In HIS memory...

In December, we are always reminded of our Saviors Birth and the life that he lived while he was here on Earth and His atonement made in our behalf. I can't think of a better time to also remember Galen Nelson and his life that he lived and shared with us. In dad and grandpa's memory, we went to go and visit him this past Saturday before Christmas. On the 11th, was the anniversary of our beloved father and grandfather's passing. It has been a difficult year, but also a year of finding out a lot about each other and about him. We hadn't been to visit the grave by ourselves since his passing. We have been there a lot with Quenalee and other family members, but we decided to go and visit him with just our little family. We took a tree up and the kids had made ornaments with their pictures and hung them on the tree. We also had a stocking that hung from the tree that we each wrote a memory about him on a piece of paper and then placed it in the stocking. It was special to talk about him and to remember him. We love you dad and grandpa.

Plus 2

Okay-sooooo......let's just chalk it up for moment of Christmas weakness. I gained 2 this week. All that I can say is that I am going to do better this week and I will get right back on track! I didn't do 4 times of exercise, but I did do 3. I will do much better this week-I promise all of you!

No Change

Today was weigh in day and there was no change. I didn't lose anything...but I didn't gain either. I am pretty happy with that result considering that it was the week before Christmas and I haven't been eating a lot of healthy stuff if ya know what I mean?? This week is Christmas and my goal this week is to at least exercise 4 days this week and then try to maintain again! Good luck to all of you that have shared with me that you are trying too and have a Merry Christmas! Just remember that it isn't all about the food right?

Kindergarten Christmas Party

Mrs. Kholers afternoon Kindergarten class 2008-2009.

I helped with the Kindergarten party for Mack's Class and we had a great time.

Mrs. Kholer read The Polar Express to the kids and then gave each of them a bell to take home so that they would always believe. We decorated cookies, made photo ornaments for their trees at home, and had a snowball fight in the classroom (with soft marshmallows of coarse). When we pulled out the marshmallows for a snowball fight, I was a little worried what Mack's teacher would say-but she just said-"That is so cool!" She ran around the room with the rest of them! It was so fun to watch them. I love this picture that I captured with Mack throwing his arms in the air. I think he just made a hit-what do you think?

New HAIRDOS!

So...I am one of those people that only get my hair done every 6-9 months! I am sorry-especially to my bestest friend who is a hairdresser. I know that it bugs ya Val-however, I am too cheap-and I miss you, Val doing my hair for cheap and telling me when my roots are atrocious! With that being said...It was time. I do love the gal that I have in Idaho Falls and she does a great job. This time-I sat in the chair, told her I wanted to go darker and shorter and then I let her at it. I didn't give her any instruction as to what else to do-just told her to have fun....and this is what she came up with.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calli also went a lot different and got a pixie do! It is so dang adorable. I wish that I was as bold as she is when I was her age. She knows what she wants and you can't change her mind. She also loves her hair and so do I!!!

Dear Santa,

I love the tradition that we have of writing letters to Santa. First of all, it is a fun keepsake to put in scrapbooks (I make copies of coarse) and also-it really helps Santa out with what to get the kids!! (Quentin is humoring me as of this year!!) Since we moved to IF, there is this huge Santa that you can drop your letters off and Santa even writes back!! This year, we actually dropped them off in the daylight and I got some pictures!!! Dear Santa...This year I have everything I want-just eat the cookies!

A Merry Christmas Stylish Girl!

My daughter....what can I say? She is nothing like her mother where she often does what she wants, wears what she wants, etc. without wondering what anyone else might think of her! Her latest style is a hat. Anytime she can wear one,and it matches the outfit, she will wear one! I love that about her. Today she got up and put this little Christmas ensemble together without any coaxing from me and she looked adorable and so I took a picture! Speaking of Christmas...The other day, we had the opportunity to go and watch the Nutcracker which we both thought was so much fun that it may become a mother/daughter Chritsmas tradition!

Merry Christmas my stylish girl!

