Disneyland the Last

For the past couple of years, we have been the proud owners of annual passes to Disneyland. The kids love going and it's a great reward for when they have been especially obedient. However, our passes expired at the beginning of February and we will not be renewing as we won't be living here much longer. So I present to you our last trip to Disneyland as residents of Southern California:

We went very early in the morning and hit every single ride the kids are big enough for. A1's favorites are Space Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad.R took her on Tower of Terror for the first time, but only because she begged so that she could say that she had been on all the rides. R hates that ride because he is afraid of heights, but he screwed his courage to the sticking place and took her. He had to carry her off the ride because her legs were shaking so badly from adrenaline that she couldn't walk. Her thoughts on the ride: "That was fun! But I don't ever want to do it again!"

A2's favorite rides are the Carousel and Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters and Winnie the Pooh (there was one day where we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride at least five times). He says that he doesn't like the roller coasters (which I'm sure will change when he gets older), but he always smiled and asked to go again when he got off the ride.This last time, I was too pregnant to go on any of the roller coasters, so R had to do double duty. When it came to the last roller coaster of the day, A2 had just about had it and A1 was not to be put off a minute longer. So R went with A2 and A1 got to go by herself! She was so proud that she was big enough to do so.To end the perfect day at Disneyland and to remember all the great times we had, we decided to go to one of the hat shops and try on all the hats. Here are a couple of my favorite shots:

The Indiana Jones Family: The Sorcerer's New Apprentice:Maybe with ears this big and beautiful, she won't say she can't hear me anymore:Thank you, Disney, for being part of our lives. We had so much fun the past couple of years. Hopefully we'll return for a short visit in the future.

Shooting Marshmallows

Many years ago, R made marshmallow blow guns for my dad for Christmas. Dad decided to take them on the next family camping trip to try them out. He sat himself on a bench and tried to hit a little ground squirrel that kept poking its head out of its burrow. He spent many hours and hundreds of marshmallows on this endeavor, only to fail miserably. Until the very last marshmallow - direct hit to the head (the marshmallows were soft so there was no damage done to the ground squirrel). The squirrel was shocked, but I don't think it was more shocked than my dad was! The marshmallow blow guns have since become a necessary component of my parents' camping gear.

So R decided this year that we needed to be part of such a great family tradition. I think A2 turning 3 this year had a lot to do with it - what boy can grow up without some kind of non-fatal weapon? We received four blow guns for Christmas!

At first the kids just liked taking the parts and randomly piecing them together - to make a super blow gun!

But eventually we got down to the business of using them. They are surprisingly accurate and a lot of fun. What an awesome, cheap gift! Anyone with a small boy in their family - hey, anyone at all - needs to have a set of these.

Christmas 2011

We had another stay-at-home, just-our-little-family Christmas again this year. It was very laid back and stress-free. We woke up when we were ready, we took as long as we wanted opening presents, and we didn't have any kind of schedule to stick to.
The kids loved the presents they got this year. R bought me a brand new camera, which I used to take a bunch of really nice pictures. The kids are not allowed to touch my new camera, so we got them a kids camera to share. It was A1's favorite gift of the year.A2's favorite was the new train tracks we bought him. They're highly portable, so he likes to take them wherever we go.And I made R a bunch of new scrub caps. I think the Disney one is the pediatric favorite.But we didn't get pictures of the best part of Christmas - the dinner. I made a Dr. Pepper-glazed ham. It was the best ham I've had in a very long time, and R has determined that we will be eating this recipe every year. Yum!

I hope you all had a very nice Christmas (even though it is now the end of April) and that you were able to focus on the true meaning behind the season. Christ is our Savior and we can only be saved through Him.

Christmas Cookies in Capistrano

In December, A1 had an unexpected day off school, so we visited with some of our favorite friends, Bentley and Gaige. We really miss them since they moved away to San Juan Capistrano from living right down the hall from us. But it's nice that they're close enough that we can visit them every few months.

They took us to a nearby playground, which was really fun. The favorite part was a "raft" which could be moved from the sidelines. The kids teamed up to take turns moving each other on the raft.
Then we went to their house for lunch and to decorate Christmas cookies. Jaime's sister and her boys joined us for the cookies. I liked getting to know her a little bit better, and A2 enjoyed playing with new friends.And the cookies were delicious!

Winter Programs

As part of the Christmas season, A1 and A2 were both involved in winter programs at their school. A2 is part of a preschool run by moms, so we can make our program reflect the true meaning of Christmas with a nativity skit. A2 got to be the shepherd and the innkeeper (his one line: "No room!" shouted with vigor!).
A1, on the other hand, is in a public school in California, so all beliefs were represented in her winter program. The whole kindergarten sang "O Christmas Tree" and "Hip Hop Reindeer." A1 loved doing the moves involved with the songs... ...and, even more, posing for the pictures we took of her.
She's quite the ham, isn't she?

