March '19- Week 2- McK's BD Date, Peter Pan Dress Rehearsal, March Webster BDs, More Peter Pan

Friday I went to ladies lunch during which it snowed again.  

After school, McKenna was helping Alice play the piano.

McKenna was able to go on her BD date with Whitney, Katie, Grandma and Grandpa.  They went to dinner at The Garden at Temple Square, then out for ice cream.  The snow did not stop them from walking around and enjoying the beautiful temple grounds.  

Dan and I went out for tacos with Dan's new counselors and their wives, the Remingtons and Kossins.  We had great conversations and enjoyed getting to know them better!

Saturday was a regular morning, then we packed a lunch and headed to the school to help McKenna learn to "fly" for Peter Pan with full harnesses and ropes!  Dan was definitely more able to do it than I was.  She was loving it! 

 We used some spiral leave-in curlers for the first time and they worked so great!  

We picked up groceries afterwards, Ben got a hair cut, and we went to the YW fundraiser dinner (Hawaiian Haystacks).  

Sunday I received a new calling as the Senior Primary Chorister!  I was really feeling like I needed a little something more to do at church and I always thought I'd have this calling someday.  :) 

That evening we celebrated March BDs at mom and dad's house. 

Grandma also had shamrock sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.  

Monday I did laundry, made rice krispie treats, and played with Bethany (even painting her nails).  

After school I put McKenna's hair in curlers, individually wrapped the rice krispie treats, and we got a bid for new siding on our house.    

 Love this chubby Alice picture!  Monday was also opening night for Peter Pan!! Hannah and Abby Kossin babysat so all of us could go except Alice.  The Alexanders, Winegars, Smiths (carpool friends), and Jensens all came to support!  

Tuesday I attended Jan Evan's class.  We got another siding bid.  Putting curlers in McKenna's hair became our new after school routine during the week of this play. :)  Dan took McKenna early every night so they could run the flying scene and make sure everything was safe! After the flying scene, Dan took the kids home to bed and I stayed to watch. No family came this night, only friends. :) 

In the middle of the night, Anna threw up. :(  Besides feeling bad for Anna, I was SO nervous McKenna would catch this and not be able to perform for one of the shows.  Thankfully, no one else caught it!  

Wednesday the little girls and I watched the NBC Peter Pan Live on YouTube and stayed in our PJs most of the day.  Anna drew this Monster's Inc drawing and I was pretty impressed!  I had to take a picture of how much Bethany loves Barbies too! 

I felt pretty "zombie-like" all day.  Thankfully McKenna did NOT have a show this night and we were able to finish "Ralph Breaks the Internet" movie we started a few days ago.  

Thursday I went to Rachael's to practice singing a song for Sacrament Meeting.  Dan came home in the middle of the day.  Brooklyn Ulmer babysat that night while I helped back stage. 

Grandpa and Grandpa came, as well as Whitney and Ellie, Camille, the Hamblins, Lewises, Moultons, Lara and Sam, and the Stewarts.  

March '19- Week 1- Eli's Baptism, Alice's 1st BD!, McKenna Assembly Performace, Jojo's Play,

Friday we attended a 5th grade orientation for McKenna at the Legacy North Campus.  I made zucchini bread, McKenna got a hair trim, Ben and Anna played at the Alexander's, then McKady Kump came to babysit while Dan and I went on a double date with John and Rachael Alexander to dinner and dessert.  I'm so thankful to have the Alexanders as such good friends.  

Alice loves this ball popper toy and would squeal every time a ball popped up! 

Saturday we attended Eli's Baptism!  So happy for him! Afterwards, Dan took Ben to a work event with him and then to the Lego Store to make good on a birthday coupon gift.  McKenna had a tech rehearsal for Peter Pan.  I ran errands with the three little girls to Old Navy and Wal-Mart. I enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home with the girls and let them play in a bubble bath and even tried some spiral curlers in Anna's hair.  It snowed that evening, I made cupcakes for Alice's BD the next day, and we watched "Ralph Breaks the Internet" as a family. 

