Friday, May 30, 2014

Her Retirement

My Mom. She is the most amazing woman that I personally know. She has taught me hard work, dedication, and to make life an adventure. And yes, even through the scary parts. She is one of a kind and I try to be like her everyday. 
Today my mom retired from a career that started as just a little office job with an OBGYN in Rexburg and has turned that little job into a career that she built all on her own. For 31 years she dedicated herself to working hard and making life so full. It all started in a little doctors office with Dr. Gary Lovell. She did it all and still continued to amaze the people that she worked with still to this day. That small doctors office has now grown into something so big from where it began. A lot of that credit goes to my mom. 
It is so heart warming to hear all those who went out and celebrated with my mom for all of her accomplishments. I truly wish I could have been there. Sadly I have no pictures, but I do have some of my mom just showing how awesome of a lady she really is. How could I not try and be like her?!? 
I don't know any different than my mom working. She did it all. She built a career and raised 5 pretty awesome kids.. If I do say so.. Being the youngest by many years I was able to hang out with my mom at her office a lot. I was able to help file, pop into her office in-between college class, have life altering chats and have her do my ultrasound when I was pregnant with June, after trying to have a baby for 3 years. 
I can't even express how many peoples lives my mom made an impact on in that office. She has been an open ear to many, she was a crying shoulder, an excited face and really a mother to those who didn't have theirs with them at such an exciting and scary time of their life. I know that she will be greatly missed at Seasons Medical, That truly has been there from what felt like day one. I am so incredibly proud of my mom. For working by choice, not because she had too, but because she loved it. I just have the best mom.


The word "dull" does not run in my mom's vocabulary. She has such an independent nature about her that I admire so much. She has climbed more mountains, biked 100's and 100's of miles, finished marathon after marathon, played in more tennis matches and rides motorcycles across the Country. Nothing slows her down, and I am assuming the mission won't either.


I know that big changes are ahead for my mom.. for both my parents, but it wouldn't be a life adventure if everything stayed how it is. How boring would that be?!? 
She will be incredible in Colorado and doing what she did for so many, but now it will just be for the missionaries. What an incredible, amazing, beautiful, intelligent mother I have. She is one of the greats. To me, the greatest of all! 
Love you mom and I am so proud of you!! 

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Lancaster Visit!

Our next big excitement after Disney World was knowing that Grandma and Grandpa Lancaster were coming to Texas to visit for a whole week! We spent the few days we had to get all ready for them to come! And we were excited! 

     Greg and Brenda flew in on Wednesday afternoon so I packed up the kids and headed to the airport. When we got to DFW, June said "Mom, we are going on another plane? I'm just too tired" HA! I told her that no, not today, and she was very happy to know that we were just picking up instead of taking off. 
      We got inside and patiently waited for them to come out of the doors... and then there they were! 
June always gets so hyper when visitors come and this was no exception! Once we got all their luggage we headed to the car. 


June walking with Grandma's cane 

Once we got to the house, we let Greg and Brenda get settled in. When they come to visit we give them our bedroom and Dan and I take the air mattress in Owen's room. Well after a few nights we discovered that OD wasn't liking us in his room so much, and we ended out in our living room. It was kind of fun, it felt like a sleep over... 
Also, just want to make a shout out to all of our past and future guests who have to sleep on that air mattress for more than a night.. I'm sorry. Someday we will have a normal bed for you to sleep on, but for the time being, thank you for putting up with the trampoline! 

 It was finally time to play. June and Grandpa became instant best friends. She wanted him to do everything! and I mean everything, from getting dressed to doing her hair to running around and complying to every single one of her demands.

Like getting in a chilly pool and swimming for hours!

Dan got home from work that night and we spent most of the evening playing on iPads and catching up on life and current events.
       The next day, Thursday, Dan had to go to work, so the rest of us woke up at a leisurely pace and then headed over to our local spray park. It was our first time being there this summer and it made me so excited for more summer days to come. I love the splash park and all the joy it brings!

 Of course it was grandpa who was being dragged around every which way by June. 
P.S. The awesome swim trunks that grandpa is rocking were picked out by June. I think Gramps would have been just fine with a pair of grey ones, but June and Grandma insisted with the pineapples. 




