Surprise....HAWAII!!! 2012 Day 1

Last summer we booked a family trip to Hawaii. Aubrie and Boston have been asking for years, especially Boston. Ben and I decided that it would be most ideal to wait until Sophia was 5 so that all our kids could appreciate it and remember it! I think the kids finally gave up on ever going, because by the time we booked it they weren't asking anymore. That made it even easier to surprise them. We kept the trip a secret from everyone, minus a few family members, knowing that if anyone in the Ward knew, it would definitely get out. Well, I didn't realize that our Spring Break fell over Ethan's baptism date, so in the last week it got out where we were going. I threatened (lol) the people who knew with secrecy! I was so nervous the Sunday before we left that someone would mention something. When we sat down in sacrament a guy behind us said, "Are you excited for your cruise?" Luckily he was misinformed and we went on the Disney Cruise last Spring Break, so we were able to play that off. We made it out of church with no spoilers!

The kids kept asking what we were doing for the break, and kept begging to do something. Whenever the boys would ask, "Can you take me to Jump Street?" or " Can you take me to (fill in the blank) over the break", I would just say "Sure!" They thought I was the best Mom ever, and I knew they would forget all about it when we were in Hawaii! Aubrie wouldn't settle for any of those things, and kept begging me to convince Ben to go to Rocky Point. On Sunday, I pretended to have a "talk" with Ben in our room, and then told the kids that we were going to California to go to Disneyland. We told them we were going to leave really early so we could get to the park early. We all hurried and got to packing. Some of my friends thought it was nuts that I waited that long to pack, but that would have ruined the surprise, and besides its not hard to pack for Hawaii! If you forget something, you can buy it there.

We had to leave our house at 5 am to get to the airport on time. That meant I was up at 4 and the kid up at 4:30. We successfully made it out in time, and stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way out. We took took Happy Valley to the 17 to throw them off our normal route. As we took the exit to the Airport the Aubrie said, "What are we doing here?" We yelled "Surprise! We are flying to California!" They were so excited. Sophia was squealing with delight! When we got the Hawaiian check out counter, they started to get suspicious. We convinced them that it was only a leg on Hawaiian that stopped in LA, and that the tickets were cheap because they didn't have enough Phoenix flyer's going to Honolulu. They finally bought that when I started to make them feel guilty for thinking we would go to Hawaii after we just went on a cruise. When we were at the gate and handed them their tickets, Aubrie saw the destination as Honolulu. They weren't jumping around in excitement like I thought they were. Aubrie said later it was because there were people around. If I had to do it over, I think when we got to the airport I would have told them then. It was still a great surprise and they were excited!

The flight was a long 6 1/2 hours. For some reason I thought it was 5. It made me even more grateful we waited till Sophia was 5 to make the trip. A new iPad (Ben's little surprise), iPods, etc. entertained them. Boston also had his Hunger Games book to take up some of his time. I was SOOOO tired that I couldn't see straight to read, but couldn't sleep either.

We arrived in Honolulu around noon. Our first stop was Big Kahuna's Pizza. I emailed my friend Molly who lived there, and got all the good eating spots, etc. The pizza and cheese balls were Super yummy, but we ordered way too much. We took our full belly's to the hotel. We stayed at the Marriout Ko Olina Beach Club. It is so Heavenly there! We didn't realize check in wasn't until 4. We walked the premises, and crashed on the couches in the lobby for about an hour, before our room was ready. We got settled and then headed by the pools. The pools are so great. They have an adult pool, a kid pool with a beach, and they have all these Lagoons that connect to each other. There are about 6 hot tubs around all these pool, and by the Lagoons there is a slide. On Monday's the Resort has a show. They have Hawaiian dancers, and singing, and the famous Samoan guy that used to be at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Now he works for that resort and does a small show on Monday, and a Huge Fire show on Tuesdays. Part of the Monday show they invited the kids to come up on stage and dance. The guy then picked three kids for a dance off. The first child he chose was Sophia. She stole the crowd with her cute self, and her awesome hip shaking. She thought it was so cool that she got to do that, and she wasn't shy one bit! She liked being up there. I think we have a born performer on our hands!

