Disneyland . . . . .

All of our family members finally made it to California and we all have got some rest and now are ready to ride some rides. It was finally time for us to go into Disneyland!! My boys are so EXCITED they can hardly stand themselves!!

(Caution: there are lots of pictures in this post)

  Mimaw and I

 Jeff and the kids walking around in the park!

 Isaac, Bry, Hannah, Kode, and Alex hanging out while waiting in line to ride Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road!!! (One of the best rides there is)

 Mimaw and Grumpy bought everyone a Mickey Mouse shirt just so we could wear it when we all went to Disneyland!

 Shawn and I just sat ourselves down to ride Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road!!

(did I mention that this is one of my most favorite rides!)

 Isaac and Bry sitting in front of us on the coolest ride ever!!

 Bry riding solo on Mr. Toads Wild Ride!

 Isaac and Grumpy on Mr. Toads Wild Ride

(this is a really cute ride. I enjoyed going on it)

 Shawn and Kode on the Tea Cup's Ride!

 and Bry and I riding on the Tea Cups

all the kiddos just loved playing with this giant ball in the water!

 Bry and I were just snacking on a pretzel. Well this duck thought that we were going to share with him. He was a little to friendly! He would walk right up to us and look at us like where's mine?

 Bry talking with Sophie!

 some of us gathering to decide on what ride we should go on next!

The next few pictures are of the kids driving us on Autopia! All the kids just loved driving. Great driving guys. We made it safe!!

 Kode!

 Isaac and Grumpy!

 Hannah and Harm!

 Mimaw and Vivian!

 Milo and Jeff!

 Meg going solo!

 Travis and Alex!

Taking time for a quick family picture!!

Our first day at Disneyland was full of lots of rides and great times!! But our vacation was far from over! Still lots more to share! 

Bummin' Around. . . . . .

So we finally made it to our hotel, and got ourselves checked in and dropped our luggage and were on our way to do some exploring. (our other family members were still in transit) So we decided to meet up with Mimaw and Grumpy and go shopping! First we went and purchased our Disneyland tickets, (since we flew in kinda late in the day and we only bought 4 days of Disneyland/California Adventure tickets we decided it would be best to just roam around on our first afternoon at Disneyland) then we were off to roam Down Town Disney. Its a pretty cool place where there are lots of little shops to explore and lots of good places to eat!

 Bry wanted a picture of Grumpy.

(Bry never wanted to leave Grumpys' sight! He just loved hanging with him.)

 Shawn and Kode playing around! They are both so excited to be at Disneyland!!

 The boys stopping to take a quick picture!

 (Just as we were on our way to Down Town Disney Megan just send us a text message saying that their air plane had just landed. So we took a picture and text her back saying we are already having lots of fun. Can't wait to see you all)

 Mimaw and Grumpy decided that they were going to give each grandchild $25.00 for spending money. They could spend it where every they wanted to!

(Thanks Mimaw and Grumpy. The boys loved having their own spending money, even though they were not very eager to spend it. Little tight-wads)

 Eating Baghnes . . . . .

 These things were so GOOD!! Thanks to Grumpy and Mimaw for introducing them to us. They are our new favorite thing!!

 Mimaw telling the boys a fun story!

 More horsing around!

(Gotta love their facial expressions)

On our way to get a bite to eat!

We ended up eating at Johny Rockets.

(a hamburger/milkshake joint and the food was great!)

 After dinner everyone went back to their hotel rooms for the night. Shawn and the boys really wanted to go swimming. (when we check in they scoped out the swimming pool and said that they really wanted to go swimming while we were there) So they got their suits on and away they went. The pool was nice and they were the only ones in there playing. It was great!

So that wraps it up for our first traveling/exploring day in California!  Lots more to come in my next posts!!



California Here We Come!!!

We have been planning this family vacation to Southern California (Disneyland) for a few months now and finally it was time for us to go.

(well actually we have been talking about going on vacation as a family for 3 years now and just a few months ago is when everyone said February is the month)

Anyway, we could hardly stand ourselves. The boys were very familiar to how this hole vacation thing works so they knew exactly what to do! They led the way.

 (I have took over 500 pictures while we were on vacation so I am going to do several posts about our vacation)

So here is how our vacation went. . . . .

We just parked the car, unloaded our luggage from the car and are on our way to hop on the bus that takes us from long term parking to the gate of our airlines.

 

The boys and I on the bus





 Shawn and the boys chillin. Just can't wait to ride in an air plane again!!

Since you have to be to the air port at least one hour early and we were we had lots of time to waste. So we decided to roam around the air port for a bit. None of us had really seen what the other side of the air port looked like so we took a walk. It was pretty interesting.



The boys loved walking on the escalator's!

           and they wanted to stop and watch how they load the air planes!

 Bry giving me 2 thumbs up cause he is so excited to fly again!

 We were flying with my dad, step-mom, sister in law and her sweet baby Sophie but we were not sure where they were. So the boys wanted to stop and watch for them for a few. They were curious to see if any of them were going through security at the time! (Little did we know they had already been through security and they were waiting at the gate)

 So we finally boarded the plane and were on our way to Southern California!!

(Bry wanted to sit with Grumpy and Mimaw. Mom and dad just are not cool when they are around)

 Kode and Shawn diggin' their own TVs. Flying on Jet Blue is so nice cause each person has their own TVs and they can watch what ever they want or you can listen to music. Its so nice!

 Arriving to Long Beach Air Port!! The flight was a good one. It only took 1 hour and 15 minutes. Can't beet that!

 Kode waiting for our bags!

 Bry found his!

 This is little Sophie! She is so adorable. This is her after her first air plane ride. She was such a good little traveler!

 Everyone found their bags and then we were off to find our shuttle that would take us to our hotels in Anaheim.

 Load em up!

Got our bags loaded up and found our seats in the van. We are ready to get to our hotel and see if any of our other family members have made it.

Lots more pictures to share. Stay tuned!! 

Seeing Family In Layton

Stopping in Layton to see some family and to have our taxes done.

(man am I glad to have our taxes done for this year. Its just a relief not to have to worry about that til next year)

Anyway our visit was a great one!! It seems like all we do is eat when we go on vacation but here are some pictures of our time with the family.Having some dinner at Red Robin!! Good stuff!

and then eating lunch at crown burger with lots more of the family. We really enjoy going home to see all of the family!! Its so much fun to see everyone and to chat and catch up with all that is going on with everyone else!

Bry giving Isaac bunny ears!

After lunch we were off to take the kids to the park!!

Bry and Isaac

Hannah

Rachel, Rebecca, and Hannah

Jordan and Bry

Rachel, Isaac, and Jordan

Hannah

Isaac, Hannah

Koda

Koda and Rachel playing tag

Hannah and cousin Kimney

Rachel and Rebecca

Rachel and Rebecca having a great time on the bridge

Then after a fun day at the park we had some dinner at Shawn's moms house and then the kids made some crafts!

We had a great time seeing everyone. Thanks so much Peggy for letting us stay at your house. We enjoyed being able to hang with you!