Disneyland Trip

Well, we're on the countdown to Disneyland. We're going as our big Christmas present this year. The boys will each get one gift, plus a few books. They've also reminded me that's really okay because Santa will bring them what they really want. :) So we'll be spending Christmas day at home and then off to California. We'll take 2 days to get there. There's a roller coaster in Primm, Nevada just south of Vegas that used to be the world's tallest back in the 90's. The drop is seriously almost straight down. We go on it every year. They also have a small log ride where you can shoot targets that the boys like to do. Bubba did the coaster for the first time last year. He went with me and as we were going up the huge climb at the beginning he said, "I don't know if this was such a good idea mom." I started cracking up. He ended up screaming his head off, but loved every minute of it. JP was tall enough last year, but we didn't think he'd be ready for it, so he's really looking forward to it this year. We will get to CA Sunday afternoon hopefully so we can visit with my best friend from high school. She lives in San Diego now, but said she'd come to the OC to see us. That night we will stay with my grandma and aunt along with my sister and her husband, and my brother and mom. It will be crowded, but it's just the one night.
The next day will be Disneyland all together. Yay! We look forward to our annual trip all year long. Usually we go during the summer, so it's been hard for everyone to wait this long. :) That night we will get to stay at our friend's parents house. So his parents are actually in my grandma's ward and his mom taught my mom in Young Women's, and he ended up in our ward here! Small world. Anyway, his parents will be out of town for the week and his sister is staying there before us, that's why we have to wait until Monday night, but they're letting us stay the whole week. Yay, no hotel bill!

Here are some of last year's pictures-

Running away from the big rolling Indiana Jones ball. Oh no!


Such a great smile. Need I say more?


JP getting ready for the crazy California Screamin' roller coaster that goes upside down!

Tuesday just our family will be going to California Adventure. Bubba is looking forward to going on the only ride he hasn't been tall enough until now-the Maliboomer. Look it up becuase I can't really describe it. After they close, we go over to Disneyland until it closes. We are definitely die hard fans to stay until close every night.

Monster's Inc. ride at CA Adventure

Wednesday will be another Disneyland day. Thurs. we will head over to AZ sometime in the afternoon. We plan to stay the night and visit Friday and stay that night and then head home early Sat. morning so we can get home by Sunday night in time for the boys to start school on Mon. Everyone is looking forward to seeing grandparents and cousins, aunts and uncles in AZ since we haven't been in 3 yrs. We are very much looking forward to eating at In 'n Out as much as possible as well since they have them in Vegas, CA, and AZ. Yippee!!

My brother Todd who got to go with us before he left on his mission. This year we get to go with Chad who just got home!

Today we went to the craft store for some last minute things to make parent gifts. Don't ever go out the week of Christmas. I was done a long time ago, but we decided we'd better do at least SOMETHING for the parents. That would be pretty rude if we didn't. Anyway, we're standing there looking at stuff and Jo Jo says, "1,2,3,4,5,6" completely in order and plain as day! We were all in awe of his intelligence. :) I had bribed them all with a Krispy Kreme donut if they were super good in the store because usually with all 4 they are really out of control wandering and asking for stuff. It worked. We got a donut on the way home and even got to eat inside.

Welcome Home Elder Williams

He's 2nd from the bottom w/the glasses on. It's a little hard to see.

With my sister Alicia and I.

Happy to see all of the family.

We went to Utah this past weekend. My awesome husband was willing to take on the nasty, snowy drive for me to be able to see my little brother Chad come home from his mission and give his homecoming talk. It was a hairy, white knuckle drive down and it took longer than usual, but we made it. We actually made it just in time to see him arrive at the airport. We made it about 30 min. early, plus it takes 15 min. or so for you to get off the plane. We were even there before my mom because she got stuck in traffic. She made it there in time with cool signs in hand. She had a ginormous banner that I forgot to get a picture of. There were 4 missionaries all together coming home from Australia so the bottom of the escalator was packed with families. We had a prime spot right at the bottom. You would have thought they were rock stars with all the cheering and noise the families made as we saw the first missionary. It was so exciting. The first dinner he wanted when he got home was Panda Express so that's what we had for dinner. We visited that night and got to hear some stories before going to the hotel. It took the baby FOREVER to settle down and go to sleep. He wouldn't stay in his pack and play and thought it was fun to get in and out via the bed. So he ended up screaming in our bed until about 11pm. Which means no one sleeps until then. Then for some reason the hotel alarm clock went off at 5:40 am-probably having to do with a certain baby playing with it before bed. I couldn't find the switch and had to use the light on my phone to find it-after waking everyone up of course.


With all of my handsome boys after church.

