DISNEYLAND & CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

November 3-6, 2008

Our first four days of vacation were spent in Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. We had so much fun in both parks. It was a trip of a lifetime! The only downside to our trip (if there was one) was leaving sweet Jakey at home. We missed that little guy like crazy! Although we were sad, we knew he was having a better time with grandma...SAD, but true!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland!

Mickey Mouse

DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
This trip will definitely be remembered for years to come! It was so magical, and simply awesome!

The next few posts will hopefully capture just how magical the trip really was...

PRINCESS FANTASY FAIRE

While we were at Disneyland we went to the princess fantasy faire. It was a place in Disneyland where the princesses ventured, coronations happened, and little girls "dressed as a princess"...face and all! .

Hailey and Amber got their faces painted, and glittered. As a finishing touch, we bought a tiara for their glittered hair. It truly added a bit of magic to their day! After they dressed as princesses, we continued the magic by meeting the princesses! The girls were in heaven!

Two cute kids!

Amber dressing as a princess!

Hailey dressing as a "princess"!

PRINCESS FANTASY FAIRE FUN!!!

JEDI TRAINING in DISNEYLAND

We went to the Jedi Training in Disneyland, and Hailey and Amber were chosen as padawans (a student devoted to ancient training of the Jedi Knights). They were so excited to be picked! They were taught all about their weapons, and how to use them. At first it was just training, and our girls were all smiles. When a "disturbance in the force" was detected, Amber got a bit nervous to see Darth Vader. When he came out on stage, she started searching for us in the crowd, and moving away from Darth Vader. One of the Jedi Knights noticed her escaping, and quickly brought her back into training. Although Amber seemed nervous she never backed down again, and she fought Darth Vader with great courage!

Hailey in training

Hailey fighting Darth Vader

Amber in training

Amber fighting Darth Vader

Characters

ARIEL'S GROTTO
We were able to eat dinner at Ariel's Grotto. The dinner was fabulous! Bryan and I had tri-tip steak, and the girls had chicken kabobs.This was the first (we ate at Goofy's Kitchen the next day) character eating experience for the girls, and although the dinner was fabulous--they hardly touched their meals. Both girls were too overjoyed by seeing the princesses to worry about eating! Bryan and I are so glad we chose to do the character dining experiences...it was well worth it to see the expressions of excitement on our girls' faces!

Ariel was the first character they met at Ariel's Grotto. She was waiting for the girls as they walked down a long staircase to her restaurant! The girls were ecstatic!

Princess Aurora was so kind and genuine. She talked to the girls as if she was their best friend.

Hailey loved Mulan! This was her favorite character meeting!

Mulan

Cinderella

Belle

GOOFY'S KITCHEN

While we were in Disneyland we were able to go to Goofy's Kitchen for a character breakfast. It was so fun to see the characters and eat great food all at the same time! The breakfast was awesome! There was every type of breakfast food imaginable as well as pizza, and ice cream--my girls were in heaven!

PLUTO!

Goofy

Belle

CINDERELLA

CHIP

SAN DIEGO ZOO

November 7, 2008

The San Diego Zoo was a whirlwind for us. We traveled from Anaheim that morning, so we didn't get to the zoo until about 1:30 (we weren't in much of a hurry); however, when we arrived we were told we only had 2 hours left to be at the zoo. With that information, we started our race. We ran from one exhibit to the next...making sure we saw everything, but not spending any time to "observe". I actually kinda liked it. It was my kind of zoo trip!

Family Picture (I missed Jakey every time we took a family photo...it just didn't feel complete.)

In our house, my husband has a loving "nickname" for me...weasel. Does that sound loving? Well, honestly, it is meant with love, and I actually like it after 10 years of marriage. Well, this nickname came about one Sunday afternoon when I was being completely innocent in asking my dad for a favor. My dad brushed me aside, and proclaimed that I was being a weasel. Bryan burst out laughing, and emphatically agreed with my father...well, ever since that day my husband has been calling me weasel. At first, I didn't really love it, but now I feel it is truly a term of endearment. Weird uh? Well, the whole point to this long story is to say that apparently my children have learned a few things from me about weaseling their father. This is a picture of Amber doing her "weaseling" of her father by begging to be carried. She did this all week! She would block his path of walking until he finally conceded and lifted her on his shoulders. We didn't entirely realize what she was doing until days into this whole process...by then--she had successfully weaseled her father!

Mission Accomplished! Dad has been weaseled!

Can you see the Koala in Bryan's hand?

Amber with the Hippos!

Elephants!!

The girls posing with the giraffe's. My sweet girls loved the giraffes.

Bryan and the girls with the giraffes.

FLAMINGOS, FLAMINGOS, FLAMINGOS!!
It seemed like flamingos were everywhere we went!

