett was lucky enough to be in the drivers seat every time we rode and had the biggest smile of pure joy on his face. He was convinced he was actually driving and took it very seriously! You do a simulated race with a car next to you at the end of the ride over some hills and turns. It's so much fun! Definitely my favorite this trip. Jared took a priceless video of Emmett's reactions during the ride.

That face is his expression the first time Lightning McQueen pulled up for him to get in, and in the right pic you can see his little hands up, furiously driving.

In CA Adventure he also was chosen first to talk with Crush from Finding Nemo at Turtle Talk. Crush coined him "Epppppiiic Emmett".  He also rode Tower of Terror for the first time and loved it!

  

I've always been a "Disneyland" girl, and preferred its classic rides to the modern California Adventure. However, this trip I loved our experience at C.A. It may have been Cars Land, or the fact that our time at that park was less congested and generally more pleasant. But whatever the reason, CA took the cake this trip.

Mid afternoon we headed over to finish our day out at DL. I love the Halloween Decorations.

Marvel was recently purchased by Disneyland, so many of the Avengers have taken up residence in the Innoventions building. Obviously Emmett was beside himself to meet his real life heroes.

Thor chooses one person out of his meet and greet group of about 50 people to try and lift his mighty hammer. Guess who he chose? Yep, Emmett :) It was awesome. Turns out it was too heavy for him to lift alone, but when Thor and him tried together they got it!

He was super excited to meet "Cap" and the first thing he said to him was, "Can I touch your shield?"

We headed to Frontierland and Fantasyland and hit up a few "must not miss" rides.

 We met up with Kirsten's boyfriend's sister's family. haha that's a mouthful, and rode the teacups together! Hence all the hands! We were the fullest teacup I've ever seen!

We finished out the day strong and miraculously made it til closing time!! Well the adults did - by the last hour we had two sleeping littles in the stroller :) It was a fabulous, perfect day and it was not near as exhausting and hard as I anticipated. I think that was largely thanks to having Kirsten there to be an extra set of hands. Every time I look at these pictures I just start thinking about when I can plan our next trip!

This ended up being far more detailed than I intended, so the rest of the trip will have to be in separate installments! More to come!

...and then my baby turned one

 Emmett pulled out a blog book I published a couple years ago this morning and it was so neat reliving so many memories and moments I'd forgotten (and sharing ones with Emmett he wasn't even around for yet!) And I kicked myself thinking Poor Tate, he's hardly made on appearance on here. So I'm going to dedicate this post to all things Taters.

We celebrated Tate's 1st birthday in both Idaho AND Utah which was so awesome! Not only were we able to party with both sides of the family, but also some of my very best friends. I love that even though we've been spread out, my college roommates and I have been able to be at so many big events for each other (baby showers, birthday parties, holidays etc).  Celebrating a special day is 100 times better when you're celebrating with loved ones!

The Idaho Celebration


And here's his birthday party in Utah

 

That's a whole lot of partying!!! Tate may be lacking on the blog presence but he can't say we neglected his birthday! (Is it sad that I'm so used to  my iphone, my writing feels incomplete without emojis?? Anywho...)

Tate is such a sweet, tender hearted baby. He's a momma's boy and he thinks big brother is the absolute coolest. The first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is look for Emmett - if he's asleep he runs and throws himself on him, and if he's awake he squeals and takes off to join him.

He LOVES to eat and will eat anything, In fact I have to stop myself from creating a "golden boy" because every night when I'm trying to get Em to eat his dinner (yes, EVERY night, the boy refuses to eat), I say "Look, Tate ate all HIS dinner, and he likes it." If anyone in the house is eating ANY thing at ANY given moment, Tate can sense it and will be at your feet begging like a puppy dog in seconds. Drop any on the floor on accident? All the better, he'll gladly pick it up. If you don't share, his begging quickly turns to a meltdown - which will continue until he's given food. And it has to be the food you're eating, you can't pull the wool over his eyes.

He does NOT like when Emmett takes something he had first, and uses me as his attack dog. He gives me "the look" or comes running to me babbling his complaint, then looks at Emmett like "You weren't supposed to do that and now you're gonna get it!" The antics between these two are downright hilarious. They're just two little best friends.

Happy first birthday Tate, I can't imagine our family without you and I love you to pieces!!! Now just stay little ;-)

did i fall off the face of the earth??

Yes. So it would seem . Life happened... and things got crazy. But this is me making a public declaration that I'm baaaaack. I may not have time to document all our events like I use to before I had two crazypants little boys. BUT I will post SOMETHING. A thought. A picture... Anythings better than nothing right?

In a nutshell, we've moved to a new house in Gilbert. We LOVE it. And love our neighborhood and ward even more. It's a dream. Our own little Wisteria Lane, minus the drama and affairs with the landscapers (Desperate Housewives anyone)?