Once baby O woke up from his nap he got into the water as well and LOVED it! He loved splashing and trying to grab it! 


After the splash park we all headed home and ate lunch. Then it was quiet time. Greg and Brenda headed out to do a bit of shopping in stores that they don't have in Canada, while the kids slept. 
Once they got back, the kids were awake and it was time to hop back into the pool. 


It was a day spent in the sun and we didn't go in until sun set. Dan came home and we went out for dinner with all of us. 

On Friday we spent the morning just lounging around until Dan got off of work. We played with the kids got ready and once Dan came home we headed out for lunch and to Lego Land. 

June loves to make Owen laugh. She will do whatever it takes to get a giggle out of him. I just love these two with all of my heart! 

I love this picture. Nothing but pure joy!

Lego Land was really fun! We got to see the Dallas skyline all built out of legos which was pretty awesome. 

And the Texas stadium!



They had rides where you got to shoot at the bad guys and save the princess which June loved! We went on that ride more times that I counted. There were no lines so we just kept going on it over and over again. June was in heaven so I didn't mind, plus it was fun trying to beat our previous score!

There were giant lego foam pits where you could build with these foam legos. 

A fun lego slide into the foam pit

We all know June loves to sing. She's in constant sing mode. Well in there "princess land" they had a little karaoke machine set up and June was having a blast, just singing her heart out. 

We were singing "Do you want to build a snowman" together. I seriously might get her a karaoke machine. It was just too much fun singing with her. 

Lego Land also had a race track where you can build your own car and race it against other people. We never did win, and I think it was frustrating Dan more than June even cared about the car in the first place. 

About to race 

Then at the end once you were done with your car, you could push it down this ramp and it would land in a bucket! It was fun to watch the lego pieces scatter everywhere

Cool things built out of legos 


Friday night we grilled some hamburgers and got the kids to bed. Owen was being a bit of a pill, and now I know why, since the tooth popped out, but before I knew, he was giving it his all. He wore me down and that does not happen very often. Good Job Owen. Good Job. 

We chatted for the rest of the night and then headed to bed. We were tired! 

Saturday we played around the house, talked some more and just had an enjoyable afternoon. Once the kids had their nap/quiet time, we went and saw "The Lego Movie" June Loves movies and does very well in them, so it was fun taking her. I love getting her, her own little snack size popcorn and letting her have it all to herself. 
It was a pretty funny movie. We got there a little late, but it was an easy enough movie to grasp the plot of it all. There were some funny parts and overall a great kid movie. Both kids did great through the movie which I was very grateful for. 
We got home and got the kids fed and bathed. Then we had our little babysitter come over and us adults went and had dinner at Saltgrass Steak House. It was really good and we ate a lot of food! We had fun talking and not being distracted by the kids. 

This visit I really got to know more about my Father-in-law. He is more of the sit back and listen kind of guy, but I have to say, he has some very fascinating stories and adventures from back in the day, that I always love hearing about. It really did make me love him all that much more, just knowing more about his past. 

Sunday was as usual a busy day. With Choir, church meetings and Dan and I running around because of our callings, church came and went very fast. It poured down rain, so we spent the rest of the evening inside. We played marbles and then called it a night. 

Since Monday was Memorial Day, Dan didn't have to work so we had another full day with daddy. 
 we came out to this. Just grandpa and June reading "The Friend" and "Ensign" together. It was pretty adorable. 

 We went out for lunch and planned to do some Memorial Day shopping, but I think by this point the kids had just had it. Owen was a mess and June was whining for no reason, so I thought it best to let them go shopping and I take the kids home to try and get some sleep. Our schedules have been so out of balance, and I think it has finally caught up to them. 

After a late nap and everyone returning home, we decided to go walk down to the pond and see if any ducks were there. Unfortunately there were no ducks, but we still had fun throwing frock into the pond and just enjoying the sunshine. 



I was trying to teach June to put her hand over he heart when she saw the American flag, and also to try and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance, but she was really confused by the whole concept, so we just let her tell us that the flag was pretty. 

