DisneyLand - Day 1

Starting out at the castle. Max was just happy we actually let him out of the stroller!

This is Haleigh, pre-Snow White ride. (she was horrified by it)

Haleigh standing in line for Snow White. We forced her to ride and I wish we hadn't!

Max and Haleigh and Tyler (And some guy in a blue shirt) on the carousel. (One of the favorite rides)

-Tea Cups-
Haleigh wouldn't ride anything for a long time after Snow White and Pinnochio, so we posed on the fake tea cup!

Roger and I on the

poseable tea cup.

Boys on the actual ride!

Gabe had the most fun! ;)

My Dad (grandpa Martell) and Max on the tea cups. Notice the expression is the same!

Max is having a good time, even if sister isn't!

Waiting in line for the "Nemo" ride.

Haleigh was happy to try this one out, especially since grandma and grandpa Martell were there to keep her safe!

Inside the Nemo submarine. Everyone LOVED this ride!

Posing with Pooh! (had to say it that way, haha)

Max and Haleigh loved the characters! Tigger is always a favorite!

Haleigh with her new Minnie Mouse ears. They lasted a whole hour before she took them off and lost them. Lucky for her Mom is a softy and bought a second pair for her.

She is just too cute not to add all these pictures!

What a poser! (But still, oh so cute!)

Didn't even tell her to do this one, she posed all on her own.

Haleigh and Me at Sleeping Beauty's castle. So much FUN!

Waiting to enter the park











I think I'm excited for this? (He did have a great time and was very brave on all the rides.)

Tyler was excited!!! He loves life.

Honestly folks, I have WAY TOO MANY pictures to do our DisneyLand trip in one posting. We did a 3 day hopper, so I have like 300 (or many more) pictures to choose from! This doesn't even count my dad's that I am including some of in the next posting! My parents (grandma and grandpa Martell) and brother Spencer joined us on our vacation which was fun and helpful too! So, our first day was spent all at DisneyLand and we didn't do California Adventure until day 2. Here is our kids (mostly Haleigh) enjoying themselves at this most wonderful place in the WORLD. ;) Again, I will let the pictures do the talking since they will take up all of my time loading instead of being able to write about it. HOWEVER, I will say as hectic as it got at times, DisneyLand is just... MAGICAL!!!

Legoland 2010

Picture 1 - boys gunny sacking down a slide

Pic 2 - Daddy and Max on the planes

Pic 3-5 Panning for "Gold"

Haleigh and Daddy went to get ice cream at "Sir ScoopsALot." Can you get any cheesier?

Roger sacked out! (Walking on a broken foot isn't easy)

Driving the boats was super fun!!!

-Legos are cool-

Lego cities, built entirely out of, you guessed it, LEGOS!

Loved this one!










Mmm. Mmm. Good!

I am a mother who forces her children to pose in front of pictures that my children have no say over! (haha)

Daddy and Grandpa won us prizes!

Playing in the water!!! (Had to get dry clothes at the store after)

...Helicopters and Cars...

Yes. I am blogging. a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I was inspired by a friend to FINALLY start up again. If nothing else, this is for me and my creative juices, since scrapbooking is pretty much non-existant right now. (not by choice though) We went to Legoland and DisneyLand clear back in March of this year, if you can even remember back that far. So, I am now getting to said vacation. I take LOTS and LOTS of pictures. I hope you don't mind that there will be like, 30??? We'll see how much patience I have downloading, haha! I wish I would've done this the 4 months ago when we went since the excitement was fresh, but I am so looking forward to going again, so it must've been fun! ;) I will do Legoland tonight and DisneyLand next time. (hopefully not 4 months from now) I will basically let my pictures tell the story.

Happy Easter Everyone

Hope all of you had a very peaceful and pleasant Easter weekend. May we all love our families more and be better people and be more like our Savior. I know that my Redeemer lives! I find great joy and peace in this knowledge and simple phrase. May you find the same! Love you all! This is mostly for the pictures. :)

Birthday Cake Bragging Rights?

This is Gabe's Mario and Luigi cake.

Gabe taking a bite out of the Luigi Cupcake that took me forever to make! LOL

Tyler was showered with Mario stuff, of course!

Who needs presents when the bags they come in make me this happy?

My Mario boy! Uncle Adam told him to wear his costume for the party and he thought it was a good idea!

The final product of many hours of work. This is made out of fondant, rolled and molded. I know, I know... I MUST be nuts!