Wintering in California

Alison and Casey decided that they hadn't had enough of California with their last visit, so we went for one more round. Grandma decided that we couldn't have all the fun, so she joined us as well. They went all out and stayed at one of the Disneyland hotels and took advantage of all that was offered with the hotel - early admittance to the Disneyland park, breakfast and dinner with Disney characters, and swimming in December (isn't California awesome?). The kids and I were able to join them for some of that time.

I do love Disneyland at Christmas time. The decorations are amazing, and the Small World ride is completely transformed. Alison and Casey loved it as well.
We even visited Santa and Mrs. Claus along with their reindeer. We had to get conclusive proof that Grandma is not Mrs. Claus:
We were also able to attend the World of Color at California Adventure. Despite the fact that we have lived here for three and a half years, this was the first time we had seen World of Color. It was spectacular. Everybody must see it at least once in their life!
I love it when family comes to visit. What a great vacation! Thanks for giving us an excuse to visit Disneyland again, Alison and Casey.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year for Thanksgiving, the kids and I went to Utah to visit the grandparents. We only went for a couple of days, but we had a fantastic time.

A2 enjoyed helping prepare the Thanksgiving dinner with Aunt Megan, while A1 played with her cousin Carmen. Aunt Meggie is definitely A2's favorite person in the whole world right now. He stuck to her like glue for the whole time we were there. Thanks for taking such awesome care of my boy, Aunt Meggie.While most of the adults went Black Friday shopping (as is tradition, after all), Uncle Casey stayed home to watch the kids. While we slept and recovered from staying up all night shopping, Grandma helped the kids build a gingerbread house. A1 and Carmen put the house together, while A2 made the tree. Isn't it cute?What a great vacation! I wish we could spend every holiday with our family.

Fighting Fire

At the beginning of the school year, A2 and I used to take walks in the neighborhoods around A1's school after we dropped her off in the mornings. One morning as we were returning from our walk, we witnessed the greatest thing to happen in a 3-year-old's life - fire fighters to the rescue! We came on the scene just as two fire trucks and an ambulance were driving down the block to a house surrounded by smoke. One fire truck drove straight to the house while the other stopped a block away (and right in front of us at the time) and hooked up to the hydrant. Then that truck went zooming down the street toward the house, while the fire hose flew off the back of the truck in coils. The ambulance blocked traffic from entering the street and the medics and about ten fire fighters positioned themselves around the house to begin fighting the fire. It turned out that the owners of the house were smoking some meat (as in true BBQ smoking) in their backyard and didn't realize that so much smoke would build up around their house. It was actually a neighbor who called the fire department, and no real fire existed. A2 was a bit disappointed that he wouldn't be able to see anybody actually fight a fire, but then we wouldn't have been so close to all those fire fighters getting ready to fight a fire. I guess it was a good day for all involved.


This incident was the coolest thing that A2 had ever seen in his short life. Right then and there he decided that he wanted to be a fire fighter when he grows up. So on a recent trip back to Utah, we convinced Aunt Emily to show us around the fire station where she used to work as a fire fighter. The kids loved learning about the big trucks (look, they aren't even as tall as the tires!)...
...and all the equipment involved (like oxygen tanks)...
...and what a paramedic does and how they take care of the people involved with the fire.
Their favorite part was trying on some of Aunt Em's uniform. Thanks for showing us the ropes and for helping us understand more about fire fighting, Aunt Emily!

A1 Turns 5

Here's another birthday party that I am very proud to say I did everything for it. A1 decided that she wanted a ballerina party this year. And unlike any year before, she didn't want to stretch it to include everybody - she wanted a ballerina party and only wanted to invite girls. I felt really bad since most of her friends are boys, but she was adamant. So we put together a ballerina party.


I made the invitations by hand and I'm quite proud of how I figured out how to make the tutus stand out (a couple layers of tissue paper glued and scrunched).
I followed the same idea for the cupcakes...
...and the goody bags, which contained everything that an aspiring ballerina (and her four closest girlfriends) could need for a recital: jewelry, a flower for her hair, and a ribbon wand for twirling.
I decided that the girls should assembly their own ribbon wands, with whatever colors they wanted and in whatever order they wanted. I think that was one of the favorite activities.
We also played Pin the Tutu on the Ballerina (more scrunched up tissue paper!).
Then I put some classical music on and let the decked out ballerinas dance and twirl to their hearts' content. It was quite a spectacle to see A1 (my tiny girl) and her four friends (who all tower head and shoulders over her) leaping and spinning around our living room. They begged to continue dancing when I turned off the music. I think the party went a good half an hour longer than expected because the girls wanted to keep dancing.
What a great birthday party! I think I can handle going all out and making so many things for birthday parties if we can keep it small like this from now on.