That night we grilled one more time. We had chicken and all the fixings to go along with it. Once we had dinner, we got June and Owen down for bed and then ate more snacks and played Monopoly. I was first out and Dan ended up winning the game. Good Job babe. Even with your complaints and all. You still managed to win! :) 

Tuesday was pack up day. Dan was back to work and we got the Lancaster's ready to catch their flight. 



We shoved grandpa in the back of the car one last time and we headed off. We first made a stop at Sam Moon for a one last bit of shopping and then headed to the airport. 

It was such a fun visit and we are grateful that they were able to make it over hear to visit us. We are excited that we will get to see them again in August! We are grateful for all they did for us this trip and we can't wait for the next visit! 


Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Tooth

Owen's bottom right tooth officially popped out this morning! I'm really hoping that's been the cause of the crankiness the last couple of days! Yay for teething babies, They are just my favorite... But this little man makes the cranky days not so bad! 

Sunday, May 25, 2014

7 Month Update


Dear Owen, baby Owit, OD, Chub Chubs, chunk, Otis, 
     7 months! 7! So I will tell you my baby boy, that I am madly in love with you and falling more and more so, every single day. Your personality is really starting to come out and gosh I just cannot get enough of you. That smile of yours always melts my heart and makes me so happy no matter how bad of a day I'm having.  My boy, you are growing and growing and growing. I am having a hard time keeping you dressed because you seem to out grow things so quickly! You are wearing more 9 month clothes now and I can make some 6 month clothing fit, depending on what it is. You are still in size 3 diapers and those seem to fit you just fine. 
    You are my little hunk of a chunk. You can eat so much, but you really have to be ready for it. You don't like to be rushed, or tried to be fed when you aren't ready. It's really on your time. You are starting to take more bottles now, just because I'm having a hard time keeping up with you. Your growth spurts are happening more than I can keep up with! Solid food eating has progressively gotten better. Much better! You eat about a half of a container of baby food a day. So far we are just doing one feeding a day, but will probably start bumping that up too. You are eating, peas, carrots, squash, prunes, peaches, and bananas which are your absolute favorite. You eat the most of bananas than any other food that  we have given you. Also you started drinking water from a sippy cup. It's more of a chew toy right now for you, but soon you will grasp the concept. You love to suck on ice. I'm not sure what it is about it, but you love it! You hate sucking on pacifiers though... I tried again when you were super cranky, but you wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. I have officially given up with that! One less habit to break! 
     You have discovered toys and how much joy they can bring! When one gets out of reach or possibly taken away from you, you get very upset. You are reaching and stretching as much as you possible to get to toys just out of reach and it drives you crazy. You poor thing! Soon you will learn to crawl and a whole new world will be introduced. Your favorite toy is still the creep baby doll, and I don't have any plans on getting rid of it. Though any toy makes you happy in the end. 
     June's hair is a popular grabbing toy. She doesn't find it amusing, but you love it. Owen, just know that she loves you and she loves to sing to you and make sure that you are always ok. I am really loving watching you two interact. 
     Sleeping is also progressively getting better. It's been a difficult couple of months just due to the fact that so much has been going on, that it's been hard keeping you on a schedule, but I do my best and the days we are home, I try to keep you on track. You are taking about an hour long morning nap around 9:30-10, Then you go back down around 12:30-1. Your afternoon nap is the longest, until about 3-4. Then depending on the day, you take a little power nap around 5:30 and then down to bed at 7. We try to be sticklers on the 7pm bed time. 
     If you don't have a proper day of naps than nighttime is a little harder for you. You are still waking up about once a night around 3 and then back down until 7 or 8. So really not too bad. I know it's just a habit that I really need to break, but with all the craziness I find it easier for you to call the shots, and really, you are putting yourself to sleep, so you are doing just fine. 
     You are fully sitting up and I am confident in leaving you with toys all propped up. You fall over occasionally, but I just sit you back up and you are happy again. So much has changed within the last month, that I really am enjoying this time. I love this age that you are in. You are such a good little boy, with occasional cries and really just wanting to be held. You LOVE to be held.  It' s ok though, because I love to hold you! 
      I can't help but tell you again OD, how much I love you. It's just deep down in my heart, that sometimes brings me to tears how incredibly lucky I am to be your mother.  I love you with everything I have. It's hard not to love you with that contagious smile! You are going to make the girls go crazy with those dimples one day!!
        I love you son!
               Love, mom


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

His Retirement

My dad is one of the good ones. One of the really good ones. One of the best. To me, he is the best. 

