Disneyland 2011

My family was going to Disneyland this October and I had decided not to go because Bodie couldn't get the time off work. I was talking to one of my favorite sister-in-laws and she talked

me into going. My brother wasn't able to go, so Janece and I drove down together with our girls. We got some condos within walking distance to the park. It was awesome! We did drive on the last day of the trip and it was ridiculous. Finding the parking lot and then a parking space took 45 minutes. It was only 10 minutes to walk.

This was our impromptu party for Leslie. We bought her a birthday crown and cupcakes and sang to her at McDonald's

We started out our trip driving Tuesday to Primm, NV where we stayed the night. We got up Wednesday and drove the rest of the way to California and headed straight for the beach. It wasn't really beach weather, but the kids didn't care! They had a good time getting their "feet" wet. They were all soaked and freezing when we left!

Our first day in Disneyland was on Thursday. It has kind of become a tradition that on family trips, my Dad is in charge of breakfast...this trip was no exception. We started out with a really yummy breakfast and then all 17 of us walked over to Disneyland. McKenzie was all decked out in her Leia costume ready to go to the Jedi training. A good friend told me to have her dress up like Leia and she would for sure get picked for the Jedi Training Academy and she was right! Their training started with the Master Jedi teaching them how to use their light saber. After they all figured it out, Darth Vader and Darth Maul came out and tried to get the kids to join the dark side. All the kids had to fight either one of them to complete their training. I asked McKenzie what she thought when she found out that she was going to fight Darth Vader. She said that she didn't know if he had a real light saber so she was just going to watch a few other people go first! Her turn came and she defeated Darth Vader...there was never a doubt in my mind that she could do it! Then all the little Jedi's forced Darth Vader to leave! It was the highlight of the trip. After Jedi training all she wanted to do was Star Tours...everything else was just a bonus for her. Of course, when I was putting all the pictures on the computer, I accidentally deleted the ones of her Jedi training. Luckily I still have a video of her fighting Darth Vader, but I don't know how to put it on here! Just know that it was really cute and so fun to see her so excited! She wasn't really totally interested in seeing the Princesses or anything. She just wanted to go on all the roller coasters after she did her Jedi training and Star Tours ride. She is definitely her Dad's daughter!

Mckenzie (or is it Leia) and I at the entrance of Disneyland

This is the reason she wanted to do Star Tours more than once...she got to see the REAL R2D2!

We spent 2 1/2 days at the park and then Saturday evening began our drive home. Our plan was to get to my parent's condo in St. George that night. We got there at 2am....we were so tired and I have never laughed so hard in my entire life. Thanks to Janece and Madi for making the trip so fun! Sunday morning we got up and drove home. It was a really fun trip, but we missed Bodie a lot, so it was good to be home! Next time he is going with us for sure!

D.I. Treasures...

Since Mckenzie has started 1st grade and I am only working part time...on a prn status so it is VERY part time....I have had a lot of time on my hands. I have a very talented friend who finds things at the thrift stores and refurbishes them into something really very cool. I decided that with all the time I have now, I would do the same thing. Here are a couple of my projects.....

Started as this...(for $3)

Ended up as this...using stuff I already had in my basement! (Now I need to work on making this to go on the shelf!)

Beginning product....
Ending product.
I needed something to keep all of McKenzie's hair bows on so they don't get all squished. I know it is very colorful and probably not what I would have picked, but Mckenzie picked out all the colors and she loves it, which is what matters because it is hers!