Sunday my baby Alice turned 1!!  We were on time for church and heard the testimonies of the old and new bishopric counselors.  Our Come Follow Me lesson was about miracles.  After dinner, we had a cupcake smash for Alice!  Mickelle, Jonathan, Adam, the Stewarts, Grandma and Grandpa, and Jake and Abril all came!  Alice loved the cupcake so much, we let her have two! 

Collage of her "month" pictures. 

 Happy, messy, baby! 

Cake Smash video

 Aunt Pickle got her a babydoll and Grandma brought her a book. :) 

Monday I edited lots of pictures and McKenna worked on a little heart presentation she did for her class about Grandfather.  

For a while, Alice always made this funny sound whenever she saw someone's belly button.

Ben got some awesome laughs out of Alice as we were finishing folding laundry that night.  

Tuesday I exercised and did not go to Jan Evans' class because Bethany had a slight fever and was coughing a lot.  

I shot this lovely video of Alice squealing/screaming at me because she wanted more attention. 

I got a cute picture of Ben, Bethany, and Alice playing together, all in red shirts.  

That evening, McKenna babysat while Dan and I went to YW New Beginnings.  They played fun games and had yummy candy.  Unfortunately, because McKenna came home stressed from rehearsal, I needed to run home and help get kids in bed, and therefore missed the song I had been rehearsing with the YW.  Oh well.  

Dan had lunch with most of his brothers.Wednesday McKenna went in full hair and make-up for an assembly performance of Peter Pan.  It was fun to see a sneak peak!  Bethany and Alice came with me and Bethany was quite surprised, or maybe finally put it together that McKenna was playing the part of Wendy. :)  Anna had a play date at Emi's house.  

After school McKenna and Lyla worked together on a scene, and after dinner McKenna and I (and Bridget Moulton) went to see Jojo Lewis in her school play at Valley View.  

Thursday I exercised and Dan went to the temple.  Annie Wirthlin came over to play.  

Alice loves to play the piano and sometimes Ben and McKenna set up their coats like a person is inside there. :) 

After school, Brynn watched my kids while I helped back stage at a Peter Pan dress rehearsal.

Feb. '19- Week 4- Huntington Beach, Ruby's, Seascape Fun Center, Lego Movie 2, Alice Parade/First Word, Blue and Gold Banquet Pack Meeting Carnival

Friday we had a very slow morning and Dan had a long phone call.  We headed to Huntington Beach to play in the sand for a bit.  It was still quite chilly when the wind blew.  Then we ate lunch in the Tiki Room at Ruby's on the Pier and it was our most expensive meal yet!  :)

Everyone took naps in the car and we drove to the Seascape Fun Center which is like a Kangaroo Zoo. 

After that we went and saw the Lego Movie 2.  We got back to the AirBnb and packed up as much as we could and went to bed.  

Saturday we got dressed, loaded up, and were on the road to home by 6:15am!  

The kids watched "Ariel" and we stopped in Vegas at 9ish to nurse and go potty.  The kids watched "Alice in Wonderland" and we ate lunch in St. George at Cafe Rio.  Dan finished the book "Educated" so we discussed that for a while.  I took some Dramamine for the drive home to make sure I didn't get car sick again, but it made me super sleepy, so I napped a lot! Sorry Dan!

We filled up and I nursed in Nephi.  The kids watched "Sword and the Stone."  We picked up pizza for dinner and were home by 7pm! We made much better time on the way home.  No traffic to speak of.  Everyone had baths and we unpacked and did laundry and went to bed!  Unfortunately Alice still had a fever that night and had a little bit of a hard time. :( 

Sunday before church, the kids had an Alice parade. :) 

Sunday Dan received new counselors in the bishopric, Dirk Kossin and Greg Remington.  I sat in with the Laurels and helped answer questions about marriage.  We practiced the YW song as well.  Our Come Follow Me lesson was more about the Sermon on the Mount.  We had dinner at home and I worked on a grocery order after my family conference call.  

Monday I had a good discussion with my Double or Nothin' roommates on Marco Polo about where we get our self worth and how do we instill it in our kids.  I said I get a lot of my self worth from Dan and of course from Heavenly Father.  I had groceries delivered in the morning and did lots of laundry.  That night we went to the Nelson Family Party at Dan's parents' house.  I took these cute pictures of Alice for the Nelson News since her 1st birthday is in March!

