Happy Birthday Emery!!

Well, I was hoping to get this post done in Dec...but that didn't happen. Emery had another birthday and now I can't believe my baby is eleven. She is such a great kid, you really couldn't ask for a better big sister and daugther. She has a great sense of humor and is very responsible and helps me out a lot. Here are a few snaps from her birthday. She loved her new radio if you couldn't tell from the pictures. The rest of the pictures are from the family party we had for her the following Sunday. We were so blessed to have almost all of our extended family here for dinner, that made Emery very happy.

Maggie

Sunday we drove to Redding to pick-up our new edition. Yes, I am that crazy, and believe me I have been questioning myself a few times. Her name is Maggie and she is 6 week old golden retriever puppy. So far at home she has been great, sleeping and hanging out in her crate without too much crying and also going to the back door when she needs to relieve herself. Rex is still checking her out, but I think he is enjoying having another one of his kind around. Sometimes he will growl at her when she gets too close to his food. I just laugh because in about a month or so, she will tower over him and he will be pretty powerless. But Rex is a good dog and I know they will become buds.

The kids love her and I'm not sure I will be ready for half of them to go back to school, they really help a lot with entertaining her.

Welcome to the family sweet Maggie....now no more chewing on things that don't belong to you!!

California Adventure Park~Final Day of Fun

Our last day of fun was spent at California Adventure Park. My first thought about going to this park, was we wouldn't need to spend an entire day here, but guess what, we did. We arrived around 10:00am when the park opened and left after the World of Color show around 10:00pm, it was a long day. We started over by California Screamin and got our fast passes for that ride and Toy Story Mania. Both of those lines were super long.

While we were waiting around for our passes and checking out a few stores, we ran into our cousin Cacey Klein and her family. It was fun to see her and her beautiful children, both of them adopted. It was nice to have a chance to catch up for a few minutes. Look at the sea of people behind us in this picture, there were people everywhere. At one point we lost Kya for a few minutes, which was nerve racking, but he did the right thing, found a popcorn stand and stood still until we found him. Way to go Kya!

Here is everyone in there Mickey hats still smiling, that's a good sign.

Brody was excited to see Lightening McQueen there....we ran over and snuck a few pictures in while everyone else was finishing lunch.

We spotted Chip and Dale on the way into the "It's a Bug World" area. They were pretty funny to watch. They took Lucy's hat off and started to fight over it, she was so embarrassed, it was great. Check out the picture one of them (I can't tell them apart) is covering Brody's eyes. He thought this was so funny.

The last time we went to Disneyland I caught strep throat, so I was really hoping to be healthy and good to go this time. But unfortunately I had a horrible cough....most likely bronchitis. I wasn't alone Brody had it too and Landry was starting to catch a cold as-well. So I didn't get much sleep at night and this picture really shows that....I looked terrible, esepcially sitting next to my beautiful girl Kelci!! All-well inside I felt great, I love being with my family and enjoying them. No matter where we go, it is a great time. I wish my sister Stacey and my Dad were there as-well, but it wasn't meant to be this time around. We will do it again though. Thanks so much mom, we will never forget it.

Disneyland Day 3

I took about 400 pictures during our time at Disneyland, so choosing what to share takes me forever...I know what a surprise. Our next morning back to the park we spent a lot of time on Main Street. There were several characters popping out all over the street and of course the kids were so excited to get there autograph books signed. Luckily Disney is so smart because they bring out several characters at once to stagger the crowds a bit, so waiting wasn't too bad.

Here is the only family picture we took the whole time, proof we were all there haha. Brody has major hat hair, I made him take his beanie off because it was a little big and this is actually our Christmas card picture...sorry to ruin the surprise. Although I ordered those cards and haven't actually received them yet, so will see if we will be sending any out. Note the sweatshirt Bryan is wearing, it's a North Carolina Pembrooke State sweatshirt (even though I don't think it's a state school anymore...anyways). He was stopped so many times while were at the parks, people wondering if he was from there, went to school there...he was loving it. (This is where his Dad played baseball in college)

This firehouse picture is for me mom....see mom I told you I would take one for you!! Haha. I actually went inside for the first time and it was very cool. Disney is full of nostalgic representations, and I think they do this because it makes you feel good. The old times were some of the best times, a simple time and it's nice to see it around you...the firehouse was full of antiques, which I love looking at.

Merry Christmas from us and the infamous Mouse himself. This picture bugged me all day though after we took it. My flash didn't go off and so that is why you can see the people in the front, but not in the back!! Such a bummer.

Love these kiddos.....it was so much fun spending time with them and listening to all there laughter and craziness.

Landry rode the carousel while the others were on Dumbo and for the record, he hated it. He looked so sad and was crying the whole time...poor guy.