Ok, so I don't proclaim to be a professional by any means and I really don't like braggers, but these cakes/cupcakes took A LOT of time and effort and I have to feel pretty pleased with how they turned out. It seems kind of fruitless as you watch them become devoured 5 minutes after you put the finishing touches on, but I guess I do it for the challenge AND I love to see the excitement on my children's faces. I don't know if I will ever do it again, so I took plenty of pictures to prove that I was a cool Mom for at least one birthday!!! (The boys, Tyler and Gabe, both wanted Mario Brother's parties - so they got two different Mario cakes) Can't believe, as of today, I officially have a 7 and 9 year old!!! That makes me older. Happy Belated Birthday to Gabriel (his was January 31st). He got a new bike! Happy 9th Birthday Tyler!!! He thinks it is pretty cool that he is born the same day as George Washington. I don't blame him. :) I have some pretty great kids - even if they make me crazy some days! P.S. The next time I post I will be bragging about DisneyLand, in a non-bragging way!

Do You Believe?

So, my life has had its ups and downs. Let's face it, who's hasn't right? But I'd like to think I still believed that God has had his hand in it, no matter what. The tragedy that my family suffered by losing my sister Mandy was something I would NEVER wish on anyone. God carried us, FOR SURE, all the way through that week and into the next so we could get through the funeral. Oh sure, there were times when I was angry. I wondered why He didn't "save her," but moreso our family, from this hard thing. I was listening to a song one day, it is on the Women at the Well CD if you know it. It's called "If He Had Been There." It talks of Lazarus who was dead, and his sister's agony as she cries, "If He(meaning Christ) had been there, if He had only been there, my brother would not have died."(that is the rough version of it) As I listened and felt her pain, then her joy as Jesus came and saved him from death I felt hurt, and pain and wondered again WHY He "wasn't there." Why didn't he save MY sister? Then, very powerfully, one day I realized He WAS there. He "had been there." He suffered our loss with us. AND more importantly, because of HIM we will see her again. How quickly I forgot that it could only be Him that had carried us in that dark hour. That made it possible to get through. That, even when I ache to have her here with us, I KNOW we will meet again and that takes the tragedy out of the loss. He allowed Elder Jeffery R. Holland to feel things from her obituary that prompted a call and eventually a personal meeting with our family to help us understand that she is in a beautiful place and that she is happy and it WAS her time to go(no matter how untimely we felt it was), because He knew that would be what it took to help us cope with the loss. He also knew, despite my previous feelings for another, to send Roger in that moment (possibly as a distraction ;) and because of that he was able to experience first hand my loss, so that he would understand what I went through for when he would become my spouse. Wow. I meant to get on here and write something totally different - about tithing and money, something that feels totally worldly now. But, this is what came out. Maybe my spirit needed this. So, I hope you will believe as I do. That HE LIVES. As Easter quickly approaches may you know in your hearts that very principle. The Gospel is our only way to true happiness in this world. My sister lived that! So Christlike in all she did, not perfect, but so close.

"Chippewa Ball"

Tonight my cute husband and I, plus three other couples on our street (hence the "Chippewa" Ball) got together for a trip down memory lane. The guys had all us wives dress up all pretty and they took us to the Lion House for a private, catered dinner - YUM!!! They bought us wrist corsages and we took group and individual pictures. It was creative and fun. Then we had were able to go to the Governor's mansion for a tour then some dancin' and a couple of games. (Shh, that is our secret) It was awesome!!! We all had so much fun, and even though I wasn't brave enough to bust into crazy dance moves I still had a good time. Thanks hunny, you're the best! (even if you couldn't keep it a surprise!)

Little Turd, At It Again!

So, yesterday I was baking neighbor gifts and I took a little time out to do some other things. In the mean time Max got into the flour and was eating it! (yuck) It was all over the front of his shirt before Haleigh gave me the heads up! He has also been into my tree from day 1 of having it up. I kind of gave up on keeping it nice, but last Friday I had this desire to make it look better so I tore it apart and actually took time to WIRE almost every ornament to it in hopes of it lasting longer. Max didn't bother it at all over the weekend, and I thought I was in the clear - UNTIL yesterday. He must've been on one because he totally tore off all the bottom ornaments. ARGH... Oh well. this last picture illustrating my point is just to show you the misheivious look on his face and his little personality "shining" through. It's almost like his eyes are saying, "Watch out Mom there's plenty more where that came from." Little Turd!