Happy birthday, A1. We are so lucky to have you in our family. You are very loving and sweet and extremely smart. We love you!

Mormon Battalion

While we were in San Diego at Sea World, we decided to stop by the LDS historic site for the Mormon Battalion. I was a bit skeptical about the small building, but the presentation was fantastic. They have basically recreated a true story (from journal entries of those who were on the Mormon Battalion trek) and show it on a film that walks you through the various parts of life on the Battalion trail. It was very well done and quite entertaining. It even captivated the kids for the whole thing, which is saying a lot because it was the end of a very long day.
After the presentation, we wandered about making adobe bricks and panning for gold. The missionaries there helped with everything and even made sure that each child found a sizeable piece of "gold" to take home.
What a perfect end to a wonderful day! I definitely recommend the Mormon Battalion to any who are in the San Diego area. It's worth it to go out of your way to visit it.

Sea World

Our friend Em set up an awesome field trip for her kids to Sea World (she home schools them, so she has to set up her own field trips). She invited us to join her and a few other friends, so we skipped school for the day to learn more about marine life. Our kids have always been fascinated by fish (they will be not be happy to hear that they may only have fish for pets, not cats or dogs, however); the brighter and more colorful, the better for them.
They learned about penguins (the favorites of the day, and the pictures that I accidentally deleted off the camera - aauugh!!!), whales, dolphins (we had the opportunity to see one of the dolphin shows, but we were too far away to get any good pictures), sea lions (more of the pictures I deleted), and many more. We had a lot of fun in the Arctic exhibit learning about Beluga Whales (those are the white whales) and other extremely cold water creatures.
A2 loved petting things. He tried to pet the dolphins, but they just sprayed him, which he thought was fun the first time, but didn't much like it the second or third time. So he settled for petting the sea stars.
And both of them rode the cement turtle. We tried to get them to say, "Sea turtles, mate!" but they wouldn't repeat a random movie quote for us.
We had too much fun going to Sea World with our amazing friends. Thank you for inviting us to join you, Em! And thank you to Sea World for letting us in as part of the home school field trip. I wish we could go again.

Halloween 2011

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We started the Halloween season at Disneyland, just like all the past years. Aren't A1 and A2 adorable?!
No theme for costumes this year because Jaime wasn't here for us to be a part of their theme. So the kids went as what they wanted this year. A1 was a pink princess and A2 was a cowboy. A2 has decided that being a cowboy was so much fun that he wants to be a cowboy everyday.
We went to the local stake Halloween party, which was amazing! I'm truly floored by what they were able to pull off: a haunted house, lots of games for adults and kids, a pirate ship, trunk-or-treating, etc.
We went to the elementary school Halloween party, which was also pretty cool. They had fun games and lots of opportunities for pictures.
We also ran into A1's best friend Marissa. Aren't they adorable princesses?
A2 had a party with his preschool class. The kids were so cute in their costumes playing the little games that we set up for them and eating the picnic lunch.
All in all, it was a great Halloween season, with some great parties and lots of opportunities to dress up.

Carving Pumpkins

This was the first year we actually carved pumpkins for Halloween. The kids absolutely loved it. They even enjoyed cleaning the seeds out of the inside (which was always the worst part, in my opinion).
We had three pumpkins. One that we let the kids paint into whatever pattern they wanted. The painting was their favorite part, and they asked to paint over and over again.
We found a white pumpkin that R took over as his project. He did a relief carving of a black cat. It looked amazing, especially with the lights off. I took the biggest pumpkin and carved a couple of things in it: a Happy Halloween scene on one side and a witch flying on a broomstick on the other side.
Carving pumpkins was way too much fun. I think we'll have to do this every year!

Grandma J Joins the California Fun

Grandma Jensen came to join us for the week of A2's birthday. We had to show her the greatest time because she doesn't get to play in California all that often. We took her to all the best places.


Of course we went to Disneyland. Halloween time is one of the best times - they go all out in their decorations.
They do amazing pumpkin carving (none of the pictures I took really do the carvings justice) and they set up whole scenes with the pumpkins. We especially enjoyed playing cards with these cowboys.
The kids enjoyed taking Grandma on all their favorite rides: the Carousel, Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters, the Tea Cups, Gadget's Go Coaster, the Jungle Cruise, etc.
Isn't Grandma the greatest for taking the kids on a ride that Mommy refuses to go on?
We also went to the Long Beach Aquarium, the best aquarium around here.
A1 and A2 absolutely love checking out the fish and other sea creatures at the Aquarium. Their favorite is petting the sharks, which we didn't get a picture of (of course). They also liked showing Grandma all the best and most colorful fish.
And they had to show off their version of sleeping with the fishes - they're ready to be part of the mob, don't you think?
Grandma, we love having you visit. We can't wait until you come back again!