Today was my dad's retirement party in Boise. He has worked for the USDA... or we just say The Government. In fact all growing up, and still to this day, us kids think he works for the C.I.A and used the USDA as a cover... 

Though he has not yet officially retired, they threw him a party in his honor. Him and my mom are making their retirement plans a little earlier than most people do because of my dads calling our church... Mission President in the Denver North Colorado Mission. 

He started with the USDA when he moved to Driggs, Idaho in 1979 with my mom and a baby. Now 36 years later, he has worked himself from the bottom to the top, he has made a name for himself, and not only in Idaho, but all over the United States. With an amazing wife and 5 kids standing by his side. I wish I could go through all of his accomplishments, and recognitions, but I just don't think it would do him justice. So I will simply just say, he's pretty good at what he does... or did.  His Retirement party was actually held in Boise today. He had an office in Boise and spent a lot of time there. Growing up, he would take us kids, sometimes drop us off at my Grandma and Grandpa's house, or he would bring us with him and we would have the best times. Boise was a big part of my childhood. I remember a lot of my dads career, his offices, and how he would always just chuckle every time we said he worked for the C.I.A. Still hasn't declined it... Just saying. 
I know that he will be greatly missed. He's such a dedicated person, he's funny, and just a classy guy. I am so beyond proud of him. 





These two are just my favorite. They are still so madly in love, and have supported each other through thick and thin. A lot of it I know I haven't seen, but growing up and watching them... It's exactly how I want my marriage to be. 


Dad, I really am so proud of you. I love you!!
Happy Retirement!!


Monday, May 19, 2014

The Happiest Place On Earth

Our Disney World vacation was nothing but extraordinary! I am going to try and capture as much as possible on this blog post, but in reality I know it's not possible. Too many memories, too much fun, laughter and excitement to put into words. It makes me all giddy just thinking about the magic that took place over the week. 
There are so many pictures and so much to say, so hang with me. If at best just look through the pictures and try to get a glimpse of how epic this trip to Disney World was....

Here we go!

Dan and I knew we were going to have a family vacation that was just our family for a while, but we couldn't decide on where to go or what to do. We knew we wanted it to be a real vacation. Not just a weekender or a drive away, but somewhere that we could actually feel like we got away from our responsibilities and could enjoy our family for a week. 
Many of Dan's co-workers go to Disney World a lot! I mean they are every year kind of people! So of course they kept putting it into Dan's head to go there from day one. We were hesitant because our children are still very small and would Disney World actually be any fun with such small children?!? 

Dan took it upon himself to research it out and see if it was actually possible... He loves researching trips. I sometimes wonder if he gets more excited about the planning process than the actual trip itself?! No complaints from me... He always makes vacations the best they possibly can! He even told me to not plan a surprise get away for his 30th birthday because as part of his gift he would like to plan it! haha silly guy!! 

He made Disney World happen!
He did it all, and with consulting with me, and wam bam we had our vacation planned to Disney World. Disney World definitely knows how to cater to small children and they made it possible for a 2 year old to have such an amazing time. We didn't have to worry about a thing! LOVE DISNEY! 

 It was scheduled clear back at the beginning of March. But it was still fun because Disney kept sending us packages with all sorts of fun things inside. 

Part of our Disney Package that we booked was to get wrist bands. They were our everything! (Dan and mine) Owen and June's was mostly just for looks. They had no power. 
These wrist bands were our keys to our hotel room, how we paid for everything, and how we got into the park. We didn't need anything except for these wrist bands. And plus they were fun to wear! 

June and I made a Disney World Countdown and we were so excited each to to rip off a link and see our chain get smaller and smaller.... It's still hanging up because it's just too sad to take down yet! 


THE DAY OF OUR TRIP: 
Our flight was at 7:55 in the morning, so we had to be up and going pretty early that morning. We waited until the last minute to wake the kids and we would put them in regular clothes later in the day! We had a friend drop off Ranger at the kennel since we left to early in the morning.
Waiting in the security line!

