Every Trip Has It's Own Drama!

Earlier this year, we thought we had taken our last trip to Disneyland for a long time. We had free tickets that we got to use and that was that. Since Brett's been in school, it just wasn't in the budget. Well, enter Mark (my fabulous brother) and Kim (my wonderful sister in law). They called us up a few days before Thanksgiving and said, "We're planning a last minute trip to Disneyland the day after Thanksgiving and we want you guys to come with us. It just wouldn't be the same without you." They found a really nice place to stay while we were there and wanted to cover that. All we needed to do was get our Disneyland tickets and get there!



How could we refuse? We talked to the kids about
it and they decided that they wanted Disneyland for Christmas! So, we decided to do it. Our trip there was the most RIDICULOUS trip to California we've ever driven. We stayed the night on Saturday at Kim's grandma's house in Mesquite. We woke up the next morning, ready to go to early church and then were planning on leaving right then. As we walked to our car after the meeting, we noticed our front tire looked a little flat and upon closer examination, noticed a nail in the tire. So, we drove over to Wally-World to fix it up. We drove up, dropped off the car, told the guys in the shop the problem and then proceeded to the waiting room.

One of the mechanics came in and said, "We need your keys." I said, "Oh, the keys are in the car."He said, "Well, the doors are locked."

Silence.

"Uuuuhhhh, are you sure?" I asked. "Did you check the other side?" He had. Sure enough, our keys were locked in our car. Lucky for us, I had just by chance (truly a tender mercy) grabbed my set of keys. So, in my purse, I had a spare set. My purse was still at Kim's grandma's, so my brother had to bring them to us.



Little did we know that this would set us back just enough and we would not see beautiful CA for some time. $100 later our new tire was on and the car was ready to go. We got a quick lunch at Grandma Diane's and headed out. The drive to Vegas was smooth and uneventful. Somehow (in the midst of all our excitement) we forgot about the traffic going home to CA from Vegas every Sunday afternoon. I know. How could we forget? That is the one thing Dad drills into our minds every time we go down there. Anyway, right outside Vegas. The traffic started. It was horrendous. It was worse than we've ever seen. It

took us 3 hours to get from Vegas to the little city of Jean. From Jean to Primm (where that big Roller Coaster ride is) which is only 13 miles, took us 1 HOUR! I am not exaggerating. It was insane! In Primm, there were lines a mile long to fill up on gas and to go to the bathroom. We decided to go ahead, but then I saw a frontage road off to the south of the freeway. I convinced Brett to take it. I should have known, because a lot of my ideas for short cuts end up being 'long cuts.' We drove on that road for about 3 miles and then came to a sign that read, "Road Closed Ahead." It was a sick feeling. So, we had to turn around and get back on

the freeway which was moving at a snail's pace! After Primm, it took us 7 HOURS to get to LA. NOT FUN!!! But, if you ask the kids, they had a blast. We listened to books on CD and watched a whole bunch of movies. Thank goodness for that! After getting to Newport, we were all in heaven. That place is divine. We loved the place we stayed. It was just perfect and right by the ocean. We spent Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Disneyland. The weather was cool, but not too cool for us. Southern Californians went home because they were too cold, but we enjoyed the mid 50's to lower 60* temps while it was in the single digits back home. We enjoyed very short lines and 

getting to do everything we wanted to more than once in those two days. It was our best experience at Disney yet! But, every trip has to include a bad mood by either mom or dad, and this trip happened to be Brett's turn. Even though this picture is hideous of me, I just had to include it because it shows the kind of sour mood Brett was in. I am a free spirit when it comes to amusement parks. I sort of become a kid again, running to and from different lines to see which one is bigger or smaller leaving everyone in a trail behind me....wondering what I'm doing....which may or may not be annoying to other responsible adults. And Brett is the sometimes paranoid, over-protective parent who freaks out about almost everything and by being so concerned, puts a damper on the trip.


