Records and Mom's Surprise

Too much time has gone by since I've recorded my family's journey...and they've still grown and changed. Stinkers.

We are entering a new era around here and I'm feeling a bit nostalgic about the things I haven't written down. However, I can't change the past, so I'll reshape my future instead.

I don't know how often I'll write, or even if I'll keep this a public publication. Sometimes I really want to document the less than perfect parenting moments so my children will know it happens and how I learned and grew from it. I'm not sure that's something I need to world to know about though ;)

We went to Lagoon at the end of July. It was the first time our whole family was able to ride on just about every ride if we wanted to. It was also the first time we could send some of the kids to ride one ride while the rest of us stayed back to ride another. IT. WAS. MAGICAL.

I loved it. No one whined. Everyone communicated their needs and wants like human beings. They were grateful and plain ol' fun to be around. It made me so excited for this stage.

A few things I learned about my kids:

Sanders has turned into an Adrenalin junky, just like his sister. He would hardly go an any rides last year and this year he went on Cannibal at the ripe age of 6. He was in tears when he thought he might be too short and not able to ride it. Thankfully his hair topped him over ;) He thought it was the best!

Tennyson, like me, has a strong sense of survival when it comes to amusement rides. He opted not to try Cannibal, but declared his favorite rides to be Wicked, Colossus, the White Roller Coaster, and Wild Mouse. Which is a far cry from refusing to go on ANY daring rides at all last year.

Beckham, has learned that he traditionally feels flutters and anxiety before the big rides, but if he powers through those hurtles, he LOVES those big rides. His strong sense of mortality and his need for the rush and, to be completely honest, a good story to tell, fight with each other. He's learning to trust the statistics that most people simply do not actually die on roller coasters. It's been fun to see him work through this process and not let fear keep him from doing things he loves.

Karaia is CRAZY! The bigger, the faster, the higher is all the better in her book. She reminds me a lot of her Uncle Landon who does big adrenaline rush things because 1. It sounds fun. 2. The payoff of fun is so much better than wondering what it would have been like if he'd done it. It's just not worth staying up at night wondering about that stuff I guess.

Kevin loves a good roller coaster too and thankfully thinks the same amusement park rides karaia likes are pretty awesome.

I went on Wicked for the first time this year. I used to be SO afraid of roller coasters and never once felt like I was missing out when I politely, but firmly, kept my feet planted to ground while others strangely rushed off smiling to be nearly killed. Something changed this year. I found myself thinking, "I could probably do that without hyperventilating".

When my family rushed off to ride Colossus, I found myself sitting next to Wicked with these thoughts. Next thing I knew I was in line, BY MYSELF. Then, without any warning whatsoever, I found that I had willingly buckled my seat belt on the ride.

 Just as I clicked the belt, my phone started ringing. It was Kevin. My family was wondering why I wasn't predictably waiting on the ground for them. The kids joked, "What if Mom comes walking out of the Wicked exit?" To which Kevin nearly forgot how to breath because of the laughing. He has known me for 18 years and that scenario was 99.9% unlikely to EVER happen.

Except it did. It was perfect. Like you'd expect to see in a movie. The kid's mouths broke out into HUGE smiles and they all rushed over with lots of whooping and screams of delight giving me big hugs and high fives. Kevin's jaw dropped and his feet became glued to the ground. Where were the prank cameras? There is no WAY this just happened. But I saw the twinkle in his stunned eyes.

Perfection.

The kids begged me to go on it with them. So we all went, as a family, together.

 The beginning of the end of our time with the kids home is so bitter sweet.

3 feet of bliss

Snow Day! That doesn't happen too often in Utah, but when nearly 2 feet of snow falls in just a few hours, the stars align perfectly and school is canceled.

The thing about today was it was perfect weather. The snow kept a steady falling pace meaning there was always a fresh layer of fluff to play in. It was also pretty warm. Cold without a coat, but you could stay out for hours and hours if you were properly dress.

We had so much snow that I suggested to Karaia, half joking, that she should jump off the deck into it. She took me up on that and landed perfectly on her back with a snow explosion of powder floating back on top of her. So. much. fun!

Beckham wanted in on the fun after seeing that. He was more timid at first, but after he landed on his back once, and it didn't brake as he insisted it would, there was no stopping him ;)

I got to sled, walk through the snow in my back yard. That was an adventure all it's own because the snow came up over my knees! Sanders was following me and said, "You lead me (the snow was nearly to his arm pits). Hey! That's like a Church song!" And then Kevin and I dug out the drive way for the 3rd time today.

We are exhausted and tired, but very happy.

The post that is Disneyland

Hooray!!! I'm finally posting about this almost exactly 6 months late. How's that for timing? Nice.

I'm sure this will be more pictures than words since, you know, we created these memories 6 months ago. But I'll give it my best go.

We left for Disneyland April 29th, 2012.