After the show the kids swam, and Ben and I sat in the hot tub. We met so many people that night. One couple in particular comes with their family every year, and we hit it off really great. We look forward to seeing them there again, and in the meantime are staying on contact through Facebook. After soaking ourselves for awhile, we headed back so we could go out and get groceries. OUCH!!! The food prices are ridiculous in Hawaii, and even more ridiculous at the Safeway in Hawaii. They are building a Walmart that opened a few days after we left. We are looking forward to that next time, since we realized that Target was even cheaper than Safeway, so Walmart must be even better. When I got back to mainland and went grocery shopping everything seemed so cheap! After shopping we went home and had cereal for dinner. LOL We felt heavy after the pizza. Oh, Ben did get Wendy's and said that was the best hamburger he has ever had. I think he just said that since we gave him a hard time for getting Wendy's. We were so tired, being on Arizona time and waking up so early that day, we went to be before 10. It was a good thing because we needed all the sleep we could get for the big day that laid ahead!

e.g. scooters, vacation, fall

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Big Kahuna's!

Cheesy Balls!

A Close to a Great Gymnastic year. Y

Aubrie's last meet was athe Saturday before Spring Break. It was at Peoria High and there were no other family events, so this was the first time that Ben and the family got to see her compete. Aubrie did really well on the Vault and Beam. She placed 2nd and 3rd, (respectively) and 3rd all around. She medaled in every event, so she came home with 5 medals. She was beaming the whole time. I was so happy that she had a great meet when Ben was there. Perhaps that contributed to it. She is such a hard worker, and so dedicated to the sport. If Ben would build her a beam or bar in the backyard, I know I wouldn't be able to get her off of them. Despite the rigorous school work she has, she has stuck with it. I am also very proud at her willingness to not compete on Sundays. Despite the fact that she has missed half of her meets, because they fell on a Sunday, she is still one of the top girls in her group, without that experience. I know the Lord has blessed her for sticking with that commitment. The last meet is actually this Sunday. It is the Championship meet. She was VERY sad to miss it. At her level it's the last meet of the season, so it's not a qualifying meet. But all her teammates were begging her to come. She started to cry a bit, when she found out. We had a good talk in the car, and she realized that going just once would be a slippery slope where people wouldn't respect her decision as much. Luckily, she will be moving up to level 5 next year, where there are less Sunday meets. She is excited to finally be with some more girls her own age. Since she started just two years ago, she was working out with little girls from the beginning. She worked hard to move up fast, and finally it will pay off next year. I don't know how long she will take this sport, but whatever she does, she really gives it her all!

Ethan's 8!

I only have on Game App on my phone, and that would be Angry Birds. When Angry Birds came out, I remember Ben and I getting addicted to it for a few nights, and then I was done with it. Of course it does serve it's purposes, like keeping Sophia quiet or occupied when I need her to be. I never thought that this game would go so huge, to the point that I would be doing an Angry Bird birthday party in the future! About six months ago Ethan used his own money to buy an Angry Bird stuffed animal. Ben didn't want him to buy it, telling me he would never use it. Well, I let him use his money as he wanted, and he still sleeps with it every night, and brings it on trips. He has become a fanatic of Angry Birds since. Luckily he isn't the only kid who is in love with these funny creatures, so when he told me he wanted an Angry Bird party there was plenty of ideas, and clip art on Pinterest to give him an AWESOME party!

This year we had his party on a half day, which was a week before his actual birthday. We did that for Boston this year, and he had a good turn out! I wanted to make sure Ethan's 8th birthday was awesome, since Boston's 8th birthday was a disaster (not having a kid in football we weren't thinking when we scheduled a Friday night party!). Boston even said to Ethan, I hope your 8th party is better than mine! (so sad) Well Ethan had a bigger turn out than I expected, and had to make a mad dash to find enough party favors, since I had bought them a month early.

