Boy's Only Hike!

Mike and Ben went on a hike with our friends Jon and Carson Bowers.  This is on the wetern face of Mt. Timpanogas, its called the grovecreek hike.  Mike is the scout master and wanted to test out this trail to see if his scouts could hike it for one of their overnighters.  It was about a 7 mile hike. Mike went with his scouts a few weeks later and Ben did way better hiking than all of the12 and 13 year old scouts!

Ben said the hike was awesome!

After the hike the boys went to the Purple Turtle for some shakes!  Mike tells me this is a must tradition, although I have never been there before. I hear it's delicious.

On a side note.  Ben, our deep thinker, came up to us and wanted to know who was Heavenly Father's dad and grandpa and grandgrandgrandpa.  I let Mike answer that question. 

Disney's California



Our last day at Disneyland we decided to head over to Disneyland and hit all the rides we had missed.  I can honestly say that we went on every ride in Disneyland except Splash Mountain (because it was closed) and Peter Pan (because there was always an hour wait and we didn't wait in line for anything!).  We went on the teacups a couple of times and Eliza loved them!  She had her hands up squealing with joy the whole time!

Off to Disney's California!  Eliza and I headed back to the hotel for a nap and Mike stayed with Hailey and Ben who just wanted to go and go!!!  They saw a couple of great shows and went on the tower of terror (which scared all 3 of them)!

Eliza and Mike climbing the huge nets!  Eliza loved the ducks at Disneyland, she just kept chasing them around!

Can you find Mike and Hailey riding together and Ben riding alone?  Eliza was so jealous that she couldn't go on the swings.  This really cute European couple gave Ben this Mickey Mouse hat.  We were on a ride with them and Ben talked to them the whole time.  They loved Ben and gave him their hat!

My date with my handsome boy!  Hailey and Eliza were tired after day 5 of parks, but Ben had energy to spare.  So, Mike took Hailey and Eliza back to the hotel and I got a date with my favorite little guy!  We went on the Ferris wheel and again Ben was adorable and talked to this older couple the whole time.  They couldn't believe how friendly he was.  It was really fun to go on the Ferris wheel and be able to see all the building they are doing for the new cars section, we will definitely have to do Disneyland in a few years!  Then we went on the Screamin' roller coaster.  Ben just made the height requirement for the coaster and was so excited to go on it.  I could barely see him, but he loved every minute of it!  Such a change from my little Ben who was so scared of heights on any park we went to.  Then we waited in line for the new Toy Story ride, which was really cool.  Our last adventure was the world of color show.  It was a little hard to see, but we had fun.  I tried to convince him to go on the tower of terror, but once was enough for my cute Ben. 

My favorite baggage!  We stopped at a hotel in St. George on the way back home and went to pirate island there.  This was such an amazing trip!  I was so impressed with my kids.  They just loved every second and were so good.  I couldn't have imagined it any better!  Such a perfect family vacation!

5/20/2011

Legoland



It's our Legoland Day!  This day was all because of my cute Ben!  He got the add from Getaway Today for Disneyland from school.  Before he even knew we were going to Disneyland he would look through that brochure again and again.  He found the page for Legoland and had a million questions about it, and kept asking if we could go there someday.  When we told the kids we were going to Disneyland he got so excited and asked if we could go to Legoland because it was so close by.  He's just way too cute to say no to, so Legoland here we come.  What Ben really wanted to see here was the new Star Wars replicas.  He is so into Star Wars and loves playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii.  They were very impressive!

We all decided that Legolands version of Las Vegas was cooler than the actual Las Vegas.

Legoland was great for Hailey and Ben, but there were only a couple rides Eliza could go on.  So, Eliza and I went to the aquarium that is connected to Legoland while Mike took Hailey and Ben on all the rides.

The crazy boat ride!  Eliza and me watching the boaters!

Hailey had never seen a phone booth before.  She thought this phone was hilarious.

The Lego cars were definetly a favorite for Ben.  There were no lines, so he would go then run around and go again.  Hailey had a hard time mastering her car and spent most of the time in the curb.  It will be interesting once these 2 drive for real.

The Beach!  We made it to the beach!  It was way to cold to go in the water, but we enjoyed a dinner up on the cliffs looking over the ocean.  It was so much fun watching the pelicans and the sunset.  I just love the ocean!

