Sunday, March 15, 2015

Christmas 2013

Teaching school and raising two kids really did a number on me. I am now just getting to our Christmas 2013 post. This was our first Christmas at home as a little family. It was awesome. I think Brannon and I had more fun than the kids did. Waiting for them to wake up made the night seem to last forever. I know one thing, those kids have a daddy that loves them! There were many hours  spent in the cold shed (aka Santa's workshop) putting everything together. 






 We celebrated the New Year with some sledding on the fabulous hill at the school I taught at. Haiven mostly sat at the bottom of the hill and cried. Not too hard to believe right? The rest of us had a blast and we went back again this year. Taj can't get enough of it. Haiv cried this time too, but at least we got her to try it out a few times this time around. Making progress!



A Tea Party

Once upon a time there was a grandmother who loved dressing up in funny hats and having tea parties. We feasted on cucumber sandwiches, blueberry scones, apples and caramel, and lemon sweet bread. What better to wash all that down with than little Miss Haiven's drink of choice: apple juice! 
This is how we chose to party while the boys were off hunting last October. I think our time was much better spent;)


 Sawyer was only 3 months old, so he got to join in on the party. He was obviously very happy about it!
 My red ensemble paired well together and it was not hard to  imagine that I came straight from a nursing home garden party. My mom chose a light blue/gray hat to really make her eyes pop and accent her Little House on the Prairie-inspired dress.
 Haiv chose a subtle pink hat (she's not one for making a statement) that accented her satin princess dress. She definitely won the best-dressed award!
 Granny Martha really wowed in that rose-colored floppy hat and her medieval pouf-sleeved shirt, haha

Sunday, March 1, 2015

That One Time We Went to Disneyland

Traveling with kids is not for the faint of heart. This trip was almost two years ago, so I'll do my best to remember the highlights and the not so great things that happened. My parents and my baby brother Easton came as well as my brother Matt and Ali and their boy Camden. My parents and my brother and his wife drove. Brannon and I decided flying would be the best option for us so Brannon wouldn't have to miss too much work. Flying was awful with two kids. The kids were actually not too bad, but packing around luggage and carseats and backpacks and kitties and blankies and sippies all over the airport was less than ideal to say the least! We also took a late flight and didn't actually make it to our hotel until about midnight. That would have been okay if our Magic Morning wouldn't have been the very next morning.  After about four or five hours of sleep, we woke up early and even though we were way too short on sleep, we were all full of energy and way to excited to notice how tired we were.

Disneyland was a blast the first two days. We pretty much had no wait times on the rides and the weather was awesome. Taj loved just about every single ride, except for the Tower of Terror. I still can't believe we took him on that! He didn't cry or make a peep on the ride, but he did say he didn't want to go on that one again. Haiven cried on EVERY SINGLE RIDE except for the lame caterpillar one that just goes around in a single circle and lasts about 30 seconds. There was that one time on the second day we were there that Haiven puked up goldfish crackers while we were waiting in line for the Toy Story Ride. Her aim was so accurate, she covered everybody's shoes and legs within a 20 foot radius in all directions. I was mortified, especially when I saw that her closest victims were wearing open-toed shoes. Yeah, they were not happy. I think Easton got some of the worst of it too because he was holding her when it happened. I just wanted to leave, but my mom came to the rescue and began distributing wipes to everyone who was in the splash zone. I think she was just a little hot and maybe had some motion sickness. Thank goodness that was the worst of it!

The last day at the park was a nightmare! I don't know how we managed to do it twice, but we did, we came the same weekend as Gay Days TWICE! The first time it was just me and Brannon, so it wasn't too bad navigating the crowds, but this time around there were more people than ever at the park! You could not even walk from one end of the park to the other without it taking about an hour. The lines were so bad, that even the fast pass lines were a TWO HOUR wait. It was so awful that we gave up and decided to go to the beach instead. That was fun! We ate some mediocre beach stand burgers and chicken and played in the sand and water for about two hours. We wish we would have just bagged Disneyland for the whole day and had more time to play at the beach. It was such a fun trip. We will definitely be going back soon! And we will definitely be going a different weekend too!
 Headed out bright and early to the park! I think Papa was the most excited of all, haha!
 It was all decked out for Halloween, seriously the coolest time to go!


 There is no way in Hades we will ever ride the teacups, but this did make for a good photo op!

 This was one of Taj's favorite rides! He loves Halloween of course!
 Waiting to ride the tractor ride, which is pretty darn close to that darn teacup ride. You get dizzy and you get whiplash! Go on this very last if you don't want to deal with a headache and nausea for the entire day!

 Being in radiator springs was probably one of the best parts of the whole trip!
 An epic moment for Taj.











 Meeting Mater was probably even better because Mater is a truck who can tow stuff!


 She hated the beach too. We could not win with her! She didn't like the sand on her feet, haha

 He didn't like the way the water stings your feet and legs.
 Also the waves were too loud and scary. My gosh, a generation of wimps we are raising!
 Probably one of my favorite pics from the whole trip.
 See those two yoyos in the background? Those are my brothers Matt and Easton going out way too far and this is shortly before the lifeguards made everyone get out of the water. There was some kind of insane riptide coming in. Smart call lifeguards! Save the dumb tourists!
 He was much better after grandma buried him in the sand.
My brother Matt and his wife Ali and their son Camden. He tolerated the beach a heck of a lot better than my lot!

When the Tooth Fairy Comes to Visit

So I cannot believe Taj is already losing teeth! He's actually lost three more since this picture was taken in October. He is about to be the toothless wonder. I didn't lose a tooth until the first grade and even then I only lost one tooth. The tooth fairy brought him a big silver dollar and even left pixie dust all over it. He was kind of annoyed that there were so many sparkles making his bed a mess, haha. Maybe the sparkle touch was a little too "girly" for our boy.

Halloween Carnival Birthday Bash

We decided we could get away with combining Taj and Haiven's birthdays again this year (actually last year because this post is SO LATE!). Our kids absolutely love Halloween, so we decided we'd do a Halloween carnival-themed birthday party for them. Holy crap! I had no idea how crazy it can be with 20+ kids all on a massive sugar and pizza high. It was two hours of chaos, but there wasn't a single kid there without a smile on his/her face. I'd call it a success and an every-other-year sort of party. Taj turned the big 06 and Haiven graduated to the Torrential Threes. Here are a few pics to commemorate the occasion!
 Obviously the weather was still unusually warm for October! I like her style. I think the boots are a perfect neutral accent to the hot pink  flower and frills and the polka dots.


 She still can't ride this bike. Doesn't get the whole "pedal" concept. Maybe this summer!
 This bike was a little too big back in October, but he OWNS it now! (After a lot of falling over in the backyard too many times to count and scolding us for getting him a bike that is WAY TOO BIG for him, haha)

 My best friend from my childhood, Sinamin, holding Sawyer boy while we conduct the chaos. She's the best!

 They were so excited they got to wear their Halloween costumes BEFORE Halloween
The last picture we have of Haiven with her binkie. Her teeth were glad to see that go!