Our Family Reunion at the Beach

Here is our hostess, Cynthia, standing amidst our setup. It was comfortable with all the umbrellas and chairs. Cheers, Cynth. Incidentally, she is about 5 months pregnant in this picture - she's having a boy in November.What fun!! We're all waiting for our first wave of the day. It can be a bit intimidating at first. I am standing here with Benjamin, Hannah, Preston and Paige. My brother-in-law, Brett, is behind me on the right side of the picture. Athena and Ethan are on my left sitting in the sand.

They're starting to get into it now, but just a little bit. I'll admit I'm not anxious to have the water up to my armpits. For those of you who don't know, I don't like getting wet, especially when it's cold.Paige took the plunge. I was surprised she got into it so quickly and I'm glad the kids had fun in the water. I felt very nervous as long as the kids were anywhere near the water. I had such a fear that we would lose one of them. There were 21 kids, mostly small kids, in our party. Michelle had a talk with me and had me watch the waves go over the bigger kids that were further out and they all bobbed up again after the waves moved on. Still, I was happy when we all finally got back to our picnic site and all were accounted for.

A nice shot of everyone having fun. For those of you who don't know my extended family, all the kids in the foreground belong to us and there's the center group standing up that is us. Those people to the right of the picture are special to someone I'm sure, just not us. Well, ok, in God's way.
See what I'm saying about keeping track of all the kids? This is a sample of how many there were. We decided to build up a fortress against the water and worked on it for quite a while. Some of the kids and several adults got involved and we had a good time watching the water completely decimate our fortress. We couldn't build it high enough or thick enough to make it work. It would have killed our pretend people every time. It was fun trying though.

In the end, we gave up. Our pretend people had to move to higher ground.What beach party is complete without someone getting buried in the sand. Here is Samantha, who is always up for some adventure, getting buried by Jacob and Cathy, with a little help from Katie.I like this picture of Preston. He loved playing in the water. He would run out of the water and wait for the next wave and then run into it. Here he is getting ready to run. I had to keep dragging him back to where we were. When your only focus is the water you tend to drift away from your party without realizing it. He was always angry when I dragged him back and then happily went about playing again when he realized I wasn't taking him away altogether and he could still play. Luckily he's still small enough that I can drag him where he needs to be. I don't know what I'll do when he's big enough to drag me. Hopefully by then he can be reasonable. My sister, Michelle, is in the purple shirt.And here he is crashing into the waves. I'm glad the kids got to experience the ocean.Look, mom ... sand!!I think I'll go ahead and roll around in it. I didn't know I'd be taking home a sand daughter. Seriously though, it was fun to relax and let the kids get as dirty and wet as they wanted. They don't often get that opportunity.Preston fell asleep immediately when we got back to the picnic site. He slept for about 2 hours all wrapped up in his towel. It was a bit cold at the beach, but he was all snug. I love sleeping baby pictures.

The walk to the water from our picnic site was a couple of minutes so once we got to either place we were there to stay for a while. Here is part of our little umbrella city around the campfire. Paige is eating her usual slab of hamburger - she is a carnivore. I like how relaxed she is sitting in that big chair. Also pictured are Callie and Jeremy.Ashley is enjoying her meal.Preston woke up after we had all eaten and got to enjoy more fun in the sand.Nathan, Hannah and Jacob also enjoying the sand.Matt, Jaime and many children having a good time.In the end Paige also succumbed to the excitement of the day and got all snuggly in the towels and fell asleep. It was a fitting end to a fun day. Cynthia did a great job on the reunion this year. Thank you Cynthia! We had a blast!

A few more Disney shots

This is in Toon Town at Chip-N-Dale's house. We were here for a while. And here is Preston. On his picture I'll tell you a little story. Last year when we visited Disneyland we took Presty on the roller coaster ride that's next to this treehouse. It's about a one minute ride in Toon Town that babies can ride. He screamed bloody murder the entire ride. We thought he could handle it a little better this year since he had been on roller coaster rides all throughout the day (not that they were his favorite, but he was usually a good sport). We took the same baby roller coaster ride as last year and I was in front of him and Doug was in the same car with him. He made the face you see in his Splash Mountain picture the entire ride. I hate to say it, but it was absolutely hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing. I wanted Doug to go on the ride again and I was going to film Preston with the camcorder, but Doug wouldn't do it. DANG IT!! It was classic.