5/19/2011

Disneyland Day 3



Oh how I love my cute kiddos!  Eliza loved chewing on apples the whole trip, it was so cute.  Ben and Hailey loved Big Thunder Mountain.  It was such a perfect time of year to go, we got the fast passes and hardly waited at all. 

We had so much fun on the island!  I didn't realize how crazy all the caves were, but Ben thought it all was the best!

So, the only line we waited in to see the Disney characters was for Tinkerbell.  We saw Goofy and went to get a picture.  They told us that he was done, so I just yelled Goofy and he was nice enough to stand for a picture with my 2 goofy kids.  Whenever we took a picture at Disneyland, Eliza would get into this cute squatting pose and say cheese!

We stayed at a Marriott with a kitchen so everyday we packed our chariot full of sandwiches and food.  Every time we went through the security line they asked us if we planned on staying the week, and we said for sure!  We ate our food and then would go back to the hotel to let Eliza take a nap and we would relax, then it was back for more Disneyland fun!

5/18/2011

Disneyland Day 2

We saw Buzz right as we were getting off of Space Mountain, he had just come near the exit so we didn't even have to wait in line.  I was really impressed that Hailey went on Space Mountain twice, we all had so much fun!  It lightly rained for a few hours just in the morning so we went and saw Captian EO (very strange) and went to Space Mountain.

Eliza loved the rockets!  Hailey loves Tinkerbell, so we waited in line at Pixie Hollow to see her.  It was fun and she got her tiny Tinkerbell doll with lots of changeable outfits after we were done.  Ben and Hailey worked really hard the 3 weeks before we went to Disneyland.  We made a big chart and for every job they did they got money.  So, they both had their bags of money and decided very carefully on their souvenirs.  Ben got a buzz lightyear gun and Hailey got her Tinkerbell set.  Hailey really wanted a pillow pet, but being the smart little thing she is, said "well I'll get my Tinkerbell set and just get my pillow pet for my birthday in a few weeks".

Hailey loves Cinderella, I love this set and Eliza couldn't be left out.  She stood where Hailey had stood and said "cheese".

Ben about to be swallowed by the whale!

And here he is...Mickey Mouse!!!!

After a fabulous day at Disneyland, we headed to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner.

5/17/2011

Disneyland! We Made it!

Buzz Lightyear was Ben's favorite ride!  Luckily the line was never longer than 10 minutes, so we went on it probably 5 times, I lost track!

This ride I had never gone on before.  It was the Nemo submarine.  It did not look impressive, but like everything Disney, it was way better than I would have ever thought!  Eliza was cute and kept saying fish in her cute little voice.

The parent swap pass was the best finding!  The rides that Eliza couldn't go on, Mike and I each got a turn taking Ben and Hailey.  So, Ben and Hailey got to ride everything twice without waiting in line.  Eliza was such a cutie and had fun hanging out when she wasn't riding.

While Ben and Hailey were riding the Matterhorn, Eliza found the lake with ducks, and had a great time quacking at them.  Ducks and birds are her favorite, she was trying to get in the water with them!  I was so impressed that Hailey rode the Matterhorn twice even though she was a little bit afraid.

My kids loved Small World!

We went to Ariel's Grotto for a lunch with the princesses.  This was Hailey's special lunch!  The lunch was actually really good, with 3 courses including really great desserts.  Instead of waiting in lines for the princesses we got to sit and eat lunch while they all came around and took pictures, signed Hailey's book and said hello.  They all loved Eliza, but she was not such a big fan of all the princesses.  Hailey was so excited to meet all of them, especially Cinderella her favorite. 

Ben posing with Lightning and Mater.  He was so excited to be able to pose with someone cool that wasn't a princess.

Tarzan's tree house and ouside the Enchanted Tiki room.  The Tiki room was one of my favorite places.  I went to Disneyland when I was 1 and 20 years old, and we didn't go to the Tiki room.  Eliza loved all the birds!  She was squealing with delight and pointing the whole show.  Everyone was watching her the whole time instead of the birds.  Two cute ladies who didn't speak any English kept pointing to her and just smiling trying to tell me how cute she was.  An added bonus were the delicious pineapple floats, yum!