12 Years!

It is hard to believe that this labor day weekend, was our 12 year anniversary! We thought we were being so smart by getting married on a holiday weekend so we would always have time to go somewhere and celebrate. Well, the problem is that EVERYONE goes out of town that weekend, so either we don't have a babysitter or where ever we decide to go is already booked! This year we lucked out. We booked a condo up Ogden canyon near Pineview Reservoir for a couple nights. It was awesome! We got there too late on friday night to do anything, so we just went to bed. Saturday, we went to check out a new place we have never been before. The concierge at the condos told us about Causey Reservoir. It is a fun little place about 20 minutes from Pineview Reservoir and is MUCH quieter! It was perfect for fishing. We spent the morning getting ready for our fishing trip, visiting the Monestary in Hunstville, and going to find a canoe to rent. I have never fished from a canoe before and let me tell you...it was a lot of fun! We did have one incident though, we got out of the canoe to fish from the shore in a little cove where a bee or wasp or something crawled in McKenzie's shirt and stung her. I have never heard her scream like that before! We got rid of the bee/wasp and had a good rest of our day even though we didn't catch anything. There were salmon in the lake and they were spawning, so every once in a while we would see their red bellies when they jumped. When it was time to take the canoe back, we went back to the condo where Bodie grilled up some steaks and McKenzie and I went to the hot tub. McKenzie kept telling me on the way back to the condo that she really could use a soak in the hot tub. I can't really blame her...it takes a lot out of you to sit in a canoe and fish while your parents row around the lake! Sunday morning, we woke up really early and went up to Logan for our nieces baby blessing. It was a really nice day and a great way to end a fun weekend. Two of my favorite people in the whole world at lunch on our way to the lake.

Causey Reservoir...So pretty!

McKenzie and Bodie fishing.

It has been a great 12 years and hopefully there are many many more!

A short one...

Mckenzie was getting ready for school yesterday morning and Bodie was complaining about his allergies...wondering why he was having such bad hayfever this time of year. When he asked McKenzie why she thought he had hayfever she said "I don't know...maybe you have Bieber fever". Bodie assured us he didn't but I think secretly he really does!!!

First Day of First Grade!!

McKenzie is in first grade!!! I can't believe it. How did she get to be 6 so fast??? She was pretty excited and a little nervous to go back to school. She was bummed that she can't sleep in anymore or be lazy all morning watching TV, but once she got to school she was so excited to see her friends from last year. It was a lot easier to send her to school this year because when she started Kindergarten she didn't know anyone. I was so worried about her having to play at recess all by herself. I didn't have to worry about that for long though...McKenzie made lots of friends really fast. She came home from school yesterday so excited about eating lunch with her friends and her and the other girls chasing the boys at recess. When she told me that, I realized that she is not my little baby anymore!

She also loved the part where she got to go school shopping. Grandma Diane took some of the grand kids when we were in St. George and bought them some new school clothes. Her favorite item that she came home with...the Star Wars t-shirt. McKenzie couldn't wait to wear it! She definetaly impressed some of the little boys at school with that one!

She is such a cute sweet girl and I know she will do really well in school...even if it is hard for me to deal with the fact that she is growing up!

Entrepreneur of the Year

My dad was nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year this year. Every time he talked about it he called it his beauty pageant. Apparently there were several interviews and they came and took pictures and videos of him and all the other 24 nominees. There was a dinner we were all invited to where they announced the winner. It was fun to get dressed up and go out with my parents and all my brothers and sisters and our spouses.We got our oldest niece to come to my parents house and watch all the little kids. The kids love Lexi and were in heaven and like always, they were a little disappointed when we got home because that meant their night was over! Anyway, we all went downtown to the Salt Palace dinner and the award presentations. My dad kept telling us that he probably wasn't going to win, but it was nice to be nominated. Of course, the rest of us were not surprised when they announced his name. He is an amazing person. We are so lucky to have someone like him that we can look up to and try to pattern our lives after. Bodie and I waiting for dinner and the program to start.

Dad accepting his award. Big shout out to my sister Amanda for taking the pictures.All of us after the program. This is all of my brothers and sisters and their spouses...except my brother in law David who was in Maryland for work.

Bodie's family gets together for a weekend every summer. This year we went to Kodachrome State Park. It was really fun...once we got there! We were supposed to leave on Thursday, but...no surprise....the mechanic called and said the truck was taking a little longer to fix than he had anticipated. We didn't get it back until 6 that night. Rather than drive and get there really late and still have to set up the trailer, we decided to get up early Friday morning and head down. We met the family at Calf Creek Falls. It was so pretty. It was a really hot 3 mile hike to the falls, but well worth it once we got there.
Bodie and McKenzie got in the water, but I was to much of a wuss. The water was FREEZING!!! We played around in the water for a while and then got on with the hike back. We went back to Kodachrome where the kids played Grandma's guessing game. Bodie's mom puts crackers, M&M's, and other treats in jars and the grandkids all take turns guessing how many is in each one. She always has enough so that everyone gets a treat. McKenzie got the M&M's this year...I was really excited about that, but next year, I am hoping she get's the money! Then everyone sang happy birthday to her (since it was the day after her birthday...and we were supposed to get there on her birthday and have a little party for her.) And, she got to open presents. She was in heaven!

