Someone turned 8...

Yep, that's right - we now have an eight year old!!! Hayden turned 8 last Saturday, and to celebrate we had a pool party with friends {and a few girls!} too! After the swimming and water balloons we had a BBQ and presents!

Hayden chose a bright surfer theme and so, that's what he got!
{I keep thinking it's a good thing I have some connections...}

These cookies were soooo good! My good friend Jill of Lil Darlin sweet shoppe made them for me for the party! I am so grateful to know talented people who are willing to share their talents with me! Thanks Jill!

In case you were wondering - the colored parts on the beach balls were made from Starbursts flattened out! Oh my, they were tasty! {I took a little break from my 7 weeks of no sugar to have one... or two...} It was worth every bite!

Lucky for me, Fry's always has these cupcakes in stock and they matched perfectly!

The boys {and girls} had a fun time with the canonball contest!


Thankfully Meredith and my Dad were both willing to come and help supervise - the pool made me nervous but these kids were so well behaved! We had the perfect number {3 boys who were supposed to be there had to cancel that day - I was kind of glad!}


After an hour of swimming the kids got out for some water balloon games!


After a little more pool time, Andy grilled hotdogs and they each got their own can of soda {and other food but Hayden insisted that we have "soda cans"!}


Birthday boy eating a cupcake and wearing a shirt from Kindergarten, nice.

Present time! Hayden loved all of the sets of Legos he got as well as the games and Bakugans he received!

My dad was super excited to give Hayden a Red Rider BB Gun! A few years ago I might have nixed the idea but I think this was a good bonding experience for them! He also got Andy an early birthday present and so the boys played after all of the guests had gone home!

A messy face on a pretty little girl!

An even messier face on a cute little dude!

Showing off her skills on the trampoline!

Oops - looks like another little present! {Zac did this all on his own and we had to get a picture!}

The night after the party we had our family party with a BBQ again - this time burgers instead of hotdogs! The Simpsons got him two cool hats - specifically with mostly flat brims - as that is the current style and he insisted he needed some!

Mom and Dad broke down and got him a Nintendo 3DS... We have been putting it off for years telling him once he was eight he could maybe get one... With our sabbatical coming up in a few weeks we decided it would actually be a really good thing!

We are really excited that Hayden has chosen to be baptized... The big day will be Saturday, June 18th! We love you Hayden!

The Surprise... Part Two!

Disneyland continued...

Imagine my surprise when 2 1/2 days into our vacation, we were walking off of the Monster's Inc. ride and I notice someone wearing a shirt like my Aunt Shelly's. And wait, the guy sitting next to her looked like Uncle Joe. What the???? Yep - Andy and Shelly pulled off a second surprise - I had NO idea! The kids were ecstatic to see them there {and truthfully, Andy and I were grateful for a few extra sets of hands!}

Waiting for a Bug's Life ride with Aunt Shelly

Bumper Cars with Uncle Joe and Dad

Mia was THE BEST BABY ever! I seriously don't even remember her crying on this trip! Isn't she a doll???

I had to sit off Grizzly River Run with the young kids, Zac loved seeing them pass under us though!

Andy helped with the little surprise and somehow without me knowing, got Shelly and Joe a room down the hall from us at the hotel!

Even though it was pretty cool outside, we still got to play in the pools a little bit!

Zac was so cute in his little toga!

Joe in a tea cup with the three big kids!

Besides Pirate's of the Caribbean, the tea cups were for sure Zac's favorite ride!

Small World with Aunt Shelly!

Zac and Bryn got to meet Jesse while Hayden and I were on the "upside down roller coaster!"

Mia loved Minnie's nose!

Zac was super excited to meet Handy Manny but he was so shy when he got up to him!

I love it that the kids aren't afraid to do anything {for the most part!} I got Brynley on Tower of Terror and I'm pretty sure she will never do it again!

I will say that Zac only wanted to do the Matterhorn once, he was good after that!

As much as I think the food at Goofy's Kitchen is terrible - it's always fun for the kids to see so many characters in one place.