SEA WORLD

November 8, 2009

We loved our time at sea world! We had so much fun feeding the dolphins, seals, and bat rays. We also loved the shows! In fact, Bryan and Amber were chosen to be in the dolphin show! They were introduced with a trainer as the Miller Family from Idaho. When they were introduced with someone else, I was sure that someone had made a mistake. It wasn't until the end of the show that it was revealed that the trainer was not a member of the Miller Family and that she was actually a trainer (she fell in the water as part of the show, which added suspense). I didn't catch on that it was all a part of the show until they announced the truth...the whole time I just thought there had been some mistake.

Bryan in the dolphin show touching a whale.

Amber waving to the crowd right before she meets the dolphin.

Amber giving the command to the dolphin to sing.

Amber feeding the dolphin.

After Amber had fed the dolphin, the trainer told her to wipe her hands off on her dress (as a joke)...she smelled like fish the rest of the day!

Amber petting the dolphin!

This experience truly was a once in a lifetime experience! Both Amber and Bryan had so much fun interacting with the animals, and being a part of the show!! It was awesome!

The rest of our day at sea world was jammed pack. We went to every Shamu show available, we also went to an Elmo show, and a sea lion show, and we rode an awesome ride! Besides the shows and the rides, we also fed a lot of sea creatures, which I think was a highlight (at least I hope it was a highlight, because it wasn't cheap:))!

Holding the Starfish!

Feeding the Seals!

Posing by the Seals!

Feeding the Bat Rays!

Feeding the Dolphins!

We also let the girls get their faces painted, which was another highlight for them. They truly felt special with glitter and paint all over their faces!

BEACH, TEMPLE, & HOME

November 9, 2008

Our last day was bittersweet...we were all excited to get back to Jakey, but we were also sad to leave the good times we were having in California.

We decided to start off our last day by going to the beach for one last stroll in the sand. (Our hotel was right on this beach...it was amazing!) We had so much fun burying each other, and building sandcastles.

Bryan buried Hailey and I clear up to our waists. Hailey was able to get out with no problems, but it took me a second to wiggle free. We had so much fun burying one another, and seeing how difficult it was to get out of the sand after we were buried.

This picture is of all three of us girls building sandcastles. Amber was not interested in getting buried, but she sure had fun building!

Ever since we planned our trip to California, we planned on visiting both the San Diego Temple, and the Las Angelas Temple. When we arrived at the San Diego Temple, there were protesters everywhere, and police officers trying to keep the peace. Proposition 8 had passed the week prior, which stated that marriage was only legal between a man and a women. Some people were angry with the LDS religion because of our view point on the subject, and they were still protesting even after the voting was over. Bryan and I had no idea that there would be protesters surrounding the temple. Instead of this being a spiritual experience for our family, it was a sad experience. The thing that made it particularly hard was the fact that Hailey could read (some of the signs depicted strong feelings). No matter how many times we tried to explain to her the subject matter, she still couldn't understand why there was so much hate and frustration.
The thing that was most frustrating to me about this situation was the feelings of contention in a place that should hold peace. I believe that two people can hold different view points on the same topic without it meaning that they should hate one another. This is something that really shouldn't be such a huge revelation; however, some of the signs outside the San Diego Temple said otherwise. Some of the signs depicted LDS people as haters, and non-Christians. It was hard for me to see lies depicted on those posters. I wish that differences of opinion did not lead to such hate and desecration. I believe it is my duty as a citizen to vote for what I believe to be right and true. Does that mean that I hate those people who choose the opposite, and who believe differently? No...it just means we have a difference of opinion.
Because of the feelings we felt while visiting the San Diego Temple, we did not go to the L.A. Temple afterall.

HALLOWEEN

October 31, 2008

We had so much fun on Halloween! First we went to the church trunk or treat! It was an all out ward party. There was dinner, and of course-trick or treating. We then went back to our neighborhood for some good old-fashion door to door knocking. Although the ward activity was tons of fun, this portion of the evening was my favorite part. The weather was perfect! We walked through the neighborhood with light jackets! I was shocked at the nice weather--I have never been able to go trick or treating with just a light jacket. So, with nice weather on our side, our family enjoyed tons of laughter, and giggles. I was having so much fun just being in the company of the people I love that I just didn't want the evening to end!

Posing for a picture at the church Halloween party. Amber was Minnie Mouse, Hailey was a beautiful witch, and Jakey was an army man!

Another pose at the church.

This is my girls knocking on the door of our good friend, and neighbor, Heather Fisher. They wanted to show her their costumes (they love her to death), but she was never home. I think we went over there three or four times. It was a bit funny!

After we had all the fun our night could handle, we settled in for a good night snack of CANDY, and we took a few more pictures from home!

Hailey

Amber

Jakey, Amber, & Hailey

I know I have so many pictures of the same thing, but I just love how they turned out...I had to show them all!