DISNEYLAND!!!

Our family vaca this year was to Disneyland.  We went the last week of school.  It was such a toss up for the kids.  Which one should we choose, last week of school parties or, um, Disneyland of course!  We had so much fun.  We decided to road trip it, which kind of made us nervous with an 18 month old baby, but everyone did so good in the car.

The first day we decided to make it a beach day.  Plus it was Memorial Day and we figured the parks would be crazy crowded.  It is funny to watch the kids and how different they are.  Braiden and Addison were all about the water, which was freezing by the way.  Tyson is much more of a beach go-er.

 See what I mean about the water.  They were both blue when we made them get out.  Both kicking and screaming :)

 And ... the beach dude.  Someone always needs to be buried in the sand or it is not a complete beach trip

Next day this showed up on Braiden's back.  Yes I am a star mother that forgot to put sunscreen on her child while at the beach.  Yes I do know you can still get sunburned when it is cloudy.

Oh the teacups.  They are so cute and sweet.  I remember the teacups from when I was little.  I loved them. So did my sweet baby girl.  Notice the balloon?  We will come back to that.

 Very happy Addison waiting in line for the rides.

 Very mad Addison when they would not let her take that dang balloon on the ride with her.  Then notice off to the side Daddy laughing.  Not judging him, just notice ...

 Just chillin eating a churro

 So this next part was the highlight of the day.  She even left the balloon for it.  Remember I mentioned how much she loves water.

 Dripping wet and loving every second.

 Now notice the big brother standing her directly in front of the fountain that is about to pelt her right in the face.  He laughed ... so did she once she got her breath back.

By the time it was time to go back to the hotel that night, Braiden was the only one that could make her happy.

 What a bunch of posers.  The whole trip this is what I heard, "mom, take my picture"

Next day we were off to Universal Studios.  It was a lot of fun and I totally could have spent one more day there.  It was small, but cool.

 Watch out, Jaws may still be alive after all

 And of course, we had to pose with the stud and the cool cars

 Chucky - eek

 What kind of a place is this anyway when mummies come back from the dead and just attack innocent people

 Addison loved this guy.  He was very tall and very cool looking

 Next up, wax museum.  We all had a blast posing with all of the famous people.

 With Heff.  Couldn't resist

 Yes notice how Braiden is suddenly interested in girls, sigh.  I am not ready yet.

 He was kind of frightening, and cool, all at the same time.

 Swooning

Next day we were back to the parks.  This is Ty at Toon Town

And who doesn't love Goofy

 "You leave me know choice, here comes the smolder"

 Goofin off with Goofy

 I told the boys to take their sister for a walk while we were waiting for the parade.  This is how they got her to follow them, by holding a sucker in front of her like a horse and a carrot.  Mean brothers.  They thought it was so funny.  Evidently so did I since I took a picture.

 Just a girl and her balloon (pretend you can see it, just follow the string)

 We had a great time and wore ourselves right out.  But don't worry, we still had that dang balloon!

18 Month Update

We had the coldest, wettest, yuckiest spring ever.  Ok maybe not ever as they all seem to be a little colder and a little longer every year.  This year it snowed in June.  Really? Snow in June?  All is wrong with the world when it snows in June.
So these pictures were hard to get.  We needed to get Addison's 18 month pictures updated for her birth mom and we could not ever get a sunny dry day.  This day was dry fro maybe 2 hours.  That was our shot and we took it.  I loved the orchard trees, it was just so simple and pretty.

 This next one is my all time favorite picture. ever. can't you just hear the "cheeeeeese"?

 What handsome young men they are turning into!

First Salon Visit

I decided to take Addison to the salon.  I wanted to put her hair in more of a protective style but I am too slow and she is too young to be patient with me, so thank you salons :)

 I have to admit, I was very nervous to go.  You just don't get more beautiful than this.  Oh this girl melts me.  She is so naughty now but thankfully I find her completely hysterical.  Hopefully I always do or else we will be in trouble.  You can tell she is 1 1/2 now (same age Braiden decided to get naughty again too)  Miss independent right here.  She will give you loves and kisses and then swill smack you across the face.  She has such passion, this sweet innocent looking girl of mine, don't let those dreamy eyes and sweet dimples fool ya :).  I love her so dang much!!