I put a lot of time into this party. When the kids were younger I would spend hours making a cake and preparing favors, etc. Now I throw parties together in a few hours. I reverted back to the old ways, wanting to make this one special. I prepared these cute lanterns; thanks to my friend Monique for the idea. Then I made these party favor buckets. Inside was an Angry Bird notepad, stickers, pencil topper, and fruit snacks! I had a lot of activities planned, and the most popular and first activity was an Angry Birds game. My Awesome husband sat outside in the cold (for Arizona anyway ) the night before and filled up 50 water balloons for this game. We divided the kid into two teams, and one team used boxes to make a structure where they nestled green water balloons (representing the pigs), and each kid got a chance to throw one balloon at the boxes trying to break the green balloons. Then they switched. The team that broke the most green balloons won that round. That was by far the most favorite event of the party. After three rounds there were a few extra balloons they had fun with! The next event was the Angry Birds piñata. We haven't done one in awhile, and like I said, I was going all out! The kids had fun with that, once we figure out a place to hang it, after it broke of the hook we screwed into the patio drywall. The swing set worked!

The next event was swimming. Unfortunately I thought I turned on the hot tub, but found out I only turned on the pump when several boys were screaming as they jumped in. They soon got over it, and even migrated to the pool. Boys are CRAZY! Boston's friends get in the pool every year at his party, and his is in NOVEMBER! After swimming, Ethan opened gifts and we sang happy birthday and had cake and ice cream inside. This year I got smart and just bought those ice cream cups, so we didn't' have to scoop it! Wish I would have thought of that one about 11 years ago (Aubrie's first party)! Ethan got so many gifts. Most of them were Legos, and he also got a few awesome Angry Birds things, including a shirt. He was super happy, and so my mission was accomplished! After his party Boston and Ethan spent the next few days building every Lego kit he got.

For his actual birthday I surprised him and pulled him out of school for lunch. Ben met me at the place of his choice, which was In & Out! He was so surprised, and was beaming the whole time! I have really started to see a big change in him. He is becoming more mature and responsible (when he remember to be:). So lucky to have him for a son. He is so creative, smart, and has a tender heart. His eyes still light up when he smiles, and his laugh is so infectious, that Aubrie still comments on how she just loves his laugh. He is a good student, and wants to do what is right. What a great 8 years I have had being his Mother.

Off to a good start!

Well this month is off to a good start! The only thing we had Saturday (sports related) was a soccer game for Ethan, which was at the CCV fields! So the whole family was able to go, along with Steve and Lorraine. I kept praying they wouldn't get killed (which seems to be happening a lot lately). Ethan played goalie the first half, and played awesome. He only allowed one goal to get past him. The second half he was on the field and on FIRE!!! He scored 4 goals. He was unstoppable. He just plowed the field and ran over anyone who was in his way. He was always great to make sure to check on anyone who got hurt in the process. I was so happy for him, because he really needed the win! He has been working so hard, always practicing with his siblings in the backyard, and it is finally paying off. It was great watching his eyes light up with every goal! It was also great that he was able to do so well when all the family was there to cheer him on. Maybe that's what helped him!

This week, we had a conference with Aubrie's math teacher and student couselor. It was a great meeting, and I only see her doing better in Math going forward. It is going to take a little extra effort on my part, but her teacher had basically given me the freedom to structure her homework in a way that I think will be the most effective. I appreciate the flexability, and look forward to Aubrie doing better.

