Being a Mom

After living in our magic bubble at Disneyland for 4 days then coming home to reality I was having a hard time adjusting. I was excited to see the other 2 kids, but man oh man, they've been hard for me. Lindsey was being a 2 yr old and Chelsea started projectile vomiting. I was thin on patience and having a rough time enjoying being a mom. My Mom and Sara (and cute chubby Zane) came to visit for the day last Thursday and they helped me to like my kids again and get me out of my slump. It was so nice to have them here and to visit. Sara highlighted and cut my hair which felt so nice. We played with the kids and just hung out here. I tried a new recipe on them, Cashew Chicken off Pinterest, but it wasn't that good. I won't make it again. They were good sports to be my guinea pigs though. They left around 7pm to go home. It was snowing on the pass so we were hoping roads would be okay for them (they made it home safely). Kyle took Kate to her basketball practice and also took Preston and Lindsey. I took Chelsea and went to the Stake Center to play basketball, it was fun. After today, I was ready for the next day with a much better attitude. Good thing because...

Chelsea woke up a little after 6am (too early!). I brought her in bed with me until I decided I better start getting ready. Chelsea was in the tub taking a bath while I was fixing kids' hair, brushing teeth and getting clothes out for kids before school. I looked at Chelsea and she was sitting in brown water with poop blobs in it. Gross!!! She had pooped and it was repulsive. I wish I took a picture. I whisked her out of the tub, scrubbed it down and then gave her another bath. Preston had thrown up in his bed from coughing so much last night and so I had to get his sheets off his bed. We hurried downstairs for breakfast. My Mom had given me a loaf of her homemade cinnamon bread so I made french toast with it. Yum. While the kids were eating I made Preston and Kate's lunches. I had remembered Kate didn't finish her homework that was due today so she was hurrying and trying to finish it before and after eating breakfast. Then, I went to feed Chelsea breakfast and she had fallen asleep since she was up so early. It was quite the morning. Then later that morning, while talking to my Mom on the phone, the power went out. Luckily, it came right back on. But it was quite the day! Amazingly, I kept my patience through it all thanks to my Mom and Sara recharging me with their visit. I'm thankful for my family. Being a mom is hard work! But like my Mom and others say, "you will miss it." And I know I will. I keep telling myself to enjoy these moments, good and bad. I love what President Uchtdorf said in his October conference talk, "Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect." So true.

While We Were Gone

I met my parents on Tuesday morning on top of Snoqualmie Pass to give them Lindsey and Chelsea. I bawled driving up there because I was going to miss them. I kept thinking "what if I die? They won't even remember me!" I cried buckling them into my parents car and cried on my way home. Once I changed my contacts at home and got busy finishing packing I was feeling better. While at Disneyland, every time I looked at my phone I'd see a picture of Chelsea so it made me miss her. I would think "oh Lindsey would love this" or "she'd be so excited to see this." So needless to say, after our trip I was really excited to kiss Chelsea's cheeks again and hear Lindsey's lingo that's hard to understand. We met up again on Sunday afternoon on top of the pass to pick them up. We sat in our car with my parents to tell them about our trip and show them our pictures. It was good to have all my kids back together again. My Mom had a hard time on her way home. She missed them. Roles were reversed. :) I'm so thankful for my parents for watching them for us. It was nice to only have Kate and Preston and much easier. I know Chelsea and Lindsey had fun and were in good hands. 

Thanks to Sara I got some pictures of what Chelsea and Lindsey did while at Grandma's house. It looks like...they were fed well, Chelsea attacked Zane (poor Zane!), Lindsey got her hair cut by Sara, they slept soundly, Lindsey got spoiled and they loved it. 

Thanks again Mom! (and Dad!)

Disneyland- Day Four

On Saturday, our last day at Disneyland, we decided to go back and ride the kids' favorite rides again. A couple rides were closed on Friday because of the rain so while we were in Fantasyland riding some rides we also rode the Storybook Land canal boats, Alice in Wonderland and Casey Jr Train. We also rode Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Star Tours, Dumbo and the Merry Go Round.

We ate lunch in the park and tried their giant Turkey leg (it was okay, but kind of gross gnawing on this hunk of meat), the clam chowder bread bowl (Ivars is way better) and their corn dog (delicious). 

Then we ventured back to California Adventure to ride the ladybugs, Mater's junkyard, Soarin' Over California, California Screamin' and explore the outside play area. We were going to ride Tower of Terror, Goofy's roller coaster and Monster's again, but got tired of waiting in lines. It was crazy busy on Saturday. We were spoiled on Wednesday and Thursday with short lines so when we went to go stand in lines on Saturday it was hard to wait 30-65 minutes for rides that normally were a lot shorter. We were ready to be done and wanted to go home at this point since we already had done everything. We face timed my Mom while waiting in line for Mater's junkyard jamboree ride and Kate was all jealous that Jeni and her kids were at my Mom's house. She wanted to be there with her cousins! It was fun to see Lindsey and Chelsea though.

