How I Spent My Disney Vacation

A couple weeks ago, we went to Disneyland with my family. It was so fun to see everyone, especially since it had been a year since we were all together. Naomi had so much fun with her cousins, and of course she just loved Disneyland. She still talks about Disneyland. Everyday since we've been back she says, "I want to go to Disneyland again."

So this is how we spent our vacation.

Day 1 (Tuesday)
We drove over to California, it was a quick 6 hour trip. I know 6 hours seems long in the car, but it really wasn't too bad. We got there and hung out in our rooms. Then we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was fun, the food was good, and the cheesecake was delicious. We tried not to stay up too late because we planned on getting into Disneyland when it opened.

Day2 (Wednesday)
The next morning we woke up. Everyone was excited. We walked across the street and waited in line to get into the park (yes I said across the street, our hotel was across the street, it was awesome).

Here are Elise and Naomi as we wait in line.

Once we got in we raced to hit the rides we wanted to before they got too busy. Of course we rode Indiana Jones, and my oldest niece was just barely tall enough to ride. We rode Pirates, Dumbo, the Carousel, the Teacups, Buzz Blasters, Winnie the Pooh, Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and so many other rides I can't even remember. Here are some pictures from some of the rides we rode.


We also went to Mickey's Toontown. We walked through some of the houses. The kids met Mickey and Goofy. The kids spent some time in jail, it's probably because they tried setting fireworks off in one of the buildings (okay so the jail and the fireworks thing is all part of the fun of Toontown).


They met Mickey and Minnie again later. They met Fairy Godmother, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter. They also met a lot of princesses. They even met Silvermist, Tinkerbell and Terrence, there was a little drama while waiting in line but we survived.



We had so much fun in Disneyland! We were very tired, but it was worth it.

Day 3 (Thursday)
We spent Thursday in California Adventure. Most of us had never been there, needless to say we were all really excited. The girls were especially excited since we had reservations to eat at Ariel's Grotto and meet all the princesses. It's a little pricey, but totally worth it. The food was great and the time the girls had with the princesses was awesome. They had all the kids get up from all the surrounding tables and learn a princess dance. Then the princesses came out and stopped by every table to talk to the kids, take pictures and sign autographs. The girls loved every minute.


After eating, we headed straight to Califoria Screamin, which was awesome. Then over to Toy Story Mania (which is similar to Buzz Blasters in Disneyland), which was also awesome. The kids rode the carousel. We rode Soarin' Over California, Monsters' Inc. and tons of other rides that I can't remember. But my very favorite ride of the whole trip was The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It was so awesome, I screamed like a maniac but it was worth it.

We played in A Bug's Land. The kids loved it. They spent the whole time playing in the splash pad area. Then we moved farther into Bug's Land to ride some rides, but we found another splash pad area and spent the rest of the time there. No rides, we'll just have to ride them next time.


The kids met more characters: Jessie and an Army guy, Pluto, Chip'N'Dale, Mr. Incredible, Lightning McQueen, and Mator.


That night we quickly spent some time in one of the gift shops. Naomi used her money she had been earning from doing chores and got a deluxe Princess and the Frog figurine set. I got the Mr. Potatohead Disney accessories. I think this will be my new tradition when we visit Disneyland, to get more Mr. Potatohead pieces. They are super cute and Naomi loves them too. After a little shopping we quickly got dinner then headed back for the "World of Color" show. It was amazing. The water, the images, the music was spectacular. The kids loved it, we loved it. It was a great way to end a great day.


Day 4 (Friday)
Friday was our beach day. We all woke up got ready to take family pictures at Huntington Beach. We found some lady on the pier to take our picture. We chose her because she was holding a huge camera and taking pictures herself, we figured she knew what she was doing. And she did a great job, we found out she was there taking pictures of her son doing a Triathlon and that she was LDS.


After pictures, we hurry and got lunch and headed to Bolsa Chica beach because Huntington Beach was too crowded. It was windy and chilly, but that didn't stop Cory or my brother-in-law Brett from jumping into the ocean. They convinced my little brother and me to jump in to. It was so cold it took my breath away, so I decided I would play in the sand with Naomi and my nieces. I tried to help my niece, Maddie, build a sandcastle but I found out I'm not very good at it. Later Cory and Brett came up and made sandcastles with the girls.


After sandcastle building and destroying, they decided they should jump back in the ocean one more time. Maybe not the best idea, since Cory came out of the water bleeding and thinking a fish bit him. It wasn't too bad but my dad and I decided to go to the lifeguard tower to get a bandaid. Well lifeguard Scott told us it wasn't a fish, it was a sting ray. Yes, you read that right a sting ray. He came over and checked out Cory's foot. Luckily the sting ray only got grazed, so they lifeguard cleaned it off and put a band aid on it.


Cory wasn't in any pain, so they lifeguard told him if it started throbbing to soak it in hot water and left. We cleaned up all of our stuff and left to go see the house where my dad grew up (it was only a mile away from Disneyland and our hotel). We had a half hour drive back and Cory figured he'd be fine so he drove since the sting was in his left foot and not his driving foot. Shortly after leaving, Cory's foot started throbbing. You wouldn't think that a little scratch from a sting ray would be that bad, but oh it was. Cory was in so much pain, I hadn't seen him like that since we were first married and he had to have a minor surgery. He didn't think that a sting from a sting ray was this painful. By the time we got back to the hotel his foot wasn't throbbing as bad (still painful) but it was super swollen. As soon as we got to the hotel, Cory hobbled to the room and filled the tub with super hot water and stuck his foot in. He said the pain immediately went away and the swelling went down.

