A Family First

Last week we took our 1st family trip to Disneyland.  It was Jared's first time too!  I have so many memories of going to Disneyland as a little girl, it was so fun to go again and see it through my little boys eyes.  Sometimes there were smiles and squeals but for the most part I think there was just big eyes watching everything going on around them.  It was such a fun trip.  My parents and brothers met us there.  I have to thank them again for such a great trip, because they paid for everything!  The hotel stay, parking, food, every little thing.  Thank you!  It wouldn't have been the same without them there, because as you are about to see, half of the excitement was being around their grandparents and uncles.  We are so blessed to have such a great family support.

Our first ride!  It was so cute, eyes and mouths were wide open and they just soaked it all in.  :)

If you look closely at this ride, this pretty much depicts how it usually was.  The kids always wanted to sit by Grandma and Papa or their uncles.  So we had to turn around the whole ride to get a glimpse of their reactions.  Haha.  I love it.

We had so many helping hands!  My parents have been planning all along to be there for our kids 1st Disneyland trip.  But when my brothers found out we were going they insisted they had to witness it too.  Since these boys are the 1st grandkids on my side, they get SPOILED with attention.  I didn't have to do much at all. :)

Porter now associates Disneyland with the image of this castle.  He wants me to run into the family room anytime it flashes on the television.

The merry-go-rounds.  We ran into our friends Khyl and Michelle there!

Porter did really well waiting in the lines and just entertained himself.  The kids overall did great.

Jared really liked California Adventure.

We saw Disneyland characters throughout our trip but the kids never wanted to wait in line to see them, they just didn't seem that interested.  Until they saw Mickey.  It kind of surprised us since it was the last day and they had been saying no along.  Both kids were SO excited.  As we were walking away, Porter turned back and said "Mickey!  I will come back again."

California Adventure, A Bugs Life area.  Tyson dissolved into tears when he wasn't tall enough to ride the cars, so Grandma and I took him on another ride.

The lights were so pretty at night, magical even!

Leave it to us to get our family picture in the Disneyland entrance just as we are leaving on the last day!  :)  Ah, farewell Disneyland!  Until next time...

The last day we went to Los Angeles where we went to the Planetarium/Observatory and then we went and visited my Grandpa Koerner.  The kids played a game that my brothers and I used to play when we would visit as kids.  It was great to see Grandpa!

Arizona Getaway

A couple weeks ago we took a short little trip to Arizona.  It was sunny and warm, busy with activities, and lots of fun!  My camera died pretty quickly into our trip and I can't seem to find my battery charger, so most of these pictures were taken with my phone...

We spent two nights in Flagstaff, AZ with Jared's sister Ginny and her husband Mark.  They just got a new home and are expecting a baby and we couldn't be more excited for them!  Porter continues to take breaks throughout his day to stop and say a prayer for Aunt Ginny and her baby.  He is the sweetest.  The kids were pretty smitten with their 2 dogs, and I don't think Tyson ate much these 2 days since he was so generous sharing his food.

Monday morning we headed to Phoenix and checked in at our hotel.  Jared had to work so the kids and I went to checkout the pool.  We were so surprised at what we found, a full on water park- complete with a water slide, a lazy river, tubes, and kiddie pools.  We had so much fun that we invited our good friends the Harpers to come swim with us the next day.  The Harpers are old neighbors of ours, and just recently moved to AZ so it was fun to catch up with them.

We went to Enchanted Island Park where the kids loved feeding the birds and ducks.  And chasing them.  I was disappointed that their little amusement park area was closed at the time, but the kids didn't seem to notice.

We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum, our must-see attraction in Phoenix.  I learned it is in the top 10 children's museums in the world.  The 1st room was different than last time we were there.  It was a big climb area, almost like a big tree house.  Porter loved that.  Tyson loved these little air tubes, where you put a piece of fabric in and it shoots through the tubes and shoots out the top.

This was the little car wash room.  I would LOVE to find this little bike!  Tyson just held on and Porter took him through over and over.  They both were in heaven.

This is the art room.  Both kids loved it, but I was a little nervous about the messes.  Porter is an art fanatic at home, so he just went to town.  At home, I have never let Tyson paint or do art because he is too young.  But since it wasn't my house (hehe) I let him go for it, and he surprisingly did really well painting a little picture.  Only once did he try and put the brush into his mouth, but stopped when he saw I was watching.

The kitchen and shopping room.  Things started to go wrong here.  It was about 11am and Tyson was starting to get hungry.  He got really excited when he saw the bananas, and then got really frustrated when he realized it wasn't real.  He went from one food item to the next and got more upset every time they weren't real.  He finally ran to a shopping cart and angrily shoved it into a  wall.  As amused as I was I took the hint, and gathered the kids and headed to the cafeteria to get them a little snack.  Porter of course was not happy about ending play and hurried through his snack.  As I was cleaning up our mess and wrestling Tyson who was trying to climb out of his high chair Porter started walking out of the cafeteria.  I told him to wait over and over, but out the little devil walked.  I hurried to grab my things and shove them into my purse, get Tyson unbuckled out of his chair and run after him.  By the time I got out he was out of sight.  The museum is 3 stories.  I had a panic attack and was running from room to room, and 3 or 4 minutes later found him.  That is an eternity when you are looking for your child.  It took everything not to smack that child silly.

I didn't think I would make it to the baby room since Porter wouldn't be allowed inside, but I took this opportunity to let him have the longest time out of his life as I freaked him out as I told him how dangerous that was, and how much it scared me and how I almost called the police (not really) and all the things that could have happened.  He felt pretty bad, and didn't leave my side after that.  And Tyson had the time of his life playing in the baby room.

We went to 2 more rooms, including this race car track room, where they could race cars down different tracks.  They could have stayed and played for much longer, but I dragged them out after 3 hours so we could go meet some friends.  I didn't get pictures of any of our visits, but also during this visit we got to meet up with our good friends Justin and Paige, and see their adorable little chubby newborn.  We had dinner at the Harper's new home, and then we met up with Jared's old mission companion and his family in Mesa.  It was fun to see old friends!

 

More Beach

A couple cute shots of Porter from our favorite beach spot at the Ko'olina Lagoons.  I would stay here.

Hanauma Bay Snorkeling

We headed over to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling, which is always a favorite. Our favorite finds were a turtle and an octopus, we caught that on film.  Also, if you are ever at a beach in Hawaii, do not I repeat DO NOT feed the birds.  They will harass for as long as you stay.

Honolulu Zoo & Dolphins

Mickey took Porter too see the dolphins at a hotel in town.  Then Jared and I took the kids to the Honolulu zoo. That was really a lot of fun, especially the monkeys... they sang.  It was the craziest thing, I wish I had it on camera.

Honolulu Children's Museum

Well to our surprise, the beach actually did get old after a few weeks.  Sometimes we wanted a little change, so one day while Jared was golfing I took the kids over to the Children's Museum.  We ended up going back for a second visit they had so much fun.

Lazy days in Hawaii

Jared went golfing with Elder Gilchrist so the kids and I spent the day at the pool.  And this last picture is about how Porter looks at the end of each day... beat!