6 Total!

Okay! I am feeling like I totally just squeaked by this week! I wasn't thinking that I would lose at all, as a matter of fact, I thought that I would gain some! I lost one more this week! YEAH! I can officially say that I have two more pairs of pants that I can squeeze into!! he he! They are tight but at least I have more of a selection!!! Thanks for all of your support!!!

A SHOUT OUT to all the girls!!!!

GIRLS!!! Here is a shout out to all of the girls that I have spoken to in the last 48 hours!! You all know who you are!! You are the women behind all of the scenes that are happening in your homes right now! Who are struggling with one thing or another. Dealing with a lack of sleep because of her children, leaking roofs, sick kids, financial problems, new life, losing someone, struggles with a child, the list goes on!! I just wanted to give you the recognition that you deserve and the love from those around you that you may not recognize! No man is an Island!! We are here for each other and I am here for you! I know that it is hard to accept that care and concern and help-but you need to receive it when it is given and be grateful for the knowledge that we have that we are daughters of a Heavenly Father that loves us and knows us and our struggles!!!! You strengthen me and I want you to know that you have had a prayer said in your behalf and I love you!!!!

Minus One

Hey there all of you possibly following my progress with weight loss!! I like to imagine that there are a lot of you!!! It seems to be helping me...I lost another pound this week which is especially wonderful considering the yummy goodness that was produced and brought to my home for the cookie exchange!! Thanks girls!!! That was a lot of fun and every year the yummies just get better and better! It is also fun to anticipate some of the regulars that we have come to expect. Thanks!!

Minus Two AGAIN!!!

YEAH!!!! I weighed in today and I was two pounds less again!!! I am feeling pretty good about myself considering that it was Thanksgiving week! I really tried hard. I have to admit that having one my sisters-in-law trying to do weight watchers helped me stay motivated because we kept talking about it and it helped me stay good!! Thanks Becca! (yes-her name is Becca too) I know that it will get harder, but for now-thank you to all of you that have cheered me on and that have motivated me even though you really don't read my blog....(that means you will never know that I am thanking you!) Anyhow, on to the next week! This week I am going to try harder to do more sweaty exercising! I don't really know what yet-but I will report to you next week. Only 16 more to go!!!!

Thanksgiving

This year I am most grateful for living close to home when the holidays come because our siblings come home and we get to see everyone. It' s hard some days too because we have to split our time with the families-but we are so grateful to be here so that we can spend what time we do get.

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Nelson's with Quenalee and with Jeff's siblings and families. The only one missing was Andy who is in Argentina serving his mission. Ryan and Becca came up from Vegas and Alex came home from BYU. It was fun to be able to see all of them. My cute husband got to carve the TURKEY!

The boys helped their mom set us her enormous Christmas tree

and we all got to help decorate it.

Mack even got up on the ladder to put a few ornaments up high.


It was difficult not having Galen there. We missed him for our first Thanksgiving without him, but Quenalee is so amazing and created a delicious meal and continued on with her traditions. She always gets the girls a nativity scene and the boys an ornament and she gives it to them early so that they can display them that year. It was a chore to get them all together and of coarse they aren't all smiling or even looking-but here's the Nelson Grand kids waiting anxiously to open their gifts.

AND.....OPEN!!!!


A tradition that my family does on Thanksgiving is to decorate Turkey Cookies. So, I took some cookies over to decorate for the Nelsons.

My family had gotten together the Night before Thanksgiving and had dinner and fun together. It always is so much fun to watch the kids together and see all great they get a long with each other. I just love that the next generation are getting to know one another and building those bonds.

All of the BOYS (minus the youngest)

"Tanner and Maddie" were here from Utah. That is what all three of my children call my Brother Jon's family. When our families are together, no one is ever bored. Even me! I love to be by my brother Jon and his family. Quentin, Calli, and Mack have a corresponding cousin their same age and it is just so much fun to see them all hang out.

The only girl cousins in the house are Calli and Maddie and whatever you do....Do not try to separate them! There will be tears! I promise! They are adorable!!!