Spent the night in Vegas and then headed for California and a beach afternoon on Monday. Kevin and the older two kids LOVED the beach and boogie boarded for hours. The younger two kids tried to like the water until a wave knocked them down face first. That was the end of their water adventures. But they LOVED the sand.

Me? I don't do the ocean. I love looking at it and being on the beach, but the salt of the water and, frankly, the fact that BIG fish with lots of BIG teeth also live in that water keeps me safely on shore.

This was Sanders' first time ever at Disneyland. I'm pretty sure I was more excited about it than he was.

I made these next shirts with my silhouette my in-laws gave me for Christmas.

 

 I love that machine as if it were one of my children and use it often. The shirts are pretty cool and we were all super happy with them.

Sanders riding Casey Jr. he would have been happy to do that all day!

The super fun part about this trip was my sister, Annie, her cute family, and my mom and Dave came with us! My mom's legs aren't really known for the amount of walking she can do. They opted to rent a wheel chair and she HATED every minute of it. It was probably the right choice at least for the first day, but for the rest of the time, mom was sans wheels and did just fine. Hooray!

As you can see, these cousins adore each other and can't be bothered to stop moving and playing with each other for a lousy picture ;)

Does this not just CAPTURE the Disney magic? Look at those sparkle eyes!

I think Karaia was feeling nervous because those hands stayed up in all the pictures

waiting in line for Star Tours. Mr T was super excited to be tall enough to ride this!

Awwww, Sanders' first pair of Mickey Ears. SUCH a treat to give the kids their first pair.

The stinker wouldn't look at the camera. What can you do? He's still cute. And those mouse ear...I die of cuteness over load.

And now we come to the series of mom-really-REALLY-would-like-one-nice-picture-of-all-of-us-so-let's-be-as-crazy-as-possible

What is Sanders doing?

Still they are hilarious and so I include them.

Again, Sanders?

soooooo close

Clearly this is Beckham's favorite part

Good job, Beckham! Wait. Where did Sanders go? Tennyson has decided that slapping himself with the strap is a better option than looking in the camera. Nice.

Almost....

Wait, Sanders disappeared again.

3 out of the four are at least smiling. Let's take a few more just to see if we can get lucky.

And Sanders has disappeared yet again....sigh.

This is as good as it get! At least we can see everyone's eyes.

Waiting for It's a small world.

My four little Mousketeers

I think it's a rule that the youngest child must fall asleep at least once in the stroller. Thanks for keeping the rules cute Sanders.

The Second day of Disney. I made my shirt, the kid's shirts and Karaia's skirt. They loved them. Sanders did NOT like his picture taken.

Told you. He was NOT happy we were taking pictures.

Tennyson, however, wanted to make SURE you saw his great new shirt his mom made him.

Tennyson is making up for Sanders smiling by smiling even bigger.

Disney cuteness for sure!

Can't ask for a better backdrop.

Love this picture of Beckham.

These two are such good buddies.

I promise Kevin was having fun! I'm not even being sarcastic. He really was. He just looks kind of grumpy when pictures capture him relaxed. It's a running joke.

Great now Kevin is smiling, what's up with everyone else?!?!?!

We also went over to California Adventure on that second day to meet up with the Lawson's and mom and Dave. Annie and I collaborated to make similar  shirts for our kids. Fun times!


Now to try and get double the amount of children to look. at. the. camera!

L to R: Sanders (3), Beckham (7), Brenner (4), Mckinney (6), Davis (2), Tennyson (4), Karaia (9), Brightynn (8)

Clearly, it's time for a dance party!

These next ones are pictures Tennyson took. I think he did a good job!

See, they had these turkey legs that were nearly as big as your head. Kevin couldn't resist. I think he may have been more in love with that leg than with me for a few moments.

Onto the 3rd day! The Lawson's had left by then and boy did we notice. The kids kept asking where their cousins where.

AND because I am a gluten for punishment, I tried to take pictures of the kids. When will I ever learn.

At least they were having fun. Doesn't Karaia look adorable?

At one point Karaia and Beckham thought it would be funny if I took pictures of them "fighting"

I'm so glad Beckham is choosing to fight like a girl because he is fighting with a girl. Classic.

Can you tell it's the third day by the look on Kevin's face? Happy but exhausted.

What's this?! A rare sighting of the mom! Hooray! I was actually there!

Back on Casey jr. He loved it so much.

This was the best! All Tennyson talked about before going to Disneyland was doing the Jedi Training. The first day we tried it was rained out. This was our very, very last chance and he got chosen!

I thought it was so cool how they came up from the ground.

The last night there we decided that ice cream for dinner was the thing to do when at Disneyland. It was perfect.

He makes a good pirate!

And then we went home. We closed the park out every night. It was a great vacation. Sanders talks about Disneyland nearly every day. We can't wait to go back!

PS looking back I remember more pictures with Nana and Pappa. I wonder where they are? Hmm...I'm going to have to go and find those.