Things are also going smoother in the chore department. Last month I typed up some chore cards, and the kids are finally getting used to them. They take the nagging out of chores (will mostly). The older two almost always have clean rooms. And giving chores on Saturday's has been so much easier. The kids are working towards getting points, which turn into rewards, and that has been a motiviation for Aubrie and Boston especially! I have also found a piano practice solution for Aubrie, that seems to be working. Boston is excelling in piano, and is starting to really pick up on his sight reading. He started a new book and has one more after this one. I see him really enjoying his practicing, and all those years of hard work, on part, are really paying off. All those times I wanted to throw in the towel, I'm glad I stuck to making him stick with it! I'm sure he is too, but doesn't want to confess that quite yet.

So there are a few things that are getting things off to a good start! BTW I have to say that I'm finally embrassing Valentines Day. I always hated this holiday, but this year I'm starting to like it. Not for me (still think it's dumb for adults), but for the kids! Such a great holiday for kids!

January? What January?

Chilling at the Marriot

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Seriously, did we even have a January this year? It sure doesn't feel like it. That month flew on by, and honestly I am glad. The new year started with LOTS of studying for Aubrie, which meant no homework "yeah!", but lots of stress. She had her Pre-Comps which are equivalent to semester finals. It was a great opportunity for her to learn how to study for finals, but also drove such fear in so many (since the exams were half of their quarter grade) that it sent them running in flocks. The first week back to school Aubrie would come home saying, or texting me from school, that someone else was leaving her school. Aubrie started to get nervous, but I had to keep giving her encouragement, that she would do well. While I liked not having the Math homework every night, it was nice when she was finally done with testing. I also enjoyed the actual testing days because she had early release, so she actually got to come home and relax a bit. I'm impressed with Aubrie's diligence in studying. She did much better than she thought she would. Her only struggle was Math, and now we are working on that to help her. Beyond that, she pulled all A's and B's. It's a lot of work, but what she is getting out of it is invaluable. Boston is actually acting a little excited to attend Basis. I know he will miss his friends, and they will miss him terribly. But this will be a good experience for him, also. We just registered him in January! Andso it's official... two kids in Basis next year!

The weekend after Aubrie's pre-comps was her gym meet in San Diego. The gym said she could go, but that we should not have high expectations because it would be very competitive and Aubrie had only one gym meet under her belt. I decided we could go for fun, and fit a visit to the Frandsen's and Danny. I hadn't been to San Diego since I was a kid, so I was looking forward to it. Well, I guess I should say once it got close and I finalized hotel, and visits, I was looking forward to it! I ended up pulling Boston and taking him and Sophia with us, too. Ben stayed back with Ethan so he could work, and also so they wouldn't miss Ethan's soccer game. It was good for Ethan to have that one on one time with his Dad. It was also great for me to have one on one time with the other three. We had a great time. The drive wasn't bad. We took Ben's car, and so not having movies was a bit of a problem. It was hard sharing one Ipad and one set of earphones:) Sophia's legs were also hurting her later into the trip, and she was crying a lot. I felt bad for her. Besides that, the trip went well. We stayed at a Marriott across the street from her meet. Of course, Sophia and Aubrie wanted to go to the hot tub as soon as we checked in. Boston hung back in the room and watched some sports, while I took the girls to the pool. When we got back we watched some x-games type biking competition, and then we went to bed.

The next morning we got up and ready, and headed to a breakfast place nearby that came recommenced by the front desk. The food was GREAT! Pancakes to DIE for! The portions were out of control. The service was AWFUL though. I could hardly track anyone down to pay, and we were running late for the morning work out, which Aubrie needed to get familiar with their equipment. We finally paid and rushed over to the the meet. Aubrie was able to get about 30 minutes of a work out in. The meet was about and hour after they closed the open work out. We sat around in line for that hour. Sophia found a friend (name Sophia who was also 4) to play with, and Boston played on his ipod.