Church was at 9am, so we had to get up at 7am to make sure we made it on time. He gave a great talk and used his accent a little. He has a great sense of humor. When he left, his farewell talk took the whole time, but they told him to keep going as long as he wanted. Same thing happened this time. But they had 2 musical numbers, so it wasn't his fault. After sacrament, we went to my mom's for breakfast, but our kids had already eaten a little at the hotel because they didn't want to wait. I only ate a little bacon because we were all saving room for In 'n Out. Totally worth the trip there. We are truly sad and annoyed that we don't have one here yet. We're looking forward to CA and AZ after Christmas so that we can eat there multiple times to get our yearly fix. I was really bummed, though that it was so snowy so we couldn't eat the big yummy breakfast and then have a full lunch at my mom's. Oh well, maybe next time. We drove in slushy snow pretty much all the way thru Utah, but when we got close to our border we had pretty clear roads all the way home. Just a little wet and foggy. We even got to stop and visit with B's step-mom for about an hour and a half. The kids really needed a break from the car after traveling all day the day before too.


Jo Jo was so excited to have this hat and actually left it on for quite awhile.



The morning before when we left, B had me say the safety prayer. Bad idea. I totally started bawling and had to pause several times. I was just so happy to be seeing my brother. He and I are 12 yrs. apart in age so he was only 6 when I left home for college, so we really got to know each other thru letters and emails while he was gone. I am so proud of his hard work, sacrifice and wonderful example to my boys. I am so thankful for his strong testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. What a wonderful memory this will be for my boys.

My Sweet Boys

So I'm not copying my friend's blog. I've been wanting to do this for awhile. I just want to take the time to record how much I love each of my boys and where they're at right now.



Bubba
My first born. So tiny. You came out grumpy and stayed that way for the first year of your life. You earned the nickname Professor Grumpy Pants. You were so mischievous and daring. You are such a sweet big brother. Such a great example to your little brothers. You were so responsible and independent from such an early age. I'm so proud of your decision to be baptized. I can't believe how big you are. You don't like little boy toys anymore and you're growing up way too fast. Even though you're bigger now, you still come up to me every so often and ask for a kiss. Yesterday I was in the laundry room and you came in and said, "Mommy I need a kiss." Then I kissed you and you said, "Now I feel better." You still melt my heart, even though you argue to the death with me daily.




JP
My sweet little fluffy boy. You still have the most buttery soft skin. You are my tenderhearted boy. You are sensitive and used to be shy, but you have really come out of your shell. Such a good eater from the very beginning, you will still try and eat almost anything. You have always had smiling eyes and are still so silly at times. You are so smart and I can't believe you're reading skills. Such a good big brother, you have been so helpful and tender with the baby and still play little boy games with Peanut sometimes. You love to give me kisses and hugs daily. You have been known to throw yourself onto the floor when asked to work, but you are a good worker when you finally do it.



Peanut
My sweet little Peanut. Hot Lava Man. Still my sweet little boy. My boy who loves puzzles, building massive structures with Legos, and anything that makes your mind work. You amaze me. Truly my boy with your organization of your "stuff." I love when you make silly faces. Such a sweet brother to play with your baby, but you don't like when he knocks down your towers. Your speech is so mature and sometimes I can't believe some of the things you say. My picky eater who "hates" this dinner every night. You live off of fruit snacks and frozen waffles. Your laugh is contagious. And I love your poky hair that never wants to lie down.



Jo Jo
Sweet baby boy. You will always be my baby. You are the craziest of all. You will jump off of and climb anything you can find. You want to be just like your big brothers and throw yourself into the mix. You remind me of Bubba because you want to do everything yourself. I can't believe how much you are talking. You are like JP in that way. My snuggly boy that insists on mama holding you a lot. You like to follow me around and do what I'm doing. When I'm not around you have to make sure that you know where I am. You warm my heart when you get so excited and yell, "Mama" when I get home from being away from you.


I really have the best boys on the planet, though they drive me crazy on a daily basis and often send me to my closet for a time out. The sweet memories outweigh the bad by far. Heavenly Father sure knew what he was doing when he sent you all to me.

My Cute Little Bear Scout

My Bubba earned his Bear at Thurs. night's cub scout pack meeting. He has completed it 6 mths. before his birthday. We had no idea he was ready until I talked to his leader and she said he had done enough. Silly me thought he had to complete all the achievements, but he only needed to do 12. So he was thrilled. He was NOT thrilled however to be getting his face painted by mom. Can you tell he looks a little nervous in the picture?




Okay, so I realized I've posted a zillion pictures of Curly Sue's hair, but I don't think I've gotten one of the top which is also curly if you let it be. And so I just had to post his hair after his bath. That's when it always looks the best.