We also got together one day and went to go and see BOLT. It was a really cute show and I really liked it-especially the Hamster! ha ha! Michael and his family hung out with us most of the time and as always, it's fun to be around them too. I offered to have all of the cousins over for a sleep over one night (minus the baby) and so that night, Jeff and I had 9 sleeping children under our roof. It sure was fun-for one night!!

I especially enjoyed the night that we got together and had a small birthday party for my Brother Tim. We don't get to see him very much-even though we live by him, and so it was great to see him and to play the Seinfeld Scene It game (which I held my own-even though I don't watch it nearly like my brothers-thank you very much!) That night, Dad was around a little more than he had been. He hasn't been feeling very well and had had a procedure done earlier that week which he was recovering from and so that night he was out and about a little more and it was nice to see him! I love you dad!

Favorite Song

Even though I am mostly listening to Christmas songs right now, I do love this song and video by Taylor Swift. I just think that she is an amazing young girl who writes all of her own songs too!

http://musicjesus.com/song_51234_Taylor_Swift-Love_Story.html

AND THE WINNER IS....

Okay- so I guess that no one wanted to go visit my Sister-In-Laws store! J/K!! I only got two comments and that is okay! I am grateful to Jenni and Julie who went. I too love the things that they mentioned especially the Red chair!! I keep thinking that someday no one will buy it and I will buy it and plan a whole room in my house around it! :-) So I put numbers on your comments Julie 1, and Jenni 2, and made Jeff pick one! He picked 2. So congrats to Jenni-sorry Julie! I will get you your cute apron Jenni! Thanks for participating guys! If you haven't gone to the store all of you other readers-GO!! It is adorable!

Weigh-In Monday -2

So...minus 2 this week. I am happy with these results. I wish it could have been 5!! He he! It felt good to just get back on track and to feel a little healthier. I just keep looking at all of the clothes that I have in my closet just calling my name! I really want to wear them!!

I had someone ask me this week why I started a diet right before the Holidays and my answer to them and to any one else that might be wondering...Last year I gained 8 lbs over the holiday months!!! Not a good thing! Why would I want to just add that on to what I already have to lose! If I can lose a few that would be great! I am not going to freak out about it, but I am going to try not to gain for sure! My goal this week with Thanksgiving is to be really good the rest of the week-but have a "somewhat" free day on Thursday. My weakness is all of the picking before the meal. I am going to try to hold out for the meal and then pile up on the veggies and other things that may not hurt as much. I am going to make a chocolate pudding pie with fat free milk and fat free coll whip. That will be my choice. Anyhow, good luck to those of you out there that are trying to do the same thing! Until next time...

Love Stories

This is what my stove top clock read when I came home early morning from viewing the Premier of the new movie made from the "Twilight" books...TWILIGHT...ahhh Twilight! I have yet again been entranced by this story. I love to go to movies-most of you know that about me, but my favorite movies of coarse is anything that involves such a love story as Twilight does! As with any movie-I loved to be entertained and "get lost" with the story line and feel as if I was able to escape the "real world" for 90-120 minutes or so! Twilight definitely did that last night! I fell in love all over again with the characters, the story line, and with Vampires! I just loved it! I was so not even disappointed with the casting! They did an amazing job!!! It was fun to feel the energy in the theater and to have everyone laugh at the moments that only the people who had read the book would laugh at! It was fun to have all fans (mostly) in the theater with us and to feel of the "Twilight" energy! It was worth the wait and it was worth staying up until 3 in the morning for!!!! With all of that being said, last night one of my friends said that she needed a date with me so that she could hear my story of meeting Jeff. and I would still love to go on that date...but I have been thinking a lot about our "meeting" story because another friend has been posting old e-mails on her blog of her courtship with her husband and I have found it awfully romantic and fun to read. Maybe mine won't be as fun for those who are reading, but it is fun for to share it for those who might be curious and just for my own record keeping benefit. I have written about it in numerous ways with scrap booking or journals-but here it is on my blog.