The meet went much better than we expected. Aubrie's first event was the vault and she got a 9.075. She was beaming and doing her little "boodie" dance, she was so excited. He next event was bars. She got something like and 8.5. She was happy about that score, also. The third event was beam. She has been so nervous about beam, because at her last meet she fell. I was so nervous for her, too. Everyone keeps telling her she has great form, and all she needs is the confidence, and she will kill the beam. Well, she ended up KILLING the beam! She got a 9.175! She was ELATED when they flashed up her score! With the Beam out of the way, I was relaxed, knowing that the floor is her strength! I shouldn't have relaxed. She was so pumped up from her other events she wasn't concentrating and missed an element on the floor. She had such an adrenaline rush going, she didn't even realize what she had done, until we had played it back to her on the video. It caused her to get below a 9. If she would have not missed that event, she would have placed all around. She still got 3rd on the beam and 6th on vault, which was more than she ever expected to get! We were super proud of her.

After the meet, we rushed out to try and beat the traffic, that was doomed to kill us on the way to the Frandsens. I really wanted to see the San Diego Temple, but knew there was no time. I headed out, with the directions Trina gave to me. There were two ways to go, and I randomly chose one. I was so THRILLED as we passed the San Diego temple, without even knowing it would be on the freeway I chose. It was as BEAUTIFUL as it is in all the pictures. The kids were in awe. Soon after the temple, we hit bad traffic. It ended up taking about an hour to get to the Frandsens. We met at a burger joint close to their house. The kids had fun reuniting! It had been over two years since they had seen each other, but you would have never known it! Friendships like that are the best. The kids had fun cracking peanuts on their heads, that were provided by the burger joint. (The indention's were still on Boston's head the following day). When we got back to the Frandsen's, the kids watched a movie and Trina and I caught up. There was a lot of catching up to do! After the movie, we took the kids to the neighborhood pool for a while. Sophia was freezing, and wanted to go. I was able to hold her out until the pool closed. When we got back, we headed to bed. I realized that I had to get up at 6:00 in order to get to Danny's in time. We headed out the next morning at 7:30. It was raining, and so it delayed us a bit. Fog was so bad that at one point I could only see 3 lines in the road ahead of me. The kids were a bit freaked out. We got to Danny around 11:30. He was so happy to see us, and it was great to see him. We stayed till 4:00. It was so hard to leave. Time flew visiting him. I'm looking forward to another visit with him. He loves my kids so much, and they just adore him. I'm lucky to have such a great brother, and they are lucky to have him for an uncle.

After our visit we headed home. The trip home was nice. It's not a bad trip in Ben's little zippy car. When we got home, Ben was at the Adult Session of Stake Conference. I told the kids we should try and have everything done before he got back. Boston was on FIRE! He emptied most of the car himself, and had unpacked his things, and helped me with so much, including emptying the trash, cleaning out the car, etc. He is always great at working fast and efficiently! When he has fire under him, there is no stopping him. I'm glad we took the trip! It was so fun!

The following morning was Stake Conference, and the whole stake already knew that we would have a stake change. Wagner had received a call as mission president, so there had to be some changes. The new President (Hinton) had just been called as a stake counselor about six months ago. Ben knows him a bit, and really likes him. They also called Bishop Pace in as a counselor. It didn't surprise me, but it was still hard to keep back the tears, because I LOVE having him as Bishop. He is one of the most caring Bishop's I have ever had! We are still waiting around for a replacement. All the men are like chickens waiting to be plucked!

The rest of the month kept me busy, with a lot of friends having needs. I felt like I have been cooking up a storm, just to keep up with the meals. It has been good to serve, and keep my mind off my own problems. I also took time to have lunch with a few friends, where we have been saying "We need to do lunch". It was good to have some time for myself. (Even though Sophia was with me for all of them:). I can't believe February is already here. Before I know it, Spring Break will be here! YIPPIE!!! We have planned a surprise vacation for the kids, and I can't wait to see their reaction. Here is to a good FEBRUARY! I actually want this month to go by just as fast as the last!

