Welcome to our World

What do you do when most of your family wants to try something new but there is also some anxiety about doing so?  Promise that since you're flying to Orlando, you get to go to the already experienced and beloved Disney World!  K said she was willing to do anything if that meant she got to ride the Tower of Terror again. I'm proud to say that she got to ride it twice and I couldn't help but buy her a T of T keychain on the way out. She loves it so much! We spent one full day in each of the 4 parks and had about 2.5 hours the last day to soak up a little more before catching our plane. During our stay we revisited favorites and tried new things.   At Disney's Hollywood Studios we rode Star Tours, which M was most excited about. Spouse, K, D, and I rode the Rockin' Roller Coaster for the first time and that became D's favorite ride ever. M cried when she wasn't tall enough to join them for it but K was a doll and offered to go on Star Tours again with her i...

Wanting to escape south for spring break to a place where we could have trusted babysitting while we tried something new led us to our first Disney cruise. We have never been on a cruise in our lives and guess what?  We get sea sick!  Our first night aboard I was wondering if we should have just gone to Walt Disney World again but oh, I was looking forward to the Bahamas!  My children set foot on international soil for the first time in Nassau. I was so happy for them.  The first time I left the United States I was 21 years old and heading to Taiwan to be a missionary. I felt like my maternal grandmother, taking my children to far away places. She would have loved to hear about this during her Sunday  phone calls. In Nassau we looked around in the late morning. We took a horse and buggy ride through the city to catch a glimpse of the culture. Our driver was humorously educating and the children were very pleased to pet the horse afterward. Of course we had t...

 The children wanted to do something special for our rabbit's first Easter. I asked my creative friend, Katie, what she thought and we ended up having a photo shoot at her house with Marshmallow as the star photo prop.  He did great!  I was so worried he would do something in an agitated state like bite their two month old baby girl, but all was well!  Here are my 4 favorites.  I am grateful to Scott & Katie for helping me make this happen.  We were so busy on Easter Sunday it was nice to not have to worry about buying matching outfits or taking pictures. In the morning the children were greeted with Easter baskets and an indoor Easter egg hunt.  The girls were totally in love with their $1 sunglasses.  Danny, on the other hand, was super excited he got Tic Tacs instead of hair clips.  lol. After church we baked a cake for dessert.  Little did they know that later I would make them sing an Easter song to my paren...

My sweetheart 6-year-old daughter changed the theme of her birthday party from Doc McStuffins to Star Wars so the boys she wanted to invite could have a good time too.  She wanted to invite her entire kindergarten class, but I convinced her to par down.  We had 7 guests, most of whom had never been to our house before.  Her kindergarten class, her primary class, and her GS troop all had representatives.  Her amazing primary teachers, Brother & Sister Brady, even came late for cake and gave her a card and gift.  She was more than happy to give them big hugs.  Her friends seemed to have a great time and gave her such wonderful presents.  She was in heaven.  I am so happy to see such an angelic girl have such a good time celebrating her birthday with friends.   The next day my parents came over for a special birthday dinner.  M picked out drumsticks to eat and got to tell them all about her Star Wars party and receive even more present...

 We love a little green in the last part of winter.  Although our leprechaun trap was quite good this year, the little guy managed to escape, pee in our toilet, and led us on a scavenger hunt to find candy of gold (aka Rolos).  The next week the children had a snow day after 15" dropped down and the wind blew.  We made sure to wait until after lunch to attempt the sledding hill this time, but still got a bit bogged down.     A day later it was sunny & 50* so we played in the snow -- K even just had short sleeves on.  It was a glorious way to spend time after school.  We got oven more snow a few days later and our neighborhood Easter egg hunt was postponed until April. M & K each got a ski day with Dad in March and he reported they did great and had lots of fun.  I'm so happy to have a husband who takes my kids skiing one-on-one.  He is just the perfect husband for me!  One last thing: the 2016 Tour of Nati...

We got to attend 3 choir concerts this month -- K, 1st, and 2nd grade.  K & D were dutiful and looked bored to tears but M looked like she was having the time of her life.  K & D's were on the same night and we celebrated with St. Patrick's Day jello afterwards.  After M's concert they convinced us to go to TCBY since I hadn't made a special dessert for that night yet.  Our children were begging to go hiking again so we spent a chilly but neat afternoon in the foothills before feeding the missionaries for dinner.  We are so excited to go camping again this summer.  This two-year-old loooooves her siblings.  She is so happy when it is time to pick K & D & M up from school.  She often insists K carry her for a little while after they greet one another.  The weather was also warm enough to try the rabbit on a leash.  It was unsuccessful but provided the neighborhood kids with some entertainment. ...