The Happiest Place on Earth!

I LOVE DISNEYLAND! It truly is the happiest place on earth. I love the magic, and I love feeling like a kid and I love running from ride to ride. I love being there with my kids and Steve too.

This year our Meggie and her vocal group "Extreme Kids" went on a vocal tour with Center Stage. If you are an avid reader, or have followed us through the years, you know that Center Stage is a very big part of my girls lives. They love it, they love their directors and they get the best training there. So we sometimes have to bite the bullet and go on these little expeditions. So sunny California here we come!
Lucky and fun for us that our good friends the Ellis's wanted to come too. When Mikayla was like 6-7 her little dance group did the same tour. The Ellis's came then too and have not been back since this past week. So it was fun for all of us.
Our story begins at 5 am on May 30th-We loaded the cars and were off----

We caravanned the entire day. Might I mention that I DO NOT like traveling in a van with 3 kids for 12 hours. Stopping every two hours too pee or because they need food. Plus the fighting over what movie to watch (whats up with that? I never got to watch movies when I traveled when I was a kid!) I certainly thought that they would sleep at least for a little while. Mason tried but it only lasted about 20 minutes! Seriously! They were way to excited! Being the nice parents we were, we did stop for them occassionally and fed the beasts.


We made it in just enough time to let the kids swim. They had a blast! Center Stage provided an excellent pizza party for the families. Thanks Alex and Robin!


We stayed in an awesome hotel for the week. It was called "Homewood Suites" by Hilton. OMG! Is all I have to say! They provided us with breakfast and dinner everyday! We had full kitchens in our suites and pull out bed in our living rooms. It was perfect for our families. They were fairly inexpensive too. It was great! SO we bought a (brace yourself) 5 day hopper pass to Disney/California Adventure. It was the "bomb diggity!!" LOVED IT!

So Monday Meg had classes all morning at Disney. Learning how to act, dance, sing, audition etc. The rest of us PLAYED! Her nose was a little bent but she loved the classes.


Mace was crazy! He was so happy! He was tall enough for all of the rides and he was a complete dare devil! His favorite ride was California Screamin! He must have rode it 5 or more times. He loves the thrill. All of the kids rode EVERYTHING! I was proud of them. Their mama dont raise no sissy la la's!

On Tuesday Meg performed at Disney. They did a cute job. A few jitters their first time out, but it was great.


Wednesday was a free day for her group, so we played and played at Disney! Unfortunatly Jake and James got some stomach bug. I was stressed all week that we would all get it. I think Jules was a little worried too.
Thursday Meg and I went to Knottsberry Farm. We didnt buy passes, because we are not big Knotts lovers-but she performed and we came back to Disney. By this time Steves response to life was this..."I am half way through my life and there is so much to see, and all I ever get to see is Disney land and Disney world!" I didnt feel sorry for him. He needed to find his happy place!
ps--Josh was sick today!
On Friday we went to Universal Studios! LOVED IT! The kids loved it, especially La! She is a movie junkie. We had a great day, and I highly recommend going to anyone whose family is over 8. The rides rock, but the attractions and shows were the bomb!

The kids put on their best show yet!

The kids loved all of the movie characters walking around and they loved talking to the Shrek Donkey. Mikayla sat there for 20 minutes just laughing at him.

There were so many high lights of the trip. Kids spent a ton of time and money pin trading. It has become a new hobby for each of them.
We got back early evening from Universal and the girls and I ran back for the last few hours of Disney. I was sad to leave but felt great that I got to ride Peter Pan one last time before we came home. One thing that we discovered was that Mikayla is as big a Disney junkie as her mom! We love it and cant wait to go back!
We had a great vacay Daddy and thank you for taking us!

Here is what I have decided....

May is just as busy as December! I want it to be over! I keep trying to enjoy it (and I really do), but oh my- will it ever end?
We started our month with our daughter Megs little play that the Activity Day girls have literally been working on for months. Megan was the large dragon. I did NOT get a good photo of it, but I did try.

Then, I was recently called as our Girls Camp director (yes a little late in the year). We had to do a mad dash to do our fund raiser.

We did a carnival, and let me tell you, I stressed and fretted, BUT we pulled it off! We had some great miracles and some great success. I am happy to say that we made enough money for our girls. I love those girls! They are great!

We experienced the "Hope of America" at the Marriot Center. Megan and the 5th graders from all over the valley all performed in this amazing performace. It was great. Mason also participated and got to wear his scout uniform and sing too. We loved it. He was the part celebrating Scouting for 100 years.


Mikayla had her 13th Birthday the same night as the Hope of America...she didnt get to go because she had dance. So she celebrated on the weekend with all of her friends. I cant believe we have a teenager. We love her and are so glad she is part of our family. Happy Birthday beautiful girl.