Two Weeks of Heaven

Two weeks of Heaven is what Christmas Break is for me. Free of homework, early morning scedules, and extracuriicular's. I literally have been looking forward to this break since the first week of school. I remember after many frustrating nights helping Aubrie with her long list of homwork telling myself, "Just get to Christmas, just get to Christmas!" This year, since Christmas fell at the very beginning of our vactaion, we decided to extend our typical New Year Utah trip, by following it up with a trip to California.

Orginally, we planned on leaving the Thursday after Christmas, but Ben came home early Wednesday and talked me into leaving that afternoon. I quickly packed and we left around 2:00. The trip went really fast, until we were on the 20 pass almost to the 15. Our back suspension went out AGAIN and we had to drive the car that way for the 2 remaining hours to Provo. Poor Aubrie took the very back seat this trip, and she got the brunt of the bounding. We stayed the night at the Provo Fairfield, where we typically stay for the 4th.

Ben woke up early and dropped our car off at the dealership, and rented a car. While we were waiting to hear on our car, we all piled in the rental car for our errands for the day. Our first stop was the hospital. We got on our way to Utah the night before that Amber was in labor. She had her baby that night, so we got to go and visit her first thing in the morning. Aubrie was elated over her new cousin. Her and I didn't want to stop holding her. I LOVE newborns and certainly could not get enough of her. Boston held her for awhile, and Ethan and Sophia just watched. After our visit with Amber, we headed to Great Grandma/Grandpa Jenkins. There we visited with them, gave them our gift, and the kids and Grandpa played the piano. We then got lunch at Brick Oven, per Aubrie's request. I only got the soup and salad this time, and the kids all got the pasta bar, except Boston. He got a burrito from Taco Bell on the way there. LOL After Brick Oven we headed to the BYU bookstore. We all picked up some BYU parofanlia. Boston replaced the hoodie he lost, and the girls got shirts. I think Ethan got a football. Oh and Sophia got a dress. ( This week she finally wore it, and Ben asked her if she was going to wear that when she met her husband at BYU and she said, "NO! THIS IS A 4T! WHAT IN THE HECK ARE YOUR TALKING ABOUT?" haha) After BYU we went to Sub Zero. It is an ice cream store that freezes your ice cream with liquid Nitrogen. We had never been there before and thought we would try it out. First you pick your milk base (non-fat, etc), then any flavors, and then your add ins. They mix it in a bowl as they add liquid Nitrogen. It was very cool (double entandra)and yummy. We then went to check to see if our car was done. We still had about another hour to kill so we went up to Rock Canyon and walked around. We were very lucky that our car was fixed so quickly, and that it stayed fixed this time. We were almost convinced that the Lord was trying to tell us to get a new car, after we swore that if anything happened to it this year, we would trade it in that day! Once we got our car, we headed up to Centerville to stay with the Godowns. The first night there, the kids played, and Aubrie hung out with the adults and played a new dice game similar to Yatzee. Things got a bit crazy later that evening, so we called it quits and went to bed, to get ready for our long day that was ahead of us.

Friday we spent up in Midway. We headed there around Noon, after a stop Costa Vida. It is like Cafe Rio, but not as good in my opinion. Our first Midway stop was the ice skating rink. Aubrie LOVES ice skating, and so do I. Boston didn't last long. He gets frustrated when things don't come to him naturally, and he doesn't like doing things he isn't good at. He takes after his father a bit in that area. One of the reasons he never likes to water ski:) Ethan and Sophia weren't doing well at first, but they picked it back up and were improving by the end of the session. Aubrie also started getting her backward skating down. The ice wasn't as smooth as it was last year, because it wasn't cold enough to freeze fast enough. That made it a bit harder to skate. That should have been a sign that the sledding slopes wouldn't be the greatest either. After skating we had some time to kill, so we went to a nearby park and played for a bit. Then we headed to the lodge to get ready. It's quite the process getting on snow clothes for 4 kids who are not used to the order of things. "No, Gloves then Coats!" Sledding was fun, for the mere fact that all the kids could go this time. FIRST time EVER! I think Sophia would have been happy with the just the lift. She thought that was so cool. We had fun throwing snowballs at one another on the 5 minute lift ride. That made up for the slushy slopes. Every run included us getting stuck half way down, and having to give the kids and ourselves a push for the other half. Nothing like the times we went so fast we were practically hitting the fences at the end of the run. Still good memories though, and nice tempreatures! :) After the slopes, we finished with dinner at Dairy Keen. The kids already love that place, with the indoor train, lego table, and icecream. However their affection for that place increased as we walked in to find not one, but TWO Coke 100 Flavor, machines! After a yummy dinner, that ended with shakes (my fat jeans are fitting more by the minute), we headed back to the Godowns. The kids went straight to bed and we stayed up at watched a movie with the Godowns.