Even though Cory got injured at the beach we had a fun day!

We had so much fun seeing my sister, Jen, her hubby Ryan, and her 5 daughters, my sister Hope and her hubby Brett, my brother Brad, and my parents.

On the drive home, Naomi said she wanted to visit Grandma Dorie at home. I told her we couldn't go to Utah. And Naomi said, "No, grandma lives in Disneyland." She is so funny. I know Naomi loved it.

Thanks Grandma Dorie and Papa Steve for planning such a fun trip!

Dresser Before and After

So here is the dresser, in it's original form.

I was really nervous to re-paint this dresser, that I put it off for a couple of weeks. After some research I found the best and fastest way to repaint would be to first use deglosser, then paint a couple of coats. Deglosser worked great and was way easier than having to sand it.

Here is the finished product.

I like how it turned out. But I'm still undecided about the handles. For right now they will stay silver, but maybe I'll paint them black or white or pink. What do you think?

That's Gonna Leave a Mark

Naomi loves to run, and when she runs she leads with her head. So when she falls guess what hits the ground first?

look at the awful bump, if you look at the bump closely you can see a scar from another time when she fell and hit her head

So this is how it happened. Last night Naomi and her friend Caleb Collinwood were having a pillow fight. Well Naomi came running into the kitchen with a pillow that was taller than she was, she tripped and cracked her head on the tile. It was awful to watch. I just held her while she cried and when she was ready we iced it for a little bit. She doesn't like it at first, but then got to eat some ice too so she was happy.

look at how much it is sticking out

Today it was hardly noticeable, just a bruise mostly. When we were grocery shopping today Naomi was bouncing and skipping around and of course she falls and hits her head again. Luckily it wasn't tile so it wasn't as bad.

I think she got my accident-prone genes.

House Guests

Last week my best friend Kelly and her family came to visit us from Utah. We had a lot of fun, but it was too short. We went swimming in our neighborhood pool, ate good food and good desserts, played at our house, went to Tempe Beach Park, and rode on the carousel.

Naomi playing with Faith.

Here Kelly and I are standing with Naomi and Kira. Kira didn't like the park too much.

Naomi loved riding the hopping bunny.

We had so much fun! The girls played well together. Can't wait until they come visit again.

3rd of July

I call this post the 3rd of July because that's when we celebrated the 4th, since on the 4th we were driving home. But it was a fun weekend. We spent the weekend in Colorado with Cory's family. We ate Grandma's cookies, ate at good restaurants, played games with Grandma, and hung out with all the cousins. Naomi had so much fun. Here is what we did on the 3rd of July.

We went to the Blanding Parade with the whole Crowley crew (this is everyone minus a few people). We had really good seats and we were near the beginning of the parade, so we didn't have to wait long.

Here's Naomi sitting with her bag waiting for the parade to start so she can get some candy.
These are the F-16s that flew over us, twice.
Here they are collecting the candy. The older cousins were helping the little cousins collect candy.

This tractor thing is called the Big 4. Grandad was excited to see it because last year they couldn't get it started before the parade so it was pulled on a trailer but this year it ran on it's own.

Here Naomi is showing Grandma all the candy she's gotten so far.

We saw lots of horses.

This guys was showing off his whip skills, but he also got the horse next to him.

It was a pretty good parade, and Naomi and all the kids ended up with way too much candy.

It was a fun trip, but too short.

June Recap

June was a fun month, but it went by so fast. So here is a recap of how June went.

Swimming lessons was fun and Naomi became a little fish. But if you call her that she says, "I'm not a fish, I'm Naomi!"

Naomi floating like Snow White (that's what her swim teacher called it).

Naomi was the example to the other three kids of how to jump in. Naomi is swimming to the steps in the pool, with a little help from her teacher. She did awesome!

Went out to lunch with Daddy.

We've played with my nephew, Brennan.

This is Naomi at 3 months, can't believe she was once as little as Brennan. They don't like identical like their daddy's, but there are some similarities.

We also started a countdown to Disney Trip. I think we started counting down at 36 days.

So on each link is an activity we can do to help us get ready for Disney. Here are some of the activities we've done.

Princess Party (done this one a few times)

In this picture Naomi is fighting the "bad girl" (that's what she called the imaginary bad guy).

Then she died :(

Then Prince Woody saved her.

Painted pictures of Princesses and Tinkerbell

I also worked on a couple projects. I repainted a dresser (pictures coming soon). And I re-finished Naomi's letters'.

So that's what we did in June.

It's for the Koalas

I love my Naomi! She is so smart and is so curious. She is always asking questions, and usually does NOT agree with my answer.

So today when we were at church Naomi had to go to the bathroom. We get into the big stall, and Naomi stares at the baby changing station on the wall, you know the ones with the koala on them. Anyway, this is how our conversation goes.

Naomi: What is that?
Me: It's where you change a diaper. It's for babies.
Naomi: (thinks about my answer) No mom, it's for the Koalas.
Me: Sweetie, it's for the babies.
Naomi: No, the koala babies.

I left it at that because she would argue with me forever and since she's three there is no reasoning. Maybe she'd make a good lawyer :)

I could see how that would make sense to a three year old though, because it has a picture of a koala on it and not a baby.