Emmett's started preschool, and Tate's started walking. He's actually graduated to running. He runs wherever he goes. I love the sound of his chubby legs constantly swishing against his diaper as he runs the house all day long. 

Life is good. The heat is dying down and we're coming up on PERFECT season here in arizona. Balmy blue skies with a slight breeze. If you want to come visit, now's the time! We'll be perfect til next May so you've got awhile :) 

Til next time! (And I promise it won't be next year)

november (For lack of a better title)

I was originally just going to write a thanksgiving post, but as I was sorting through my photos I realized I'd be leaving out some good things. So I'll just lump all of November together.

In the beginning of November, we went to a pretty park near us, scouting picture locations for our family photos. The park has a Ferris wheel, a carousel, a couple other little carnival rides, and a train that circles the perimeter of the park. So we made a fun little afternoon of it and walked around, played on the playground, then rode the train. I wanted to take some of our family pictures by the Ferris wheel and carousel but Jared wasn't having it!

Emmett also went to the dentist, and it was the first time he laid back on the chair by himself like a big boy.

 

Now every time I brush his teeth at night we have to play "dentist" and he loves me to pretend to put on his glasses and lay him back.

 

Here are a few shots of Tate while he was 3 months old

I love that chub picture in the bumbo. He was just checkin out Emmett's morning cartoons.

 

 

As you can see, month 3 was when this guy really started smiling and laughing

 

And a few shots of brotherly love

 

Despite what it looks like, Emmett does have underwear on in the big picture. Some day its just hard to get clothes on that boy (as evidenced in all shots above)

 

Morning snuggles are the best

Can you tell how much Emmett loves his baby brother?

 

(and Me too!)

 

Emmett had his share of fun in November

Fishing with Dad by our house (and catching one while we weren't paying attention!), playing in the rain, and taking another Pee Wee PE class. It amazes me how coordinated and athletic he is.

 

And now... we've finally made it up to Thanksgiving!

 

I wanted to add some more Thanksgiving décor this year. I've accumulated some Halloween and Christmas, but had nothing for in between. The problem was I didn't feel like spending money on it! So I was proud of myself when I pieced this together with scraps in my scrap bin.

 

 

For the first time in our married life, we didn't do Thanksgiving with our families this year. We decided to save our money and travel time up for Christmas Break. Fortunately we were invited to share Thanksgiving with our friends Josh & Aubrey and their extended family, so we weren't alone!

 

Josh's family all traveled in from out of state, and they rented a "guesthouse" while they were here. The owner of the main property was an ex tennis pro, and often uses his guesthouse to bring players in and train them.  So needless to say the compound (as I like to call it) was very nice!

 

 

Though the weather was still pretty nice (around the 60s), it was too cold for pool. The kids were happy to spend their time in the hot tub.

 

And playing on the tennis court

We also had a fun minute to win it competition, and I'm sad I can't find this cute picture I had of Emmett swinging a tennis ball around from a hanging pantyhose on his head.... lol. Can you picture it?

 

And  I didn't even take any obligatory food or table pictures! That right there tells you it wasn't your typical Thanksgiving :) We all ate outside buffet style since there were so many of us, and between that and the nice weather, the absence of our own families, and the mini resort we were at, you could almost forget it was Thanksgiving! I didn't actually didn't mind though, because being a little different than our traditional Thanksgiving around the table - made us not feel homesick the way I was afraid we might be. And Emmett had SO much fun, we had to carry him kicking and screaming to the car on the way out.

 

We have so much to be grateful for this year, and I swear the list of things just keeps getting longer and longer with each passing year. Since moving away from home I've been particularly grateful for my sisters (not that I'm not grateful for the rest of the family!), and the close friendship we share. I realize that not many people are blessed to have a relationship like us four. Since moving here they've each already been out to visit us here in Arizona, and I'd be concerned if a day passed and I hadn't heard from any of them! I'm grateful for Jared's job and this great place we live. I'm so thankful the move went pretty seamlessly, and despite never having stepped foot in the state other than coming to look at rental properties, it became home surprisingly quick. I almost don't even want to write about being grateful my pregnancy went well and Tate arrived safely, because I know no words can express that gratitude properly. I'm very grateful for our health and that of our extended family. I'm grateful for Jared and the great husband and Dad he is, and the opportunity he provides me to be home with our boys. I'm grateful for the new friendships we've made, and the ones that are just blooming. And lastly I'm grateful that to know that Heavenly Father knows me individually and all my wants/needs/strengths and weaknesses.

 

I think we will always remember this Thanksgiving, as it was a big milestone year for us and our first away from home. And I'm glad to say it was wonderful! :-)