Calm week?

No, not here. Not ever. I jumped right back into all of my normal life stuff as soon as we got back from Disneyland and have hardly had a moment to rest! I did a little Tuesday afternoon and evening when I didn't have anything on the calendar (which hardly ever happens-Andy always tells me that I'm the one who fills it up. Very true!). I finished "The Undaunted" book about the Hole in the Rock pioneers which was a great historically based story, but was VERY long. I'll start since I got home from Disneyland.
Thursday night-laundry, laundry, and more laundry. Catching up online with messages and blogs and things and grocery shopping.
Friday-Back to school for Elizabeth, work for Andy, errands for the rest of us and continuing to catch up on messages and plans for the coming weeks. Friday night was our ward progressive dinner. I had two families over for the first salad/appetizer part and made finger jello and made a little platter of cheese, crackers, and apple slices. It was a hit, especially with the ten kids. The next part we went to dinner at a friend's house and had tacos with them and the missionaries and then for dessert we went to another friend's house with two other families for brownies and ice cream. It was fun!
Saturday Andy went to help his Aunt Nancy move into her new house, while I planned on resting. Instead of resting and hanging out with the kids, my big brother called and wanted to help me out by cutting down the tree I mentioned to him a few weeks ago. He called right after Andy left (8:15am) and came over with his five kids and a few saws, ropes, and his suburban. He cut the tree down with his skillsaw and chopped up a few big pieces with his table saw. His chainsaw was dead, so he didn't chop up more branches. It came down in three big chunks. It was too close to the fence and it was sick and full of bugs. I asked the neighbor to move her cars so they didn't get hit and then Milton tied some rope (including some of mine that broke from the strain) to the branch he cut down and hooked it to his suburban bumper and pulled on it. The first chunk was dead and came down easily. The second chunk was huge and was really two chunks because it split off, but it came down pretty well too. The third chunk landed on the fence and broke three boards, but replacing boards is cheaper than paying someone to take down the tree or replacing the house. It took him about an hour to do.
Here is the tree hooked up to his bumper before it came down. See how close it is to the fence and the house and the split sections of tree?Here is the tree with it all down. You can see the broken fence board there behind it. The two supporting beams broke too.
Milton with his table saw to cut a big branch in the neighbor's driveway so he could move it.Andy was surprised when he got home from helping his aunt and said, "If he did this to help me out, what's he going to do if he's mad at me?" The branches were too long to fit into the trailer, so we are going to borrow a chainsaw from Andy's dad to cut them up. Andy mowed the lawn then. After that, we went to a BBQ for our friend, Ally who used to live across the street. It was delicious. My finger jello was a hit there too. Awesome.
Look how many blooms are open on my lilac hedge! I planted sticks in the ground four years ago when we moved in and they are doing fantastic now! I love them!Sunday was church. Andy went to choir before church. I got the kids and I all ready and had extra time, so I made some yummy cookies that I added M&M's to. Vincent was so tired at church (we meet from 1-4pm). After church, we went to Andy's parent's house for dinner and shared the cookies. It was fun to visit with them as always. I talked to my mom on the phone when we got home.
Monday I helped in Elizabeth's class, so I dropped off Olivia and Vincent at a friend's house, picked up her two school kids and took them and Elizabeth to school, helped in the class, picked up Olivia and Vincent, went home to grab something, took that something to a different friend, went to the bank, WinCo, home for lunch, changed all the beds, Vincent took a nap, made lunch for me, finished up some more laundry, made phone calls and emails, picked up Elizabeth from school, came home for a half hour to get some dinner stuff done, took Olivia to a ballet friend's birthday party, came home again, trimmed some branches off the tree that Milton cut down, watered flowers, folded and put away some laundry, picked up Olivia, came home just after Andy got home, finished making dinner, ate dinner after kids cleaned up, switched more laundry, had FHE, Andy read to the kids, we put them to bed, switched laundry, put away the last of the laundry, swept and mopped kitchen and bathroom, washed dirty pans in kitchen, vacuumed family room, washed off chairs, and then finally went to bed. It was a super busy day!
I made up for the super busy Monday by not doing near as much on Tuesday. I took Elizabeth to school, came home and got ready, took Olivia to ballet, home for lunch, took a nap, was late to drop kids off at Ally's so I could go visiting teaching, went visiting teaching, picked up kids, home to heat up leftovers which were just as good the second time (Elizabeth loved them!), kids read to and put to bed, finished the book, finished some bake sale thank you notes, typed up PTA minutes for April, and went to bed.
Today was a crazy errand day too. Wednesday is Olivia's preschool day, so we dropped off Elizabeth in the morning, came home to get ready for the day, took Olivia to preschool, and took Vincent with me on some marathon errands. We went to the bank (I keep getting rebate checks in the mail, which is great!), the post office to mail the thank you notes, the library to pick up some movies on hold for me, my favorite thrift store, Quizno's to get a gift card for a brother in law's birthday last week, and back over to pick up Olivia. Then home for lunch, Vincent's nap, finishing my other book I had started (a small one), made dinner, babysitting a friend's daughter, and now more visiting teaching, then game night and packing to go to the PTA convention Thursday night until Sunday night.
