Summer Time!!

Hello there!  Now that it's twenty twelve, I'm planning on hitting the ground running!  I'm going to catch up on my memories, so I'm overviewing the wonderful Summer we had.

In July,

-We had a blast at Hogle Zoo with Grandma and the Gittins (that sounds like it should be some sort of crazy rock band name, doesn't it? "Grandma and the Gittins" has a nice ring to it!)

-We attended our cousin Emily's baby blessing

-We celebrated Independence Day in Oakley with the Rodeo, Parade, Food, and Family!

I love, love, love this picture!

-We had to leave the Oakley festivities early to head down to San Diego for the Bar Convention (we watched the fireworks from the freeway). We went with friends from the firm and had a great time in Sunny CA!

-We played at the beach

-We went to Lego Land.  Disneyland it ain't, but we still had fun.  The best part was the mini cities they built.

-We had a blast at SeaWorld



  -Our last day in San Diego was spent touring the USS Midway. It was really neat!

-Jen went to Park City for the weekend for a Girls Only Trip with Denise, Jill, and MomNancy. We had a blast zip lining, alpine sledding, hiking, shopping, and eating!

-We went to a Bees Game with the whole family

-We celebrated Jason's birthday at the Spaghetti Factory (surprise, surprise!)

-We went to Lagoon for Harper's birthday

-We said goodbye to the Gittins family. We miss them so much!

-Ryan and I hiked up to Adam's Canyon's waterfall with Amanda and Jay

-We celebrated Grandpa Blair's birthday up in the canyon and roasted hot dogs and S'Mores

-We enjoyed our annual neighbor/friends fireworks night in our front yard

-Braiden enjoyed basketball camp at the SportsPlex

-Ryan and I saw Idina Menzel in concert up at Deer Valley!

In August,

-Had a great backyard BBQ at our house with friends from the firm

-Katie and Lauren had a blast at Girls Camp

-We took the girls to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Hale Center.  It was awesome!

-We did lots of school shopping (two teenage girls, one picky sports loving boy, and one kid who outgrows everything in a matter of weeks....you do the math!)

-We saw the "UP" house at the Parade of Homes with Amanda and Jay.  It was so cute!

-Soccer started back up again for the boys

-The kids got all dressed up for the first day of ninth, seventh, third, and first grades!!



-Ryan completely surprised me with a trip for our 16th wedding anniversary.  He has tried to surprise me many times before, but always unsuccessfully. This time he pulled it off!  We went to Disneyland for a few days and had a wonderful time just being together

-We had a fun-filled FHE with the Dawson family!

Whew!!  What a fun summer we had!  We made a lot of great memories. What a great family I have!  I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people I share my life with!

Disneyland + Christmas = Crazy Fun!!!

I won't bore you with all of the excuses I have for not blogging in so long. I'll just get right to it. I'm so excited to finally have a few minutes to put my thoughts and memories into words. So, here we go.

For Christmas this year, my whole family (my parents and siblings) went to Disneyland. Yep. All of us. To Disneyland. On Christmas Day. No joke.

I love going places with my whole family. We are so crazy and fun. Disneyland is no exception, in fact, the crazy and fun are pumped up to the Nth degree while at the "Happiest Place On Earth". There were fifteen of us all together, so you can imagine what it's like. I'll try and steer you through it.

First off, we loved all of the decorations. Disney really goes all out for Christmas, let me tell you. Even before you get into the park, there are signs of Christmas everywhere!

Right on Main Street, there is a GIGANTIC Christmas tree. It was beautiful.

At night, they light up the castle and make it snow! It was so neat!

We visited a place called "Reindeer Roundup" where we could see Santa's reindeer, talk to Santa and Mrs. Claus and get our picture taken on a pretty sled. If you look close, you can see Donnor and Comet behind us (yeah, I just made that up. Santa's REAL reindeer were at the North Pole getting ready for the big night!)

We even dressed in Christmas colors! (OK, that wasn't planned, but we sure looked festive and fit right in)

It was definitely festive, but it was also Disneyland-ive (made up word, but you know what I mean.) Of course, there was the usual routine of going on all of our favorite rides. Some of which I have pictures of. There's.....

Pirates of the Caribbean

Splash Mountain

It's a Small World (they decorated it beautifully!)

Tea Cups!

Grizzly Bear Rapids

Toy Story Mania (one of my favorites)

Pirate Island

Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters

And the good ol' Jungle Cruise (the jokes were pretty good this year)

Our other favorite rides include: Soarin' Over California, Space Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Tower of Terror, and Indiana Jones.

But we didn't just look at Christmas decorations and go on rides, we also did a TON of eating! Usually, Denise watches the kids so Ryan and I can sneak away to the Blue Bayou, but this time, everyone went. Can you say Crab Cakes and Monte Cristo Sandwich? YUM! Other favorites are the Chocolate Covered Bananas, Churros, Clam Chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, and the Shrimp Louis salad. Heaven!! Also, for the very first time, we went to a character breakfast. We did that on Christmas morning. It was so yummy and the kids liked it.

Another new thing we discovered this year was Little Bear's Playground in California Adventure. It was a little park where the kids could play, swing, climb and get some wiggles out.

OK, moving on to some funny pictures. I got a new camera right before the trip and had a blast taking several hundred shots. I kind of went crazy, but I'm glad I did because I discovered some underlying themes on our trip. Here are a few examples:

Uncle Jason is so great with my kids. He was a blast to hang around with. However, I have decided that my kids watch him a lot more than I thought. When I looked back at my pictures, I found something interesting. First, Jason would do something like this....

And the very next picture in sequence would be a picture like this.....


Just a coincidence? I don't know, because here is another picture of Jason doing this....

Aaaaaand, then Ethan doing that.....

There's a lesson somewhere in there....my kids LOVE their uncle Jason and will do anything he does!! How cute is that? While we are on the subject of Jason, he became the official "lanyard wearer" when Braiden was unable to complete that task. (He wears it well, don't you think?) How funny!

Lookin' Cool in the Shades!

Drinkin' the Coke!


I could be wrong, but I think that's a completely different Coke! (Hey, I was on vacation!)

Yes, we had a great time on our trip to Disneyland! Despite the change in location, Santa did find us and we opened presents. A separate Christmas post will arrive shortly.

Some people tease us about going to Disneyland so much, but we absolutely love it. It is a time where we can kick back and enjoy each other as a family. Lots of memories are made, and I hope, never forgotten. We hope to see you next year, Disneyland!