We met up with Teresa and her family on two different days. We didn't want to irritate them by wanting to spend all day long with them, but once we were together we had a great time and didn't want to separate. Here we are in line for Buzz Lightyear.

All I can say is ... adorable!!! I had to include this.

Just having fun waiting for the train. We had just been on Splash Mountain for the first time and the picture we bought of Preston's scared face is sitting next to Paige. I'm sorry, it just makes me laugh all over again. I'm a terrible mom. Maybe my punishment is to have this puckered face.

Last Day at Disneyland - Day 4

We wanted to make this last day one where everyone got to pick their favorite rides. We were supposed to meet up with Jeremy and Renee' and their family, but they forgot their cell phones that day and we never did find each other. That tells you just how huge Disneyland is. I noticed every tall guy with dark hair and a goatee thinking it could possibly be Jeremy, but it never was. We had a great day in spite of that disappointment. Paige dressed us both this morning and here we are in line for Splash Mountain, Paige's pick for the day - of course! Doug and I picked the new Toy Story ride and did a little naughty trick to ride it quickly. Since Preston is still little enough to need a stroller (which he took a nap in every day), we used our stroller and "baby" boy to get switch passes. We both got switch passes at different times and then both got in the short line separately. I took Preston, since he is actually big enough to ride - barely - and Doug took Paige. I promise we have repented of that and are back on the straight and narrow. The line for that ride is over an hour. Please forgive us. It is a fantastic ride though. I highly recommend it. Here we are after Toy Story riding the carousel, which is next to Toy Story in California Adventure.
My kids both love ladybugs so this was a fun ride for them in the Bug's Life section of California Adventure. I'm sure Cynthia could correct me on the names of all these rides and places, but I'm doing my best.
Preston and Paige loved seeing these Antz. Preston is trying to tickle one of them. And if you'll notice the outfits for Paige and I, see how well Paige matched us? She looked all over the hotel room that morning to find her blue jean capris so she could 'be like mommy'. She even wore her hat all day long. That will always be a sweet memory for me. Thank you Paige for wanting to be like me. I love you.
Believe it or not, peanut butter sandwiches from home turned out to be a great hit for us. I think no matter how much fun you're having you still enjoy a little taste of home and something familiar. I think this simple lunch fulfilled that need for all of us. Here we are enjoying our lunch - well, it can't be complete without Cheetos and soda pop, right? Thank you, Doug, for that.
Since we were having fond memories of home Preston decided to get some loves from mom. He loves to rub his cheeks on mine and push his forehead into my chin. We call it giving 'cheeks'. Here he is getting some loves. I really like it when he gives me 'cheeks'. He has such soft squishy cheeks.Our last episode with Disney characters. The kids were such good sports all throughout the trip with getting their picture taken at every turn.Paige, however, couldn't take it anymore and refused to be in this one. But Preston enjoyed it and poked Eeyore in the eye. He thought that was hilarious. Unfortunately we didn't get that picture, but here he is laughing about it.I had to include this birthday party scene from the Winnie-the-Pooh ride. Paige and Preston both love birthday parties and who better to share one with then some of their favorite characters. Paige's hand is waving at them all. Preston fell asleep in the afternoon so we let Paige pick out another ride. She had been begging to ride Autopia every day and we never fit it in so we let her ride it finally. I don't know how any kid could hold down that gas pedal long enough to get through the whole ride. It is so stiff. She loved being able to direct the car and we held the pedal for her. Doug rode with her once and I rode with her once while Doug took Preston on the train. That was Preston's favorite ride in all of Disneyland and we rode it several times. It's the one that goes all around the whole park.Here is our last picture at Disneyland. We had a great time and are so thankful we were able to take this trip.

San Diego Temple

The most important thing I wanted to accomplish on this trip was to visit the San Diego Temple. I have been to the outside before and have always wanted to go inside. We were excited to be able to take family names on an endowment session. The San Diego Temple is absolutely beautiful and I recommend a visit to anyone who has not had the opportunity.Michelle, Doug, me and Cynthia. What a nice group!

Me and my sweetheart.

After visiting the temple and stopping for a bite to eat we spent the rest of the evening with Cynthia and her family relaxing up before our last day at Disneyland. Here is how Preston chose to spend a lot of his time. I think we all needed some down time.

Disneyland - Day 3

We decided to take the kids to Toon Town and let them do whatever they wanted this morning. As we entered the post office we got a nice surprise. Goofy was waiting there for us. The kids were absolutely thrilled. They went right up to him and got to play with him for a while since no one else noticed he was there. Our traditional Cheshire Cat picture. We can't let our trip go by without this picture.
I thought it would be fun to show several pictures with the Disney characters. These are the ones where the kids are at least looking at us.

