Day Two at Disneyland

April 14th--Hooray, a little cooler today and still not too busy. We started the day in Disneyland--mostly Fantasyland and Torrowland. Elise and Brady stand in the doorway of the rabbits house, from "Alice in Wonderland". Even though it's not very convincing, by the look on his face, Brady loved the carousel. Elise LOVED riding Space Mountain with dad. We ate lunch at my favorite place, Pizza Port. They have the best chicken alfredo! After we came back to the park, from a much-needed nap time, we headed over to California Adventure to catch the "Disney Pixar Parade". Shortly before the parade we walked over to the Hollywood Backlot to do the "Turtle Talk With Crush" show. Crush is the sea turtle from "Finding Nemo". He appears on a screen that looks like the bottom of the ocean and he talks to the audience and asks questions. He just happened to pick me and I got to ask him a question. Before he picked me he was talking about how he has 65 children. I decided to be a little sarcastic and ask him the names of all of his children. His eyes got big and he said, "All of them?" and I said, "You betcha!" So he started going into several different popular, famous names and the audience laughed and laughed. He then asked me how many children we have and their names. I told him we have two and he said, "Oh, just startin' out, eh?" It was a great time! So back to the parade, I stood and saved our spot while Nate took both the kids on Grizzly River Rapids. A little while later they all came back soaking wet. Luckily, I always bring extra change of clothes so Nate took the kids to the bathroom to get them all nice and dry. By the time they got back to me it was time for the parade. Quite a fancy parade!

Disneyland, 2008--April 13-17--Day One

April 13th--Our first day at Disneyland. We drove down to Anaheim the day before. Today was HOT! Surprisingly though, it didn't seem too crowded, which is always nice. Our very first photo is of Nate depositing our tax forms into one of the Disneyland mail boxes. We owed a big chunk of money this year so he decided to mail the stuff at the last minute and what better place to send it from, but Disneyland!
We got some pleasant surprises in characters today too. Piglet and Dopey are rarely seen in either of the parks and we just happened to see them today. They kids both bought autograph books and pens and got each of them to autograph and then take photos. So cute!
Today, Elise also decided to brave the Indiana Jones ride for the first time. She went with mom and LOVED it! I was surprised, I thought for sure she would hate it and end up crying. While she and I were on the ride, Nate and Brady waited for us and Nate got a pic of Brady by the waterfall outside the ride. Brady is still a little too short for Indiana Jones.

A New Haircut

I actually got this cut in the middle of March but didn't take a pic of it till April. I went over to my sis-in-law, Marissa's, house for a trim and some color. ***I hate to rub it in, but it is SO VERY NICE to have a hairdresser in the family!*** I decided I might want to see how an "A-frame" would look on me. She thought it would look great so we went for it. The final finish was a little overwhelming, at first. (It has never been this short, at least since I was a kid.) But I went home and played with it and discovered I really like it. And I know it would look even tons better if I get rid of this double-chin! I realize the up-keep of this new hair-do is a little more frequent, since my hair grows fast, but I like it enough that I will do so. Times are-a-changin'!

YES! Brady is potty-trained!!!!!!

April 9th----WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!! Brady is finally potty-trained! What a victory! He's a pro at going #1 (yes, I'm going to say #1 and #2 instead of the other--cheesy, I know) and has even been standing up to do so since October, 2007, but he just wasn't interested in going #2. The only time he did #2 it freaked him out so he refused. Well we got a suggestion from one of our neighbors, it seemed a little harsh but we were told it had a high success rate. We were told to use the "cold shower method". Basically, when he went #2 in his Pull-Up we take him in the bathroom clean him up and then put him under a cold shower for 5-10 seconds. We only had to do the cold shower twice and then he was good to go. I hated doing it but we're part of the high success rate now and he seems to remember the cold shower enough that he has no desire to have an accident in his underwear.
Brady got to pick out some underwear and he chose "Diego". He loves them! He also has "Superman" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" underwear.

Elise's First Field Trip!

March 26th--The Kindergartner's at Pony Express Elementary went to Discovery Gateway in downtown Salt Lake. This is a fun place to go, for children. Lots to do and see. The main exhibit was Sesame Street explores the body. The kids got to play with all sorts of things as they learned about their bodies. I went along as a chaperone. It was chaos central with all these little 5 and 6 year olds. I was quite exhausted by the time we got back to school. But the most important thing is that they all had fun. Elise loved the exhibit but especially, loved being able to ride the yellow school bus she never gets to ride.

