I Love Summer!

Our life is drastically different in the summer as compared to the rest of the year.
The biggest difference is the absence of a schedule. 
It is not unusual for people to still be asleep at 9 am around here. 
Lately it has been reminiscent of a lazy Saturday...everyday.  
The kids were 30 minutes late to swim team the other morning because I forgot what day it was.
It has been nice. 
I feel like my brain is on vacation.   
Here is what we have been doing.

Multiple trips to the zoo.

 Watching the penguins.

 Playing in the children's zoo.

Stuck in the egg shell.

 Luke has been playing T Ball.

 Waiting to bat.

 The White Lightening.

Ally has been playing softball.

 Lady Tigers up to bat.

 Up to bat.  She plays machine pitch and has improved TONS.

 Jumping on the ripped trampoline.  Dad took it down the next day.

 Losing more teeth!

Spending lots of time at the pool.

 Flying Green Monster

 Superman!

 Relaxing in the sun.

 Ryan's Grandpa Taylor surprised  us one day...he was in town visiting his sister.  Clark had never met him.

Spent the evening at the Global Water Dances event.  My sister organized and choreographed the event. 

 Maga the flag carrier and Molly the Director.

 Beautiful evening.  The weather was perfect.

Emma got a new hair cut.

We have also been able to spend lots of time with cousins.  Ally and Emma have been to Dance Camps, Luke and Emma both attended Tennis Camp.  We have had multiple trips to the library, but not as many as we should. 

hope you are having fun this summer!  We should hang out.

Double Digits

Ally is TEN! I am amazed at how fast the time flies! It seems like just a few years ago I was pregnant for the first time and eagerly awaiting becoming a mother (read: scared to death!) I am so excited for her to continue to become a real person. She is smart, funny and very involved. She also knows exactly what she wants.  This birthday brought that realization into clear focus.  Here are a few examples.

We went shopping for her birthday outfit and she chose this shirt right off.  We looked and looked and shopped for a long time, but she kept coming back to this shirt.  She likes how the ruffles bounce up and down as she dances hip hop. 

For her birthday she wanted her hair highlighted and to have a feather put in. Aunt Sam did the highlights and we headed over to Austin Kade Academy for the fancy hair, the feather and the nails.

Ally decided she wanted to go to dinner for her birthday.  She wanted Texas Roadhouse because her favorite thing to eat is Steak.  Did I mention she is only 10?

In school this year they read a book about Eleanor Roosevelt.  Her favorite cake was Angel Food Cake with Pink Whipped Cream (full of fresh strawberries).  Ally copied the recipe out of the book and brought it home.  This was in February.  When it came time to choose the cake she wanted, she pulled out the recipe and said, "this is what I want for my birthday cake."  Not super pretty, but MAN did it taste good! 

We had a cake with our IF cousins.  We have a bigger, better swimming party planned for when more cousins will be in town next week. 

Ally is an amazing help around the house.  I love watching her grow and become a beautiful young woman.  Last night at dinner she asked if she got to go to Girls Camp this year.  We told her she had to be 12.  Then it hit me that soon she will be.  I feel like I missed a few years somewhere along the way to have children old enough to be thinking about young women and caring whether they have their nails painted.  She is growing up way to fast for me, but I feel like I am powerless to stop it. 

Did I mention she shaved her legs the other day?  She showed me this morning.

Emma's Big Day

Emma was baptized on April 9. It was a fun day for everyone. We enjoyed having our family and friends attend and support her on her day.

Here is the whole family right before the meeting.

Posing with mom.

Grandpa Hansen flew in from Arizona for the weekend.

Dad was able to baptize and confirm her a member of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Right before she was ready.

We had a lunch afterwards with all the cousins who came to visit.  Here she is posing with Birdie, G and Lu.

Disneyland/Anaheim Day 2

Day 2 started out similar to Day 1.  Get up early and head to Disneyland.  We spent the morning in the park, again visiting places we don't normally go.

We had breakfast with two of the seniors at the Carnation Cafe.  It is the outdoor restaurant right on Main Street.  The food was delicious and surprisingly not ridiculously expensive like we usually expect it to be.  In the past we hardly ever ate in the park because it is so pricey, especially with 4 kids.  We decided to splurge this go round and it was well worth it. 

Peter Pan was just wandering around Fantasyland.  We asked him if he would sign the autograph book and have a picture with us.  He took the book and said, "Sure, I am walking over here, want to come with me?"  So we followed him.  Eventually he stopped, but only long enough for the picture, then he was off again, waving to kids and saying hello to everyone he passed. 

California was gorgeous, 85 degree weather.  It felt so good being in shorts and wearing sunglasses, and not because of the glare off the snow.

Today was also the first day of the JEA (Journalism Education Association) Conference.  You know, the reason we were in Anaheim to begin with.  At 1 pm we headed over to the convention hotel to check in and meet all the yearbook reps.  This is one thing I actually did that was JEA related.  We spent several hours there playing games, collecting free stuff and enjoying the recognition. 
This picture is the yearbookers posing in front of the Pacemaker Nominees Sign, pointing to their yearbook and smiling excitedly.  A Pacemaker is the equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize for high school yearbooks.  It is a national award that The Spud Annual (I know, right?) was nominated for, for their 2010 yearbook. 

