5 Days of Disneyland Part I

Man- I feel like we haven't been to Disneyland in a looooong time. In reality it has only been about 11 months- ha ha. We were lucky to be able to tag along on Scott's work trip this time. He had a convention in Anaheim! So William and I tagged along and got to go to Disneyland for our LONGEST trip yet- 5 whole days! We have been super excited about this trip and talking about it non-stop for weeks. I was a little nervous being 28 weeks along AND chasing around my 2 year old... so my parents were nice enough to join us! 

We did lots of new things this trip- first up was the Sword in the Stone. I always saw this at the park, but we have never stopped to try it out. All our boys gave it a try:

William just loves trains. We took full advantage of the train this trip. Anytime we could hop on- we would do it. William just loved it, and it was a time to relax for all us adults. 

Big W is tall for his age... he was only 1 inch short for MOST of the rides- so hopefully next time we go he will be able to ride pretty much everything & anything. Some new rides he was tall enough for this trip include Autopia. I think he rode this about 6 times. Look at how happy he is that he gets to "drive" a "car"!!

 Cute Meem & Pop driving along behind us.

We even talked Eric and Colleen into Disneyland for a day! William was SUPER excited to see them at the Park and they were sweet enough to take him on rides that I couldn't. Mater's Tractor Pull is one of his favorites. 

 And he talked Eric into taking him on a drive on Autopia.

The weather this trip was PERFECT- a little overcast and around 72 degrees. I think Sunday was pretty hot... but the rest of the week was amazing. And thank goodness because with all the humidity and walking around- my feet and ankles could barely handle it. I was SO swollen!! All in all- I loved walking around Disneyland and getting lots of exercise. We had so much fun hanging out with Meemaw and Pop pop all week too. We had lots of treats- our favorites are the Mint Juleps and beignets at the Mint Julep bar. We also love the Tigger Tails at Pooh Corner (which is another favorite ride of Will's. He rode it almost 20 times during the week). We got to try a new treat this trip as well at Maurice's Treats in Fantasy Land. We tried the Strawberry swirl bread, the chocolate swirl bread and the garlic swirl bread. As well as the frozen apple drink. It was delicious. 

One more post and more pictures and stories to come...

Odds & Ends

I can NOT keep up with this blog lately! Our life has been extremely hectic the last few months. We decided it was time to move- so we had a couple MAJOR projects to finish in about 2 weeks so we could put our house up for sale. It went up and about 8 days later it sold. So then we were house hunting like crazy- found a house and we close next week. So now I am packing up and cleaning out and have been doing all this with a very active 2 year old AND a pregnant belly. So the blog has been low on the priority list. Here are some odds and ends from this year so far:

January- Birthday Month. We spoiled Daddy with some gifts (that to be honest- I can't even remember what we got him... Some Legos, a Movie or two, some comic books, something electronic and an herbal tea maker perhaps...) Big W loves to hep open the gifts. We also went out to dinner with some close friends of ours- Scott and Toni have the same birthday so we celebrated by going out to Ruth's Chris. They are such a sweet couple and I am so heart broken to be moving AWAY from them. Good thing it is just down the street a few minutes...

 My birthday is in January as well and we had a great relaxing day. The boys got me heated curlers (that I need help learning how to use properly), a new curling iron, my own tea maker, and Tangled. We just hung around the house to my recollection and it was a fabulous day :) My boys make me feel so special and loved. I am so lucky.

During our busy house hunting days- we had one Saturday where we looked at about 9 houses (maybe more). We didn't want to drag Big W around and so we arranged to have my dad (Pop-pop) ride the Frontrunner train up to Draper to pick up William and ride back down to Orem. William LOVES trains. And he is always fascinated to watch trax or frontrunner zoom past. Here they are at the train stop and getting on the train. He was ALL smiles and just loved the ride. 

I am horrible at taking pictures- but William and I spend pretty much 24-7 together and I LOVE it. I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with him and raise him and play with him and teach him. I am not going to lie- being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done. Some days I really question what I got myself into. But it is all worth it. When he gives me hugs, cuddles, kisses, smiles or anything- I just melt. He is my favorite. And he is the sweetest, smartest boy I have ever met. I am lucky to have him in my life.

Speaking of being lucky... our little GIRL will be joining us in July. I am still kind of in shock that we are having a girl. I just always pictured myself having a bunch of boys. I am really nervous about raising a girl- but I am getting more and more excited every day. She sure does love to move and stretch- she moves pretty much constantly (just like William did). So far the pregnancy has been great and everything looks good with Baby Girl. I couldn't ask for more.

My little sister (Dee-O to Will) got married in March! This handsome man was the ring bearer and he did such a great job.  He just loves Dee-O so much and is always giving her kisses. He has such a great Aunt and now a new Uncle. Welcome to the family Kaden. Congratulations to both of you. We love you!

I think that is all the major updates for now. I have lots of recipes we have been cooking up... so look out.

Christmas-- finally!