And how fitting running off with my car keys.  "later mom"  She grew up five years by going to the salon.  I still want to trim these so they are not so long but she was DONE having her head messed with. It took 1 1/2 hours to do this and she cried all of maybe 15 minutes of it.  Poor thing.  She did not like strange ladies touching her hair.

Isn't she beautiful!!!

UPDATE:

This is after I trimmed her hair today.  I may still mess around with it, cutting it some more.  I think it turned out cute.  I was a little worried.

Not really a good picture but Tyson thinks she looks like a cheerleader in this one.  She kinda does

This is just to show the back.  I think it makes her look more like a little girl than a 16 year old.  Which is good.  People like to judge.  

Canoe Trip - again

Well, we just finished another canoe trip.  Daddy and baby stayed home again while I took the boys.  Thankfully no one sank this year (heh hem Grandpa), we did however almost lose Braiden.  He was manning a kayak and the last mile of the entire trip, the winds picked up and they kept getting further and further behind the group.  Mamma was a little (ok a lot) nervous.

Other than that little scare, the rest of the trip was absolutely awesome!

Here is a litte "preview" of the trip, courtesy of the awesome Apple apps 

Tyson is King of the hill here :)  He loves to climb

 My new water/hiking shoes.  They were awesome.  I was a little afraid I would hate them since I only got them the day before we left but holy cow, money well spent.  Best hiking shoes ever!

 This is Braiden and his kayak buddy that I was afraid would not make it back to Willow Beach (the pick up spot at the end of the trip)  They did good though

 Candice and Olivia.  Such cute girls :)

 Goof ball Grandpa Mike.  This was the sauna cave.  It is so cool.  Completely dark inside.  These mountains are full of natural hot springs.  One of them is inside this cave.  Since it is pretty much closed in, it turned itself into a God made sauna.  Nature is so amazing.

 Braiden inside the sauna cave.  I wondered if the flash would pick anything up.  Yep sho nuff!  It is so dark inside this cave you cannot see your hand in front of your face.  Spooooky

 Sweet Candice.  Isn't she beautiful?  My brother is a lucky man

 Awww, how romantic

 No he is not peeing, he is standing under a nice warm shower courtesy of hot springs

 The extremely good looking Fam + Corina (Braiden's kayak buddy)

 The kids were waiting for everyone to finish loading the massive amount of stuff we packed into the canoes so we can take off

 And there is nothing cuter that these kids, if I do say so myself.  Someday Addison will get to join us, but for now babies and canoes freak me out

 Grandpa and the amazingly cute grandkids.  He is so lucky to have such a beautiful family (wink, wink)

 Isn't this hole in the rock a cool photo op.  Mother and son photos are so sweet (Not as sweet as daddy daughter, but a dang close second)

 This is the coolest picture.  Right as the sun was coming up one of the mornings

 Hangin out by the camp fire

 Who is this man, oh wait it is my son.  He is getting to be so old.  I can't hardly believe it.  Isn't he handsome!!

 "Who me?"  hahaha

 Sweet Olivia.  talk about the kids growing up on me.  She is becoming more and more beautiful every time I see her.

Last day on our way down to Willow Beach.  Notice how calm the water is here.  Uh, yeah it was like this for about 6 miles.  The last mile was the mile from ... well fill in the blank, this is a family show

 It was right after this little hike that the wind decided to pick up.  Doesn't look like it yet does it?  It waited for us to get back in the boats first.  This is such a cool bridge, a little warped and slightly scary but the view was awesome

 Again with the beautiful children :)

 Loading up the boats to go home

Everyone made it home safe and sound again.  Thanks Grandpa Mike for inviting us.  It is always so much fun.  The best part by far was being able to hang out with the family.  Those nieces of mine melt my heart.  I wish all of us lived closer so we could see each other more than a couple of times a year, but for now we are thankful for vacations!