The following morning we slept in. It felt good! We ran to a few places in the afternoon, including lunch at JJ's. What yummy sandwiches! Then we all took a hike up one of bountiful's trails. The houses leading up to the trails were HUGE!!! The kids were all in awe, and when we got out of the car Ethan said, "Mom, I don't feel rich anymore!" First of all, I'm glad he feels we are rich, bc that means he recognizes how blessed he is. Secondly, I think it is funny how a kids perspective can change in a second. The rest of the day we just hung out till evening. Then Aubrie babysat all the kids while we we traveled North to Roy for some great Sushi! It was a great time! The sushi was delish, and the company was even better. We had a great time. To finish our date, we stopped at a famous burger joint called Burger Bar-Home of the Big Ben. Scott saw it on TV and heard tehy had not only great burgers, but shakes. It was FREEZING, and so we sat in our car eating our shakes. We started reading the menu and realized most everything had "Ben" in it. It was hilarious reading it, thinking of Ben at the same time. We were all rolling, and decided Ben had to get out and get a picture next to the menu. We then headed home, to find Aubrie had been the fantastic babysitter she always is. She cleaned and sweeped the kitchen, cleaned up an huge blanket fort in the family room, and cleaned up the entire basement family room. She also tackled a running poopy diaper, and manged to calm down a hearbroken boy, who felt dissed by Sophia as she was spending her time with another brother. Aubrie is such a responisble babysitter. She was happy to finally get paid, since when she sits for us, her payment is her gymnasitcs tuition, etc. etc.

Earlier that day, when we made a Walmart stop for a toothbrush and pack of underwear for Ethan (a few things he forgot during our mad rush out the door), I picked up a large pack of fireworks. Natalie and I watched the kids and the Dad's shoot of the fireworks from inside, through her Dining room window! It was SUPER cold, and I was done with it! The kids all had fun taking their turns lighting the fireworks. Afterwards, they had hot chocolate, and we put them to bed. I fell asleep laying down with them, and woke up at 11:15. The adults talked till Midnight, and then we went to bed. We had a LONG drive ahead of us. We had a good time with the Godowns. They have been good friends to us.

New Years Day we headed to California. We made GREAT time all the way to Vegas. Then we hit BIG traffic. We ended up being in the car about 12 hours! We all couldn't wait to get to the Hendrickson's and our of our car! The boys had fun out on the Hendrickson's new Christmas present, a trampoline, and Aubrie had fun catching up with Jamie and Cori. They are really nice and great examples to her. I had fun getting the tour of their new house. There is a lot more room with a great bonus room upstairs with lots of storage. Just the right amount of space to make all the difference. Once the kids were settled into a movie, we roped them into watching the last few episodes of Arrested Development we had yet to finish on Netflix! We finally got to be close to Midnight. We had to get some sleep for a day of Disney ahead of us.

