California Part 2...Disneyland!

 My favorite ride!

 Ariel!!!

 Bella being silly :)

 Chloe! I love this girl!!

 The end of It's a Small World

 Rhi and Haydn before we got off the boats at It's a Small World

 So much attitude! She was really tired at this point :)

 Rhi and the girls on Dumbo

 Chloe and Kailee at Emma's Birthday Party

 Emma posing and dancing at her Birthday Party

 Mom, Haydn and Flora at Emma's Birthday Party

Our view at World of Color

Wow that was a lot of pictures! But you get the idea of what our Disney vacation was kinda like. Although maybe the pictures make it look like more fun ;)

So back to where we left off. I arrived back in California on Saturday morning and I was supposed to be met at the airport by my mom and step dad and then we were going to go to Molly's apartment so I could get my bag, feed her cat and get her house key to the front desk so a friend of hers could pick it up to feed te cat until Molly got home. But when I got to the airport my whole family was there and my sister, cousin and the kids wanted me to go with them on a tour bus in LA. I thought it would be quickish and that they had the plans solidified but as soon as my parents left with the only vehicle I found out that they had no idea how we were going to get to LA. So we tried to get a city bus but there were no city buses on Saturday at that airport. So we looked at a shuttle but to get into LA is was going to be $100. They told us that they would take us to a main bus station so we could get the bus that we would need to get into LA and that they would take us there for $40. Still a lot of money but we didn't have any other option at that point. They dropped us off at the amtrak station and left. Yet again we were stranded. We walked and found a city bus line that was running on a Saturday and wound up in Anaheim two hours later. While waiting for another city bus into LA we called my parents and they agreed that they would meet us at DL and we would just add an extra day to our park hoppers.  Which winded up being a great idea since we then found out that just to get into LA would be another 2-3 hrs on the bus and then we would have to figure out how to get to the tour bus. Such a mess! But we spent the afternoon at DL and had a lot of fun. It was good to let the kids start out with a short day and see what it was all about.

When we originally booked our DL trip our hotel was across the street from the entrance. A couple of weeks before we went my sister and mom were online and decided that the reviews were bad and so they canceled the hotel and booked us that the motel 6 down the street. Well on Friday we found out that they had overbooked the motel 6 and that they had pushed us out to Irvine. Which would have been fine if there was a shuttle or if we had more vehicles but with only a truck every trip was at least two trips. So on Sunday we got up early and took two trips into DL and then started our first day there. We had a lot of fun! The kids really liked it but were scared at first of everything. Although by the end of every ride they were so happy and loved it :)

On Monday we celebrated Emma's birthday at DL. I paid to have her birthday party there. She LOVED it. She got to see Minny (her favorite) and we all got to decorate a little cake and have some lemonade. We also were able to see a parade and the fireworks on Monday.

On Tuesday, our last day in the parks, we went to California Adventure so we could see Aladin and World of Color. We rode some rides and let the kids ride rides in Bugs Land. We all had lunch and then my sister, the baby and my step dad got tired and were hurting so they decided to go back to the hotel and get some rest and let the baby crawl around and relax. My mom, me, Chloe, Emma, Bella, Flora and Kailee all stayed behind and rode The Little Mermaid ride, had dinner, and got good seats at World of Color. We then headed back to the hotel to finish packing and get some sleep. We were all heading our seperate ways the next morning.

As crazy as our time at Disneyland was it was really nice to see my family and to get to love on the kiddos. I miss them so much between visits. I only ever wish I had a car a few times a year, one of those times is when I want to be able to drive home on the weekend and visit even for just a day. Living so far from them is the only thing that I don't like about living in Utah. But it does make the times that I get to see them really great!

Oregon Trip

I was able to go to Oregon the weekend after I got back from Vegas. It was so nice for me to be able to see my family! It was also excellent that I was able to spend a little time with my friend Afton, I miss her and my family so much! I love living in Utah but I sure wish I could have Utah and have my family and all my friends here! While I was home we went shopping, ate at my favorite fast food (Jack in the Box), played at the  beach for an afternoon, spent some really great quality time with my nieces and nephews and I was able to partake of our family tradition of spending Sunday afternoon at my aunts house playing card games and eating junk food :) I love the time I get to spend at home and this time I was able to spend a little more time than normal which was really nice!
p.s. I didn't take any pictures while I was there...I was too busy having fun :)

Rhiannon's Reception

When I went home over the 4th of July weekend I was able to attend my lil' sister's wedding reception. I was so happy to be able to be there. I just love my family and the time that I get to spend with them. Here are some of the pictures of Rhiannon and John's reception. By the way good luck trying to get a picture of the grandbaby's none of them wanted to look at the same time:)

Trip home

Just a warning I took no pictures over my weekend, I took my camera and charger but I never took it out of the case.
Thanks to my friends Afton and her husband Mike I was able to go home over this last weekend. I originally just wanted to go to spend time with family but a couple of weeks before going my mom was told that she most likely had breast cancer and it was then a huge blessing that I was going to be able to go home and spend some time with her. I think that they have caught it in time that she will be ok. Which is a huge relief to me cause I'm not ready to deal with grown up issues like that.
Over the weekend I was able to go to my cousins wedding and reception, go to a drive in movie, spend time with my mom, a little time with my sisters and nieces and nephew. I was able to spend a lot of time with my niece Chloe cause she stayed with me and wanted to "snuggle up honey honey" which means cuddle with you at night. She is so sweet and so smart. I just love that girl!!!! She is oh so funny, she now has at least one imaginary friend and on Friday night she was talking to this friend or friends saying things like "thank you for saving my seat" "thank you for NOT saving my seat", my mom and I were giggling a little at how cute it was that she had this friend and she got upset and said "Guys quit laughing, GUYS QUIT LAUGHING" The louder she got the more we giggled. (not very nice I know) finally she said "Shut you lips!" "I'm going to talk to grandpa and then I'm walking out the front door and you never see me again" (I know that my English sucks here but that is how she says it) Oh man we lost it, so much sass for such a small girl. On Saturday night she decided to play waitress and would come up to each of us and take our order, she would say "good evening what can I get you tonight?" We would tell her our order and then she would say "Can I get you anything to drink?" and we would tell her what we wanted to drink and then she would say "Can I get you anything else?" Then she would go get a folder and pretend that it was her tray and bring us our imaginary food. I had so much fun with her this time:) I can't believe that I get to go back in just three weeks and see them all again. I love my family so much!!!!