Tyler gets home from work at 5:30, and heads down to the house until about 11:00pm. This has been a cold winter, of bundling the kids up in snow clothes and heading down to the house. It is hard work, but we are getting there.
Owen is our best helper, he never complains (for the most part) and he hardly gets cold. He builds jumps, and fences and then when he gets tired he lays on his mattress and we turn on the heater and is lulled to sleep by the sweet smell of propane.
Our first Pinewood Derby, Tyler's new calling is Cubmaster. He just got released as YM's president and has had a YM's calling for about 7 years, so having him home on Tuesday nights now is a bonus.
Weston's first car, good times.
Here's a really short version of a long story and an AWESOME vacation! We went to Disneyland, and Sea World in February with some friends, the Buttars. We had the best time and it was so fun to wake up 4 mornings in a row and answer, "Yes, we do get to go to Disneyland today!"
Here's the short of the long story of getting there:
We drove to St. George on Saturday, then on Sunday morning, drove from there to Anaheim. Only, we got about 30 miles from Barstow, California and had some van issues. It wouldn't shift up, and was staying in a low gear at 70 mph. We pulled off and tried a few things, new transmission fluid, battery reset. But, to no avail. Luckily the transmission waited until we got off our exit in Barstow to completely blow. We were on the side of the exit, and the van was done for. We ended up loading all of our belongings in with the Buttars' and their parents, sitting in a parking lot for a couple of hours and selling the van for $200 to the wreckage yard. There we are in the middle of California, on a screamin' vacation without a vehicle. I am so grateful for friends, you don't realize how much you pack until you have to unpack and repack it into other people's vehicles multiple times. Anyway, we made it to Anaheim, dropped off our friends' parents at their hotel by Disneyland and took their car to Sea World. Drove back to Anaheim the next day and enjoyed Disneyland (we were within walking distance), rented a van with the $200, and drove home. This picture is of the beach we were going to spend the afternoon at, but by the time we got there, it was dark. For such a traumatic start, our vacation ended up going smoothly from there on out, and we never thought twice about that darn old van.
One good tip Shelli gave us as we entered the park, we wrote our cell phone numbers on the kids' arms in pen. We gave them specific directions to stay in one place if they are lost, and after the 2nd ride, Paige wandered off somewhere to get a drink of water! We got a call within minutes, and found her, but how scary.
Trying to stuff Anna's shoes with napkins so she could join us on Soarin'. We didn't make it in, they were on to us and checked her height 4 times, and we had taken the napkins out by the 4th time. Ohhh, they're good.
Weston asked me to take this one:)
My kids did so great on all the rides, Owen even rode "Tower of Terror", and Paige did it 4 times and said, "I try to scream, but nothing will come out!"
Turns out, if your 3 year climbs into this shark exhibit while his mother is busy snapping photos, an alarm will sound.
Sea World was so empty, the kids loved finding the best spot to get wet.
Owen after he fell in with the starfish.
Poor Owie, missed a step going up our stairs and landed on his chin and this was the result.
Weston's Baptism, don't you love his huge grin. What a great day for him, he was so excited to be baptized and we are so proud of him because he really understands and knows why he was baptized.
These two stick together, and recently have taken it to a naughty level. Hope they want to go to the prom together, because that's the direction they are headed, since they seem to be trying to get rid of all chances of friends as they gang up to pick on those they play with. They are kicking my butt, but it is so sweet when I am brushing Anna's hair and she is upset because of the snarls and the next thing I know, Owen has run to the bathroom to get the detangler for her so it won't hurt anymore.