After dropping off our bags and getting through security we boarded the plane! We were pretty excited that none of us could fall back asleep! 
Well except Owen... The rest of us played games, watched movies on our iPads and looked out the window. The flights were pretty smooth. We did have one good size drop with the turbulence that made everyone on the plane shriek a little bit but it smoothed out and all was well! 

We landed and headed down the the Disney resort transportation center. Disney took care of all our transportation needs! They even took our luggage and it was delivered to our lodge room, so we didn't have to worry about picking it up or dragging it to our room! So fantastic! 


Seeing how happy she was here, I couldn't wait for her to meet Mickey in real life!!! 

Our bus shuttle played old Disney cartoons.. I mean really old! It was fun to watch and they were actually pretty funny! The ride from the airport to our resort was about a half hour. Not too bad, but we were so excited to get there that it felt like forever! 

Our resort we chose to stay at was the Animal Kingdom Lodge. VERY suited for young children. June loves animals and their pool was zero entry so we knew thats where we wanted to stay! 
Right outside our balcony was our own private view of a bunch of different animals! We saw giraffes and Zebras, plus a bunch more that I'm not really sure of their names. 


We got all settled in, had a late lunch and then headed down to the pool. 
The weather was so beautiful that day! It was definitely swim weather. We even got Owen in the pool and he had his very first swim. It's funny that we have a pool in our backyard, but it still was his first time swimming! 


June and daddy just taking it all in!
p.s. There are a lot of photo bombers in these pictures. Get used to the random children, men and women that seem to appear in pictures that you didn't even realize were there! 

Owen fell asleep after a good swim, and June got a bit chilly, so they were both wrapped up in towels, even though it was 90 degrees outside!



After a couple hours of swimming we went and got ready for the night. We wanted to explore Downtown Disney and get a water bottle and autograph book for all the characters that we would meet throughout the parks the following days. 

hahaha don't they look thrilled?!? We were just s smudge tired from a 4 am wake up call but we knew we had to take advantage of every minute! and trust me we did! 

This is OD's favorite toy to play with. No word of lie. He loves it. Ranger got a hold of it one day and put a nice hole in it's face, so it's a bit creepy, but it keeps the boy so happy! 

Downtown Disney was a blast. There were a ton of shops restaurants and just a lot to look at. 
Outside one of the stores were these statues. Just another one to get excited about when she would meet the real one! 

We got June a couple souvenirs and treats for the next day. 
We were walking out of the park when June's favorite song came on over the speakers.. 
"Happy" by Pharrell Williams 
It's her absolute favorite. We have a dance party to this song at least 10 times a day. We realized that there was small dance party going on and June ran to it! We danced for a good 45 minutes to all the music... I love that she enjoy music so much. It's so good for the soul. 

We were hoping for a little bit earlier of a night since we had some big days ahead of us, but our dance party kinda threw a kink into that. Totally worth it!

The next morning, we woke up, and did some more animal watching. giraffes are June's favorite so whenever they came wandering by, we had to go out and watch them. 
Then it was off to our first park. Magic Kingdom. 
It just felt so good to be here with my family. We were all in such giddy moods, happy and excited to be there. No better feeling!

Our first ride was buzz lightyear's adventure. We had a fast pass to this ride, but we didn't really need it. In fact the lines were hardly anything! Not what we expected for Disney World. 

Then we went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh floor. The Monster's put on a comedy routine! During the show they picked random people from the crowed to play different characters and June got to be Boo! She was loving all the actions, and the laughter. 

We really wanted this trip to be easy and low expectations, so when June chose to ride the carousel then that's what we rode. 


We had lunch at Pinocchio's cottage. 

Tummy's were full, including Owen's and it was time to meet the fairies... I know I said no expectations but we had to meet them! Tinker Bell is June's favorite! We got to meet Rosetta and Tinker Bell. 
I will be honest. As I was taking these pictures I totally started to cry. June was just over the moon to be meeting Tinker Bell and her face lighting up like it did when Tinker Bell gave June a hug was worth the trip right then and there. It was a heart stopping moment. 