MY LOVE STORY
by Becca Nelson (he he)

I met Jeff when I was 15 years old, a sophmore in an Indiana High School, and very much attatched to a boy friend. My parents had the missionaries over for dinner quite a bit-which I happened to enjoy extremely because well, let's face it, I liked boys, and I didn't have a lot of LDS selection of Young men in Indiana (there were 10 LDS kids at my HS of 2000). I really enjoyed the missionaries coming to our home and sharing their time and testimonies with us. One Thanksgiving, the Elders came to spend the day with our family. One of the Elders had been serving in Fort Wayne for a while and I really thought he was a lot of fun and I enjoyed him. He was Elder Wyrick, and his quiet, shy, companion was Elder Nelson (Jeff) from a small town in Idaho. He was nice enough, but Elder Wyrick was a lot more goofy and fun to be around. We had them to eat a few more times after that and my mom evidently really liked Elder Nelson. I always said that she fell in love with Jeff long before I did. Jeff didn't even stay in Fort Wayne much longer than three months. However, when it came time for Elder Nelson to go home, I am pretty sure that Jeff invited our family to come to his Mission Farwell that they had for the missionaries that were going home. Mom, my bro Michael and I went. It was that night while I was listening to Jeff give his talk and his testimony that there was just "something" about him! I climbed in that car that night and my mom said, and I quote...."Do you think that he will wait for you????" I was shocked and not sure what to think-but also very much was "in like" with this young man (who happened to be 5 1/2 years older than me!). He wrote our family periodically keeping in touch and my Junior year when I came out to visit my brother at BYU (DAD, remember that long and wonderful bus ride?) all I could hope for was that I would be able to see Jeff. He did come visit me all the way from Idah! All I remember from that day was that we drove and drove and drove all over! We talked and talked and talked and never ran out of things to say to one another. We would stop and shop, or visit Bridal Veil Falls, eat, etc. I know it sounds so cliche-but it was a magical day!!! That was the day that I fell for him! He brought me home late and it was way before cell phones and so my dad was not impressed-but nonetheless, I really liked him!! When I went back to Indiana, I wondered how a guy that much older than me would ever even consider waiting until this junior in HS graduated and could date a little before he would want get married. Yes-I was already thinking about getting married!!! TO JEFF!
We wrote letters (before e-mails!!-man I'm ageing myself) and he would send me tapes (I'm way old!) that he recorded music on, mostly love songs and ballads from groups like Bon Jovi and Whitesnake, etc. I memorized those tapes and still love every song on them! We talked on the phone a few times and always enjoyed talking to each other. He helped me through a couple rough patches with friends and even boy friends my senior year. When my dad got a transfer and came to Idaho Falls to look for a house, he and my mom went to visit Jeff at his work and I was soooo jealous that they had gotten to see him!!! When we moved to Idaho Falls the year I graduated, he had moved down to Utah to get his residency so that he could go to shcool down there. We went there first to be with my grandparents for a week and Jeff and I spent every moment together that we could! We picked right up where we had left off!! It is so much fun to remember how I felt back then! I went to IF and he stayed in Utah. A few weeks later, he moved back to Idaho Falls and I was sooo happy! I like to think that I had something to do about that....:-) We dated the rest of the summer and agreed that we were probably going to get married, but agreed also that I needed to go to college and experience that first year before getting married. What a guy! I dated him all trough that first year-but not exclusively. I dated a lot of other guys too and even found a couple that were able to confuse my feelings about Jeff a little. It was a crazy year. I really loved Jeff, but I really still wasn't sure. With my fickle attitude, Jeff got understandably impatient with this immature 19 year old!
When school was ending, he was dating another girl every once in a while and I didn't like that one bit! One day, I was in town shopping with my mom and we were parked in the ShopKo parking lot and I will never forget what she said to me, and I quote again..."You had better get him before he gets away!!!!" Remember, my mom really loved Jeff! After her saying that I knew that I loved Jeff more than anything and that I HAD better get him before he got away! (Thanks mom!) I called him over that night and told him how I felt and the rest is history!! He asked me to marry him the next month and we got married and moved to Boise to start our life together before the summer ended.

And they lived Happily ever after!
The End
There you have it! Our love Story!

