Disneyland- Day One

We were all excited to go to Disneyland. Kyle and I haven't been since we were like 9 years old so lots has changed. Kyle had suggested leaving Chelsea and Lindsey behind (they wouldn't remember it anyways) so that's what we did and it worked out fabulously. They got to go spend the week with Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Craig. Funny thing is Kate and Preston were jealous of Chelsea and Lindsey! They wanted to go to Gma's house especially when they found out their cousins would be there.

I had been bugging Kyle to go to Disneyland, but he was more resistant...didn't want to spend the money (he's quite the saver), but finally he caved and I found super cheap tickets on Alaska Airlines. They were only $63 one way and it was a non-stop flight whereas Southwest (which is what we usually fly on) didn't have a direct flight and it was more than twice as much. We seriously lucked out and were excited about the cheap plane tickets. Then Kyle's co-worker had just gone to Disneyland in December and she went through Costco Travel. So I looked into it and ended up booking our hotel and tickets through them. They threw in some sweet deals to make it even more worth it. Now that it's all over with Kyle is glad we went and he said it was worth all the money spent. :) That's right! We flew out Tuesday night and then flew home Saturday night. We had 3 1/2 days there.

We were waiting at our gate in the airport when I saw this lady, Mirtha Frost, from our ward behind the Alaska counter. She had been Kate's primary teacher for a little bit and so I went over to say hi. I knew she worked at the airport, but didn't know she worked for Alaska. It was fun chatting with her and she hooked up the kids and let us be the first to board so they could meet the pilot and sit in his seat. The pilot was so nice and even let them push some buttons. 

We got to bed around 11pm (after taking a shuttle from airport to hotel) and our hotel room was basic. Nothing fancy. The beds were supposed to be queen, but they were pretty small. The pillows were hard as rocks. I wasn't a happy camper the first night because I couldn't sleep and I had a headache. We woke up early because of the heater/air conditioner making a loud noise. Joys. I was tired, but running on adrenaline because it was "the big day"! Our hotel was literally across from the entrance to Disneyland! Sweet location. We had continental breakfast included which was nice. So off we went after breakfast!

Walking down the main street of Disneyland! We were taking it all in. I love Disneyland because they pay attention to detail. I love details. It was awesome. They had themes for every land and even the workers wore costumes for their specific theme. All this attention to detail makes it so magical! We were living in a fairy tale world for 4 days!

New Disney Shirts

We rode on Indiana Jones first. I kind of followed the plans from the book "The unofficial Guide to Disneyland" which my friend, Darbi, told me to read. I loved having a plan. Since the lines weren't that long we actually did way more on our first day than the plan had. We also didn't take a break, so we were able to do a lot. I was overwhelmed by all the information out there for Disneyland so I'm very glad I read that book. It was a big help.

Tarzan's Treehouse

Our family in front of It's a Small World- it was closed for refurbishment. We were sad to find out before we came here that several rides were going to be closed. Splash Mountain (this was supposed to be open when I came here with my family when I was 9 and now it's closed again! Still haven't ridden it!), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mad T Party, Muppet 3D vision show, Silly Symphony Swings and Grizzly River Run were all closed for refurbishment. We were bummed about a few of them. There was still tons to see and do so it was fine. I guess it gives us another reason to go back. 

Minnie's House and the dishwasher that "worked"! 

On a roller coaster in Toon Town

They stood in this long line to meet 3 princesses. They were Belle, Cinderella and Ariel, but before we got to the front of the line they switched the princesses! We got to meet Aurora, Jasmine and Tiana. These older boys (like in their 20's) in front of us with autograph books (why they were there I don't know!) were excited to see these princesses because they don't come out as often. So according to them we were lucky! haha!

Then we stood in the line to meet Merida from Brave. This line took even longer. Poor Preston and Kyle were very patient waiting for us in these princess lines! Merida and her friends were asking to see Kate's shirt and all the fairies on it. Each character was good about being that person. It was fun. The princesses would all hold their fingers and hands out all proper like. It was fun to watch. 