We had a very nice and laid-back Christmas this year. We did our traditional Orem Christmas Eve party at my Papa's house. It is so great to see family members that live elsewhere and those that we just don't get to see very often! There are lots of us expecting babies this year so that is the biggest topic of conversation. It is so exciting to see our family grow! We got our traditional stockings and blankets from Papa and Nana. We also had our traditional pizza dinner. One fun thing was our neighbors had ordered way too much crab- so they brought us a TON of crab legs! Scott and I (and we now know William) love crab! After the party we went to Meemaw's and Pop-pop's to open gifts there. William is one spoiled boy and got tons of Cars stuff as well as Monster's Inc. stuff. His favorite toy from them is his cat Figaro. Scott and I got Hale Center Theater season tickets- which we are so thrilled to use!

On Christmas we hung out at home all day and let William slowly open gifts. He loves to open one and play with it for a while. Then later come back to open another etc. We didn't rush him through opening gifts. I like that he enjoys each gift and doesn't care if there is a big pile of gifts to open or not. We ate breakfast before doing anything because Scott had to work for a little while. We made eggnog french toast with scrambled eggs. Then we got to the fun stuff. He was most thrilled to get Woody and Buzz:

Scott and I opened gifts while William was playing with his toys. I made this gift for Scott and Eric: a Rubik cube tissue box. If you watch the Big Bang Theory- in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment on the side table by the couch, they have this. We are Big Bang enthusiasts so when I saw the tutorial on Pinterest I just had to do it.

The gift that he picked out and bought for his self: a straight edge razor to shave with! It was really nice and William and I took it downtown to get sharpened so it was all ready to go with all the accessories. I think he was happy with his choice :)

William came back for more presents and opened up Mack (from Cars) that held I think 8 other cars. Luigi and Guido are his very favorite. He has ALWAYS wanted them and we can't find them anywhere. So I was super excited to find them. He is also dying for Doc- so if anyone sees him anywhere, tell me!!

While Scott and I were opening gifts I went to see what William was doing and found him curled up in his new Cars show couch/bed with his new cars blanket, Figaro, Monsters Inc toys and Cars toys watching his new show Monsters University. I think he had a very memorable Christmas. Such a cute boy.

We were lucky to have Eric and Colleen stop by for the afternoon and exchange gifts. They always spoil us and spoil William. They are such great people and the best friends. Later that day we went to the Halladay's and opened many gifts and ate way too much food. We also shared our Service Projects and just hung out. The Halladay's are so generous and sweet. I am so blessed to have such great in-laws. 

Hope everyone had very Happy Holidays!

Family Pictures

We actually got these family pictures done back in November. My entire immediate family decided to get these done for my parents for Christmas. It has been a long time since we had family photos done, and now we have new babies and family members moving away and new members of the family... so it was much needed! They turned out really nice. I am so thankful for my family- Love you all!

I love the picture of Pop-pop and Meemaw with the grand babies. Aren't they WAY TOO YOUNG to be grandparents??? And I just love Vivee, Miss Aeda and Mr William. Such cute kids. Aeda will be a big sister in March. And William will be a big brother in July!! I made a ton of Christmas cards with all these cute pictures on them to send out for Christmas and misplaced my Address Book- so I never got them sent out! (Pregnancy Brain) So I thought I'd share them on here instead. 

I have lots of Christmas pictures, birthday pictures and recipes with reviews coming up.

Hallow's Eve

LOVE Halloween. We never really even do anything... but for some reason it has always been one of my very favorite holidays. For those of you who don't know Will too well... he has some anxiety when it comes to new items... mostly new clothes and shoes. He has been a lot better lately, especially when we get the stuff home and cut the tags off and wash them. So I was worried about how he would react to his Halloween costume- he was going to be Peter Pan. I found the cutest costume at the Disney store and had to get all the accessories too. (A knife that makes noise and a bow and arrow). So it's from the Disney store... it costs a pretty penny. So we bought it way in advance and I kept it out all month and tried to show him and let him dress up and play. He would. not. have. it. Once he put on the pants and the hat and carried the knife around. But he just hates the boots, hat and other items. On Halloween morning we talked about it ALL morning- that we would dress up and go get candy etc. He said he was excited to dress up. LIES. He absolutely hated it. I forced him into it just to try and get a quick picture, but all he wanted to do was call daddy. So we Face Time'd him and he got to see Will in his costume. It was so funny- William just had this scowl on his face and kept saying "I don't YIKE it!" ha ha ha ha. So we took it off and he just wore regular clothes all day and was happy as could be. 

So we went out to lunch with Scott downtown. Then went back to his work for some trick or treating- which we didn't do since William wouldn't dress up. He even saw other kids dressed up and thought it was cool. But still didn't want to dress up.

Next we headed to Grandma Halladay's house. She always goes above and beyond, people. Seriously- she spoils all of us. There was this cute set up for everyone:

As well as some delicious food and treats, and all these cute kids: (See how happy William is that he is not dressed up? ha ha)

We dropped daddy off at home to hand out candy bars to all our trick-or-treaters and then  William and I headed down to Orem. We had yummy hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls and watched Monsters University. William loved answering the door and seeing all the trick-or-treaters and handing out candy. He also loved seeing his cousin Ky and his Papa (Great Grandpa) and of course his cousin, Miss Aeda.