Santa Baby

My counselors and I took the girls to see one our Young Women perform a teaser from The Nutcracker at the Festival of Trees last night. She was a beautiful ballerina! It was so much fun. We had a great time. We all went to go see Santa afterwords and I have to say-I believe that Santa was happy to have some adult contact! Her I am with Ido and Stephanie and of coarse...SANTA! They are incredible counselors and I couldn't do anything without them! I could have kicked myself because after all of that, I forgot to tell Santa what I wanted for Christmas this year!!!!

Pretty Good Student

The Elementary school has a book fair at Barnes and Noble every year and the kids do performances. Calli and the rest of the fourth grade memorized a poem and they recited it the night that they were to perform. She really worked hard on it. Grandma and Grandpa came to watch her too. It was cute and I thought that I would share it. (Don't forget to go to the bottom of the blog and turn the music off first.)

20 POUNDS or BUST!!!!

Okay! Here I go-bearing my soul and hopefully doing some good for myself! I have gained weight! THERE! I said it! This year has been quite the roller coaster of things happening with my family and let's face it...I EAT my feelings! With that being said-it is no excuse and I am ashamed that I worked so hard to get to my goal (the summer of 07) and am now 20 lbs heavier within 18 months!!! And...I didn't have a baby! So, I have decided that I want to announce that I am starting to DIET on my blog so that I have some sort of accountability. We will see if it works! I will give all of you weekly updates and report my progress. I do know that all of you may not care to read about this. I have always said that my blog is more for me than for any of you-but I do know that some of you read it!! I may do a great job, I may fail-but all of you will know either way! I know that most of you reading this struggle with this issue also and I know that you know how frustrating this is. I hate to focus on it and this may not be my last diet ever-but I have been feeling that this is important in the past few weeks (mainly because I can't fit into any of my pants for Winter!). I don't feel that I am HUGE, but I wouldn't mind fitting in my pants again. I am too cheap to purchase new pants and so all of you that see me frequently enough-please forgive me for wearing the same three pair everyday! SO....Wish me Luck and hopefully this will be an enjoyable journey!!!

Three Kisses

I have an adorable 5 year old that kisses me! He and I have the same Love Language! Everytime he wants to express his love or appreciation for something that I have done for him-(alright...he does it to Jeff too) he kisses me! Not only does he kiss me on the lips but he kisses me on each cheek once too. That is three kisses each time!! How Cute is that?

I Put a Hand Up my Nose!!!

The other night I came home from Parent Teachers Conference at the Middle School (where one of the teachers called Quentin a "teachers dream") and this was the dialogue that I had with Mack upon entering the family room:



Mack: "Mom, I am really, really, sorry but I stuck a hand up my nose."



Me: "Okay, it's alright, just don't do it again. Is it bleeding?" (I have caught him picking his nose and it does bleed sometimes)



Mack: "No-it's not bleeding, but it's still up there!"



Me: "Mack, what is still up there?"



Mack: I put a Lego guys hand up my nose and it won't come out!



Thoughts by me...Oh no! What did he do? I am going to have to go to the emergency room!! I can't afford that for a little thing up his nose! What was he thinking? Jeff's not here...What am I going to? I knew that Mack would be my emergency room kid! Maybe I will be able to get it out with tweezers! Maybe we can just blow it out!



Me: "Okay-it's okay. I will get a tissue and we will try to blow it out."



So...we blew and we blew and we blew and it finally came out. I was relieved. Now, my question to all of you...What do little kids think when they put things up their noses? When I was little, I put a bean up my nose. Myabe this is just payback for my parents sake.

I'M BAAACK!!

Okay-so after quite a long excruciating wait...(for me, not for all of you reading) I have finally come back to the blogging world! I just couldn't get my other one up and running like I wanted to and I am okay with this fresh start! Hello again-Hello! Since it was such a long time, I have a lot of catchin' up to do! Here it goes!!!!!!