Tom (Bodie's brother in law) is an amazing artist and sculpted this in the sand at the waterfall.

Saturday, we spent the whole day at Bryce Canyon. It is so beautiful there. We hiked, shopped, had pizza and ice cream. It was a perfect day. There were so many gnats at the campground, we made sure we didn't get back until bed time!

Sunday we all ended up at Bodie's parents house for church and dinner before we all had to go back home. We had a great time at the reunion this year. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. It was so fun for McKenzie to play with all her many cousins and for the adults to get caught up on each others lives! We love our family and can't wait until next year!

McKenzie is 6!

The morning of her actual birthday. We made waffles with mangoes and whipped cream and put a candle in the middle for her to blow out.

Mckenzie is finally, in her opinion, 6. We spent a lot of time celebrating her birthday! We started with a backyard Luau party with some of her friends. We played pop the coconut, ring toss, and some other Hawaiian themed games. Then we got to the good stuff! Cupcakes, presents, sno cones, and squirt guns. My sister Amanda came out and helped me with the party. I thought at first that I could do it myself, no problem, but I was so glad that she was there! After that party, we got ready for the next one. My family came out later that day for another Luau party. We had dinner, played games, ate cupcakes, opened presents, and drank from coconut cups (McKenzie's favorite part!) I am so happy to be part of a family where we are so close. It made McKenzie feel so special with most of her aunts, uncles, and cousins there.
She is really excited that we are singing happy birthday to her!

That birthday party was a week before her actual birthday. We were supposed to leave on her birthday to meet Bodie's family for a family reunion. Well, the truck was in the shop a little longer than we had expected so we didn't leave until the next day. We were all a little disappointed and had spent most of the day waiting around for the truck, so we decided to go have a little fun. We took McKenzie to the Mayan restaurant for dinner. It was so fun to watch her when they did the diving shows. She kept thinking the divers were doing belly flops and would laugh when they hit the water. It was a fun night.

End of the school year.

McKenzie had such a fun year in Kindergarten. She did awesome. She made some great friends and so did I! I got to help every Tuesday morning. I loved it. It was a lot of fun to see her learn, and become less and less shy! All of her report cards were great. By the end of the year, she was above the expected level in just about every area. It has always been amazing to me to see kids learn to read...when it is my own kid, it is just that much more awesome! McKenzie loved her teacher and overall it was a great experience. She is so excited to go into first grade. She is especially looking forward to eating lunch at school. That will be interesting since she is the world's slowest eater!

The last month of school, McKenzie was nominated by her teacher for the Principle's Pride award. She was so stoked! This picture is her holding up her paper saying that she was getting the award. She got to go to a program in the library one morning where the Principle called each of the kids up separately and read what their teacher's wrote about them. Then they got a picture with the Principle that went up in the main hallway and a goodie bag. I wasn't able to get a great picture of her and the Principle, but luckily they sent the one home with us that they took! McKenzie is still somewhat shy, but she loves to have the spotlight on her...I mean she does want to be a rockstar when she grows up!






Okay, I know this isn't a great picture, but McKenzie had her gymnastics recital the week after school got out. She has done gymnastics for a year now and is loving it. She is a great little gymnast and is completely fearless in the gym....other places, not so much! My camera card got full and I couldn't get many pictures of her, but she did a bar, beam, and floor routine with her class and then got a trophy at the end. She was most excited about the trophy! After the recital, one of the coaches that runs the gym asked if I'd consider putting her in the class that is the next level up. McKenzie wanted to try it out, so we did. It is definitely more of a commitment, but she is loving it and is getting so good. Doing so well at gymnastics is giving her so much confidence in herself, I feel like it is well worth the money. They are great to her at that gym and I love her coaches for that.