After meeting the Fairies we went and got the kids a couple more souvenirs. June got Minnie and Owen got Mickey. (Sorry for the blur) 


We also picked up the classic Disney hats and had their names embroidered on the back 

Our next ride was Aladdin and the Magic carpet. Most of these rides were the same... Lifting up and spinning in circles, but June loved them and we knew we didn't want to miss a single ride so we went for it!

Even Owen got to fly!

We went to The Little Mermaid Under the Sea adventure, which was just characters and the plot of "The Little Mermaid" It was really cool! 

We then got in our longest line of the day. The Peter Pan flying ride. We ended up waiting about an hour for, and we had no idea it would take that long. Half way though we saw that Peter Pan was out taking pictures... June and I jumped the ropes and ran over to hopefully get his picture... 

The guy in charge of Peter Pan said that it was time to end and there would be no more pictures... We got a little sad, but I told June to just wave goodbye to Peter Pan and say bye, well the guy playing Peter Pan told us that we could sneak in for one last autograph and  picture! It was so nice of him. I am sure that he was very exhausted from the day, but it very much made our day to get to see him and have June give him a hug.
Though he looks kind of creepy in this picture... haha! He was super nice! 

Our continued long wait in line!
So... If you ever do decided to take small children to Disney World or anywhere that has long lines, here is a tip! Bring fun things to do while you wait. We had a bag full of bubbles, balls and fun little things that would keep June entertained through the line. It kept her nice and calm while waiting and other kids in line joined in the fun! It made standing in line much more bearable!! 

We met Rapunzel.. known to June as "Tangled". June didn't know her all that well, so she was a little shy. I had to help her along with this one.    

Then we met Cinderalla. It is very cool how much the people act out there characters to the fullest! They are amazing people for doing that all the time and being so happy! I couldn't believe how they had the character's personality traits matched to a perfect 10! It's so believable!! 

This is just priceless... 

Dumbo was one June really wanted to ride. She has never seen the movie Dumbo but we read Disney Books to her all the time and so she has seen the Dumbo characters a few times. 

Owen had fallen asleep in the stroller and we thought it was best to let him sleep, so we tag teamed it and I took June on Dumbo.


And Dan took her on the Tea Cups. 

For dinner that night we ate at the Crystal Palace. We got to meet all the Characters from Winnie the Pooh! Eor, Pooh, Piglet and Tigger were there. 
Sadly both Dan and my phones died so we didn't get any pictures of Tigger and pooh, but it was still really fun having dinner with all the characters!

At the end of the day we were all pretty beat. We went a solid 12+ hours at Magic Kingdom. June and Owen were both incredible for pushing that long. I couldn't believe that we actually made it the entire day without taking a break back at the hotel... They sure were troopers. 


The next day we all slept in. Until about 9, so with breakfast and getting everyone ready we weren't out the door until 11. All of us needed the sleep and it felt good to not feel obligated into getting up. 


We headed out to the Animal Kingdom. 


Our Fast Passes were all back to back so our morning was non stop rides and shows. The first one we went to was "It's tough to be a bug" -A bugs life... It was a pretty good show, though June didn't get her 3D glasses on very long, she did seem to love the show. 

Then it was a hop skip and a jump over to meet Mickey and Minnie Again very excited to meet them and to have June get so excited to see more characters in real life. 


Owen was passed out and there was no waking the mister up for a picture. 

After Mickey Mouse, we went to "Finding Nemo" The Musical. It plays out the whole movie of Nemo just Musical style. It was like a broadway. Very cool!

We stopped and had lunch before we had to be to our next fast pass. Our lunch breaks are more like pit stops, where everyone goes potty, diapers are changed and everyone, including Owen is fed. Then we make sure everyone is happy before we would head out for the next few hours. By the end of our trip Dan and I had such a great system down that kept everything  running smoothly. We sure do make a great team and I think that was a big help with making this trip possible. Dan and I always made sure to be on the same page, switch with kids, and not get to burnt out ourselves. 

After lunch we had our wild ride Safari. It was fun to see animals so close without any fences or barriers blocking the animals. We saw a lions so close I felt like you could reach out and touch them. We saw hippos, and rhinos... too many to name! It was really fun. June loved it. She has such a thing for animals that she could hardly contain her excitement when a new animal was spotted. 