Black Sheep Botique Contest

My Sister in law, Becky, and her sister Trisha opened a new store in Idaho Falls called The Black Sheep Botique. It is on the North Side of Lincoln just West of Woodruff (Across the street from Blacker's). It is one ADORABLE store. There is a lot of unique items in there that you will all love. They have some refurbished furniture that is really priced great, fun baby items, decorations, frames, vinyl, cute bags, etc. I would love for all of you to go and visit and just see for yourself! Plus...I would love for them to get as much business as possible. They even have a kids room that your kids can play in while you are shopping. I helped them set up the store-I even set up the window display!! It was a lot of fun! For my help, they gave me an apron that I was drooling over and it is so cute! However, I do not need a new apron. Instead of trading it in for something else, I am sacrificing my gift for the good of the store. I will give all of you until the end of Novemeber to go and visit the store, leave a comment on my blog about your favorite item in the store or something that you purchased while you were there and I will have a drawing at the end of the month for anyone that visited the store. YOU could be the lucky winner of the adorable apron! I can't wait to see what you all think! Happy Shopping!

Halloween 2008

Our Halloween was pretty low key this year. We have started the years when not all of our children go Trick or Treating anymore. If I had known that last year was my last with all three-I would've tried to make a bigger deal of it...However, it was really fun! We started by having a Halloween party with Mack's Kindergarten class the day before and it was so much fun. The kids had a great time. So did us moms!! My friend Ranay is the room mother and she recruited me to help. I didn't do much except to be there and to read a Halloween story. Mrs. Kholer, their teacher, had dressed up like a clown and all day she had told the kids that she was Mrs. Kholers cousin, Grenelda and they beleievd her! It was hilarious! One of the kids eventually took her red ball nose off and she was found out! Some of the kids were just so surprised!!! It was a fun party. They made really cute finger puppets for the craft, ate cookies and juice for a snack, played pumpkin and ghost bowling, and listened to my story-which I think they liked! Near the end of the school day, all of the school had a costume march where they paraded around the school and they all got to show off their costumes to one another. Mack's teacher was being so silly and dancing around to the Halloween music. It was a lot of fun.
Reading John Pigs Halloween

Ranay-Ooh la la!

The Whole Kindergarten Clan

On Halloween night, Jeff and I took our Darth Vader, our Soda Pop girl, Quentin, and their Grandma Nelson over to Trunk-or-Treating at the church and then we reluctantly went into the church for a Halloween carnival. It was fun-but it was hard for me especially to be responsible for something when all I wanted to do was to take my kids out and T-OR-T! It was fun though. I was in charge of the face painting and the kids were sure fun to interact with and get stuff on their faces. Jeff was also in charge of a game and so our kids ran around for a while on their own until I could sneak away and participate with them. Afterwords, we still went around to a few houses and so much fun with the kids! It was my favorite part of the night!

I loved Calli's costume! I had had a crazy busy couple of weeks and so one night I told Jeff to go to the store and help her pick something out and to my surprise they came home with this adorable outfit! We painted some old slip on shoes of hers to look like saddle shoes. That night, she wore her roller blades to skate around the parking lot. It's her new activity that she is trying to master and it was fun for her to be able to show off her abilities to others more than her family!

Happy 40th Jeff!!!

Jeff finally turned 40! He has been dreading it for about 3 years now. I know that it is easier for me to make fun of him because on any one of his birthdays, I am 51/2 years his junior. However, I just think that he is one year wiser, hotter, and more amazing!!! I love you BABE! This is a picture of him being surprised at his surprise party where I took him and the family to go see a movie at the local theater, but the movie playing was a movie that I had made all about him from birth to today! On the BIG screen! It was so perfect!! It was exactly how I imagined and even more! It wasn't that hard to keep it from him. The kids didn't even know (except for Q when I had to tell him to be home at a certain time Sat morning so that he could be there in time). There were a lot of family and friends there to celebrate it with us and to laugh at his Don Johnson white suit and my big hair, and to cry when we were watching our family grow and change through the years. A few of the guys (Lacy, Travis, Megan, & Don) from work made some

t-shirts with some silly pictures on them to even give him more attention-

which he hates. It was a blast to surprise him like that.