Here is a closer picture of Ryan pointing out the yearbook.  He has been working toward a nomination for this since his Junior year in high school.  Needless to say he is super giddy and very nervous about the potential award.  One really neat thing the convention people did was give all the students a special ribbon to add to their name tag, noting them as Pacemaker Finalists.  Everywhere they went people would congratulate them on their nomination.  They felt like Rock Stars!

After spending the afternoon at the vendor booths, we took the students to Goofy's Kitchen for dinner.  We learned from our very first trip with the kids what a fun experience the character dining is.  The food is always super yummy and it is fun to meet the characters in a more relaxed setting, without the lines and mobs of people trying to catch them for a picture. 

Goofy has always been one of Ry's favorite characters.

Here are the other characters we got to meet at dinner.

Captain Hook, who was surprisingly flirtatious.

 

Dale, of Chip and Dale.  Chip was around earlier but we missed a picture with him.

Here is a first.  Belle in the dress she wears for almost the entire movie.  I loved that I got to meet her in her "normal" clothes and not the super fancy dress.  Did I mention she is my favorite?  I think I did.

Fairy Godmother.  Also another first!

Pluto.  One of our favorites.

Of the 24 students that went on the trip, only 5 were male. 

Here is "the Boyz" picture with Pluto.

I love how he puts the book on his nose to sign his autograph.

After Goofy's Kitchen we headed back to Downtown Disney to look around at the shops.  This Woody statue made of Legos was a new addition to the Lego store since the last time we visited. 

We rode the Monorail tonight, another thing we have never done.  I vaguely remember riding it when I was 8, but I am not even sure we did. 

Two more days of fun to be added soon.  Probably not until after the weekend though.  We are out of town and I don't have the pics on the laptop. 

Disneyland/Anaheim Day 1

We Love all things Disney.

When I married Ryan he already owned all the full length animated movies. He got paid for babysitting in Disney movies as a teenager. Needless to say our obsession has grown since we both are such big fans.  (Side Note: Playing Disney trivia with him is NOT fun.  You never have a chance of winning) 

When we found out the JEA National Convention was in Anaheim again, we were super excited to take his students and share the Magic of Disney with them.  We brought 24 students with us and out of them 8 had never been to Disneyland or had only been when they were super small and didn't remember it. 

Here is my recap of our trip.  The first day was spent entirely at the parks.  We had 4 day park hoppers and we took full advantage...at least I did.  I  was not attending the confernce so I spent most of my days at the resort. 

Outisde our hotel super excited to walk over to the park.

All of us (I took the picture) outside the front gate.

On the train, one of the rides we rarely take.  We discovered if you get on it and ride it to Fantasyland, it is about the same amount of time it takes you to walk there.  Some people getting off the train with us were "First Timers" and they had a 4 and 2 year old daughter.  We encouraged them to go get in the relatively short line to meet the princesses, that was where we were headed.  They really didn't know the princesses well, just from their pictures on their panties.  We waited in line with them for about 30 minutes and got to talk to them about their first Disney trip.  It didn't occur to us until later that we really had no real motivation for meeting the princesses, again.  We had all their autographs and pictures with all of them from previous trips. 
Watching those 2 little girls meet them was one of the highlights of the whole week.  They were so sweet giving them big hugs and holding on so tight for the pictures.  Their mom was crying, as was their aunt.  It was such a fun way to start our day.  It was then that we realized we wanted to do something different this trip.  The kids were not with us and we didn't really have to do what they normally want to do when we visit.

Tiana is one of Emma's favorite princesses.  Ry took a picture with her and sent it by text to one of his students back home.  She was super excited for him to meet her.   Tiana used to sing in the mornings in New Orleans and we asked her when we could catch her show.  She doesn't sing there anymore, but if lots of people ask for it to be brought back they may let her do it again.  So put in your vote.  We want to hear her sing!

Ariel is beautiful!  Belle is so kind.  She has always been my favorite princess.

We don't buy a lot of souvenirs so we like to try them on and take pictures.  Most of our memorabilia is in the form of pressed pennies. 

This trip was all about doing things and discovering parts of Disney we had never done or seen.  This is the golden spike.  It is the exact center of Disneyland and millions of people just walk right by it every year.  It's on the bridge to Sleeping Beauty Castle if you want to stop and find it next time.

They removed the CALIFORNIA letters outside California Adventure and are creating a new facade outside the front gate. There is also lots of  new rides being built inside the park itself.  This wall was built outside one of the construction zones.  We had to stop to pose next to our favorites.

Yes those are oven mitts.  So fun!  Maybe one day I will have a Mickey Kitchen.

This was one of my biggest goals for this trip. Find Club 33. If you care click the link, if not whatever. Point is we found it, and we enlisted several students on our hunt. It was fun! It is in New Orleans if you care to search it out yourself.

This is the first time I have met the Mad Hatter.  He was hilarious!  His accent was silly, his nose was HUGE and he was super fun to talk to. 

More later on our fun adventure!