Disneyland

After spending our weekend in Phoenix, we surprised the kids and took them to Disneyland. They couldn't figure out why we were driving West instead of East. After asking "where are we going" several times we had them open up an envelope with our tickets inside. They all screamed for joy and couldn't believe that we were actually going to California instead of back home to Round Valley.

Our first day we spent at Disneyland. In the morning we stuck together and did some rides. And than it was time for the older kids to be on their own. Dayson and I took the little kids and did what they wanted to do. Everyone wants to stop and take pictures with the characters except for Dayson and Adam. Dayson just thinks it's a waste of time, Adam is scared to death of Minnie Mouse and won't even look at her. What a wimp!

Carson, Clayton and Konsti with Geppeto from Pinochio

Buzz Lightyear...this is Adam's favorite ride.

Dayson and Aarron trying to rack up their points

Adam has no clue how to shoot the targets...he just likes to shoot the gun!

MacKenzie and Daycee (a little blury)

Harly and Carson

Clayton and Konstantin

Space Mountain

MacKenzie with the scared to death look on her face and Clayton

Harly and Carson

Daycee and Konstantin

Aarron hiding his head and Dayson

Adam crying his head off and Kim

Dad went to McDonald's to bring back lunch so we went on the Jungle Ride to kill some time

Lunch at last....the little kids ate first while the older kids went on Pirates of the Caribbean

Mary Poppins, Burt and Bubbles the pinguin came to see us during lunch.

This was so fun. I had my legs wrapped around Aarron because I was afraid he would fly out!

The boys had to ride the train, so that's what we did. It's actually very relaxing after walking around all morning.

Waiting for our turn on the new Star Tours 3D ride!

The big kids on Space Mountain again!

A night ride on the monorail...or bullet train as Adam and Aarron call it!

Carousel Rides



 Posing with Dumbo after riding the ride

 The last ride of the night...It's A Small World...the kids don't like it as much as I do. But I make them ride it anyways. I love the dolls, music and costumes...it's one of my favorites!

At the end of the ride they had dolls from Arizona...it was very cute!

We went back to the hotel and everyone crashed. They didn't even stay awake long enough for me to bring pizza back to the room. Except for Clayton and Konsti they eat a lot!

A Weekend in Phoenix

Saturday morning we woke up at 5:30 am to drive 4 hours for a baptism and birthday party. We first went to Mesa for Garrett's baptism at 10:00 am and had lunch at Sean and Christine's house. Afterwards we drove to Phoenix for Nash's birthday party.

When we arrived to Jamie and Jared's house the kids met some new friends to play basketball with. They invited them to the party for dinner too! Around the table is Courtney, friends from across the street, Konsti, Clayton and Carson.

Adam and Aarron waiting for their turn to bat.

Aarron up to bat

 Adam up to bat

Adam running to second base

Nash's turn to bat

Adam having a turn to hit the Pinada

Aarron's turn

Nash's turn

Nash and Adam racing for the candy

Aarron scored a bunch of candy

Nash's candy bag

singing "Happy Birthday" to Nash

Christie and her boyfriend Trevor

baby Ryder

All the boys playing football

We had such a fun time at the baptism and the birthday party. I just wish I had pictures of the baptism. 

Adam's 4th Birthday!

Adam turned 4 years old on January 30th. He got two birthday cards in the mail from Grandma & Grandpa Wellman and Great Grandma Slade.

He was so excited to get 4 $1 bills from grandma & grandpa Wellman and 4 quarters from great grandma Slade. He told the kids when he opened it "In your face"!

Monday morning Adam woke up to lots of balloons and presents on the table. He couldn't wait to open up his presents.

Who's 4!

A few weeks ago we asked Adam what he wanted for his birthday and he was very specific. His list was: bat, ball, glove and helmet! That was easy for us.

The Helmet

 His head is so big it barely fit!

 The Balls!

 The Bat!

The Glove!

And to start practicing his baseball skills we got him a Tee.

Monday night after we were all home we had baseball cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday"!

Blowing out his candles!

Brothers and Sisters

He had to have four cupcakes and licked them all clean!

daddy & mommy

Adam was so excited to have a baseball party! He hasn't stopped playing with his equipment. We are so lucky to have such a sweet, cute and loving little boy! He makes me laugh everyday. He is really good at memorizing songs and can sing almost all nursery ryhmes that he's learned in pre-school. He loves to play baseball with his big brother Aarron and follows his every move!

Happy Birthday Adam! Mom and Dad love you!

Daycee's 9th Birthday

Daycee turned 9 years old on January 18th. For her special day she went out to dinner with mom and dad. She picked Trailriders and got a cheeseburger with fries! She felt very cool being the only child to go out to dinner with mom and dad.

Daycee opened presents before and after school. Of course before school she opened a new outfit...so she can look extra special on her birthday!

Harly was so excited to give Daycee a Nintendo DS!

...more clothes!

Speakers for her MP3 player

Singing "Happy Birthday" with her brothers and sisters

...and her last present...a dry erase board. Daycee loves to play school with her little brothers and I knew she would enjoy using this at her school!

Happy Birthday Daycee! Mom and Dad love you very much and are so proud of you. You are a beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father. And you are such a good example to your brothers and sisters. You will always be special to your family!

Christmas

Christmas Eve we went to Becky and Jeremy's house for dinner and the Nativity. It was only our two families this year. All of the kids were wearing their traditional Christmas pajamas for the party.

Sunday morning we went to church after opening presents. I was able to get the kids to stand together long enough for a picture.

Being goofy

After getting home from church we went to Mesa to visit with Dayson's parents and opened presents with them.

Then we went to my parent's house where we stayed the night with Becky's & Rita's families.

All of the cousins enjoy getting together and visiting with one another. Here is Kendall performing some songs on her guitar.

The little cousins playing a game with Konsti and Robin (another foreign exchange student who spent Christmas with Rita's family)

Aarron and Great Grandma Slade

She is giving him his birthday card with his quarters

Our friend Flavio came over Monday morning after Christmas to see our family. It's been a long time since we've seen him. It was good for Dayson and him to speak portuguese again.

Our final stop on our way home was at Dayson's extended family Christmas reunion. This has been a tradition for the last 15 years since we've been married and many more before that.

This is Dayson's grandma and grandpa Lawlor. We don't have many opportunities to take pictures with them because we live 4 hours away. They are so fragile and grandma doesn't remeber us anymore.

Christmas weekend happend so fast that we hardly got to spend time with our family. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and Happy New Year!!