My friend Julie-Thank you, thank you, thank you for the

idea and for your help in the execution!!!
You are amazing!! Later, we had a small family get together with one of Jeff's brothers and their family, my mom and dad, and Jeff's mom. Here is he with his mom modeling the tie, shirt, and pajama pants that he got for his birthday from all of us! Here's to 40 more sweetheart! I love you!

Our Disneyland Vacation

Once Upon a Time...As a newly married couple, Jeff and I headed to California for our Honeymoon! Sixteen years later, we were taking our three wonderfully excited children to the Happiest Place on Earth!

There is so much to write about our exciting vacation that we took last month! We took off the first week of October to venture to the west coast and get ourselves to Disneyland! A few years ago, the kids were wanting to go to Disneyland and we told them that we needed to wait for Mack to get a few years older and so we told them that we would finish reading the Book of Mormon and then we would go. After about 3 1/2 years, we finally finished reading it and it felt great to give this trip to all of us as a reward!

We got there on a Sunday night and went straight to the park after we checked into out Hotel. Where do we start????? Geez! You enter the park and are just so overwhelmed by everything there! It was Halloweentime at Disneyland so it was all decorated for Halloween. We took one look at the map and knew where we wanted to start and just got started! We had such a great time getting the kids on the rides and seeing their faces just keep getting brighter and brighter! That night we did find out that Quentin did not like roller coasters. That was okay though. We told all of them that they had to try every ride once-but they didn't need to go on it again if they didn't like it. Space Mountain did him in the very first night! The fireworks were amazing that night. I almost started crying when they were playing the music to the fireworks and Tinkerbell started flying overhead to When You Wish Upon a Star! It really was magical!

The happiest place on Earth they say!

The next day, we spent the majority of the day at California Adventure and WOW did we have fun there! Calli fell in love with the California Screamin' ride and so did Jeff and I!!! 5-4-3-2-1-SCREEEAM!!!! We had to keep fighting over who would go with her next because Quentin wouldn't ride and Mack couldn't ride-he wasn't tall enough! It was really quite sad because he would have gone on it in a heartbeat!!! He pouted for quite a long while after he found out!

We loved everything about the whole day-the rides-especially the one mentioned above, the water ride, the Pixar Parade, chatting with Crush, and Soarin' California! Such a fun day! After they closed, we headed over to Disneyland again to finish off the day.

On Tuesday, we spent the day at the Beach. We went to Laguna beach (great suggestion Jenni) and had such a fun day there. It was a nice relaxing time and a perfect day to go considering that it was 100 degrees! The kids just kept wadding in the water waiting for the next wave and playing all kinds of water games. Jeff stayed on the beach and read his book mostly. He did help Mack out with a sand castle for a while. I just stayed out with the kids taking 200 pictures!

What a fun day!

On Wednesday, we spent the day going back and forth between the two parks hitting our favorite rides! Calli's was a toss up between Space Mountain and California Screamin' and Quentin's favorite was the Matterhorn (He kept calling it the Behemoth!!!), and Mack's favorite was also Space Mountain! I think my favorite ride was any ride that wasn't too dark or too fast so that I could catch a look on any of the kids' faces. What an amazing time I had watching them smile and giggle through everything. Mack's highlight of the whole trip was his Jedi Training where he was picked to go on stage and train to be a Jedi and fight Darth Vader! He got a little certificate at the end and he kept looking at it all day long!!! He was so proud of that! It was fun to watch him do it! He was a brave little Jedi and fought Darth with all of his might!

I cannot wait to go back!!

Riding On the Twilghlight Tower of Terror

On Thursday, we spent the day at Sea World. I thought this would be a highlight of our trip and it was fun, but definitely not as great as I expected (no offense to any Sea World lovers). We had a fun day though and it was amazing what the animals could do. The kids are obviously into rides after Disneyland and were disappointed that there weren't more of them there.

We headed home on Friday and were so sad to say good-bye to California! We all can't wait to go back!! It would be a yearly activity if we could afford it! On the way home, we stopped in Las Vegas to see Jeff's brother and his family who have moved there recently from Mississippi! We are excited to see you more you guys!!