Tuesday I went to Jan Evans' class and drove carpool.  After McKenna's rehearsal, she had a play date with Lia and Lyla.  After dinner I briefly went to YW to help them practice their song again.  Dan went to mutual and other church meetings and got home very late!

Wednesday Dan gave himself a haircut in the morning.  I visited a new ministering sister, Janel Barnes, and we talked a lot about Disney.  Henry and Brittana Alexander came over to play in the afternoon.  I had book club that night to talk about "Educated."  

Thursday Desi and Will came over to play in the morning then I exercised.  After school Taggart came to play.  

Update on Dan's burned fingers and a cute Alice face!

Alice said her first word, "Uh-Oh!"

That night was the Blue and Gold Cub Scout Banquet, which was a carnival!  

They made it so fun for the kids with face painting, a photo booth, ring toss, dart throw at balloons, wet sponge toss, and to ear more tickets, kids could get up on stage and perform somehow.  Ben got up and told a few jokes and everyone loved it! 

What do you call a freight train loaded with Bubble gum? A chew chew train!

Knock knock. Who's there? Cows go. Cows go who? Cows don't go who, they go Moo!

Why did Darth Vader go to the bakery? To get a Coo-keeee.  

Feb. '19- Week 3- Middle Ages Day, Grandma Kelly Leaves, Disneyland!

Friday morning McKenna had the 4th Grade Knighting Ceremony, during which Anna and Bethany took some cute selfies.  The 4th graders also showed off many things they learned while studying the Middle ages and all their castle models were on display.  

They got to choose their knight name and McKenna chose "Lady Lover of Pasta."

We got home around 10 and I did some cleaning.  Dan got new glasses today also! Darker, more bold frames.  :)  After school, I went back to school to help sell Peter Pan tickets.  I also got to hear a little of the 4th grade's guest speaker, King Henry the 8th.  He was great!  We started packing that afternoon to be ready for our Disneyland trip on Monday.  That night was the last night with my mom in town, so we made our fancy Valentine's dinner to eat together.  :) 

Saturday we worked a lot on packing, cleaning, laundry, running errands.  We also had my ministering sisters' kids over, the Jaynes and Pugsleys.  We babysat them so their parents could go on a date.  Anna went to McKayla Searle's BD party.

That night we watched some history of Disneyland videos on You Tube and we continued to pack!

Sunday Ben got some snuggles from Alice.  There was a discussion in Sunday school about Jesus cleansing the temple.  Something that stood out to me was another way I can keep my home clean, like the temple, is to not gossip or talk bad about others.  Our Come Follow Me lesson was about the "beattitudes" and how to find true happiness.  Right before dinner, Dan accidentally touched a hot burner and burned his finger tips.  :(  After dinner I cleaned out the van and did more packing.  

Monday we were on the road to California by 8:45am!  The kids watched "Sleeping Beauty," "Peter Pan." We stopped for lunch in Cedar City.  There was some snow on the drive, but the roads were fine.  We got gas in Mesquite, but once we hit Vegas, we hit some BAD traffic!  We had Arby's for dinner and continued in the bad traffic.  The kids watched "Nemo" and "Tarzan." I felt pretty carsick and had a bad headache most of the day.  I listened to "Unthinkable" and edited pictures.  Dan listened to "Educated." We stopped at Wal-mart to pick up groceries and got to our AirBnb at 10:20pm!  Such a long day in the car!  The traffic probably tacked on an extra 3 hours!  Also, unfortunately, the heater in our AirBnb was broken so it was quite chilly.  Thankfully, there were space heaters.  

Tuesday we got to Disneyland by 9:15!  We were all so excited!  We wore our matching t-shirts, the girls had Minnie Mouse buns, and we definitely still needed jackets.  Our first ride was the carousel.  We then spent a lot of time in Fantasy Land riding Pinnochio, Snow White, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Tea Cups, and Casey Jr.  

Then we headed to Tomorrow Land and we rode Space Mountain twice.  

We ate our packed lunch, then headed over to Indiana Jones and the Tarzan Treehouse.  Thank heavens for FAST PASSES and Stroller swaps!  The big kids got to ride almost all the the fast pass rides twice! Once with Dan, once with me.  