Matterhorn- this ride was very bumpy and jerky. We took Preston on everything he could go on. He could go on everything, but 2 rides in California Adventure. Kate went on everything. She's a daredevil. Some of the rides I felt bad for taking Preston on because even I was scared! He was a good sport. He would say he didn't want to ride any more rides, but we'd just take him anyway and most of the time he would end up liking it. I'm not posting all the pictures from the rides we went on or else that would be even more pictures!

Pixie Hollow to meet fairies! 

Autotopia- Kate was having fun driving

Nemo Submarine Voyage- this was slow and boring, but good to go on to try it out.

We had to get the traditional picture, but the building is under construction so they have that drape/covering on it. I think it's pretty clever they made it look like the building at least. 

Included in our Costco package was dinner to a restaurant. We chose Ariel's Grotto. I didn't know it was in California Adventure so we left Disneyland and went over to the other park. It was fun to walk around and check out California Adventure. Ariel's Grotto was delicious- the tri-tip is amazing. We met Ariel and other princesses. It was a fun dinner. I took this picture of Paradise Pier with the sunset while on the bridge in California Adventure. So pretty!

Then we went to Cars Land!!! This was my favorite place! I felt like I was in Radiator Springs. So fun!

It was fun to be there at night with all the neon signs on. 

We were able to meet Mater. He even talked and drove down the street. I think someone was in there and could push certain phrases to say to respond to our conversation or questions. Kyle wonders if it was remote controlled. It was pretty cool, however they worked it. Kyle touched Mater and he said something about being careful not to mess up his dents. haha!

McQueen! He even revved his engine for us.

Preston riding on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. There wasn't a wait to ride this so we rode it a couple times. I love lines like that!

Kyle and Kate in front of us. We didn't ride on the Radiator Springs Racers that night because the power had gone out so the ride was shut down. That ride is super popular and fast passes go quick, like before 10am. We were there on slow days and they still went fast. We also rode Luigi's Flying Tires, it was okay. But the whole ambience of Cars Land was awesome. The details were really good. We got back to our hotel and crashed. The pillows didn't seem as hard, probably because I was so tired. We were gone 12 hours. Long, but fun first day.

A little of this and a little of that

• A couple weekends ago, I organized a GNO (Girl's Night Out!) and we had it at my friends house, Erin, because her husband had to work that night and plus her house is bigger (I need a bigger house!). We played the salad bowl game (that's what my Mom calls it), but it's where you write nouns- people, place or thing- on 10 strips of paper and then fold them up and put them in the bowl. You divide into teams and then you take turns trying to get your team to guess what's on the strip of paper by describing the word, you have a minute and you see how many you can get in your turn. Kyle's cousin, Becky, had us play it at some family get together and I liked it. We had some adult words if you know what I mean that left us laughing. It was a great time. It actually ended up in a tie of all things. We ate yummy food (veggie tray, artichoke dip with bread, mini cheesecakes, brownies, bean dip with chips, chocolate covered donut holes, cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries and white punch) and then chatted about everything. We almost started to play Mad Gab, but then somehow we got distracted and talked the rest of the time. Most of us stayed until midnight! When I left at 7:15pm Kyle said, "see you at 11 or later" and I told him no way will I be that late. HA!

• We are getting closer to going to Disneyland. We can't wait!!! I kept getting an email of our itinerary from Costco Travel and it kept saying immediate payment. I had used my Costco credit card to pay for the deposit so I figured they would just charge that same credit card for the remainder amount when it was due. After the 2nd email I decided to call and check into it. Good thing I did. Our reservations were almost CANCELLED! Ahhh! Since it still showed up in the system I was fine and was able to pay for it. I don't remember seeing where it said I'd have to call back to pay in full. I told the lady it would be nice to just select what method of payment for when the full amount is due. She said I wasn't the first one that suggested that. Well, Costco...get on that then! All I can say is phew and we are still going. :) I'm making a little countdown with small Disney activities before we go. Lots of my friends are going this year so it's been fun to talk about it with them. Now just to get all of us healthy and stay healthy for the trip. 

New Food

I tried some new recipes last week from a food blog that my Mom told me about, Jamie Cooks it up. I chose these recipes because they looked good and were on her top recipes from 2012.

