Our Trip to the Happiest Place on Earth

On April 29th we decided to take the family to Disneyland!  I hadn't been in over 6 years, which means I'd never been with Russell.  We wanted to take the girls before they turned 3 so that we didn't have to pay for them because we are cheap smart like that.  Their birthday was 3 days later so we really waited to the very last minute and made it a birthday trip. We had fun- but it wasn't what I expected.  I remember feeling the same way about our trips to Sea World last year- we had fun, but I expected my kids to be over-the-moon excited about everything and just run around with smiles on their faces.  I'm learning that my kids just aren't that way.  They are pretty subdued when there are lots of people around (don't have any idea where they got that from ; )  and they just don't have the huge overblown reactions that Russell and I would love to see when we do something really exciting. Combine that with the fact that they are HORRIBLE about taking pictures (although Morgan is getting MUCH better) and I was just slightly disappointed when I got home and looked through our pictures. I just wanted to have a bunch of pictures of the happiest children on the planet just crazy with excitement.  Oh well . . .

We started on the carousel and then the Dumbo ride and the girls liked those just fine.  

We stopped in the Mad Hatter to try on some hats.  We were hoping to get them each one with their names on them to wear around, but of course they would NOT wear them for more than a few seconds (Madylin wouldn't even look at the camera or smile) so we had to scratch that idea.

(By the way in all the pictures Morgan is in the green shirt and Madylin in the blue)

Then we went and waited 45 minutes in the "meet the princesses" line which I didn't think was going to be worth it because I figured the girls wouldn't even talk to or take pictures with the princesses.  I was wrong, Russell was right (yes I said it).  The girls loved it and talked to the princesses and even sorta smiled for pictures!

We then took Nathan on his first ride- It's a Small World.  We have no pictures of it because it was the perfect opportunity for me to nurse him!  The ride is nice and long and dark so I just enjoyed it with Nathan nursing under a cover!

We headed over to Toon Town and Russell and I took the girls on a really fun roller coaster.  It was kinda fast and loud and we were nervous they would scream and cry, but they just grimaced the whole time and then told us afterwards that they didn't want to do it again.  I'll take that over wailing!

Here we are in front of the roller coaster. (can't remember what it's called)

In Toon Town we also got to meet Mickey Mouse!

Before leaving we decided to go on the carousel again with Nathan and my mom, too.

Nathan almost fell asleep on this ride.

We also decided to go on the teacups one last time.  I'm SOO glad we did because it made the trip worth it.  The first time we didn't spin it at all, but the second time Russell decided he could handle the spinning and he helped the girls spin the teacups really fast and they LOVED it.  They were laughing and screaming- all the things I wanted them to be doing all day!

All in all a great day and I'm so glad my mom could come with us and help with Nathan while we took the girls on some rides. (and help take the girls on some rides while I fed Nathan as well!)

Here's our little family trying to take a good picture.

Here's one with the girls actually looking at the camera

I wonder where they get the fake smiles from- I mean Russell and I look totally natural!

(and yes those are braces on my husband's teeth- he got them on the day before we went)

April Randoms

Haven't had much to blog about lately, but before I start on the twins' 3rd birthday, here is some randomness from the last few weeks. . .

We had the Fishers over one night and the 3 girls were playing upstairs in the bedroom quietly. After a while Russell and Jessica went up to check on them and this is what they found.

I guess I never thought to tell the girls that climbing on top of the kitchen was NOT allowed!

Another day while the girls were playing with Riley, the 3 girls decided to dress up like princesses and actually wanted me to take their picture. That never happens! Don't they look so beautiful?

LOVE this blue-eyed boy.

I attempted to get a cute picture before church one sunday, but this is as good as I got! I just thought Nathan looked so handsome!

Disneyland and birthday stuff to come later this week!

Easter 2010

This year we were able to enjoy our second Easter in this house. We decided to host again and invited both our families. My mom and dad and brother came up and spent the day with us on Saturday and my mom helped me and the girls color eggs. The girls did a really good job with this and didn't make as big a mess as I'd anticipated.