The animal tree, or "The Tree of Life"... It's carved with a bunch of different animals. It's really cool. 
June wanted a picture with the snowy mountain. She thought it was Elsa's castle mountain from "Frozen" 

After walking around and looking at all the animals we went and found the kids more souvenirs... ya exactly what they need. Every hat right now is a ho ho hat to June. 

A little, but big rain storm made it's way through and we decided to head back to the hotel since we had a babysitter coming in a few hours. We thought a little calm down time would make it easier for them. June wanted to play in the rain so her and Dan walked while I covered Owen with the Poncho. 

I put Owen down for a nap and we all decided to catch up on technology... 

We went and had dinner down in our hotel and then get the kids bathed and ready for our babysitter...
Dan and I really wanted a night to ourselves where we could go on the big rides throughout the parks. Disney resort offers in room babysitting... it cost us, but it was totally worth it! I was very hesitant and first, like almost backed out, because really I was going to leave my babes with a complete stinger?! but then she came to the door and she was an older lady, very nice and really seemed like she knew what she was doing, it put my mind at ease and I felt better about the whole situation, so Dan and I took off. 

Dan and I had a blast riding all the rides and not having to worry about the kids... It seriously was so much fun and being foolish and running around like we did, made me fall so much more in love with Dan. 

Our first stop was over to Hollywood Studios. We were taking the kids there the next day, but we wanted to go do some big rides first. This was the Tower of Terror. MY FAVORITE!! I have been to Disney World before and I could do this ride over and over again. Dan isn't too keen on the dropping up and down rides but he did it for me and ended up loving it! 

Then we went over to Star Wars. This ride made both of us a little nauseous. Still fun but both Dan and I were a little wobbly after... 

Once we saw how long the wait times were for lines we decided to leave Hollywood studios and go over to Magic Kingdom to ride the classic rides of Disney World. 


Our first ride was over in Tomorrowland. Space Mountain. I have never been on this ride but it was so much fun. I love the rush of it all! The poor girl in front of me probably was so sick of my screams by the end of the ride! 

Thunder Mountain is always a blast. The wait time wasn't long at all. It has been so long since I have been on a roller coaster! I forgot how much I love the thrill ride!

Neither Dan nor I like to be scared, but The Haunted Mansion is just one of those rides we had to do. In the end it wasn't all that scary, it was more of just looking around at old creepy things. Luckily nothing jumped out at us!

The parade and firework shows were going on the time that we were there, so it made the ride lines super short!! 

We got to ride splash mountain twice. Just hopped off and then hopped back on! That's how short the wait was! It was very nice not having to wait in line!


Our night alone came to an end and we had to head back to the hotel. It was fun just walking around,riding crazy rides, and just having the evening me and him. 

Our resort lobby. It was so beautiful that I had to take a picture. 

We got to our room, and the kids were both asleep and our babysitter was sitting in the bathroom reading. She was so fantastic. She took the kids down to the kid activity center in the hotel and  got both of them to bed. 
We said good night and then went to bed. 


The next morning none of us woke up until 10. Including Owen. So we rushed out the door to make sure to take advantage of our last day at the parks.

Our first stop was to Hollywood Studios. We had lunch reservations there so we got there early to look around and see if we could catch any rides before we needed to be at the restaurant. 



June got to meet Chip and Dale
And got to step in Mickey Mouses's shoe prints. 

We had time for one ride so we went and did "The Great Movie Ride" 

You ride around and get to see the different era's of film making. It really made me want to go back to all the classics and watch them again. 

After the ride is was time to go have lunch at "HollyWood and Vine" 

This lunch was where we got to meet al of the Disney Jr. Characters... June was in Heaven. All of her favorites were there!
Sophia the First

The obvious favorite, Jake. 


Doc Mcstuffins... Sorry if you have no clue who these people are! But I'm sure if you have any children younger than 4 then you know exactly who they are and can probably sing along with their theme songs. Disney Pandora is on constant at our house, so we have about every song down by heart!
Also meeting Handy Manny! 

Owen couldn't handle all the excitement and he fell asleep.

After getting more autographs and having a delicious lunch, we headed over to PIXAR.
We rode Toy Story Adventure 
And went to Disney Jr. Live on Stage... JUNE LOVED IT! It's just like singing time at the library but 100x cooler and better! They sure know how to get little kids excited! 

