me: "Girls, do you want to go to the zoo today?"
katie: "Ya, that would be fun, but after can we go to the dentist?"
me: "The dentist? why?"
katie: "sounds fun"
I wonder how long this great attitude about the dentist will last? I love it!
side note: I'm excited the mud guy finished today on our basement so our walls are ready for paint!!! Anybody have some great suggestions on colors?
So lately Brielle has gotten really good at giving me dirty looks. So I finally caught it on camera, isnt she adorable?? yeah right! It doesnt help that she has the craziest hair!!
Thanks Andrea for making me a new blog!! You are so creative and I really appreciate it considering I'm sure you have very little extra time on your hands right now!!! THANKS!
I thought I would share some of the lessons we learned going to Disneyland and how we made it affordable for our family!
airline tickets: We'll we got really lucky here because my Dad gave us some skymiles to use so we didn't have to pay for our airline tickets! What a life saver!-- all though if it hadn't been for that we probably would have driven (but with gas prices I'm not sure that is cheaper anymore!)
hotel: We stayed at a pretty nice hotel called Carousel Inn and Suites just right across the street from the entrances to both Disneyland and California Adventure- it was actually closer than the Disneyland hotels! There are other hotels there too that are nice but much cheaper than the actual Disneyland hotels, but close enough that you can just walk! We shared a club suite with the Paris' (it has a separate room with a queen bed)- and split the costs and since we booked like 7 months in advance we saved a lot!
Disneyland tickets: If you know someone in the military they can buy you discounted admission tickets to Disneyland (thanks Jen and Jared!!!). Or I know Costco has some good deals too!
Spending Money: A couple years ago we got a Chase Disney Visa card that you earn Disney dollar points on. For every $100 you spend on the card you earn $1 Disney Dollar- We earned enough dollars to pay for everything in the park from food, souvenirs, character meals etc... it was awesome. So if you have little kids and are planning to go to Disneyland in the next few years you should look into it!!!! If you want to apply make sure you say we referred you so we can earn referral points!! Apply or get more info
It was such a fun week!! I honestly could have done one more day in Disneyland especially with the bad weather Thursday/Friday!! But our last day we had fun too! We swam in the pool in at the hotel (still a little cold outside but the sun was at least out) and then we went to Downtown Disney and had lunch before heading back to the airport for our trip home!!! I was relieved to finally be home, it was a long week and the kids were so tired! Thanks Mom for picking us up at the airport! We will definitely have to plan another trip!! I loved Disneyland and could go every year!!!!
When we got to the airport they had us go to this far away terminal that we had to go underneath the airport in the longest tunnel I have ever seen! We felt like we were somewhere we shouldn't have been but eventually we found our airplane!!
Friday we did our 4th and final day at Disneyland! The park stayed open till midnight so during the middle of the day Jen and I took the little kids back to the hotel and let them take a nap. It worked out good because it was rainy and cold during that time. Greg, Marty and Addison stayed and rode some more rides! I really liked all the parades and firework shows. The kids were really good and stayed awake for along time but just before the fantasmic show, Brielle, Addison and Carter all zonked!! Katie was the only one who stayed awake and she loved the show, but the second it was over she was out! I felt like a horrible mom pushing my two sleeping kids around Disneyland so we could continue to go on rides until the park closed. As we were leaving we saw Minnie and Mickey mouse together and Greg and I decided to get our pictures when them, but they started leaving so we yelled after them, STOP and they did for us!! But then I realized after the worker took our picture that our camera was in black/white mode! Owell- its still a fun memory!
Wednesday we had a good relaxing day. The weather got worse, a little windy and colder but we went to the beach anyway. Brielle fell asleep in the car on the way and I hated to wake her up because she hadn't had a nap in 4 days so I stayed in the car with her and got a little nap myself. Then we met Greg, Katie and the Paris' down at the beach. It was a bit cold for the beach but the girls had fun playing the sand! Then we had some really great seafood and headed back to our hotel.
On Monday we got up first thing and headed to Disneyland!!! We were so excited and the kids were so cute, just giggling and laughing!! We saw some characters right inside the main gate and then headed on some rides! Then a few hours later we met up with the Paris' and went on more rides and had a great day!!! The girls loved all the rides and all the characters! I was afraid Brielle might be afraid but she would hug and kiss them, it was really cute!
We had sooooo much fun on our Disneyland Trip!!! We arrived there about 9:30 in the morning on Sunday and headed straight to Newport Beach!! We walked out onto the pier and saw dolphins swimming and jumping in the waves just off the pier- it was AWSOME!! It was such a beautiful day and we stayed at the beach until probably about 4:30 just playing in the sand and water. Then we headed to our hotel just across the street from Disneyland and then went to Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner!
Today I ran my 2nd 5k race- the last one was about 3 years ago! I finished in 30min 44sec!! I thought that was pretty good, I think I shaved almost 5 minutes off since my last race! It was a really fun race that starts and ends at Jordan Landing- Greg decided to do it with me and hasn't ran or excercized in a long time and of course beats me! By only 30 seconds!!! I'll catch him next time!
Happy Mothers Day to everyone! I have had a great mothers day! My Mom and Grandma came over for breakfast that Greg made (yummmmy!) and then we went to church where Katie and Brielle participated in the Primary program and it was soooo cute! Then we went to Greg's moms for Dinner! The girls and Greg gave me an awsome new camcorder and some beautiful flowers!!! Thanks!!
Katie and Brielle love their Great-Grandma Arlene!
I can't believe how much gas costs!!! I was blown away when I purchased gas this weekend!
I saw this sign when I went to a friends wedding on like 7800 S 2000 E- Is there really elephants that cross the road there?
The girls at Gardner Village riding the horses! They loved it
Katie graduated from her very first year of preschool today!!! I have really loved teaching preschool this year and I am sortof sad that it is over. Katie loved being in preschool with her cousin Ella and her friends Maren and Emily. She also loved going to preschool at the other girls houses and really had a great time this year!
For graduation we had a little celebration party and a small program where the girls sang songs they learned this year. It was really fun and they all looked so cute in their little graduation caps. We had to end kindof early this year because Jen is having her baby next week and then we're off to Disneyland!!!
CONGRATULATIONS KATIE!!!
Well at least sheetrocks!!! Greg has been working so so so so so so hard the last few weeks to finish up the basement to be ready for Sheetrock. So far he has done everything himself except the plumbing. I really am so grateful that he is so handy!!!
I was getting sort of anxious to get sheetrock up so last week I told him I was scheduling the sheetrock for today and he better finish! I feel guilty now because he was up till midnight and 2 am the last two nights finishing up last minute things! But-- its done now!!! YEAH!!!! They were so fast- they came at 8am this morning and were done by 11:30! It would have taken us weeks to do it ourselves! Hopefully the mud and taper will be here tomorrow and in a few days it will be ready for paint!
Here is what it looked like 2 days ago....
Here is what it looks like today!