Well, this was one of those moments. I was trying to "lighten the mood" while we were riding "Winnie the Pooh" and Brett would have nothing to do with it! We all have those times, don't we?  I just had to document it! I'm so grateful that Brett loves me despite my childish tendencies to be . Well, that day Brett found relief in an early ride home. After a long, exhausting day with Wyatt, Mark and Kim decided to go home early. Brett jumped at the chance to join them and he got to go home with Wyatt to go to bed. We missed him, but I knew he felt better and so we just decided to enjoy the night! Another great thing about Friday was that my brother Tyler and his new wife Ashley got to join us. It was a fabulous time! We stayed at Disneyland until about midnight! The kids were troopers! What a blast!

In between the days we went to Disneyland, we visited our favorite beach in Dana Point. SO RELAXING! The weather was perfect. While we were there, I noticed some fins poking out of the water by a cove we like to play at. That first, split second, I thought they were sharks, but then I realized they were dolphins! Then we saw 3, 4, and 5 fins and some we even think were babies. It was awesome. Mark was our there surfing and was probably 20 feet away from them. It was really cool and really fun! we saw a pod of dolphins swimming in a little cove.

Beautiful California

Brett and I being goofs

Beautiful Sunset!

All the cousins at sunset-- right outside our place

Right outside our window. BEAUTIFUL!!!!


Thanks, Mark and Kim!!!! We had an AWESOME time! You guys are the best!!! 

California Dreamin' and reality! DISNEYLAND!

Yes.

We agree.

Disneyland IS the happiest place on Earth!

We feel so lucky to have been able to visit Disneyland again!! When we visited the Magical Place last year, we scored major tickets because of a huge malfunction the day we were there. They gave our whole family 2-day park hopper passes.

Saying we were thrilled is an understatement.

We went again with my wonderful brother and his wife, Mark and Kim. (Yes, she's the one who invented the temple pictures......I know.......such talent.) Anyway, we were there over New Year's Day and we couldn't have asked for better weather: 70's one day and 80's the next. It was beautiful, magical and just SO MUCH FUN!

Thank you Disneyland!

Thank you Mark and Kim!

So happy to be here!!!

Connor insisted on taking this picture of us! Pretty good skills!

All the Christmas decorations were still up since we were there on New Year's Day. I am convinced that everything Disney does, they truly go ALL-OUT! The Christmas decorations were no exception. One night, they even made it snow on Main Street. Yes, in Southern CA, they made it snow! Thousands of California kids were in 7th heaven.

I absolutely love McKay's face in this picture! It simply says it all.

Here's all the monster's in Disneyland!!!

Connor testing his strength in Toon Town

Such a happy face!

Ever since Connor saw one of these turkey legs, he had to have one. It was $8, but if kept him full and the other kids got a snack, too.

Kenna in her own personal heaven-- a barrel full of jewels-- in the store right after the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

The lighting is a little off in this picture, but I still just LOVE IT! This picture captures the whole trip!

McKay before riding the Tower of Terror. He wouldn't let us take a picture of him after riding the Tower of "Stinkin" Terror.

Our fun little cousin Jaxson and Mickey on the Ferris Wheel.

Me and Wy-Wy on one of the funnest rides ever: "Toy Story Mania."

Kenna blasting away!

Beautiful sunset while awaiting the ride, "It's a Small World."

"It's a Bug's Life" 3-D glasses. Kenna was not happy about being squirted by 'acid' and having termites climb underneath her. I, on the other hand, loved this ride!


I had to include this picture. Brett took it as Kenna's pig-tails were flinging as she spun around to try to shoot Zurg!

I love this picture of Brett-- so funny! Connor's face is pretty funny too.

The kids all saved their money for months and each bought a special treasure-- Mickey bought the sorcerer hat. Makenna bought earrings, a baby doll, a pen, a key chain and some rocks. Connor bought this little Tigger.

The kids were out the second we pulled out of the parking lot. A FULL, FUN two days!!!!!