Adoption

So this post is mostly for me...sorry if anyone gets bored reading it! You may or may not know that we have decided to adopt. It has been 4 years of waiting to see what happens, miscarraiges, medical procedures, and more miscarraiges. So, after the last one, we decided we REALLY needed to think hard about what our next step would be. Our options were in vitro fertilization or adoption. We prayed a lot about what to do and I made an appointment...in the same week with an infertility specialist and an adoption caseworker. I left the Dr. feeling really overwhelmed an stressed and not very happy. Bodie and I left the adoption orientation feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off our shoulders. We knew that was our answer. Now, anyone who has delt with infertility knows that it can be really stressful and emotional. After we made the decision to adopt, no kidding, all the stress was gone. We feel now, and have always felt that it doesn't matter if our child comes to us biologically with our own genes or if it comes to us from another set of parents..it can be our child and we will love it no matter what. So, I know we are starting a whole new emotional rollercoaster, but I also know that this is what we are supposed to be doing, we we will be able to handle it. We went to an adoption education class last weekend. It was amazing. So many good insights and new things to think about. It got us really motivated to get going with our approval process! We are so excited and can't wait until we have another child. McKenzie is great about it too. At this point, I think she would be somewhat disappointed if we got pregnant instead of adopted! Anyway, sorry for the boring post! Wish us luck!

Spring Break 2011

Okay, so the weather wasn't great during Spring Break, but man were we excited! It was so nice not to have to stick to a schedule. We could sleep in, eat breakfast late, and have sleepovers...which is just how we started our spring break! After a few days of lounging around, Bodie, Mckenzie and I met Bodie's parents in Capitol Reef National Park. We took the trailer....and found out that the truck gets WAY worse gas mileage when towing it. Gordon and Joann got there a couple hours before us and saved us a campsite. Then they found out that there are rules against that and the campground filled up. Luckily, we were able to squeeze the trailer into their campsite with them. The first night there, we had dinner and then went on a walk around the campground....until it was dark. Bodie got up bright and early friday morning and watched a guy across from us pack up his tent and leave, so Bodie jumped right on that. He parked the truck in that campsite. It was nice to have a little more room and a fire pit. Friday was such a beautiful day. We spent the day looking at the petroglyphs, hiking to Hickman's Bridge, and checking out the Fruita one room schoolhouse. McKenzie now has a new appreciation for her school! On the hike to Hickman's bridge McKenzie decided that she LOVED Capitol Reef because there were so many good places to take pictures of her. I love it!

McKenzie posing at Hickman's Bridge

Another place to take a picture!

You can't really see them, but those are petroglyphs behind her.

McKenzie and Grandma

We woke up Saturday to cold and rain...Boo! There was an Easter egg hunt at the picnic area, so Joann and I headed down there with McKenzie while the boys packed up the trailers. There were a ton of eggs and at first there were only a few kids there. By the time it started, the park was packed! McKenzie still got out with a lot of treats though. We all had a good time even though her fingers were freezing!

Waiting for the egg hunt to start

All the eggs. There were sooo many! Thanks to Grandma for going with us!

It was fun to be at Capitol Reef, but it was fun to be home on Easter as well. McKenzie got a cute Easter dress, so we had to go buy her some high heels to match. She loves those dang shoes! We had a quiet Easter at home enjoying Easter candy. We had somuch fun that we weren't even too sad that we weren't in warm, sunny St. George at my parent's new condo with them!

Dying Easter eggs.

Mckenzie in her Easter dress with her Easter basket behind her.

Bon Jovi Sistee Night!!!

