It's About Time

So for the past couple of weeks, I have been really stressed.  Tuesday was so bad, my vision started to blur.  I was ready for another vacation (maybe that is why I am planning 4 vacations before the end of the year).  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  I realize that EVERYONE has stress and a million things that they have to deal with.  So because of all the stress, I have been re-evaluating my life to see if I could weed out anything unnecessary.  During my introspection I noticed something that kept popping up.  When I thought about my job - it was there.  When I pondered my calling - it was there.  When I was worrying about my kids - it was there.  When I thought about Matt - it was there.  When I thought about school - there it was again.  Every aspect of my life had this one thing and suddenly, some of the stress was gone.  One word that means so many different things to all people, everywhere in the world - Family.
I have THE.Best.Family.In.The.World.
I know that I can always count on my family. 
I have a family that will load up all their little kids and come to a baseball game. 
I have a family who will make-up a Kindergarten Graduation dance and teach it to me.
I have a family who helps my children blossom and develop into great kids.
I have a family who drive up and down the Interstate to celebrate birthdays, gatherings, or whatever we feel like.
I have a family who supports me in my calling through encouragement, helping plan activities, or coming into my class and helping me with my lesson.
I have a family who knows how important it is to nourish your spousal relationship and will help with the kids so Matt and I can get time alone.
I have a family who will stop in on their way home just to say Hi and see how we are doing.
I have a family who knows how important family vacations are and will comes hundreds of miles to be with us.
I have a family that lives far away, but stays connected by blogging, letters, or phone calls.
I have a family who will be to every function imaginable - from baseball games to dance recitals to graduations.
I have a family who knows who they are, where they came from, and how to be an eternal family.  It's a secret that I am going to share with all of you today - the secret to an eternal family.

It's about time.

Spending time together laughing, playing games, watching the kids, vacationing, having dinner, helping out, pitching in, hanging out, talking, getting to know one another, listening, caring, and loving unconditionally.  My family puts in the time.  They invest in me, in my children, and in my husband and I know that when the time comes they will be paid off in eternal dividends.  All because they took the time.

Color Me Crazy!!!

I few months back I discovered a fun little store called Color Me Mine.  You pay a studio fee and you can paint all sorts of different things and they glaze them and cook them for you.  So I told Sharon about it, and we decided to have a FHE and go up there.
The kids had a BLAST!!  Well, most of the kids had a blast:

But don't worry.  Little Ben made up for it.  He painted his tile, his forehead and some of his pants.  He was a happy little boy until his dad took his paintbrush away and cleaned him up.

Jeremy and Bailee did a great job painting their plates.  They were very careful.


So we paid and headed outside.  On the way out, Bailee turfed it and got a little road rash on her knee.

We loaded up our cars and headed for home.  Jeremy enjoyed himself so much he told me that we were going to do if for father's day too!!!

They Say It's Your Birthday

It was my daddy-o's birthday on Friday. So we decided to go out to dinner at Tucanos. Very yummy, but the best part of the entire evening was when they came out to sing Happy Birthday to Dad. They had him get up and dance around to the music and here is what happened:

It was fun night, and the best line of night was when we were headed home and dad says, and I quote:
"That was fun, but why did they have to sing to me in Portuguese?"
Happy Birthday Daddy-o I'm glad we could celebrate together.

Hey Batter, Batter

Jeremy, finally had his first little league game.  He is now officially in coach pitch.  It is a lot more organized too.  He did great.  Hit the ball twice and made it to home.  They still don't keep score, but it was great to see how much he is improving:

Disneyland Day Five - Saturday

Matt and I were up at 5:30 am and out the door.  We needed to take Sheridy back to the airport.  Traffic was a breeze and we were at the terminal at just before 6:30 am.  He did the curb check for her bags and Matt and I got escort passes to help her through security.  Everything went pretty smoothly until we got to security.  Matt's license has been expired since February and apparently, he was a security risk.  They let us go up to another security check and then they lost Allison's boarding pass.  It was very stressful, but we were through security and waiting at the gate around 7:15 am.  I sent Sheridy to get some breakfast for her kids and made sure they  all had a bathroom break.  We left around 8 and got into the parks around 9:30 am.  We met everyone over in Critter Country and went on Splash Mountain.  After, we jumped on the Haunted Mansion before the line got too long (I looked over and Zoey had her gun shooting the ghosts).  Afterwards we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz and Space.  I hadn't been on Star Tours yet, so we took a flight to Endor.  While we were there Matt had mentioned that he had never seen Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, so we grabbed our 3-D glasses and went into the theatre.




Bailee did better this time around.  She wasn't screaming in terror.  After we got out, we decided it was time to get our annual passes, so we went to the Main Street Bank while everyone else took off and did their own thing.  We paid the difference in our park hoppers, got our picture taken, and left with our annual passes.  We were excited.  Don't tell Matt, but I am planning a trip to Disneyland in October.  After we got our passes, we got a phone call from Linsey stating that the line to see Tinkerbell was only 30 minutes.  So I sent Mom and Bailee to Pixie Hollow to meet the famous fairy.


After Pixie Hollow, everyone was famished, so we decided to try Cafe Orleans.  It was a 30 minute wait for a party of 13, so it wasn't that bad of a wait.  The food there is so, so good.  Mom and I shared the Monte Cristo sandwich.  So yummy.  This kids had fun with their pirate hats.  Bailee especially:
 



It was a little hotter today, so after our lunch we headed to Splash Mountain yet again and used our fast passes.


So after Splash, Disneyland was WAY too crowded.  Splash had a wait time of 80 minutes, Haunted Mansion was a 45 minutes wait, and even Pirates had a 30 minute wait.  We decided to head over to California Adventure.  Zoey was on the brink of a Level 5 Meltdown, so Jenny and Justin went  back to their room for a nap.  When we got into the park, it was packed, but we managed.  Soarin's fast passes were all gone, so we headed to Toy Story.  There was only a 30 minute wait and we figured wherever we went would be a long wait, so we hopped in line.

I went with Bailee and I was quite proud of my score.  After Toy Story, We got fast passes for California Screamin'  We had some time to kill, so we decided to wait for the Pixar Parade again.



So we headed over to Screamin'.  I had hurt my back somehow so I wasn't up for the coaster ride, so I stayed with all the kids while Matt, Mom, Linsey and Ray went on Screamin.  I tried to get a picture of them taking off, but it is just so fast.

That is their coaster.  The Lagoon was drained because they were doing construction for a Bellagio type water show.  When we go again in October it will be filled.  After they got off Screamin' we headed back to Disneyland and met up with Jenny and Justin.  It was fairly windy, so we decided not to wait for fireworks (they ended up canceling them again).  We had dinner at Rancho del Zocalo.  It was chilly and I didn't have my jacket so Mom and I waited with the little ones at the restaurant because they had heaters.  The rest of the group hit Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain.  While they were on Splash it broke down and they had to escort them out.  They gave them a fast pass for any ride in the park.  It was late, and we didn't have a nap this day since it was our last in the park.  I still wanted to do a little souvenir shopping, so Matt took the kids home and Mom and I went to the Emporium.  On the way out of the park, we stopped for a couple photos:


So the next morning, we were up and out the door at 4:30am.  It was early, be we were ready to be home.  We pulled into Nephi around 3:00 and IT WAS SNOWING!!!!!  I was ready to turn around and go back.  It was a great vacation and I am glad that I was able to share it with my family.