Brady's One Year Anniversary of Type 1 Diabetes

March 26th--It's so hard to believe Brady has been diagnosed with Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes for a whole year now. What a journey this has been for our family. There were a lot of tears in the beginning and if Nate and I could have taken this disease on ourselves, so Brady wouldn't have it, we would have done so in a heartbeat. He's such a brave little boy. We know he's watched over closely. We hope to see a cure someday soon but in the meantime we'll do whatever is necessary to make his life as normal as possible. The day before his anniversary I enrolled him in preschool, to begin in August. The preschool we chose (Learning Dynamics Preschool) is willing to work with us and with Brady. Please keep us in your prayers and pray for a cure. This disease in on the rise in small children. It is such an unfair disease to have to deal with but we see the blessings and unity that comes with a challenge like this. We're so proud of Brady and what he's able to endure.

Happy (Official) Birthday Elise!

March 24th--Yes, today is the official day! Elise is 6 years old. We decided to invite some of Elise's friends over and have a Birthday Tea Party. We asked all the girls to come over in their pretty dresses. We had them decorate some hats with silk flowers and they got jewelry. I got out some tea cups and the girls drank apple juice and Sprite. My Aunt Maureen came and taught all the girls how to drink, wipe their faces with napkins, and eat like ladies. It was cute and the girls giggled quite a bit. My sister-in-law, Jenny, came with her daughter, Kayla. Jenny was a big help with all that needed to get done. I really appreciated the help by both Maureen and Jenny, I couldn't have done it without them! Elise got some cute presents from her friends. I think they all had fun!

Later on that day we ordered some pizza, at Elise's request, and welcomed over Nate's parents and his sister, Wendy. The pizza was yummy and company was nice to have over. I think Elise really enjoyed her special day!

Elise,

You are 6 years old now. I am amazed at how much you've grown and accomplished so far. You are a beautiful young lady, full of talent and intellect. Your dad and I are constantly amazed at your understanding of so much. You seem to figure out quite a bit on your own. We look forward to seeing you continue to grow and see all that Heavenly Father has in store for you. May this year be one of lots of happiness and laughter mixed with plenty of new discoveries and new joys. We love you so much! Forever and always, mom

Happy Easter!

March 23rd--Easter morning was crazy! We have church at 9:00 am so there wasn't any time to enjoy Easter baskets. The kids found their baskets took a quick peek and then we headed to church. Once we got home the kids got the chance to look in their baskets and found a bunch of fun things from the Easter bunny. They also found a basket full of candy for the whole family left by the Easter Bunny. Yummy! We were very glad it was another beautiful day and one we could just enjoy as a family. We loved the peace and quiet. After we all took a nap Nate took the kids out to play in the front yard. While they were playing I went in the back and hid some eggs that had some coins in them and two big eggs that contained Disney gift cards for our Disneyland trip in 3 weeks. Brady and Elise LOVED getting the eggs and the gift cards were the major highlight. Later on we had a nice dinner and then settled down to focus on the true reason for Easter. We read scriptures and talked about the Atonement. The kids understood most of what we talked about, it was a very nice day.

Easter Dinner and #2 Birthday Celebration for Elise

Late Afternoon, March 22nd--After we got home from the Easter Egg Hunt we fed the kids some lunch and set out to get Elise's birthday present. She's been wanting a bike for quite some time so we took her out and let her pick a bike. Of course, she picked a Disney Princess bike and we decided to get training wheels. We hope to get her use to a two-wheeler soon. Once she got on the bike she rode it like a pro!

Easter dinner was very nice. We went to my sister, Alishia's, house. She made a yummy turkey dinner and we brought some cupcakes and celebrated Elise's b-day as well. It was a great night and fun to visit with family.

Eagle Mountain Easter Egg Hunt

March 22nd--We set out to Nolan Park, in Eagle Mountain, for the town Easter Egg Hunt. There were 15,000 eggs and plenty of kids to find them all. Nate took Brady over to the 1-3 year old area and Elise and I found the 4-6 year old section. When the horn of the fire truck blasted out Elise bolted and started filling her basket. She was quite happy to find eggs stuffed with treats, money and prize tickets. She ended up filling her basket about half full. Her friend, Kamber Sasser, was there and got her own haul of eggs. The hunt was over, literally, in 30 seconds. It was time to find Nate and Brady. Deep into the crowd we found them and I couldn't believe it, Brady's basket was overflowing! Nate said a lot of the one year olds couldn't really figure it all out by themselves (parents weren't allowed to help) so Brady went to town picking up all that he could find. The kids got some fun prizes and coupons for free drinks at a local business. We were so happy it was a beautiful, sunny day too!