Day 7: Thanksgiving!

California Adventure, Thanksgiving Dinner and Disneyland

We started out having a relaxing morning and slept in, then around noon we headed over to California Adventure. We were able to do everything we had missed the day before plus had time to go on the California Screamer one last time.

Mom and Dad made reservations at 4:00 PM for Thanksgiving dinner at Buca Di Beppo, so we headed to dinner, which was fabulous! Thank you Mom and Dad for making this Thanksgiving such a memorable one!

 Towards the end of dinner my Dad told the waiter we were also celebrating Austin's birthday, which Austin disputed and told the waiter his birthday was the day prior. Luckily the placemats stated if your birthday was within 7 days of your visit you could still celebrate so after Grandpa pointed that out to Austin he was excited to have a special birthday dessert. 

After dinner Kaysie wasn't feeling well so she and Tim stayed back at the hotel while Austin, Shailyn and I went to Disneyland.  We felt so bad that she couldn't come with us!  We didn't get back to the hotel until around midnight, and Kaysie was sound asleep but she was at least feeling better!

Happy Birthday Austin!

Day 6: Austin turned 14 in Disneyland and California Adventure!
Happy Birthday Austin!

 

Austin's 14th Birthday started at 11:30 PM last night! We were just getting ready to go to bed when he informed me it was already his birthday in Utah (Too Funny!) so we went ahead and opened presents before we went to sleep. We got him a cell phone and he was SHOCKED!!!

 

He told us he wanted to be at the park when it opened which was at 8:00 AM so we all woke up early... He decided he didn't want to be rushed, and after all it was his day so we went along with whatever he wanted. We didn't get to Disneyland until about 9:00. First thing we went and got his birthday fun card which had $72.00 for him to spend on merchandise in the park! Disneyland gave him a badge that said Happy Birthday Austin and he wanted to make sure we all had one too, he asked the worker for 18 "I'm Celebrating" badges so everyone knew we were celebrating his Birthday!

 

Next, he wanted to do was go to Mickey's Toon Town, the kids all enjoyed playing in the character's "houses" and then we headed for Splash Mountain. After that we headed over to California Adventure and went straight to the Tower of Terror.

I cannot believe it has been 14 years since Austin was born!  He has added so much to our lives and is always trying to make others smile!

 I hope you had a great birthday buddy!  I love you!

Day 5: Universal Studios

This was our first trip to Universal Studios and we were all very impressed! The day started out with going through a haunted house (I can't remember the name), and proceeded to the Simpson's ride, the Shrek show, the Jurassic park ride, the Waterworld show, Backdraft, Terminator 2, and the Mummy ride (possibly more) and then we went shopping! It was fabulous!

Kaysie was so excited to meet Spongebob, she ran up to him and gave him a great big hug!

I also got a picture of my parents with Marge and Homer Simpson...

I had to laugh because as a child they wouldn't let us watch the Simpson's!

Shailyn got to meet Marilyn Monroe! 

Austin only wanted to meet Jaws while we were here, luckily there was a statue that we were able to go to.  Then he spent the majority of his money on 2.5 lbs of blue raspberry Jelly Bellies that cost him over $30.00!

This was one of our favorite days!  We all had such a great time here!

Day 4 San Diego Zoo

The Zoo was a more relaxing day. We stayed with my Mom and Dad most of the day and did a bus tour of the animals.

We went on the skyride and it was terrifying, it made horrible noises as it started going and it was higher than any sky ride I have ever been on. The San Diego zoo had some exotic animals like the koala bears, they were so cute! I wish we would have had more time there to see more of the zoo; we will definitely have to go back!

 While we were there Kaysie bought herself a necklace and had it engraved with her name and my phone number just in case she got lost. Yesterday's event of losing Austin had an impact on all of our kids, and all in all I think it was a good learning lesson.

After the zoo we went to La Bella's, one of my Dad's favorite Italian restaurants in San Diego.  We all enjoyed dinner then drove back to Anaheim to the hotel.

Day 3

Day Three:

DISNEYLAND!!!

What a wonderful and very frightening day all in one!  The first thing we did when we arrived at Disneyland was went to the hat shop and bought all of the kids crazy hats to wear for the duration of our time in Disneyland!  This was Tammi and Bryon's idea and it was a brilliant one!  We have a total of 10 kids on the trip with us and it adds to the fun to see a group of ten crazy hatted kiddos running around Disneyland!  The evening of day three was very frightening for me... For the first time ever I lost Austin!  It was horrifying not knowing where he was but luckily it turned out okay.  We had just come off a ride and were going down a path, when we reached the restrooms we noticed Austin was GONE!  I am so thankful for everyone who helped us look for him, and made sure the other kids were all safe. I am so thankful to Bryon for finding him!  Austin was terrified, but did the right thing and found a worker at Disneyland and let them know he had lost his family.  I am so grateful he knew what to do, I hope to never experience anything like that again!

Vacation... Days 1 - 2

This year my Mom really wanted to go to Disneyland to see it all decked out in the Holiday decor, so what better way to spend Thanksgiving than with my family! (minus Kim's family, wish you could have been there)!

Day one:

We drove to Primm, NV and stayed at Whiskey Pete's.  We left after Austin got home from school (about 2:30) so we didn't arrive until around 9:00 PM.  The kids were AMAZING during the drive!

Day two:

We drove into California, the Suburban died on the freeway... Luckily Tim was driving and somehow managed to get us to the side of the road without being hit by any of the crazy drivers out here!  Also, we were very lucky she restarted and got us to the Hotel, now I am just praying we make it home okay... but I am on vacation and am trying not to worry about such things :).  We are staying at the Hampton Inn, in a one bedroom suite, something we have never done before and I must admit I am loving it!  We have a kitchen, front room and a bedroom so the kids have all the space they need!

Once we got settled in it was too late to go to the beach like we had planned; so instead Tim and I took the kids swimming at the Hotel, then left the kids behind and went to an all adult dinner!  Tammi suggested we go to the Pike, which of course we were all for.  However when we got there, my Mom's face was absolutely priceless!  She looked completely terrified... The area surrounding the restaurant was what my Mom would call "a bad neighborhood" and it didn't help that all of the servers were covered in tattoos and piercings... Priceless!!  It all turned out wonderful, the best fish and chips I've ever had!

2009 Reflections

2009 Reflections, Beauty is...

Shailyn's Entry in photography:

This year Shailyn wanted to enter a picture into Reflections... 

The theme this year was "Beauty is" and Shailyn wrote a about how she finds beauty in nature. 

The above picture was taken by her this year up at Donut Falls towards the end of September.   

She was so excited when she found out she had won an "Honorable Mention" ribbon!