We Got Some Smiles on Camera!

I keep whining and complaining that I can never capture Addison's smiles on camera.  Well the other day she was full of it so Kent whipped out the camera.  These are some huge cheesers.  Can't help but laugh.

Awww - how sweet.  Ty and his little sis.  I love how much she has changed him.  Our child who was once anti-public-display-of-affection.  Now look at him :)

Happy First Birthday!!

Oh my sweet baby has turned 1.  The time truly does fly.  My mom has other pictures on her camera so I will update once I get those.  I thought Addison would be way more into tearing the wrapping paper off of her presents than she was.  The boys ended up opening up all of her presents for her.  The cake on the other hand, she was definately into that!  We had cake all over the floor, on the walls, even a little on the ceiling.  It was hillarious!!

- Right now, Addison has 8 teeth. 


- Right now, she is crawling like crazy. It is funny to watch her chase after something, usually her brothers. She is getting so fast. I can be getting into a cupboard and before I know it she is right in there with me, trying as fast as she can to grab whatever is in there before I can close the door.

- Right now she will pull herself up on anything she can, has not tried to let go yet though. She is very cautious and will only do things she knows she can do.

- Right now she loves to be thrown in the air, or spun around until she is dizzy. I think it is funny because when she was a newborn, if you stood up too fast she would panic; now she is a total thrill seeker. Disneyland here we come baby!

- Right now she still prefers her bottle to most foods but definitely wants to eat whatever anyone around her is eating. She just tonight fed herself spaghetti. It was everywhere by the time she finished and definitely needed a bath.

- Right now she is putting more and more things together. You can tell she knows what is going to happen next, and she likes to see how many times she can do something with me still thinking it is funny. I almost always think it is funny.
- Right now she will get mad if you take something away from her. That girl can whip out the crocodile tears fast when she knows it will work, she can also turn them off fast when she knows it is useless.

- Right now she thinks silly things are silly. She can tell when something is not normal and will laugh at it, which is nice because we don’t have to act like total idiots anymore to hear her precious laugh. She now laughs more freely.

- Right now she gives kisses, but only on her terms. She is an independent girl that way. You can’t get her to do something she does not want to do.

- Right now she loves to be on the move. She is loving being able to do more and explore more. She prefers for us to be in the same room as her but does not need to be held quite as much anymore. It is nice and sad at the same time. Time needs to slow down just a bit.

- Right now she has a snuggly blanket that she rubs on her face until she falls asleep, which she has never wanted us to rock her to sleep. She has been so good putting herself to sleep. Sometimes I do wish she would sleep in my arms more.

- Right now she is a total daddy’s girl. Once Kent walks through the door, she wants nothing to do with anyone else and will crawl as fast as she can to greet him. He of course loves it.

- Right now she loves bath time. In fact any time she can be in the water. Over the summer, she loved going to the pool as well. Definitely a water baby. She squeals and splashes and has a great time. It is so fun to watch. It is funny because as soon as I walk into the bathroom and open the curtain she practically starts undressing herself and jumps up and down knowing what comes next.

- Right now if you say jump, jump, jump, she will jump, with a huge smile. She also will giggle until she is breathless on the trampoline.

- Right now she still babbles like crazy, no words yet. Well just mama and dada. She of course said dada first, so I would try so hard to get her to say mama. She would laugh and shake her head no. Little stinker. Everyone else thought it was quite funny too. Thankfully she will say mama now.

- Right now, and always have, we get stopped everywhere we go by people commenting on how beautiful she is. She knows it too.

- Right now we still have not captured a smile on camera. She just is still very cautious with new people and new things. The girl does not need to smile for a camera to capture her beauty though

Happy Birthday baby girl!

Funny Sleeping Positions

Babies crack me up the strange positions they sleep in.  Little cutie pie all schlumped over in a heap.

When Did He Grow Up???

Looking at this picture I flash forwarded (yes I know that is not a word) to High School/College.  Here is B-dog writting a paper for school.  He is so grown up now.  Handsome little devil.