In the afternoon we met up with Teresa's family, Cynthia, Callie and Hannah for more adventure. We rode the roller coaster and the brand new Toy Story ride and then sat down for some refreshing ice cream.
Poor Preston got a nice gouge between his eyes from one time when I was trying to pick him up and somehow scratched his head. I feel bad that all his pictures have this gouge in them. He has such an engaging smile. What is he so happy about?What kid doesn't like Lightning McQueen? Preston was so excited to see a full scale Lightning. I think that made his day.We celebrated Paige's birthday at Goofy's Kitchen with Jaime and Teresa and their family. We had a great time. Here is Paige with her birthday kit booty.In the middle of eating dinner Goofy comes out with a big bucket of pots and pans and plays music for the kids to dance to and bang on their pans to the beat. They loved this and had a great time. Afterwards we got this picture with Goofy. Preston is his usual self, trying to grab whatever he can.
Paige and Preston showing Dale their balloons. We had a great time and enjoyed our time with Jaime, Teresa, Katelyn, Amanda, Seth and Hayley. It's always enjoyable spending time with family. We love you!

Disneyland - Day 2

Today I woke up and Paige had picked out some clothes for me. She loves to have us match. She got out a red Mickey shirt for me and one for her and she picked out some jeans shorts for me and a pair for her to wear. You can't see our outfits so well, but don't we look cute? This picture is on the shuttle on the way to Disneyland for the day.Paige calls this ride 'who are you'. If you've ever seen the cartoon Alice in Wonderland you will recognize the character I'll post below. It's a caterpillar that says to Alice, "Who are you?" So that's his name according to Paige. She loves this ride. We rode it several times.Who are you. This was taken at the Disney parade later in the evening.P&P were very excited to see the house from Alice in Wonderland. They obviously like this show. They kept trying to open the door, but unfortunately it's just for show.A day isn't complete without a ride on the teacups - or several rides, depending on how long the line is. Paige always picked out a blue cup. We did have to ride in a pink one once and she was okay with that after I told her we would just go out the exit if she didn't want to ride in the pink one. Sometimes you don't get what you want because someone else already got it. It's a hard lesson for a kid. I should also point out the cat in Paige's arms. We let the kids pick out a toy at the Disney store in Provo before we left. We gave it to them on the first day at Disneyland. You'll see this cat that Paige picked in many of the pictures. It's Marie from Aristocats.This is Buzz Lightyear from Preston's favorite ride - or is it Doug's? Whoever's favorite ride it is, we rode it a LOT. Need I mention that you shoot at targets? And who got 566,000 points? Not Doug!! I beat the socks off him when the ride stopped and we could sit and shoot to our heart's delight. He picked a target that got him 100 points a shot and I picked one that got me 4,000 points a shot. Poor Doug. Other than that one time, he beat me the rest of the time.
It's a long day for a little kid when he's playing all day. Preston had a nap every day in the stroller. He can sleep anywhere if he's really tired. That worked out well for him and for us. It's hard to have to go back to the hotel for naptime and then come back. He gets all snuggly in the afternoon and zonks out. Then we put him in the stroller. You gotta love a stroller. Preston is almost 40 lbs.
Look who we found! These people were in line for Splash Mountain so of course we joined them. Paige was thrilled. We had fun for the rest of the day with Teresa's family. Pictured here is Seth in front, Katelyn in the middle and Jaime and Amanda in back.We went to eat at Tortilla Joe's in the evening, which turned out to be a fiasco. It took up the whole rest of our evening. We waited forever to ride the monorail over to Downtown Disney. We ate and then shopped a little bit. We planned to ride the monorail back to Disneyland and when we got almost to the front of the line Paige was in desperate need to use the restroom. Doug took her and we just let people go in front of us for the next monorail trip. Little did we know there was only one train left. At the point of entrance for the monorail they wouldn't let Doug back in. He told them he had a party waiting for him. So with almost no time to spare Jaime ran down and verified for the Disney people that Doug was truly being waited on and they finally let him through. They ran up and got there just in time to ride the last train of the day. We got to ride at the front of the monorail. They would only let 5 people ride up there so Amanda was the lucky one that ran up and rode with us. It was a great view and we found out this new train cost $6 million. Who would have guessed?