Dan took the little girls to Pooh's Corner while I rode Indiana Jones with the big kids.  Then we headed over to Thunder Mountain x2.  We ran into Dan's friends Chelsea and Hillary.  

 We had dinner in Tomorrow Land where Dan got a turkey leg.  It was quite cold by this time and we were wondering if we needed to buy more layers just to feel comfortable.  The three big kids rode the Buzz Lightyear ride while Bethany and I found a spot for the parade.  

 Unfortunately we weren't able to meet back up for the parade, but I got to watch it with Bethany and Alice and they loved it! 

 After the parade we pulled out some glow sticks, bought some hot chocolate, rode the jungle cruise, went in the Enchanted Tiki Room, and rode the Haunted Mansion.  We finished the night with a light show and dance party on Main Street.  

 We all wore our matching Disney jammies and slept very well!  

Things I want to remember from our first day: We were nervous about Anna being scared to go on certain rides but she had zero problems!  The late arrival from the night before did not help our energy level.  Bethany was easily scared on some of the Fantasy Land rides.  McKenna was excited to do bigger rides.  We saw the Alexanders!  Alice did well and our food situation worked well also!  A GREAT first day!

Wednesday we were slow moving in the morning and got to California Adventure by 9:45.  We first went to the Disney Junior dance party.  It was cute and fun, but I liked the Disney Jr. show we went to back in 2014 better.  

Then we had snacks and waited in line to see the Frozen show.  It was amazing!!  

Then we headed over to Monsters Inc. ride.  We ate lunch, saw Spiderman while Ben had on his Spiderman jacket, and then headed over to Guardians.  Unfortunately, McKenna's nerves got the best of her and she was too scared to ride it.  However, Ben, Anna, and I rode it and loved it!  Then Dan rode it again with B and A.  I went and nursed Alice in the child care center with Anna and Bethany while Dan took McKenna and Ben on Incredicoaster!  McKenna was also a little nervous to ride that one, but she did great and said she loved it!  Then we headed over to Little Mermaid and Cars Land.  

After Radiator Springs and Mater's ride (both x2), it started to rain pretty hard.  We thankfully got a seat inside Flo's diner for dinner!  

Next, we went to meet Anna and Elsa! 

Then we met Mickey himself!  Since it was pretty late at night and cold and rainy, there wasn't any line!  Ben gave him such a looong hug.  

We left the park at 9pm and went back to the AirBnb and everyone showered and slept well once again! 

Thursday we attempted to use our "Magic Morning" pass.  We should have been able to get in at 7am, but due to long lines, we only made it in by 7:45.  Oh well.  We were all pretty tired by day 3.  This was the day we had two princesses (Elena and Cinderella) and a Kylo Ren.   

I went and nursed Alice while Dan took the older three on Matterhorn and Star Tours. Then we all met at the Buzz ride.  While I was nursing, Bethany took off her shoes and said, "my toes smell like chicken nuggets."  

Then Dan took McKenna and Ben to Indiana Jones again, while I took the three little girls back to Fantasy Land and we rode the carousel, Snow White, and Pinnochio.  We also ran into Peter Pan! 

McKenna and I then rode Space Mountain while Dan took the other kids to wait in line at Small World.  

Sadly, Alice had a fever off and on Wednesday and Thursday.  After we got home, she had a slight rash all over her trunk which explained the fever.  I felt bad she felt yucky, but it was actually kind of nice she slept so much! 

We ate lunch in Toon Town then explored and rode rides.  

We rode Thunder Mountain x2, then Alice in Wonderland and made sure to get a picture with Alice. We rode the Story Book Canal Boats, then went to the Royal Hall to meet some Princesses. 

While we were in line at the Royal Hall, it started to pour rain!  

Anna loved meeting Cinderella while dressed as Cinderella.  

We put on our ponchos and headed to the Star Wars building in Tomorrow Land. I nursed Alice while Dan took the other kids to meet Chewbacca.  

The rain stopped but it was quite cold!  So we rode the Monorail, Matterhorn, then ate at a Mexican restaurant in Frontier Land which had heaters!  We then went souvenir shopping, had our pictures taken, and left by 7:45 because we were all so cold and spent!