Disneyland 2011

Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to take my kids to Disneyland. This year we FINALLY made it! It worked to our advantage that our kids are a bit older as they were both able to ride everything-no one was too short. We made the long drive to California in one very long day. It seemed like we would never get there! We decided that since we had just spent so much time in the car, we would have an "easy" day for our first day of the vacation. We got to the hotel and took the kids swimming, which they loved. The next day we explored Anaheim a bit and drove to The Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. It is a pretty cool aquarium and definitely puts the aquarium in Sandy to shame. We all had a great time there and were able to see all kinds of stuff. We were even able to touch small sharks. Pretty sweet since sharks are my favorite animal. After the aquarium, we went to Bubba Gumps restaurant and the kids loved it there. The next 3 days were spent in Disneyland, including one of those days that was Jaden's birthday. It was amazing to watch the kids faces totally light up and just see pure happiness from them! Jaden was so brave--he went on the Tower of Terror! At the time he said he hated it, but now that we've been home for a bit, he says it is his favorite ride. Lexi says her favorite is Splash Mountain. We made some memories that I hope I never forget. After having such a great time at Disneyland we decided we would take it easy for our last day before having to drive home. We drove back to Long Beach and went on a harbor cruise--it was short and sweet, but very fun. After having such a great time in California, we headed home the next day. We made the drive home in one day as well. I haven't been too fond of driving after the marathon drives we did on our vacation. We've been back for 2 months, so I've been a bit of a slacker getting this posted. I took a ton of pictures, but I'll try to narrow it down, so there aren't a million of them here!

I'm really grateful to have such an amazing family to go through life with!

Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween, my father in law had a big backyard BBQ. Joe was able to buy some premium burgers from his work, Red Robin, so it was pretty sweet! In total, probably about 300 people came over. Because we were busy helping with the BBQ, Joe's brother took the kids trick-or-treating; they had so much fun! I went to the kids parade at school earlier in the day and was only able to get a few pictures as they ran by. Lexi was an angel and Jaden was Wolverine. Joe and I didn't dress up, so I just added a few pictures of us from the day. I'm so happy I have such sweet children, it really made the day a breeze!