I'm still trying to get the pictures up from this summer. Halloween is a good time to catch up on a vacation that happened in June! I'm sure that is true :-)

We took our children to Disneyland for the first time over the summer. Cameron wasn't able to join us, because he had a basketball camp in Logan that same week, so we promised him that before he leaves on his mission in three years, we will take him to the magical land. Yea! Another Disney trip in a few years!


We ran from opening to close, used fast pass and stood in very few long lines, swam in the evenings, and had fun from beginning to end. There wasn't a ride that we couldn't all go on...OK, maybe putting fruit snack packets in Andreas shoes to make her two inches taller so she could go on Indiana Jones was a bit over the top, especially since she screamed through the whole ride, but she still went :-)


Nobody got lost, nobody threw up, and everyone was happy. Family vacations are awesome!

Farewell dear camera -

It was actually my fault. We went to sliding rock in Alpine for FHE. The rock looks like it would really hurt to slide on, but it feels smooth, and drops you right into a FREEZING cold pool at the bottom. I was holding the camera and Andi's hand, walking in the water toward the pool, so I could get some great action shots of the sliders. My foot slid on a rock, and I tried to save both the camera and my daughter. Well, Andi got dunked, the camera went under, and my hand looked like the second picture here...the last picture my little camera ever took that didn't look as if it was

taken through the foggy mist. Sniff.

At least the activity was great fun, we all took a few slides down the awesome rock, then gasped for breath in the icy chill, and the night was a hit. All without further documentation.

I wonder..

There are things that I wonder about -

...Why do my hands still smell like the long term care facility where I was doing my clinical from 5:45 am- 2:00 pm? I have washed and washed, but the smell lingers. Is it in my nose hairs, as opposed to on my hands?

....Why did I crash so spectacularly when I went roller blading with my sister on my birthday - here's the bruise to prove the utter grace that I displayed. (It was on my hip and thigh) I just didn't turn fast enough, thought the grass would slow me down more than it did, and stopped myself with my hip and leg as I blasted into a picnic table.

....How did I get such creative and fun children and husband, when I myself am so creatively impaired, and nothing if not all vanilla ice cream and cheese-only topped pizza?

....Why I started a blog ... :-)

These are great things to ponder on.

Remember the Summer...

In June we took 4 of our 5 kids to Disneyland. We told the family years ago that we would go to the magical land when the youngest was at least five years old. Consequently, little Andrea was highly disappointed when she had her fifth birthday, and she didn't get a Disney trip to celebrate! A year later, we finally made the trip! Yea!!

We spent the first night in Mesquite, Nevada. Any hotel with a swimming pool is vacation worthy. We went to church the next morning, and were asked several times, with hope in the eyes, if we were new in the area. I guess large families are a precious commodity in that ward.

We continued our drive toward the magical kingdom, but stopped to enjoy the history and fascination of the tallest thermometer in the world. It was a special time for us all...brought a tear to the eye, really.





Playing on the beach with the family was great fun. The kids played, ran, danced, napped, and had a great time! It wasn't the warmest day, but we also had a big portion of the beach to ourselves! We spoke often about how much we all missed Cameron, who wasn't with us because he was playing basketball at a camp at Utah State University. We made a promise to him that we would take him to California and Disneyland before he goes on his mission in three years...It's a good promise to make, because it means we have another magical vacation coming up before the oldest is out of the house.