Fantastic February

Okay, I already did our Disneyland Edition, so now it is time to record our regular comings and goings in February.

This is a picture of Kate and I from the Draper Temple during the open house. You can see a beautiful view of the Salt Lake Valley from the temple. With the new Draper Temple, our family has had lots of opportunities to serve and tour the new temple. I helped on one of the VIP days and got a guided tour. Then in February, Carson, Kate and I took our neighbor on a self-guided tour. It was a neat spiritual experience to be there with the kids. They were so reverent and our friend, Pam, thought it was the most beautiful building she has ever seen. Then that same night, Chad, Audrey and I toured it with a couple Chad knows from work. The chaos of the busy tours at night distracted a little from the quiet reverence we had felt during the day, but of course, it was still wonderful to be there. I especially LOVED the beautiful murals! We have another opportunity to help with the open house in March. And, Chad has had a few more friends ask to go through with us. What a neat thing!!!

Carson's preschool got to tour the Sweet's Candy Factory here in SLC. That is a very cool tour, because you walk down on the floor and watch the machines making the candy. Then, you get to taste a piece of what they were making. The cinnamon bear room smelled fantastic, but the chocolate room was to die for! What a fun sweet field trip. Here are Carson and his friend Ben putting on "candy maker hats" to get ready for the tour.

Okay, I already wrote about our trip to California, but some of the best parts were seeing the family and friends. We got to hang out with Nicole, Andy and Maren for an entire day, plus see Nicole a few times in addition. It was fun to see their cute house and meet their friends and neighbors. Their neighborhood was awesome, and we really enjoyed the walk we took to the little Whittier College a block away from their house. Here is the Hall family on our walk.

Another day trip we made was to the beach. We just acted like it was summer and enjoyed the sand and waves. Nicole joined us with cute Maren. When I took this picture of Maren, I said "smile", and she did! She loves to have her picture taken. Beaches are good for the soul (especially in winter).

Well, the other highlight of California was hooking up with the Kanes. We spent a day with them in Disneyland, and then that night, we had dinner at their house. While we were there, the girls staged a fashion show and we had fun watching them model to HSM soundtracks. It was fun to reconnect with friends (who just moved there from Utah in December). It was like they had never moved away. Listening to them talk about life there and experiencing the nicer weather, it made us wonder why we were living in Utah! Anyway, fun evening, very relaxing and enjoyable.

Well, the highlight of our return to Utah has been a trip to Backyard Adventures. We have wanted to go play for a long time, ever since Carson attended a birthday party there. But, this was my first time with the kids (Carson and Kate). Carson, since he loves dinosaurs, LOVED the dinosaur theme to the play areas. The slides and tunnels were fun for him to explore, and he didn't stop running the entire time we were there. Kate also had a blast, she wanted me to follow her lead through all of the toys and slides. She took me everywhere, and the smiles were the biggest on the bouncing toys.

Well life is getting back to normal, if still very busy. It is amazing how much there is to do when you get back from a trip! I am still enjoying these cute kids. Life is still pretty good.

The Disney Edition

Well, we finally made the trek to Disneyland last week. We have wanted to go for so long, and the time was finally right. Chad and I were so excited to share it with them. We started with a 3-day "park-hopper" pass and then before we even went the first day we upgraded it to a 4-day "park-hopper" pass, and after going 3 days, we added a 5th day. We joked that little 2-year old Kate probably thought her life had changed forever to become: wake up, hurry to Disneyland then play hard all day. All week, we had short lines and did several attractions 3-4 times. Some rides we did daily.

My highlight: It was very exciting for me to share the princesses with the girls. Both were ecstatic to meet Cinderella, especially. It took us a few tries to locate her, but we finally found her. When the girls met the other princesses, they had been quiet and shy, but they were bubbling with excitement for Cinderella. I overheard Audrey tell her "You're my very favorite princess", and Kate told her all about her clothes. It makes me think dreams really do come true!

Okay, I had a second rewarding moment - and I think Audrey liked it, also. Audrey got a chance to watch the High School Musical 3 show and parade, and even got invited to come dance on the "stage" with the performers. We really cheered her on. It was exciting to hear the songs and be part of the crowd. Audrey was a little surprised it wasn't the real cast from the movie, I think she wanted to meet the real Gabriella while we were there. It was still a fun show - and the DVD came out this week!

Okay, now for the kids' favorites.

Audrey's favorite ride by far was - Screamin' over California. We called it "Screamer" and did it a lot. Here she is with Chad, Screaming, of course! We took turns with her and she loved every minute of it, except one time they did it in the rain and the rain hurt! She also liked the Mulholand Madness (Wild Mouse!), and all of the coasters throughout the park. The only ride that was too much for her was the Hollywood Hotel - Carson and Audrey had nightmares and worries about that elevator ride all week.

Carson loves three Disney movies: Cars, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo. We got our pictures taken with Mater and Lightning McQueen, we did the Nemo Submarine ride twice, but hands down his favorites rides were the Toy Story Rides. There was one that had Buzz Lightyear and you needed to defeat Zorg by shooting the "Z's". And, the ride that opened the week before we arrived, Toy Story Mania. This one had the longest lines we stood in. It is a 3-D changing shooting game, very cool and fun for all ages. Carson was in heaven in the toy stores at the end of the games. He bought four toys while we were there, all of them Toy Story. Carson also liked Space Mountain a lot (so did I). He was heartbroken that he couldn't do the Indiana Jones Ride.

Well, what did cute little Kate do through all of this? Well, she could ride a surprising number of rides. She rode the Matterhorn twice (we said "go away big white monster"), and she suffered through "Pirates" three times. But, she loved a few rides. The Winnie the Pooh ride, the carousels, the "Golden Zephyr", Peter Pan and the Bugs' World rides. Some things made her nervous, like the interactive 3-D movies but she seemed to get more brave as the week wore on. She loved the princess and here she is on Ariel's carousel.

Chad, he was a kid, wanting to ride all the big rides with his kids. It was very fun to see.