I think I can. I think I can! This is one crazy busy month! Thank goodness for naps! And Saturday is a whole new month. Maybe it won't be as busy? Maybe.

Disneyland!

You should know me by now enough to know that I take a lot of pictures, even when we are "home", so a trip to Disneyland is going to take you a little while to read. Just a word of warning. Don't start reading this blog while your dinner is almost done, your kids need to be at school or someplace, or any other time you are in a hurry....
On Monday, April 19th, we dropped Vincent off at Andy's sister's house for some fun there while we went on our trip. He is too short for most of the Disneyland rides and just about all of the California Adventure rides. We didn't want to have to haul around a stroller or worry about naptime or who gets to stand around waiting for the others to go on a ride and then get a turn to stand in the line after the first set is done. Does that make sense? Well it makes great sense to us! Watching people with their busy toddlers at Disneyland confirmed all of our decisions to us. We even saw people who had what looked like brand new infants! Crazy! Back to the trip, Vincent stayed and played with his cousins Sami and Daphne, so we left Sara with my purple van to drive them around in and went off to the airport.
We flew out at 9am.
Olivia entertaining herself and others while waiting in a long line. It really was a long line, until they opened more stations. They were adjusting schedules for the first flight out of the day that didn't happen because they needed to replace a part in a different plane.Elizabeth wanted to hug the suitcase too because Olivia was doing it.Again, notebooks and washable markers to the rescue to keep the kids occupied for long periods of time. We didn't give them to them on the plane until after the seatbelt sign went off so they were super happy when they got them and were busy for a long time.Elizabeth drew this picture for the pilot. An airplane is up there next to the sun. She drew another airplane on the back.The girls were excited and ready for the trip! We flew to Seattle where we had a few hours to waste before flying down to Los Angeles. There was a tiny bit of turbulence on all of our flights, just the wind really, but the girls loved it and would say "Wheeee". It helped the other passengers to calm down too, I think. Sea-Tac has some little trains that go undergound between terminal buildings, so we rode one for a while to pass the time. To get to the train, you have to go down two tall escalators. Andy got on. I started to get on and then noticed that the girls weren't getting on, so I had to jump off. I scraped up my foot a little and made them get on! I don't know why they were suddenly scared of an escalator, but we decided that they needed some more practice, so after the train, I waited at the top while Andy took them practicing. We ate a little lunch and then got ready for the plane to L.A.
They offered old people and those with small children a chance to get on the plane first, so we did, and this gave the girls a chance to meet the pilots. Here's Olivia with the pilot's hat on before we took off. He was fun. He talked to them after the flight too.
Elizabeth is too tall to see the pilot, but he's back there. She's looking at the flight attendant.
When we got to Los Angeles, we got our bags and hopped on a shuttle bus to our rental car place and then drove over to our hotel to check in.
Then back to the rental car for a little drive around L.A. Andy loves to drive and knows where he is going, so I don't mind. He doesn't freak out with all the traffic like I'm sure I would. I took a nap during most of it, so there are no pictures of L.A.'s harbor. Unless you like bridges, or trains, or ships, or cranes, they'd be boring pictures anyway (Andy said this). We drove to Santa Monica to go to a beach, but we couldn't find any that didn't charge six bucks to park and it was evening by this point, so we weren't going to pay to park, so I just took pictures out the window. We drove over to where the Los Angeles Temple is and took pictures on the grounds of the Temple there. We went there on our honeymoon almost nine years ago. We went to Universal Studios and the Chinese Theater one night, L.A. and San Diego Temple one day, to Disneyland the next day and then flew back for Andy's family reunion and then our reception. It was fun to visit here again.
Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to get ready to wait in line to get into Disneyland.
This is the girls all ready to go. Minnie stayed at the hotel to rest.
We already bought our tickets online, so we didn't have to wait long.
Andy with the girls waiting for the gate to open.Me with the girls waiting.Our first ride was the rockets, where I saw an unattended baby left in a stroller while its parents were, presumably, on a ride! Then Space Mountain which is Andy's favorite. Elizabeth was scared of it, but I think she was mostly scared because she closed her eyes during it. That makes all the shifts in speed and direction even worse. Like as a kid on a swing when you lean your head back and close your eyes you think you are going super fast, but you open them and discover that you are barely moving, remember? Anyway, we already had fastpasses (which lets you go almost to the front of the line), so we went a second time on Space Mountain fighting Elizabeth the whole time. Olivia did fine. She said she didn't like it that much, but she didn't complain and cry. We finally got Elizabeth to calm down when we told her that we would go on Space Mountain all day until she didn't cry. That was the last we had to go on it because she toughened up. (Our family motto is "Tough, as in, if you don't like it, tough!") We went on the Star Tours ride that is like Star Wars too. She didn't even like that one much which really surprised us.