I love my mom, she has such a kind heart and is always thinking of others. Check her out below on the Big Thunder Mountain. I still can't believe she got on the ride, but she did and had a great time. Emery also rode this ride and it was her first roller coaster, she was hooked and probably could have rode 10 more times, if the line wasn't so long.

After some of us went on the Haunted House, we headed to Splash Mountain. I asked Brody if he wanted to go on it and he said sure. I even showed him the people going down the big drop and he didn't mind at all. I was secretly hoping he wasn't tall enough for the ride, but he was....they should have some sort of parent pedal on that height thing. We went ahead and wrapped him up in a poncho and he left with Ang, Keianna, Jenae, and Kya. After the ride, he said he didn't like the big drop...and still to this day he talks about it. He is so crazy sometimes.

One of the prettiest things at Disneyland during the holidays is Sleeping Beauty's castle. Every night they take a few minutes and dim all the lights around the castle, play beautiful music and began to transform the castle into a magical winter wonderland, it even begins to snow. The kids were amazed, just the look on there faces was perfect. Isn't Ang so cute with her winter hat on, we had matching ones. You know, so we could be twins. Haha!

Disneyland Trip Day 2

Well it has been a couple of weeks since our wonderful trip and I'm feeling so terrible for not getting these pictures up. Going to Disneyland during the Christmas season is just magical. Besides the crowds, I love everything about it. Mainstreet is just amazing and feels so festive. The kids were so excited to finally arrive at the park.

The first stop was Fantasy land of course...I believe Peter Pan was our first ride. It's a small world was a hit, the kids loved it. Brody kept saying over and over to me, "Mommy, this is so happy, I have never been in this before."

Here are a few photos from waiting in line for It's a small world. We went at the right time and only had to wait about 15 minutes, later on that morning the line was A LOT longer. The park was pretty crowded this day...shoulder to shoulder walking through this park can prove to be a challenge with a group of 14.

Landry was such a trooper, he was in good spirits most of the time, despite not feeling very well and not taking any naps the whole time we were on vacation.

We were really excited to check out the new Pixie Hollow exhibit which is new to the park, but honestly it was not worth waiting an hour in line for. We thought we would see a lot of fairies and that there would be more of a pixie hollow experience, but it was not so. Tinkbell was pretty funny with Landry, he couldn't stop staring at her, and said something to him about his pacifier, like oh wow what is that little thing you have there. He just smiled at her, through that darn binkie of course. (don't worry he doesn't usually walk around with those things)

I think it is so cool that Disney decorates all the lamp post around the park...they are all themed for that land and of course have Christmas decorations on them. We went on Pirates and that was a crazy experience. Cambree hid her face the whole time, Kelci hid her face about half way through the ride. My niece Lucy was going a little crazy and was a little frightened by the drops. But we survived, if the line wasn't so long maybe we would have redone that ride without all ones who were afraid.

The parade was a great, the kids had a fun time seeing all there favorite characters. They were such troopers, they were hungry for dinner which was still several hours away, but they managed to hang in there. I love my moms face in this picture, she was such a kid at the park. I'm so glad we were all able to take this trip together.

Disneyland Day Trip Day 1

For a long time my mom has been talking about taking all the grandchildren to disneyland with her and finally this year we were going to focus on making it happen. We even volunteered with Disney's Give a Day, Get a Day program to earn a free day at the park. I'm so grateful to my mom for making this trip happen. The kids made so many wonderful memories together.

Our adventure started with just getting to LA, flying with a group of ten people was crazy, but the flight was short and quick and everyone helped out carrying everything.

After we finally arrived in Anaheim and met up with Ang and her family we headed over to Medieval Times. This was a lot of fun, we were placed in a section and had to cheer for the Blue Knight. I was joking with the girls in the car, that I hoped our knight was going to be cute. They thought it was silly and were laughing about it. Well as it turns out out knight wasn't to shabby and he had a cute little smirk! But more on that later.

Here are all the cousins ready to have some fun. These guys had such an amazing time together, all of them got a long and just had so much fun. No matter what we were doing there was laughter and silliness.
This little guy is getting so big, he wasn't too sure about the dark arena where the show was being displayed, but he liked the food.
Brody had to have a sword, I'm glad it is foam because I have already been hit numerous times.
My beautiful Mother and sister Ang!!
Here is our table where we sat while watching the show. There are no untensils to use while eating, so the kids had to be creative to eat their dinner. When the waiter came by with the chicken legs, he told the kids they were baby dragons, Lucy politely told him, "no thanks."
Here is the blue knight...he probably has a name, but to us he was the blue knight. About half way through the dinner he came over to our section and started to toss carnations into the crowd. He threw one right to Emery.....she turned to red!!! It was so perfect. The next time he came out with more carnations, he tossed one to me, as he should, because I was his biggest fan.