Top ten (or more) reasons why I loved our Disneyland trip and one reason (or a few) why I didn't (plus pics)

1. The excitement before going into the park is so... exciting!

2. Who doesn't want to eat as much sugary goodness for breakfast made by Goofy himself?




3. There are movie stars around every corner!








4. Minnie gives really long hugs.

5. Going on The Little Mermaid Ride and The Monsters Inc ride with Aubrey 8 times each is my idea of a really good time.
6. Absolutely nothing beats watching your kids watch a Disney Parade.
7. Splash Mountain on a warm sunny day is the epitome of happiness.
8. Aubrey did get used to the rides and was a good sport after the first day (this is her being a good sport)

9. Because of Brynley's tall snow boots she was able to ride and LOVED Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones and tried Screamin' but didn't love it. I loved watching her and Caleb so excited about the rides.
10. Because I can do pull ups anywhere! And Disneyland is the BEST place to do them!

11. It was hilarious sneaking Aubrey onto "Soarin over CA" by stuffing borrowed cowboy boots with socks and wash cloths to make her 3 inches taller. She could barely walk and loved that she was playing a "trick".
12. Loved seeing old friends Kent and Nellie Sommer and baby Win and talking with Win on the car ride home.






DID NOT LOVE:
1. The torrential rain on the first day that left all of us soaked and Aubrey quite unhappy.


2. Caleb's barfing all night long the first night.
3. That my phone didn't automatically update to CA time so I was up and ready to go the first morning at 5:45am. After being up with a barfing Caleb.

All things considered, it was a fabulous trip and I'd go back tomorrow if I could.

Merry Christmas!

This year we spent Christmas with my side of the family and we had SO much fun!! We went to eat at Tepanyaki a few days before Christmas. That's kind of a little tradition the last few years to do that together when we're all in town. The kid's love the "show" and we love the food too! And, yes, Aubrey dressed herself for our night on the town. I didn't feel like fighting...




The next night we all got together and had my Grandma's chicken noodle soup and watched Home Alone.



We had SO much fun getting to know Cason! He is so cute! My kids (and I) loved playing with him!




On Christmas Eve we went to my parents house with my siblings, my aunt and uncle and some of my cousins. We ate our Christmas Eve dinner, used our nativity puppets to act out the nativity and did the "pass around game" where you read the Night Before Christmas and everyone passes gifts around the circle every time the word 'and' is read. It's a lot of fun.





Christmas morning was fantastic! My kids were all old enough to enjoy it and get excited. And besides one little crying episode by Brynley (Caleb pushed her out of the way when they were coming down the hall to see what Santa brought them) they were in great moods all day! Caleb got a 3DS, Brynley got an art easel and Aubrey got a kitchen from Santa. We also gave Brynley my American Girl doll from when I was a little girl.



Later in the morning my family came over to exchange presents and have brunch. We went to church a little later and just hung out enjoying each other's company. I really enjoyed going to church on Christmas. It just felt right. :-)




We had a wonderful Christmas with family and we hope you all did as well! And it's ok to have a little mess on Christmas, right?

December so far...

We all liked Santa this year! This might be the first year that's happened... HE also liked US so much that he sent us an Elf on the Shelf the next day!



Brandon and I went on a fun date for our 11th anniversary. We had a discount at the Tree Room so went up to Sundance and had a great meal out and then walked around Riverwoods which looked so beautiful all lit up! I'm so happy I married my best friend 11 years ago. Time flies! With the way marriages go these days I'm so lucky and blessed that we are still happier than ever!

The kids have been participated in an anti bullying program at school called Verbal Judo. At the graduation the kids got to break a board with their bare hands! Amazing, I know! Brynley didn't want to do it, but Caleb sure did!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! We went up to Jeremy and Angie's house and Jordan and Brandon's parents came into town. Angie always does such fun things. The kids had a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feast while we were waiting for everyone to get there and for dinner to be ready. After dinner we went on a little walk and she had scavenger hunt sheets where the kids had to look for things on the walk and check things off that they found. It was so cute!

The food was amazing and the company was fantastic! Thanks for a great holiday Mathews' family!





The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Spanish Fork Light Parade this year. It was really cute! It was very small town but it was a fun way to kick off the Christmas season.

Halloween 2011

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Caleb dressed up like Harry Potter. Brynley was a witch. And Aubrey was Minnie Mouse. Brynley wore a witch costume that I wore when I was younger but we jazzed it up with a sash and some tights. We had a Trunk or Treat, a ward party and went trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Las Vegas Ragnar

A few weeks ago I ran the Las Vegas Ragnar. For those of you who know me you know how much I love my sleep and don’t really enjoy running. A Ragnar relay was close to the top of my list of things I don’t really care to ever do. But a friend from high school messaged me a couple weeks before asking if I wanted to join the team because they needed a couple spots filled. Saundra and I ended up working out our schedules so we could go down for the weekend. We ended up having a great time!
I was in van 2 and runner 11. I was in a van with Saundra (my bff), Kent (my good friend from high school) and Nellie (his wife) so it was a lot of fun to chat with them and the new friends I met.

Since we were in van 2 we didn’t run at first. The runners from van 1 took their turns running through the Vegas heat from about 10am to about 3pm. We leap frogged with van 1 and cheered on our runner, gave them water and whatever else they needed. At each exchange one runner passed the “baton” which was a slap bracelet to the next runner and off they went.
Our van started in the late afternoon on Friday. Our first couple runners had the worst of the heat. By the time it was my turn it was close to sunset. My first leg of the run was about 3.7 miles. It was at sunset and by the end of my run it was dark. The run was on a paved path through the hills. It was really pretty and really uphill most of the time. I was feeling good though and pushed it up the hills.

Our van finished around 9 pm or so and we were starving so we passed off to the other van and went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. It was nice to eat a good meal and just relax and sit there and talk to other adults without being interrupted. 
Sooner than we expected (around midnight?) we got the call that we needed to go meet van 1 at the next van exchange. We finished dinner, changed our clothes and headed off to meet them. Our 2nd leg of the race was in the middle of the night. I tried to sleep while our other runners ran but I couldn’t. It was cold and I was tired so I told my teammates I might be a little slow for this leg. This leg was 3.9 miles for me. I started running around 2:30am. I felt GREAT! The weather was cold at first but it felt good for running and my leg was slightly downhill. It felt awesome. It was a little scary at times when there was no one in front of me or behind me and no vans driving by and it was pitch black out but those times didn’t last long. I finished about 5 minutes earlier than I thought so Nellie wasn’t quite ready for me. But the other team mates saw me and Nellie ran over to me, I slapped the bracelet on her and off she went! It was almost time for us to go sleep!
When she finished her leg it was about 3:30am and we headed to Kent’s sister’s house to sleep for a few hours. We woke up somewhat refreshed after 3 hours of sleep and left to go do our last leg of the relay! This was the longest part for our van with our legs totaling 39 miles.
We started about 9 am, I think. There were some crazy hard runs during this one. One runner in our van had a ten miler, mostly up a steep hill in the Vegas heat. I was second to last in our van and even though it was super hot, my leg was mostly down hill so I felt great running it. It was such a great feeling to finish my last leg. I handed off to Nellie, we cheered her on and then headed to the finish line where we would cross together as a team. Even though my legs were short (all around 4 miles) I had such a feeling of accomplishment. I did surprisingly well on the lack of sleep. The energy was great and it was fun to see all the vans and runners and everything. I am so glad I did it, even though it was on my “hope I never do in my life” list. That’s the opposite of a bucket list… I hope to do another one someday!