Check out the faces on Space Mountain. I wasn't as scared as this picture looks. Olivia was fine too, but Elizabeth was terrified. Andy is loving it!
Trying to coax Elizabeth into opening her eyes...On the Nemo submarine ride. Andy says: I didn't want to go on the submarines, because my recollection of them was unenjoyable, but they made the ride a lot more entertaining since I went on it, so it wasn't so bad.
Andy and I with the kids in front of the castle.
The girls and I waiting in a line.Andy and I with the girls in the teacup. They were wanting to ride the teacup ride since looking at pictures of Disneyland three weeks ago when we planned our trip.The girls next to the Cheshire Cat. They like Alice in Wonderland, especially since reading it last summer.
We saw the Mad Hatter and Alice playing with Peter Pan. Peter Pan ran off past us.
We waited in a really long line to see the fairies.
Tinkerbell's friend. Elizabeth and Olivia know their names from "The Lost Treasure" Tinkerbell movie.
With Tinkerbell.
The girls with Goofy. Right after I snapped the picture, I told them to come with me and Goofy tried to come too. I told him that he'd better go back because everyone in line would be mad at me if he left with us.
Andy and I with the girls and Minnie Mouse.
Our family (minus Vincent, of course) next to Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. We rode the Storybook boat ride just before leaving. Olivia was sad and tired. We left before fireworks to put them to bed.
On the second day, we rode the old train around Disneyland. We started at the front gate. Andy loves trains, so we had to have a picture.
We started out the day waiting to meet the princesses because we didn't get there before they were done for the day on Tuesday. We waited a little more than an hour. Meanwhile, Andy went and rode Space Mountain four times in a row.
The girls with Tiana from "The Princess and the Frog".
The girls and I with Belle from "Beauty and the Beast".
The girls with Chip and Dale.
Donald Duck with the girls.
After lunch we went over to California Adventures. This was a cool waterfall just inside the gate.Olivia and I went on the Jumping Jellyfish ride while Andy and Elizabeth rode on the Wild-Mouse-type ride that Olivia was too short for. Then I went on it with Elizabeth. Elizabeth said she actually liked that ride.Olivia waiting for another turn at the Jumping Jellyfish ride.Andy with Elizabeth on the Jumping Jellyfish ride.There was a fun Ferris Wheel that rocked. We got in one car. The girls just clung to us. It was sort of cool, but really slow. It was cold and windy too, so it just wasn't that great to us.
Here's the Ferris Wheel. The cars on the end don't move, but the ones on the inside move along the bottom of those oval pieces.The little green army men from Toy Story came through.Andy got a bunch of fast passes for California Screamin' which goes all over one side of that park, but the girls were too little, so while he went on that twice, I went with the girls on this carousel over and over. We saw Woody over by the water taking pictures with people, but by the time it was our turn, he switched with Jessie from the second movie. She liked Elizabeth's red hair. One of the people helping with crowd control was a midget (I'm not PC). Elizabeth leaned over and whispered to me, "I think I see a hobbit!" She is reading Lord of the Rings right now with Andy... I told her he wasn't a hobbit and then like magic, he was right next to me. We went and waited for the fun Toy Story game ride. These are the 3D glasses we all wore in the ride and we played five video type games on a car that spun into each little section with the new game. It was really fun. Then it was my turn for the California Screamin' ride. I loved it and went again. Andy went once more too. I'm in the third car from the front wearing the pink shirt. I also have bright red hair in case you are still having trouble seeing me. =)
Then we went over to the Bug's Life section. We had to have a picture by the ladybug. (My mom used to call me ladybug, and in high school my friends started giving me ladybug stuff.)
There was a "Monsters Inc." ride too. Here are the girls next to Boo's door.
After the "Monsters, Inc." ride, we watched a Muppet Show in a theater with 3D glasses and then went on the Soaring over California ride. Both very cool. Then I walked quickly over to the hotel to get jackets and pants and a snack for the last part of the day. It was a little crummy all day, but most of the lines were short.
The second night we decided to stay for the parade and fireworks. Too bad it was windy and rainy and they canceled the whole thing right after I bought myself a Disneyland jacket and the girls picked out Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell Polly Pockets and a few other little souvenirs too. Andy left me at the hotel to give the girls warm baths (which they did themselves) to go and get some yummy pizza.
We left Thursday morning and returned the rental car, rode the shuttle bus to the airport, and then flew out to Denver before going home. It was raining and windy enough flying into there that the flight attendants had to sit down. Then there was a delay while the rain died down enough for the workers to do things out there. The girls rested for two seconds like this and were wound up the rest of the waiting time. Olivia slept the entire way from Denver to Pasco. Elizabeth talked. A lot. I sat by Elizabeth. It was super fun.
We picked up Vincent then and I brought him home. He had a fun time with Sara. Andy and the girls picked up more pizza for dinner.
I listened to phone messages, read the weeks worth of emails, blogs (half Thursday night, the other half Friday morning), and facebook, and worked on laundry. The kids had a bath. And they were off to bed. I went to the grocery store because we used up all our bread, milk, and produce before we left.