The Other Part of Our Trip to California

The first time we went down to California to visit my dear Grandma before she passed away, we decided to make the trip a little fun. First of all, the kids had no idea we were going. No idea! They were totally oblivious to the fact of any trips coming up. This was so fun because this trip was a last minute decision.....so it totally didn't kill Brett and I to keep it from them. The kids love, love, love road trips so we knew they were going to be so excited!

Second, we decided to take them to Disneyland!!! They've never been and have been dying to go, but we wanted to wait until they were the right age, to appreciate the park to make our dollars worth it. My SIL, Kim, found a great deal on tickets on ebay, so we decided to do it.

The kids woke up Wednesday morning. They were all sitting at the table, eating breakfast. I said, "Sorry guys, but you can't go to school today..." They all looked at me grief-stricken, and said, "WHY???" I non-chalantly said, "Because we're going to California today."

They freaked out.

And then I added, as normal as possible, "Oh, and we're going to Disneyland."

They were stunned.

After the stunning wore off, the kids were exstatic! They were beside themselves with joy. It was so much fun to watch them and see how excited they were. Bad new for us was, we still had a 6 hour drive ahead of us ! Crazy-excited kids, cooped up in a van for 6 hours was not our idea of fun, but they did great. The drive down went great.

Here are some highlights of our trip:

I've never understood those parents who were FREAKS about taking their kids to Disneyland like 4 times a year, but now, I do. In fact, I may become one of them......Disneyland really lives up to it's name as the "Happiest Place on Earth."

Connor with my cute brother Rob and my sweet SIL Kim with my cute little nephew, Jaxson. All my kids LOVED the Materhorn. I was very surprised. McKay's favorite ride was Space Mountain!

McKay in his "Jedi Training" moment of truth.....could he defeat Darth Vadar?

Yes, he could.
Connor fighting against Darth Maul. Could the skills he'd been taught spare his life?

Yes!

Connor was totally into this. He really got into the practicing the moves and was really doing well with the light-saber.

Kenna and Daddy on the Autopia ride, which by the way, really gives your quads a work out because you have to push those pedals down so dang hard! (Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?)

Me and the kids on Dumbo. I had to go on all these types of rides with the kids because Brett's tummy could not tolerate them.

EXCITED, HAPPY KIDS

We had been a D-land for about 2 hours when McKay turned to me and said, "This is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!! Even better than Christmas!!!" It was so cute!

The worst part of our Disneyland Experience also became the best part of our experience. After dinner, we wanted to go to Adventure Land and ride all the fun rides over there: Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean. Guess what? They were ALL closed!!! Due to technical difficulties! We couldn't believe our luck! The workers said to come back later and they might be reopened. So, we decided to go back over to Space Mountain. The kids loved that ride. So we went over there and guess what? It was closed, too! Along with Buzz Lightyear and a few other rides over there. Some people were totally irate! And, I can see their point: you pay them an arm and a leg to get into the park, first off and then what if you flew or drove forever to get there, and what if you were only there for 1 day???? I could see being upset. But, the day, thus far had been so perfect I didn't feel to bad at all. We rode a few other rides that were open, and Buzz Lightyear did open up again. So, we hopped onto that ride, and then decided to go back over to Adventure Land to see if any other rides over there had opened up.

They were still closed.

So, we decided to jump on the Jungle Cruise, which was quite fun, I might add, and by the time we got off it was 10:45, time to go home. So, on our way out Brett asked, "Are you going to stop by Disneyland's City Hall and give them your 2 cents?" At first I wasn't going to, but then I thought, "What the heck...." So I did. A very nice lady greeted me and I told her how sad we were that those rides were closed. She said, "You know that man Murphy? He came to visit today." Anyway, she asked how long we were here and we told her only for this 1 day. She asked where we were from and how often we come. I told her, "From Utah, and that we never come out here." She said, "If I give you five, 2-day, park hopper tickets, will you come back and see us? Oh, and I'll make them good for 2 years."

I was completely and utterly SHOCKED!

I couldn't believe what she just said! We were so thankful and just can't believe our luck! We'll take technical difficulties any day!! Disney sure knows how to treat their customers right! We can't wait to go back and the kids are just thrilled to know we're going back soon!