Sunday morning we had an easter egg hunt in the house and watched as the girls ran around finding all the eggs and shaking them to see how much candy was in the plastic ones.

Here they are with all their loot!

We had a yummy breakfast complete with orange rolls (a conference sunday tradition) and watched both sessions of conference while I put together dinner and dessert.

After conference my brothers Jacob and Matt came with Matt's wife and my niece and nephew.

Russell's brother Aaron came with his wife and their 2 sons so we had a full house, mixing both families as we did last year. Dinner was much more pleasant this year, due to the fact that I didn't have to go clean up Madylin's sick as I did last year in the middle of dinner! We had ham and potato salad, rolls, green beans, and fried apples. It was great!

For dessert we had carrot cake and fruit pizza. The pizza turned out so pretty I had to take a picture- this stuff is SOOO amazingly good.

After dinner we had another egg hunt in the back yard because Aaron's boys hadn't had one yet. It was fun to have young cousins together to do a hunt

(Madylin, Isaac, Austin, Morgan)

(Madylin, Kaleb, Nathan, Sara, Morgan)

My mom bought this outfit for Nathan to go with the girls' outfits, but sadly this is the only picture I got of the 3 of them. The girls let go of Nathan after this picture was taken and my mom barely caught his face before it hit the ground 4 steps below! I was a little traumatized after that (so was he) and never got around to another photo shoot.

( I don't know why he's showing the international sign for "I'm gonna be sick!")

All together a really great Easter once again- I have to admit that I love hosting!

Trying a New 'Do

My little Nathan's got hair that grows straight up out of his head like a Chia Head.

It's very cute, but his hair is getting long and I'm not ready to cut it, so I've been experimenting with some hair product to try and tame his crazy fuzz-head.

(He is eating a biter biscuit here- those things make such a mess!)

So what do you think? Which is better?

Wanna See Something Funny?

If you tell Morgan "do your eyebrows" she does this . . .

Madylin can't quite do it, but don't tell her that!

If you ask Madylin the same thing, this is what she does . . .

A Trip to Utah

In February we decided to take a trip to Utah to visit Russell's sister Jennifer and her family. We were hoping to play in some snow and spend some quality time with family and just relax. Well two out of three ain't bad. The only time it snowed was early friday morning just before we woke up. We hadn't got in until about 3 in the morning so we weren't feeling like dressing the kids and running around in the snow. We figured we'd get our chance later, but the snow melted in a couple of hours and there was no more while we were there. The kids had fun playing together though, and we had lots of time to just relax and visit.

Nathan's cousin Ryan is only 2 weeks younger than he. Love these handsome blue-eyed boys.

Nathan took advantage of the fact that Ryan was pretty much stationary and used him to stand up on all weekend. Ryan did not care one bit- it was pretty funny.

You remember this picture last Christmas?

Well, here are their offspring ( ;

Take a second to compare their size. Especially thighs!! Ryan is a chunk, but a very cute and HAPPY chunk!

We were there for Valentine's day and Jennifer did the girls' hair so cute for church.

And we made and decorated sugar cookies. Oh and ate them, of course

Madylin went a little overboard with the sprinkles

The girls had fun playing in the garage with Stefani's bicycle and skates.

It was their first experience with both.

We had such a great time. Jennifer and Mark were great hosts as always. Each night Jennifer's 3 oldest kids and the twins had a little slumber party in the loft. It took them at least an hour to go to sleep each night because they were having so much fun and giggling with each other. We let it slide just this once ( ;

I'm so grateful to have family close enough to visit and that the kids have cousins their age that they love to play with.

Strollin' to the Park

Been meaning to post these pictures forever! A few weeks ago I woke up with a lot of energy (soooo rare) and decided that we would walk to the park that day. Not only did I take the kids to the park down the street, but I let the girls bring their babies and their strollers. Now they only get to play with these strollers when they go potty, so this was a real treat. They looked so cute strolling along the sidewalk with their little pink strollers!

And of course, once we got to the park, they insisted on taking their babies on the slides.

And this little one was content to hang out in his stroller, playing with his blanket.