California Trip!

Day 1:
We drove to Vegas and stayed with one of Lance's old mission companions.  They had a hot tub and pool in their backyard.  Needless to say they became instant best friends with the kids.  When we drove through Vegas on the way back home they kept asking us if we were going to stop at Marshmallow's (Marshall's) to go swimming in his pool.  Oh the things they remember.
Day 2 & 3:
Drove the rest of the way to Cali and stayed with some good friends of ours.  They only live about 10 minutes from the Redlands temple so they took us over to check it out.  It's a beautiful temple and the kids had fun walking around.

Paige, Preston, Boston, Brynlee, & Callie at the Redland temple

Lance and Me

Brynlee and Callie decided one night that they were going to switch pajamas, which would have worked fine except Callie is a whole head taller than Bryn.  They thought they were pretty funny.

Ashley and Me

Day 4:

California Adventure.  It was a fun filled day.  Lots of rides, a few shows, character sightings, the "World of Color" water show and a little dancing : )

Bryn and me dancing to the music.  She thought it was funny but I think I was embarrassing her too : ) heehee

Boston was hilarious when he would meet one of the characters.  He was always shy/bashful/excited around every one of them, but he would always go give them a hug and stand there for a picture.  He thought it was pretty awesome.

They just loved all of the rides.

Megan and Bryn on the hungry caterpillar ride.

I can't remember what this ride was called but Boston loved it.  Can you tell?

Brynlee was pretty excited about this snail she found.  And how ironic that we found it in the bugs life section of the park.

This ended up happening all three days that we were at Disney.  I guess it was all just too much for him!

And to wrap up the first day, the kids picked out a toy.  Pure happiness.  I guess that's why they call it the happiest place on earth?!

Day 5:

More rides, more characters, more loot, and a little bit of swimming.

 Oh man, this was Brynlee's FAVORITE part of the whole trip.  She was pretty aw-struck with Rapunzel.  Good thing because I stood in line for over an hour while everyone else rode rides just so she could meet her.

 And this was Boston's favorite ride.  He loved "getting Zurg".

Half was through the day we decided to take a break and go swimming.  The kids loved it.  They had two water slides, 3 different pools and a couple of big hot tubs. 

I told you this happened everyday!

And the loot.

Day 6:

Another fun filled day at Disney with even more character sightings and rides.  We really lucked out with all the character sightings.  Besides the princesses we didn't ever have to wait in a line longer than about 5 people.  I guess we had good timing.

 Bryn was the last person to go through and meet the princesses before they went off for a little break so after they would talk to her and take a picture they would walk her to the next princesses.  Oh she was in heaven.  Belle even held her hand and walked her out the exit. 

 Woody and Jesse and Lightning and Mater.  Yep, this was Boston's turn to be in heaven.

They really liked this roller coaster.

And now for the traditional "have to get" Disney pictures.

 And just for fun.

Day 7:

We all went to Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast.  The kids thought it was pretty cool.  They had some fun stuff to eat there.  Then after breakfast we headed to the beach!  It was super fun, except for the fact that I forgot it had been almost 3 years since I had really seen the sun....yep, I got fried.  So bad that my legs were swollen for 2 days.  They are now finally starting to just look a little red instead of purple...

Lance showed Brynlee some shells that were on the beach and from that point on we had a full-time shell hunter on our hands.

Chase the waves; scream, squeal and run from the waves, chase the waves, run from the waves.

We buried the kids in the sand.  They laughed the whole time.  But then they had sand everywhere, EvErYwHeRe!

My sand covered surfer dude.

Oh the beach, the palm trees and the sun how I miss you!!

Day 8:

We just hung out with the Harringtons again and let the kids play on this splash pad.  Oh and I finally got to eat at Panera Bread for the first time since Florida and it was just as good as I remember. Yum!

Boston would go stand or sit on the water and then run away as fast as he could.

Day 9:

Nothing exciting really, we just drove home.  We stopped in St. George to see my sister for a little while.  The kids did really good with the drive.  Thank heavens for dvd players!  When we hit Heber which is about an hour from home it started snowing, yes, that's right, snowing.  I told Lance to turn the car around but he didn't listen.  The usual 1 hour trip from Heber took us 2 hours because of the nice little blizzard we were driving in.  As if being in the car for 11 hours already that day wasn't enough.  What a nice welcome home don't you think?...ug.  They actually even closed I-80 after Evanston because of the nice May 28th blizzard.