Arghh!  Pirates!  We rode on Pirates of the Caribbean every day we were there, my kids loved it.  Ben loved pointing out why everything was fake, Hailey loved the music, and Eliza loved everything about it.  I thought she would be scared, but no she just became our good little pirate and said arghh the whole ride, and waved at the pirates.  We did take the kids on the haunted mansion ride after pirates, and that did scare them!  What wonderful parents Mike and I are.

Although it was a bit of a crazy drive to get to California, it was a perfect first day!  The weather was my absolute favorite, mid 60's and sunny.  It was not hot at all waiting in line, but sunny and beautiful!  My kids had no idea exactly what Disneyland was and were so excited.  They loved all the rides and getting to see characters.  I love that there were so many rides that Eliza could go on.  She loved any ride we took her on.  Ben and Hailey just wanted to keep going and going, luckily this was only day 1 and we had a lot of more fun to come! 

Walking down main street Eliza started clapping her hands, she was so excited and loved everything!  Eliza loved small world, and sang her way through it.  Hailey was in heaven eating with the princesses.  Hailey and Ben were brave and went on the Matterhorn twice even though it was a little scary.  The Kids all loved buzz lightyear, and the submarine.  Hailey was very brave on space mountain twice and on big thunder roller coaster.  Eliza loved dumbo and the rocket ships.

Disneyland Trip- Day 2 - I-15



Root Beer floats at Barstow!

We had muffins for breakfast.  I told Ben to go wash his hands after he was done, this is what I found!  Chocolate soap!

So, the plan was to travel to Anaheim on Day 2.  It was Sunday, so we found a ward in Las Vegas and went to church.  The people there were super friendly and welcoming.  After we went to a park and ate lunch.  Then we were off on a supposed 4 hour trip to Anaheim.  Unfortunately, everyone from California was headed back to CA from Vegas so we got caught in crazy traffic.  I-15 stopped right before Prim, so we got off and hung out for a while, but decided we might as well try the traffic.  We ended up sitting in crazy traffic in the middle of the desert for 6&1/2 hours.  We made a stop at Barstow but the traffic never got better!  Our kids had had it after being in the car all day, so we called Marriott and they found the closest Marriott to us and changed our reservation to Victorville.  So, here we are at hotel number 2 and still an hour away from Anaheim.  We all slept well and left the next morning for the last hour of our journey to Anaheim.

5/15/2011

Disneyland Trip Day 1 - Las Vegas

Having fun at the McDonald's in Cedar City.  The kids did great on the way to Las Vegas.  This was our only stop!



We made it to Vegas!  We were able to stay at the JW Marriott in Las Vegas because Mike had accumulated Marriott points from his many travels with his job at the state.  This was the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in!  The grounds were beautiful and the hotel was amazing!  We had fun swimming in their crazy pool complete with waterfalls!

Queen Eliza

We had a great buffet dinner at our hotel and then decided to go the the strip for the evening.  We should have stayed at our hotel!  We went to MGM to see the lions, but they were already gone and asleep for the night.  Then we went to the M&M factory to see the 3D show, but they weren't showing that either.  Vegas is just way too crazy with kids!  It takes forever to get anywhere and everyone is looking at you like you are crazy to have 3 kids in Vegas.  We survived and went back to our fabulous hotel!

05/14/2011

Dragon Award

Ben worked so hard at Kindergarten this year!  This is him getting his Dragon Award, which included doing a reflections project, 3 other projects, reading daily, and physical fitness.  Ben also has received a couple of reading awards.  He's such a smart, cute boy!  I helped in his class one day and he was such a good boy!  He worked hard on his work papers and finished first so that he could have time for his favorite thing in kindergarten..centers!  Ben is such a good friend at school.  I have had multiple parents come up to me asking if I was Ben's mom.  They always say how much their child talks about Ben and how nice he is to them.  I am so grateful for such a sweet, kind, caring, smart boy!

Notice how he's airborne!

She is just the cutest, silliest thing!  She is such a girl!  Eliza loves wearing sunglasses, and putting on necklaces.  She has such a funny personality!  She just makes me smile!

Here's a funny random kid saying:

We were walking in the rain, I asked Ben if we were going to melt.  Ben said a snowman would melt, Hailey said “well I’m not made of snow, I’m made of skin- so I’ll be okay.” 5/9/11