Kate did this zipline in the play area. It was pretty cool area with slides, rope bridges and more. 

These ladies were singing and performing near Soarin' over California. These little groups of performers would be throughout the parks in their different costumes. It's like a different world everywhere you go in the park. 

Leaving the park for the last time. Bitter sweet. We loved our four days of being in the magical bubble of Disneyland! I was excited to see Chelsea and Lindsey again. 

Kyle said Preston will be the only one who knows what to do in an emergency because he looked at this so often. haha!

He had to have everything organized in his little pocket in front of him. He would check to make sure he had the same stuff that Kate's had and he noticed the barf bag wasn't in there so Kyle gave him his to put in his pocket so he'd be set. Too funny. 

Tired and excited to get home. It was ALL worth it though. We had a blast!

Disneyland- Day Three

The continental breakfast included with our hotel was pretty good. It saved us lots of money we would have spent on breakfast. Preston would usually eat a bowl of cereal and either a pancake or waffle. He eats breakfast good.

Kate loved to try all their foods from yogurt to waffles to croissant, egg and sausage sandwich. I loved their powdered donuts. So bad, but so so good. Kyle got a loaf of bread from a mini mart near by and I had packed peanut butter and jam so a couple days we took a lunch into the park.

On Friday morning we went to California Adventure again to get fast pass tickets for World of Color which is a light and color show at night. We've heard it's a must see show. We needed to be there early to get the 8pm show (we didn't want the later 9:15pm show). We also wanted to get fast passes for Radiator Springs Racer again. Kyle stood in line for that and I went with the kids to the World of Color fast pass area. Well, Kyle took a little longer so I had to wait for him (you need the park tickets to get fast passes and so I had to let people go ahead of me and wait for Kyle to bring them to me after he used them). It was kind of stressful because when Kyle finally got over to me the tickets wouldn't work for the World of Color fast passes. Somehow the scanner at the gate entrance didn't scan the cards right. The worker at the Radiator fast pass line helped Kyle get those fast passes. Anyway, I had to run over to an entrance and get the cards re-scanned then go back and get the World of Color fast passes. It worked out fine in the end and we got the time and location we wanted. Phew. 

We checked out some rides we didn't get to on Thursday in California Adventure. Monster's Inc was first. 

And of course, Kate wanted to get Mrs. Incredible's autograph and picture. 

We also rode Tower of Terror. We took Preston on it and he didn't want to go on anymore rides (it was only 10am and he already was saying that- yikes!). We dragged him on and during the ride I thought "we are SO mean" because I was scared and this little boy was probably super scared. Afterwards, I asked him if it was scary or fun and he said fun. He didn't want to go on it again though. 

Little Mermaid Ride- I love singing these songs. 

After this ride, we walked outside and it was raining really hard and then it started to hail!!! People were scattering and running for shelter. We ran into a random building and ended up waiting in there until the rain let up. We ate lunch while we waited. It was crazy to get such a rain storm and hail when it's supposed to be sunny here! We knew there was a chance of rain so luckily we brought our umbrella, but our stroller got wet. Lots of people wore rain ponchos the rest of the day. It would rain then stop and did that off and on throughout the day. It was cold and wet. My socks were wet. 

We went back over to Disneyland to finish the rides we didn't do on Wednesday. You can see blue skies in this picture, but then a big storm cloud would blow over and dump rain. It was sporadic. We went to Fantasyland first and got in the long line for Peter Pan. The ride was super short so that was a disappointment. It was cool though to seem like you're flying. I wish it lasted longer though.

A view of Fantasyland from the carousel.    

You can't see Preston very good because he was busy moving the lever to make the elephant go up and down. He loved Dumbo and wanted to do it again. He loves elephants.

This is where Preston stood while meeting Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. haha! 

Flynn Rider told Kate, "we have another blondie!" and was impressed she knew his real name, Eugene. I love that they are in character. 

We headed over to Tomorrow Land to ride Space Tours. It's still cool like I remembered it

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was like another arcade game where you used a laser gun to shoot all the "Z's" to defeat Zurg. 

We went back to Adventure Land to ride the Jungle Cruise (funny guide). Then, Kate and Kyle rode Indiana Jones again. 

We went shopping to World of Disney for souvenirs and then went back to the hotel. We went hot tubbing (it was so cold and we still went. What we do for kids.). I put on new dry socks. :) Then we went to Denny's to eat dinner.

We came back to the park early enough to ride the Radiator Springs Racer with our fast passes we got in the morning. It started raining pretty hard right before we got on the ride. When we got off it had stopped raining. I thought this was a pretty view with the rocks all lit up. We also rode California Screamin' before heading over to World of Color. Kate couldn't get enough of that ride.