I love these two kids. William is so funny. He LOVES Aeda. He seriously talks about her all the time and "needs" to see her. But then he gets jealous of her and ends up pushing her or something and getting into trouble. Tough Love, I guess. That's what happens when you have an only child. It is hard to teach him how to play nice!!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

BIG Summer Update

I knew we did a lot more this summer that I never talked about... and once I found the pictures I thought I had better update! So for Memorial Day we went as a family to visit Nana and our other relatives in the Provo Cemetery. It is such a sad reality check for me. Since I live half an hour away from my parents (and Nana's home) I tend to forget that Nana passed away. In my mind- she is just down in Orem and when I go down to visit, it hits me like a ton of bricks that she is not here. Visiting the cemetery is worse... but it is also peaceful. Look at how beautiful her headstone/bench is... and seeing all the flowers and birds left behind is a great reminder of how much she is loved.

We also went out to Grantsville and visited all the Halladay relatives. I have never been out to the cemetery before. So it was fun to go and hear some stories that Scott shared. William had fun running around and putting roses on family members. We also went to the Salt Lake City cemetery to visit Scott's grandparents.

Our last stop was a Veteran's Cemetery. That is where my dad's mom is buried. I haven't been up there in such a long time. It was good to get up to her and leave her some roses as well. All of our family that has passed on are dearly missed and loved and never forgotten.

The 4th of July this year was full of parades. We went to the West Jordan parade in the morning and met up with Scott's brother and his family. They recently moved close to us! So we are excited to do more things with them. None of us were thrilled with the West Jordan parade tho. It was SUPER hot and the parade was waaaay too long. We left the parade and met up at the Halladay home for a fantastic BBQ.  After some good food, we left the group and went to the Sandy parade. Our friend plays the bagpipes and was going to be in this parade. So we went to support him! It was such a fun parade and we will definitely go back next year!

We topped the night off with going to Scott's brothers house and watching all the fireworks. It was fun to hang out with family and the kids. Everyone loved all the fireworks too! I love Independence Day- we are so blessed to live in this beautiful, free country. I am so grateful to all those who have and continue to keep us free!

The "lazy" summer days consisted of going to Orem and setting up little blow up pools for William. He loves to be in the water. We would also play in irrigation if we were lucky enough to catch that. One thing he LOVED was Uncle "Joshy" (as Will calls him) and Pop pop getting out the canoe and letting William ride the irrigation in the ditch. He thought that was just the greatest thing!

One night Scott took me out to meet our favorite Author- Terry Brooks!! We have met him before here and we were so glad that he was coming back to Salt Lake! He had lots of exciting news about books, a new TV series, and a movie. We were really nerding out and just enjoyed the whole evening. It was a LOOOONG wait to meet him and get our books signed, but it was worth it. He is such a nice man! If you haven't read his books- I would highly suggest you give them a try! 

We were invited to our friend's wedding this summer too. Dave is such a great guy and he and Scott played in bands together years ago. We are so happy that he met Sydney and that they got married! They are so cute together and seem so very happy. They got married at a Ranch up in Park City. I have never been up there and was blown away with how beautiful it was! One of the only pictures we took: us eating dinner with our friend Matt and his wife and girls. Congratulations Dave & Sydney!

I am finally all caught up with the year. I made some yummy food this week... so stay tuned for a Cooking update.

Cars Birthday

I was going through old files today and found a ton of pictures that I never posted!! So I will start with Will's 2nd Birthday Party. We did "Cars" since that is his all time favorite thing ever. I found most of these ideas on Pinterest and just tweaked them to add our own touch. Here was the set up:

I had the idea to make the food labels on black paper with neon markers to make it look like all the signs in the movie. It turned out really cute. I also came up with most of the ideas for the food:

Flo's V8 cafe- V8 Juice

Sarge's Surplus Hut- Plates, Knives, Forks etc.

Piston Cup Trophy- Gold Cups

Fillmore's Organic Fuel- Veggie Cups

Cozy Cone- Ice cream Cones

Luigi's Casa Dela Tires- Doughnuts

Ramone's Art Shop (not pictured)- Puzzles that the kids could color, tattoos

Saw this Sprinkle Cake on Pinterest and just loved it. I hate baking... so I thought it was kind of a pain in the buns... but it turned out really cute. William loves, loves, LOVES the birthday song:

Yet another Pinterest find... you can't really see the actual pictures, but his 2 year old pictures were taken by Papa's old cars and his mustang. Pretty cute. We also made a "road" that lead guests from the driveway into the kitchen. I will need to find those pictures. I made him a "Cars" banner too. 

 William really enjoyed his party. Thanks to all the family that showed up, spent time with us and spoiled William with gifts! He is one lucky boy. Happy Birthday my little man!

On his birthday we took him to City Creek Mall and shopped at the Disney store and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. We had a great time spoiling our boy.