Last night, Janece, Tami, Mere, Leslie and I all got to go to the Bon Jovi concert. Let me just tell you ....it was awesome. Funnest sistee night I have had in a long time and a MUCH needed girls night out! We started the night off with dinner at Applebees at the Gateway. We got there ...okay Janece got there 2 hrs before the concert started and it was already getting packed. No worries though, we didn't even know the band that was opening for Bon Jovi, so once we got seated, we took our time eating and talking, and laughing...a lot! Then we walked over to the concert. I sure do love those Bon Jovi concerts! It was awesome...we were dancing the whole night. I didn't get any pictures, but Janece got a great video of all of us on her phone! We decided that next time he tours, we will go see him in Vegas even if he comes to Salt Lake. We could all use another sistee weekend in Vegas! I love my sisters and love that we are so close! The only thing that could make the night better was if Amanda was there, but she was on her way to California to try to get back to Hawaii. Amanda...next time you will have to come for sure. Or maybe we could all come to Baltimore when he is there!

My sisters are some of my very best friends and I love them all so much! I am so blessed to have such an awesome family!

McKenzie was mad that I didn't buy a ticket for her, so I told her that I would take her to the Justin Bieber concert when he comes in town again. I hope taking her to the Justin Bieber movie will do instead of the concert, but we will just have to wait and see!

Her First Wiggly Tooth

McKenzie was a very late bloomer when it came to getting teeth. She was almost exactly 9 months old before the first ones came in. Imagine my surprise when she was the first of her friends to get a wiggly tooth. Now, I can handle a lot of things that come along with having kids... diapers, puke, potty training (though I got off real easy on that one!) and all the other messes they make. I cannot, however, handle loose teeth. I don't know why, but it has always bugged me. I have dreaded the day when she started loosing her teeth. McKy's tooth was getting looser and looser until one day, when I was at work and Bodie was in charge, I came home to this:

Bodie talked her into letting him tie a string around it and pull it out. She was really excited until it happened...and it hurt. Bodie felt bad that she was so sad that he told her that they could write a letter to the tooth fairy letting her know that it was her first tooth to come out and it hurt and when she got that letter, she would probably give McKenzie $10. Bodie is no longer allowed to be in charge of communicating with the tooth fairy!

Fabulous!

So this morning McKenzie got all dressed for school and went in my room to check herself out in the full length mirror. This was her reaction: "I look great...Mom, do you want to take my picture when I get my shoes on?" So we did!

Family Pics!

So my very talented friend Lindsay Sundloff took our family pictures a couple months ago and they are by far my favorite pictures ever! You can get to her blog from mine to check out more of her photography. She's amazing!

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas and hope that everyone else did too! Here are a few highlights...

Making sure Santa knows that she wants a DS for Christmas


Christmas Eve cookies for Santa and carrots for the Reindeer
She was very excited about the presents under the tree!

The pinata at Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas Eve party...after the ice skating of course. This year, we all met at the Gallivan Center for ice skating so we could be outdoors like in the good old days before the Murray Ice Rink closed. It was great. McKenzie is a really good little ice skater...even though she only does it once a year!

Christmas morning with all her stuff from Santa. You can't really see it in the picture, but she did get her DS and some games from Santa.

McKenzie and her Baby Alive. One of her favorite presents.

We spent Christmas Day at my parents house for a delicious breakfast and time to play with the cousins. We got to see Bodie's sister Crystal and her family when they stopped by on their way to Monroe. McKenzie loves to see her Walker cousins, we wish they could see each other more. After playing for a while, we came back home and spent the rest of the day playing with our new games and toys, and watching movies. It was a really fun, very low key holiday. I think those are the best kind!

She did it!

After her cousins got their ears pierced, Mckenzie kept begging and begging to get hers done. On New Year's day while Bodie was snowboarding, we...Leslie, myself, and all the kids...headed down to the mall. We had to stop and take a good look through some clearance racks before going to Claire's and you would have thought it was an eternity to McKenzie who begged every minute or so to go to the ear piercing store. So, we finally made our way down there. We had to wait for a very nervous girl who was ahead of us in line. She looked like she was about 9 or 10 and when it came right down to it, she freaked out and started crying and didn't want to get her ears pierced. McKenzie caught sight of her and just stared. I asked Mckenzie if she REALLY wanted to do this. She said she did and guess what?

She was very brave and just sat there like it was nothing. I think I was stressing more than she was! It is hard to see in the picture but the studs are tiny blue titanium balls. They kind of look like a pin in her ear, but they are perfect for her. So, now comes the fun part....shopping for earrings!