Disneyland Birthday for Brooke

Brooke turned 6 back on December 20th, but our passes didn't allow us to go to Disneyland until January. A little belated, but very enjoyable.


Brooke is already a good mama. She tucks her babies in at night to sleep.

Brooke was very excited to go with a few friends to Disneyland for a belated birthday celebration. This was before the rain came. It was a few Fridays ago (12th ?).

We went on very few rides in the 6 hours they wanted to stay. This is the roller coaster at the back of Toon Town (rode it twice).

Jed, Kelly, and Brooke enjoyed playing for hours inside Toon Town.

The tot lot there allows for their great imaginations to flow. There was also a lot of hiding, chasing and jumping off of low structures.

Didn't buy the light up ears, but definitely tested them out :)

The kids picked these light up multi-colored mickey mouse light sabers as their goody bag treat to take home from the birthday celebration. We may have received a few dirty looks from people watching them battle one another. They love them!

We then stopped at a McDonald's playland for dinner on the way home. Gotta love that these kids want to eat there and not at Disneyland. Jed then stayed at our house to play the Wii and play-doh. Brooke loved how the party just kept on going.

Brooke's friends know exactly what this girl likes: Fashionable clothes all the way. Kelly knew that Brooke wanted something from Princess and the Frog...so she gave Brooke a dress, matching shoes and headband from the movie packed in a reusable cloth bag. Of course she has already worn the outfit and it all fit perfectly. Jed gave her an adorable dress and shiny black purse. She has also worn it and stuffed the purse full of things to keep her busy. This girl loves to accessorize.

Disneyland on a Friday night

Sorry...no pictures, I was traveling light.

We did it! We made it to Disneyland with our new passes for the first time in 2010. Thanks again to our grandparents. We ate dinner before we left on the journey. So our backpack was filled with drinks, Cheetos and candy for the crew of 6. I thought it went very smoothly. It was not that crowded and our kids made it until almost 11 (when they close). Next time we plan to see the fireworks up closer instead of over by Autotopia. They have some kind of amazing show that includes the castle, fire and whatever else they have put together. Disney does everything so well. We have plans to go several more times this month, including Lee and myself going (without kids) and eating at the Blue Bayou. This Friday, Brooke will go with a few of her friends to celebrate a belated birthday. I will be sure to take some photos.

Wasn't sure if there was still a family activity that all 6 of us could do anymore, but Disneyland still has it going on. Everyone was happy. Backpack of goodies sure helped while waiting in line. Brooke had her siblings guess the color of skittle she was holding behind her back, if you guessed it correctly, she gave it to them to eat. If they didn't guess correctly, she quickly ate it herself. You can quickly figure out who was eating the majority if the skittles - but the other kids were glad to have any at all (since the skittles belonged to Brooke).

Look at my Baby!

Baby doll that is. What would church be at Christmas time without all the pretty dresses? I will need to get a picture of Perry in his new shirt, belt and tie...another day.

Brooke picked out a dress for Grandma Suzette to buy for her (really a birthday present) with a matching dress for her doll.

Libby's mom did a good job in picking this one out. I was even able to successfully wash it! Grammy will notice the stockings and shoes she bought go well with the dress. Gotta love it when you can mix and match.

Sage likes to dress up for any occasion - the boots just make her look even older. Really she is only 8!

Here are more shots of the baby and her baby dolly (maybe dollie?)

Trip to Vegas

Sometimes things just work out...My parents arranged for a time share unit at the Grandview, 7 miles south of the strip. Nice place - I would recommend it for families. Lee took on the task of driving my former spouse's truck to Vegas - which my brother bought and took back to St. George with him. Life has some crazy turns in it. My brother taught me to drive and he always told me to look farther out and not right in front of the car. I think there are some life lessons hidden in that message, don't you think?

Me with my brother, Scott and his wife Gail.

Swimming in the heated pool...with outside temperatures maybe reaching 50.

We just can't get enough of the water. 3 days straight in the water.

This little girl loves the water. We would swim and then the 3 girls would take a bath in the big jacuzzi tub.

Sage loves to do lots of flips under the water. Sadly, Perry seems to get a rash every time he swims and Libby's face breaks out (dries out) horribly after swimming in the chlorine. I think they do better in salt water pools. Also need to say...nothing stopped them from swimming.

We also took the opportunity to bowl at this big new complex called South Point (we could walk to from our place). They had 64 lanes (Vegas just has to do things BIGGER).

Our trip included a day at Circus Circus inside the Adventuredome. The kids loved all the rides over and over again. We even did Laser Tag as a family. They had a buffet that you could eat at all day for one price. Yes, they put a wrist band on and you kept going back for more. Breakfast was our favorite. It was nice because we were there for 12 hours!

Another day included shopping at the outlets for Staci and Sage, while Lee took the others to a nice large park by our place.

We drove home on New Year's Eve with NO traffic! Then we slept in...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Christmas present

This year Brooke's cousin, Gavin gave her a present that all the kids enjoyed. Brooke wanted to take it to Las Vegas with us, since she didn't have time to build it before we left. Gavin's dad found this building set at a Japanese store. It is very unique in the way the pieces snap together.

Brooke built smaller items and then Perry took the job of building "bigger" items.

Libby created this little "basket" as she calls it. The kids had built carrots and strawberries (see below) and then put them inside.

This building set was a real hit!