DISNEYLAND!!!!

Fair warning:  this post is gonna be a total picture overload!!!  But what happens when you go to The Happiest Place on Earth?  You get picture happy.  And you just have to take a ton of pics.  And when your blog is your way of journaling/scrapbooking?  A LOT of the pics get posted!

Jake wanted to take a little vacation when he was done with finals.  My sister and her family wanted to go to Disneyland and so we planned a trip to Cali!  We left about an hour and a half after Jake's last final :)  Thanks to our tax return for making this trip possible.

I did a TON of research on cheap places to stay.  Seriously, I spent hours on the computer searching/comparing/reading reviews, until finally settling on a hotel.  We stayed at the Cortona Inn and Suites.  It was about a ten to fifteen minute walk to Disneyland (which meant we didn't have to pay for parking) and the hotel itself didn't charge for parking (which a lot of them do).  It was a decent place to stay, no complaints.

We spent the first two days of our trip at Disneyland/California Adventure.  Oh how we love that place.  And the last day we went to the California Science Center in Los Angeles and then to Huntington Beach.

{At our hotel the first day - heading to the big D!}

{Best cousins!}

{DISNEYLAND!}

{Cute kiddos}

{Kate was clapping after the Winnie the Pooh ride w/ this confused look on her face . . .}

{Ella & Emmy in their Rapunzel dresses}

{Derek & Jake were supposed to be watching the babies (and by babies I mean Kate & Dawson - they still count as babies, right?  They're almost two . . . :) ) while the rest of us rode the Matterhorn.  Apparently by babies, they thought we meant phones . . . }

{Kate loved this little door by The Mad Hatters, and she's screaming because someone had a bubble machine and there were bubbles everywhere!}

{Dawson & Kate waiting patiently while we were in line for a ride}

{Sisters!  We ate at the Blue Bayou restaurant (the one inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride).  It was fun to do once, but I probably won't do it again . . . especially after the $180 bill - ouch!  Luckily it was for both families, not just ours.}

{Teacups!}

{Kate loved the Carousel}

{Rapunzel and Flyn Rider!  Definitely worth the wait in line :)  It was the longest line we waited in - we waited for about 45 minutes}

{Kate had to get in on the action, too}

{2nd day at Disneyland!  Started on the Jungle Cruise}

{Carousel @ California Adventure}

{California Adventure - minus Kate who was taking a nap in the stroller}

{Classic Disneyland pic.  Like the girls' matching dresses?  I made 'em!}

{Dole Whip!  Definitely something we get every time we go to Disneyland.  That and the corn dogs - yum!}

{The premiere of Pirates 4 was the day after we were at Disneyland so they were setting up for it while we were there}

{Partying at the beach!}

{Wha?}

{It was actually pretty cold while we were at the beach.  I didn't even get into my suit.  But that didn't stop the kids - or the dads, for that matter!}

{Kate was laying face down in the sand, which resulted in . . .

. . . a nice little sand beard.  Oh, and she ate the sand, too . . . }

{Kate was so cold after she got out of the ocean that her toes and fingers started turning blue!  Jake had to wrap her in his sweatshirt.  That girl was freezing!}

{Waiting to eat at BJ's Pizza in Huntington Beach}

We had such a fun vacation - we can't wait to plan our next family vacation to Disneyland!!!

So Proud

I have to brag about Jake a little.

Some of you know his past, some of you don't.

Education hasn't been the easiest road he's traveled and he has worked so hard to get to where he's at.

He was recognized in March for all of his hard work and for how far he's come.  He received an award/scholarship from the Student Support Center at SUU.  Out of the over 100 students that are involved in the Student Support Center, the professors chose only four to recognize and Jake was one of them.

We are so proud of him and his accomplishments!

They held a luncheon to honor the recipients of the awards.

Here are a few pictures of the event:

{He let me tag along :) }

 {Jake receiving his award - presented by Mark Leavitt}

 {Saying a few words . . .}

 {The recipients of the awards and the Professors who nominated them}

{The man himself!}

Spring Break 2011!

Watch out, cuz there are a whole lotta pictures coming your way!

We decided to have a little fun and take the girls to Vegas during Jake's Spring Break in March.  We had so. much. fun!

We stayed at The Signature at the MGM.  So nice!  It's the same place we stayed for our anniversary in December.  We liked it so much we decided to go back.

We started our trip at the M&M Factory.  Picture overload here!  We had to get a pic with a bunch of the M&M statues:

Next, we headed next door to the Coca Cola Factory.

Best. Diet. Coke. Ever!  Actually, I think it was Coke Zero, but oh so delicious!

 {A little creepy, but one of the only pics we have of the whole family}

And we tried the Coke around the world flavors.  Some were yummy.  Some were weird.  Some were just plain disgusting.

The girls loved looking out our hotel window.  We were on the 33rd floor, which was considered the penthouse :)  You could see the airport and all of the airplanes, which the girls loved.