• I tried the Turkey Wonder (but I used a whole chicken instead of turkey because that's what I had). It was okay, the chicken was good, but the gravy you make from the sauce was a little too sweet for my taste. Kyle had it for leftovers the next day and said the gravy tasted better as leftovers. It was easy because you cooked the chicken/turkey in the crock pot and crock pot meals are nice because you put it in then let it cook away all day.
• I made the Butter Cream Chicken and that was delicious. The chicken was dipped in crushed Ritz crackers and the sauce was made up really quickly after the chicken was done cooking. It was a fast meal and I thought it tasted good. The gravy is similar to country gravy mixes (which we love too). 
• I also made Crispy Chicken with Creamy Italian Sauce and Bowtie Pasta. That's a mouthful to say! The chicken is dipped in crushed cornflakes! Crazy, but really good. The chicken was our favorite. The sauce was okay. I liked it, but no one else really did. We had lots of leftovers that no one ate, but me. :) The sauce was a little bland, not enough kick you could say. It reminded me of a recipe I have called Mama's Italian Chicken where you cook it in a crock pot and use Italian dressing mix. That is a much more flavorful sauce. But this new recipe uses the new cooking cream cheese. I've never used it before, only seen it in magazine, so it was kind of fun to try. 

I'll probably only make the Butter Cream Chicken again. I prepared Kyle before he came home telling him we are having something new. He likes our tried and true recipes (aka no major changes), but I'm glad he puts up with the new meals I make. Once I find good recipes we make them over and over. I think the key to being a good baker or cooker (is that a word?) is having good recipes. With Pinterest and food blogs everywhere it's been fun to try new things out.

Basketball Girl

Kate has started playing basketball through the YMCA. I was excited for her to do it because I loved basketball. She started crying when I first asked her if she wanted to play. She was scared, nervous, didn't know how to play and didn't want to be bad. Well, after telling her that's why we "practice" and get better at new things she agreed to let me sign her up. Her friend Alyssa was going to do it too so they are on the same team. Kate didn't want to do it if she didn't have Alyssa or someone that she knew on her team. But of course, now she loves it and has so much fun. And she's excited because they get treats and drinks after games. It's so expensive for things like this over here. I guess I should just be glad we are only having to pay for 1 kid right now, soon it probably will be more! I went to her practice with all the kids last night because Kyle had a work meeting. It was hilarious watching them practice and scrimmage. I need to help Kate with basketball lingo. At one point Kate had the ball passed to her and the coach said, "back out Kate" meaning throw the ball back out, but instead Kate backed up with the ball. Made me laugh, too cute. The coaches were great with them and so encouraging and they are only volunteer coaches! Preston and Lindsey were all over the place so I was glad it only lasted 45 minutes. She has practice once a week and games on Saturday, 6 games total. Should be fun!

Blog Book

I got my blog book printed...finally! Dee Ann had given me money for my present a couple years ago for my blog book. I had looked on Blurb.com, but it overwhelmed me. Then I saw my friend's book, Cindy, where she had used blog2print.com. I checked it out and it was super easy to make. All you have to do is enter in the dates and choose some settings. I wanted mine to look like my blog so it took more pages, you can do a condensed version to save money. A couple bad things about blog2print is that you can't edit it. I wanted to fix this one page where the blog post title was on the bottom one page and then the rest of the post was on another page. Didn't like that. And then there's only one line of text on the last page. I wish I could fix that too. Oh well. The kids have had fun looking through it and it's a good journal/photo book for our family. I'm glad I have done this blog because it has been a good way to document things in our life. We look back in this book and start reminiscing of things that we did or things that happened. Life goes fast. This book is only 2 years though...I need to make some more books!

Chelsea Welsey (nickname)

I took Chelsea in for her 6 month well child visit when she was 7 months old (a month late because of insurance reasons) and she weighed 18 lbs 7 oz, 27.5 inches long and she is by far my chubbiest baby. :) I love her chub. We work hard at keeping those rolls, haha! She is finally eating baby food. She started eating it before Christmas, thank goodness- she resisted it for a while, and now eats about 2 containers/jars of baby food each meal. Now we are sleep training her so she'll sleep through the night. She's doing good. We sure love her! Kate says all the time, "Isn't Chelsea so cute, Mom?" To which I reply, "yes, but your were so cute too!"