Mothers Day was spent traveling to New York with Steve for our Aflac state convention. I got to spend it in Time Square. ( It was freezing!) I missed my babies but it was fun to be with Steve-o!


We went on our cruise to Bermuda with Aflac. It is a post in itself. When I decide if I loved it or not I will make a real post. We did spend Steve's 45th birthday in Hamilton Bermuda. I love Bermuda, it is my new favorite place to go.

Steve, Justin, and John (our management team leaders) have all declared Fridays to be their Bermuda Day. I try to not be around them when they look like the native Bermudians.


We came home to rain and ball games for Megs. She loves it and is pretty darn good at it.

We had Girl Scout end of year party and graduation. I loved my little girl scouts.

We cut off La's beautiful long hair. I was sad, she was not!


Amidst all of this, I work, I clean, I drive, I dont sleep, I work some more and I cook, and do laundry, and I cry because I am tired. Do moms get paid?
Tonight I did a camp clinic. I have decided that these girls will make my calling all worth it.



Ok so really, I might be tired, but I think I have decided I wouldnt trade my life. It's all good! Really good.

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

I love having big girls! This is what I woke up too after my Sunday afternoon nap.

Mikayla (who always plays the handicap card of "I dont know how to do it") is taking a foods class and has discovered that she really does like to cook. There are 92 cookies here, minus about a dozen that were eaten and minus the dough that was eaten. Good job LA! I have it on record now. You can never tell me you cant bake cookies. Needless too say, her Daddy is very happy.

STEVE, Steve, Steve!

I have to put this post on... BECAUSE I think I am hilarious. Steve has always been a primper. His mama said that he would stand in front of the mirror for hours as a little boy. At 44 he STILL does it. He had Megs do a little photo shoot with him to try and get a professional photo look for his internet marketing. Here is a sample of the primper---




So there are about 10 more, but you get the idea. I love to tease him about his big head. I love my Stevie wonder buns!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Thats all we have done this week! Dont get me wrong, I love to watch her dance. On Tuesday Center Stage teams did a benefit concert for a couple of kids who were injured. V-factory came and danced and sang. The kids loved it. If you want to hear a cool song, check out "Love Struck" on I-tunes or You tube the "V Factory". They are an up and coming boys band. Billie Dean, David Osmond (and not my Donny) sang, along with Due West. It was a fun event at the McKay Events Center. The kids did great.

Mikayla competed her solo for the last time this season before Nationals, she did great!

She took 2nd place this time around. First place went to another Mikayla. It was kind of crazy because it confused the judges. We later found out that she only beat La by a half a point.

We spent all day yesterday at the team portion of the comp. The teams all did great! I was happy with all of their performances. It was a fun day! Megs came with us and loved loved loved it.
Comp season is over for us now until Nationals in July. Now they just get to run the dances over and over again until they are perfect.

Spring Break

This year we had a "staycation" instead of a vacation. We just stayed home. We got alot of stuff done here. We had a great time hanging out. Catching up on sleep and playing. We went to the movies, and skating. We also went miniature golfing. Here is "D" swinging his club.

Mason is pretty intent on his game!

And in the end Mikayla won! Only because the rest of the kids were all cheater pants!

Its been a week! Conference, Easter, Spring Break, SNOW, my birthday-

It was a lovely day-starting out with Mason bringing me Breakfast in bed. He made me eggs, toast, bacon and rootbeer. It was very sweet, and he was so excited. Steve stayed home and the kids and he scoured the house from top to bottom. Yeah me. He attempted cooking a roast dinner but burned the roast. BUT hey he tried. I appreciated his efforts. We went out to the play at the Hale Theater- the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". It was a good day.

Staycation is almost over. I hit the dirt trail with my cousins Mick and Trina. We went mountain bike riding up Lambert Trails in Highland. HOLY COW! It is much harder than road biking, but it was fun and I am going again this week. I am hoping that the snow stays away, so that I can keep training. It's bike season baby and I am ready to ride!


Here is Mick and Trina and Rosie the dog. The dog was faster than me!

The kids go back to school tomorrow.

Easter 2010

I know, I know, I am late again. A week late. BUT I am catching up today.

Easter Sunday April 4th. It was a beautiful day. We spent the afternoon at my cousin Kims home for dinner. Which was soooo yummy! We ate, played games, ate and played games and ate! The kids spent time decorating cookies. Malerie loves to bake, so she made sugar cookies for everyone to decorate.



Instead of another easter egg hunt, my Auntie Laura bought each of the families gingerbread easter houses to decorate. What a great idea. They had a blast!



The bigger kids were too cool for the kitchen, so they played games.

It was a great Easter Day with conference, family and lots of treats!