We lined up for World of Color in California Adventure on Friday night around 7pm. It was chilly so we bundled up and drank hot cocoa, but it didn't rain during the show so that was a blessing. 

The pictures don't do it justice. It was an amazing show. There were lights, water shooting and blasting into the air, fire, music and even movie scenes projected onto the water. It was pretty cool. Just think Bellagio Hotel water show in Vegas, but way more.

As we were walking out of California Adventure we stopped to watch the fireworks lighting up the sky above Disneyland. Preston fell asleep while we watched the fireworks. He was exhausted. We went to our hotel and had to pack up because we had to check out of the hotel early in the morning before going to the park. 

Disneyland- Day Two

We went to California Adventure bright and early on Thursday morning. We got to the gates an hour before the park opened. It opened at 10am on Wed and Thursday, 9am on Friday and on Saturday it opened at 8am, but on Saturday we didn't get there an hour early, just when it opened. 

They would let us in at 9:30 then we'd be roped off until the park officially opened at 10am. You can see the employees from Cars Land was helping keep us behind the rope. (I chatted with a girl next to me who was also LDS and from Utah and had kids the same ages and had the same stroller as us. It was funny. I saw her a couple times later that day around the park.) Our goal was ride Radiator Springs Racer which is the most popular ride there. Kyle was in the fast pass line for the same ride so the plan was for him to get the fast passes for all of us and then catch up to us in line at the actual ride. Amazingly, it worked out great and after he got the fast passes he caught up to us as we were walking with the mass amount of people to the ride. We were able to ride the ride and then went back later a couple hours later to ride it again. Score! This was my favorite land and favorite ride. Preston thought it was pretty cool, he wouldn't say much unless we asked him and then he'd smile and say it was fun. 

Hair blowing in the wind as we cruise in our car in Radiator Springs. So fun! I loved that they had the bridge and waterfall like the movie. 

Preston loves Phineas and Ferb so we watched their dance party and Kate went out and danced with them. Preston was fine watching from the sidelines.

Potato Head makes me laugh. The Toy Story Midway Mania ride was like an arcade game, shooting targets. Kyle blew all of us out of the water with his score.

Preston wouldn't go up and meet any of the princesses, but he was super excited for Woody. He gave him a high five and was so happy to see him. Kate got an autograph book...for free b/c Kyle went to go buy one when we were in line to meet the princesses and the cashier said just take it and come back to pay for it because she knew I was in line almost up to the princesses. Well, Kyle went back to pay for it and she wouldn't let him! She said it's a gift from Mickey. So nice. Kate was on a mission to get as many autographs from characters as she could. 

More pictures from Cars Land. 

Getting ready to race the yellow car at the end of the ride. Such a cool ride!

Eating lunch at Flo's V8 Cafe

Each Cone sold something different like ice cream cones, popcorn, churros, etc.

In Bugs Land the ladybug ride was one of Preston's favorite.

Kyle thought this sign was funny. They are good about the details!

Eating yummy ice cream treats

We watched the Aladdin play which was really good. The genie was making jokes about current issues so it was pretty funny. 

Kate loved riding California Screamin'. She is a dare devil. She'd go with me then turn around and go again with Kyle. Preston was too short to ride it. I was scared on it and screamed most of the ride. haha! Included in our Costco package were vouchers to buy these pictures (a 5x7 and digital download). We got to pick 4 different pictures. We got two pictures from Radiator Springs Racers, one from California Screamin' and one from Space Mountain. 

While waiting for Kyle and Kate to ride California Screamin' I took Preston on this merry go round. He threw a fit and wasn't happy to ride it. 

But you can see he quickly cheered up once the ride started! Silly boy!

We rode the Mickey Ferris Wheel and we chose to ride in a swinging gondola. Big mistake! It was scary and Kate started crying (only ride she cried on). What's funny is Preston wanted to ride it again the next day, but we vetoed that idea.

We also rode Goofy's roller coaster and Kyle hated it! He was in the front seat and felt like he was going to flip over the side on all the turns. I was laughing and screaming the whole time because it was kind of scary. Kate liked it. Go figure.

Around 4pm the kids were done with rides and wanted to go back to the hotel. They were melting down because they were exhausted from going non stop for the last two days. I convinced them to stay to watch the Pixar parade around 5:15pm and then we left the park. We went to McDonald's to eat dinner then to the hotel.  

Preston was watching the Cars movie and put this crown on from Ariel's Grotto. It looked so cute. Kate went swimming before bed and had fun playing with another girl in the pool. We were all asleep by 8:30pm. I was super tired too. This vacation is exhausting! Lots of walking and lots to do.