My Sweet Tooth

Since being home from Disneyland I have had the biggest sweet tooth. I just need that sugar fix and I have discovered a very dangerous item-- Keebler Fudge "Carmel" filled cookies! Very good! Any ideas on how to beat this problem?

We're Back!

So we are back from----- Disneyland! I know, shocking. It seems that is the only vacation we ever take but we LOVE it. This time we went with Randy's sister Debbie and her family. We hesitated going in the summertime because we know it is a lot less crowded in September but Debbie's husband is a teacher and we knew if we ever wanted to come with them it would have to be during summer break. Anyway, we left last week with my sister Brooke who came with us for the first half of the week but flew home Wednesday. We drove Saturday and went to Sea World Saturday night and Sunday then drove into Anaheim for a five day stay there. We had such a great time. It was pretty crowded but we have figured how to work the fast pass system and really didn't find much trouble with it.(If you are ever worried about the economy just go to Disneyland-- it was packed and there were definitely lines for everything, including food and souvenirs.) Tuesday night we went to the Angels game-- ironically one of the ball parks we have not visited so we can now cross that off our to-do list! The Angels won 3-2 but we left around the 5th inning so Randy and Brooke could do Disneyland a few more hours before close-- we're crazy! Chase had a great time. This was his first time being tall enough for Splash, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Soarin, and Tower of Terror. (It really helped that we took some special hiking boots that have an inch heal in them and stuffing the insides with napkins!) We called the shoes his Disneyland magic shoes and, well, even though he was walking on his toes the hole time-- he didn't want to take them off! He LOVED all the new rides in fact, "Bunny Splash" ride is his new favorite. We thought he wasn't quite ready for Space this time-- we found it was a little early for Tower of Terror but he enjoyed it the two times he went on it but after that anytime we went near it he would panic and say he didn't want to go on it again. Hopefully we didn't ruin him for future visits! I must say it was really nice not having to do the rider switch/ wait with these new rides-- being able to take him with us was great! We ended the trip with a day at the beach, which Chase also LOVED-- he didn't want to leave! It was so much fun spending time with Deb and Quinc and Chase had that much more fun running around with his cousins. They are so cute together. Brooke was fun as well-- I was sad when she left. All in all our vacay was a success-- I just need a vacation now from our vacation!

By the way, if you are wondering why there are no pictures of our fun vacation-- our camera was "stolen". I think it fell out of my back pack and it must have fallen into the wrong persons hand because it was never turned into the Lost and Found. It is sort of upsetting feeling like some family may have found my camera and instead of teaching lessons of honesty they celebrate their discovery of a new camera. It makes me sad. Luckily I did not have too many pictures taken on it-- we lost our Sea World experience and Chase riding Thunder Mountain for the first time on video which was hilarious but we'll get over it. When I was a PE teacher students would come in all the time telling me things were stolen and I there wasn't much I could do and I would always wonder what they expected when they didn't lock it up-- that is pretty much what I am thinking now-- what can I expect when I didn't handle it with better care. Honesty just may be too much to ask for.

On a lighter note-- I must recommend the new Toy Story Mania ride! It is a must! It is very close to being my new favorite ride-- if only it wasn't a 30 miniute wait (or more) every time!

Relaxed, Frazzled, Upset, relaxed

I woke up today with a long to do list and just couldn't get the energy up to really cross the items off. However, I did get one very important one off the list and that was to get a pedicure. My sister Brooke and I went to the mall and got ourselves a great little pedi. The chairs at the mall are the greatest massage chairs that on a certain setting just work your knots while they are massaging your feet-- it just doesn't get much better. So after that relaxing hour I run back home to get ready for my second activity with my activity days girls. We were making "prayer rugs" where they got to paint rugs that I had gotten and decorate them all cute. Anyway, long story short there was all sorts of problems that made that hour a crazy, frazzled hour. I will no longer do crafts that include paints-- draw your own conclusions on why! Then as soon as I am done with that I walk into the house only to find that the power is out! I think that has to be one of my top pet peeves. I know these are the times that it is a rude awakening to me to see how hooked I am to all things electric-- tv, computer, phone, microwave! But today in particular I was upset because as you may know So You Think You Can Dance is on and if you aren't aware the season premiere of Project Runway. Without power means no TIVO! Urgh! I was going ballistic thinking I may not get to see my shows! Anyway, around 8:00pm the power was restored so my tivo kicked on catching the last hour of SYTYCD and I did miss PR-- but the good news is Bravo will show the repeat later tonight so I can tivo it then and watch at my convenience later! So all is calm again! What a day!

Dee Dee Was Right

So we said a sad farewell to the slide today. We will miss it.

Over the Fourth of July holiday we got it out for just its third voyage and discovered it wasn't filling up with as much air as normal. It was still in working condition but whenever an adult were to stand in certain places we could feel the ground-- which we could not before. We looked all over for maybe a hole or a rip but to no avail. We have come to the conclusion that it must be the power or something. Thank goodness we bought it at Costco and felt we could take it back. It should not be like that only three uses. So we bid it farewell.

So thanks Dee Dee for your words of advice and to you all considering the same adventure as us-- think twice!

The 4th

So here is a look at our fourth of July. We really didn't do much. We were scared off by the projected heat and then it didn't even end up being as hot as we expected. We just had a pretty casual day. We ditched the parade but we still managed to see the jets fly overhead which is one of the best parts. Later the Ohrans had a birthday celebration for Quincy. We had a barbecue and just hung out together. Then we lit some fireworks. (This was Chase's favorite part. He kept asking if it was nighttime yet. then he had no problem helping dad light them even though we kept telling him it was danger and to stand by mom!) We had a great time. One of my highlights of the nights was an impromptu reunion with friends from high school that I had not seen in ages. It was really fun to see them. Anyway, Happy Belated 4th to Ya'll!

Disney Princess?

You Are Megara!

Charming and witty. You are always the first person to come up with a wisecrack. Sure, you have an attitude, but that's why people love you. You keep them on their toes. Sometimes you can be misleading, but always end up doing the right thing for the people you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Don't know who she is but I guess she is who I am most like!

Spirit Sundays

So I am the new Activity Days leader in charge of the 8-9 year old girls. I have to admit I feel like a permanent fixture in the primary (7-10 married years spent there) and now I am on double duty because Randy and I are also in charge of the 5-6 year old CTR class. At first I dreaded both callings and thought I have just been "done" with the primary and didn't have the best attitude with it. But I must say that I am enjoying it and feeling a lot better about things. I guess you just go where you go-- and to be honest it is really not that hard-- it could be much worse. But here is a look at my first activity. We made Spirit Sundays. Basically there is one bowl of ice cream where we put things like ketsup labeled as disobeying or mustard labeled as being mean etc and put it on the ice cream which was labeled as our spirit. Then we made a second one where we put whipped cream and bananas which were labeled pray and modesty etc. Anyway, the girls really liked it and it was a good one to start with-- it only took us like 35 minutes so we brainstormed activity ideas the rest of the time. If you have had this calling or ones like it and have good ideas for activities/ lessons I am all ears!

Good Bye Angie

The people in Dallas are lucky people-- we'll miss you! (Pictured from left to right: Mel, Ang, me, and my little monkey!)