 {Checking out the world in their jammies}

The next day we got to spend some time at the pool!  We had 80 degree weather!  It was just what we needed and the girls LOVED swimming.

Emmy kept posing in her new swimsuit.  So sassy!

 {My girls!  Can you tell Kate is ready for her nap? Haha!}

We hung out at the hotel while Kate took her nap.  It was nice to just relax.

We wanted to do something special for Emmy so we took her to Build-A-Bear and let her build her own bear. 

Her favorite part was giving the bear a bath.  She sat there for a few minutes and scrubbed that little bear clean!

She, of course, dressed her bear in a Rapunzel dress.

Kate had fun at Build-A-Bear, too . . .

We wanted to go to The Bellagio to see the water show and the Botanical Gardens.  Both were really fun, but Emmy especially liked the water show.

{We almost have a little crackage incident here . . . hehe}

The Botanical Gardens:

Emmy, our great little photographer, took this pic:

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and went to see the Lion Habitat at the MGM.  The girls liked watching the lion's play.

Check out the lion getting ready to pounce on the ball in this pic:

Emmy LOVES getting Steamers at Starbucks:

Before we went home, we did a little shopping at Town Square and let the girls play at the park there:

They have a little stage there that Emmy just happened to find . . .

And sing on . . .

Here's what the drive home looked like:

Our trip to Vegas was so much fun!  It was nice to get away for a few days and just relax.  Spend time with family.  No laundry to do.  No house to clean.  No dishes to put away.  Just spending time together.  We need to do that more often :)

Sisters, Sisters . . .

I had a little {photo shoot} with the girls back in January.

I love it when they play together and are nice to each other!

It makes a mother happy :)

I absolutely LOVE this picture!
Oh how I love Kate's little double chin :)

 Kisses!

 Hugs!

So precious

Katers!

 

Emmy!

What beautiful girls we have!

Kate {18 Months}

Kate turned 18 months in December - yeah, that's how far behind I am!!!

Here were her stats:

{Height} - 32.5 inches {75th % - which, by the way, the dr said was probably wrong since she's so. dang. tall.  The MA measured her wrong}

{Weight} - 27 lbs, 12 oz {88th %}

 {with grammy's reading glasses on}

This girl is full of life and sass!

She loves throwing tantrums and is really, really great at it.

She pulls Emmy's hair or hits her when she's mad at her.  Because of this, she gets put on time-out every now and then.  But the kicker is that she likes time-out!  After I take her out of time-out, she asks to go back . . . I don't think she gets the concept quite yet.

Kate is great at saying prayers!  We tell her what to say, and she does her best at saying all of the words.  It's so precious and so cute.

She is such a great talker and knows her animal sounds {dog, cat, horse, pig, cow, lamb, duck - the basics} and can sort of count.  Her counting sounds like this,

"one, six, nine, ten!"  I love it when she does that :)

She knows one of her shapes - the circle!  And she can sort of draw it.  She will keep drawing around and around and say, "circle!"

Her "lamby" {pictured in the top and bottom photos} is attached to her hip.  She can't go anywhere without lamby!  Needless to say, lamby gets washed every week.

Kate is a total daddy's girl!!!!  If daddy is home, she wants nothing to do with her mom.  If I try to pick her up or console her in any way, she denies me!  She just wants her dad.

She loves watching Tinkerbell and Diego.  They are her favorites!

Her favorite foods are berries {of any kind}, olives, hot dogs, applesauce and green beans.  She has always been such a great eater - SO unlike her sister.  Oh, and she LOVES her milk!

{swimming at the new aquatic center}

Kate Isabella is so spunky and so stubborn!

What are we going to do when she is a teenager?!

I'm a little worried about that one . . . 

But there's no doubt about it - our family would not be the same without this little ray of sunshine in it!

It's been so long . . .

I'm Fired.  F-I-R-E-D, Fired.  With a capitol "F"!

My poor little blog has been neglected lately and it's time I get my booty going and update it.

I will be doing a few different posts to get this blog nice and updated.

And we are still going private.  I made one last announcement on Facebook and am waiting to see if anyone else wants an invite before I make the switch.  So it will be sometime this week.  Just thought I'd let ya'll know since I know you're waiting in anticipation . . .

Bath time at our house . . .

Kate LOVES baths!  

Here she is, excitedly waiting for the tub to fill up:

This picture makes me SO happy!  I smile every time I look at it!  How come baby bums are so cute?!

And I swear, Kate has pooped in the tub more times than I can count.  What's up with that???  Emmy has NEVER pooped in the tub!

And here is Emmy after her bath, tap shoe and all.  She doesn't care that it's way too big for her :)

She is our singing and dancing fool!

She will often tell me to stop singing because she wants to sing.  And I have to often remind her that whoever wants to sing is allowed to sing.  The little stinker!