Brynley was thrilled to meet some of the princesses... I never wait in line to see them because it is always so long. We were lucky and only had to wait 30 minutes this time!

I love this picture! Not because anyone looks great but I love the picture of Shelly and Brynley behind me watching the fireworks - priceless!

We had the best time on this trip! We can't wait to go back in a few months {of course we got annual passes so we will be back at least two or three more times!} We were so glad that Shelly and Joe were able to be there as well!

Surprise... We're going to Diseyland!!!

So I'm pretty sure we pulled off the best surprise EVER!!! We have been to Disneyland several times but it had been a few years and the kids had been asking to go for months... It wasn't really in the plans anytime soon as we have been saving for our sabbatical this summer. Well... Andy got an email for a great deal to stay at The Grand Californian Hotel {which is right in California Adventure} and he sprung the idea of maybe taking a quick trip to Disneyland. We decided to do it but we were going to do it right this time... we decided not to tell the kids!

The morning we were leaving, we had to leave around 5am. I packed the kids that night after they went to bed and we woke them up literally after the car was packed and we were heading out the door. We told them we were going to Idaho??? Not sure why but it seemed like a good destination... They had no idea... It wasn't until we got near Palm Spring that I thought our plan might be ruined! We had to stop at a car dealership to get something fixed on the under carriage of the car. As we waited in the lobby I saw Hayden looking at newspapers and watching the news, to my surprise, he didn't notice that California was splashed everywhere! As we drove through Palm Springs he made comments about the big white turbines and said how weird it was that they had the,m in Idaho, just like California...

Every time I saw a sign that said LA or California, I would hold up my pillow in front of me so Hayden wouldn't notice... Oh my goodness, the one time I didn't do it he saw a sign for Anaheim!!!! Ah... We convinced him that there is an Anaheim in Idaho - he totally bought it. Then he saw a little amusement park and mentioned that he had seen the same one near Disneyland... uh oh... The kicker was when we were REALLY close he saw a McDonald's wit ha California flag ans asked why there would be a CA flag in Idaho. We explained that the owner must be originally from CA. He said that was really rude. We were really close by now and decided to let Hayden look out the windows when he noticed the Tower of Terror! He was sooo excited and started telling Bryn and Zac that we were at Disneyland!!!!! He was worried that Andy';s Aunt and Uncle might be disappointed that we weren't in Idaho to see them, but he didn't really care too much!

The kids in the Hotel with their Welcome Balloons!

The Gorgeous sliding doors of the hotel

The kids asleep on our first night -they were out cold in a matter of minutes! All I can say is that it will be hard to ever go back to staying in the cheap hotels! This hotel is amazing!!! And so convenient....

The whole Family on Dumbo!

The boys in line for Peter Pan

The girls in line for Peter Pan... I might add that we never go on Peter Pan - it always has the longest line! But - When you stay at the hotel, you get some early entries into the park - so worth it for the rides that always have such long lines and no fast passes!

We never wait to see Mickey in his house but the line only had two people in front of us so we jumped at the chance!

Riding on It's a Small World

Outside It's a Small World - this was for sure Zac's favorite ride!

We got to see some princesses! I never stand in line for the Princess thing but we happened to be over there when the line was only 30 minutes long, yay~ Brynley was thrilled but a bit disappointed that she didn't get to meet Cinderella -oh well.

Hayden's first time on "the upside down rollercoaster". He was so excited and loved it!

Brynley and I on the Jumping Jellyfish!

Brynley's Dance Recital!

I must begin this post by saying again how much I love Brynley's dance teacher! Misty is amazing with the girls and they love her so much! This year Brynley had two dances, the first was a cute dance to a song from Tinkerbell - it was so sweet! The second dance was to "My Boyfriend's Back" and boy did she have the attitude she needed during that dance! Her personality was amazing! She was so glad to have Grandpa there to see her perform as well!

She's already looking forward to dance starting again in the fall - we are hoping Misty will have space for her both in Tumbling and dance - she is dying to do both - we will see!