We decided our time of departure was 9:00. We got up at 8:00 and were all out the door, with lunches packed by 9:00. Not too bad for 12 people....8 being kids! Wehn we arrived at the Disney parking lot, the lines were ridicoulously LONG! I texted Lou and she said she had never seen it that busy. I instantly thought how the day of rides was shot. We all decided to start over at California Adventure, and it ended up being a good decision. We sent the girls to get fast passes for Soarin' while we headed for the Toy Story Mania line. The line was 40 minutes, so the kids jumped in the Screamin line and rode the roller coaster, while Lou and I held our place in line. When that ride was done, we sent the girls for Tower of Terror fast passes while we waited in line for the Ferris Wheel. After the Ferris Wheel we met up with Jon's brother and his family, and did the swings. Then we all went over to Grizzly Rapids. Sophia was a hair short of going, so Ben kept sneaking her in line, until we finally got her to the front. She was so excited that Dad was "sneaky" and got her on! We all had a great time on that ride, and Sophia thought it was hilarious how wet we were getting. After the Rapids we hit Soarin, and then headed over to Bugs Land for a kid ride, while we were waiting for all our fast passes to be ready for Tower of Terror. Sophia chickened out and so Ben got a parent pass, and gave Jon's sister and son (who also showed up) their fast passes. We 17 in our whole group. We almost filled the whole elevator. We decided we would all do something similar for the picture. Here it is! We thought we were so funny! It was a fun group. After the ride, Ben took Aubrie with his parent pass, we headed home for dinner. It ended up being a good time, despite the crowds, and we got all the good rides in.

When we got home, we got pizza for the kids, and then headed out to favorite Mexican Restaurant to meet the Hellwells. They just had a baby, and I was super excited to hold her! We got their a bit earlier than them, which worked out perfect, because I was done eating early, and had PLENTY of time to hold her while we talked. It was nice visit that had to end early, because their kids all started back to school the next day, and Jon has to get up early to teach Seminary. When we got back we watched the final episode of Arrested Development, and then they went to bed.

The next day we thought would be less crowded at Disney b/c school was in. The parking lot was pretty empty when we arrived and so we thought we were GOLDEN. Then around 10:00 everyone started showing up. It was CROWDED by 11:00. However, amongst the crowd we were lucky enough to run into Matt and Nicole, and neither one of us knew the other was going. It was a SURPRISE to say the least. We met up with them later at California Adventure for Toy Storia Mania and California Screamin. Then we split off and the kids talked me into doing the Rapids. It was only a 5 minute wait because it was dark, and since we were going home right after, I figured it would be ok. Then two really large people joined our raft, and we all got SOAKED! It was a fun time, though, and we were in the car with the heater on within 15 minutes.

After two busy days at Disney, we decided that we would skip Disney on Wednesday and drive straight home. We packed everything up and headed out. I checked the wait times on my Disney app out of curiousity, and they were are very short. The next thing I know Ben is pulling into Disney. By the time we got there everything was long (go figure) but we decided since we were there, we might as well get a few favorites in. We parked at Downtown Disney, and rode the monorail in, as to surprise the kids. We told them we were just getting breakfast at downtown Disney, and that we were going to ride the monorail really quick until the restaurant opened. They were totally falling for it, until the announcer said that it was a one way trip to Tomorrowland. Darn, the jig was up. We were glad we took the monorail, because we have never done it before (except when I was a kid), and it was cool to see the park from above, and ride close to the Matterhorn. We rode rides until around two, grabbed lunch at ToGo's (YUM) and headed home.

Overall, it was a great trip. When we pulled in to our garage, Ben told me we had travled 2100 miles in all. I find it an accomplishment that for the most part, the car rides were peaceful and uneventful! What a great Christmas Break....Do we really have to start school again?!

Olivia...ONE DAY OLD!

Ice Skating Time!

Who is this Masked Man??

Celebrating the New Year with  Sushi and Good Friends!  

Godowns Birds= Sophi'as entertainment

Our Dessert Stop...Looks like Ben is holding out on one of his Buisness Ventures......Dine and Diver Stop!

Disney with the Hendricksons

Ride Home!