We also went and saw "The Little Mermaid" Under the Sea adventure. That was pretty cool. I little scary but still fun. June told us she was ready to be done half way through... I get it! 

Waiting for the show to start 

After all our fast passes were used up and we were done with all our shows, we stopped for a potty and feeding break...
Just one of the many stops to feed the little monster 

Dan was getting some treats for us, so I told June to stand by Mickey for a picture. Right as I clicked she yelled "OH! I have a wedgie" and started giggling. hahahaha silly girl!

We finished with Hollywood studios mid way through our day, and we thought it would probably be better to end our trip at the Magic Kingdom, so we headed over there for our last adventure of the week. 



We went to go see how long of a wait it was to meet Anna and Elsa from "Frozen" We said we would be willing to wait an hour... We get there and there is a 5 HOUR WAIT!!!! CRAZY PEOPLE!! So we skipped seeing them. Thankfully we didn't say a word to June about the whole thing! 

The wait time to "It's a Small World" wasn't long at all so we decided to go on it. It's a Disney classic also, and we are so glad we went on it! JUNE LOVED IT! She kept poking Dan's knee saying "Daddy, daddy look at this, Daddy daddy look over there.." She just couldn't get enough of the bright lights and all the dolls dancing. I loved that Disney has kept it at it's original state. They haven't tried to update it or do any big changes and that's why I loved it so much!
OK. So as many of you Know the movie "Frozen" right now is huge... and we are on the bandwagon with all the other crazies out there. ANY kind of "Frozen" item at the Disney parks were IMPOSSIBLE to find! and I mean IMPOSSIBLE! As soon as anything related to the movie was put on the shelves they were gone in no time...
Well we were wrapping up our day and we walked into a souvenir shop one last time, and low and behold there was a rack of "Frozen" Dolls being hung up. One side is Elsa and then you flip it and the other side is Anna. There was a crowed of people. 
If you know anything about me, you know I love this kind of stuff, so of course I got right into the action. I basically threw the stroller at Dan, and made a mad dash for the dolls. I fought my way in and GOT ONE!!! It happened all in a matter of 2 minutes and all the dolls were gone. Just like that! We were at the right place and the right time. I will be honest. I was super proud of myself!!  

After my awesome catch with the "Frozen Doll" It started to pour down rain... We went and had one last lunch in the park and called it a day. On our way out we got to catch glimpses of the rain parade. 

We got to the exit and it just dropped rain in bucket loads on us. I had on flip flops so Dan took the stroller and bolted for the bus to take us back to our hotel. Luckily it's Florida so the rain is warm, but still! 

That night we got the kids bathed up and started packing to head home. 
June loved her new pajamas and kept looking at herself in the mirror and running around. 
(don't mind the messy hotel room... we were packing!) 

The next morning we said goodbye to all the animals and headed out the door. Disney took care of our luggage and our checking in at the airport so we were able to just go straight to security...

The flight wasn't too bad. Everyone mostly slept, and continued to be adorable!

Owen did wake up and he had a fit! Nothing would calm him down... Dan took him and he became so happy. Poor Dan he was so tired and Owen just kept laughing. I couldn't help but laugh either! Owen is such a mini Dan!
After loading up all our items one last time we stopped by our vet, picked up Ranger and then came home. That's where it hit me.... My wallet is still on the plane...
Sadly I lost it all, including my adorable wallet from SanFrancisco. Now I get to spend the next few days trying to get everything replaced before my in-laws get here and then I leave to Idaho! NEVER A DULL MOMENT!!

Thankfully it all can be replaced pretty easily. And I am staying positive in the fact that I get a new ID picture, because mine was taken when I was 34 weeks pregnant! Swollen face and all! So that's a plus!

We are still in recovery mode. The kids are all off their schedules, we are still a bit cranky and we are looking forward to at least a couple of days of downtime, until Wednesday, then Dan's parents arrive!!

So Disney World was incredible! Every minute was worth it. I honestly wouldn't change a thing throughout this whole week. Disney World really does create some sort of feeling inside that makes you feel so happy and light. I really do understand why they call it The happiest place on Earth!!