Characters

One of my favorite things about Disneyland is the characters that you run into. Some we had to stand in line for longer than others. But I loved how excited my little boys got when they met "the real Pooh" or "the real Buzz Lightyear". It's so magical at that age. My older kids were great about posing for pictures with all the characters without too much complaining, but for Aaron and Nate, the excitement was palpable. My favorite was when we met Woody. As I was taking pictures, Nate turned around to find Woody's hand and held it. Woody is just too good a friend to not hold hands.




















There's a story behind Donald's pictures. On our first day as we were walking to Disneyland, I instructed the kids on not fighting or teasing each other so we could have a pleasant time. I also told them that Mom's a bit obsessed with taking pictures (I took 400 pictures while we were there), and they would make me very happy if they would always look and smile when I was trying to take a picture. That afternoon, Scott had to leave before us to go back to the condo to meet the grocery delivery, and the kids and I headed home for lunch at a slower pace. On our way to the front of the park, we saw Donald. We stood in line to get a picture. And when it was our turn, Aaron wouldn't get out of the stroller for the picture. As we walked home, I told Aaron how sad I was that he hadn't gotten out of the stroller to be in my picture. When we got back to the condo, he very apologetically explained that the tea cup ride had spun him so fast that it had spun right out of his head him remembering how important pictures were for me. And he promised that he would remember that from now on and that he'd always jump right up for pictures and smile me. And he did, for the rest of the trip.

Day 1

I mentioned in my Christmas post, the packing frenzy that went on Christmas morning. Owen knew something was up, and he didn't like it. As I rushed from room to room trying to gather everything, he followed me crying.


(Trying to put on a brave face.)

Just before we were ready to go, we realized that Owen hadn't opened his presents yet (he'd slept up until time for church). So we sat down and let him open his Christmas presents.





At one in the afternoon, we took Owen over to our neighbor's, then loaded into the suburban to drive to the airport. We stopped off at the hospital on our way, and gave Grandma Jo and Grandpa Mike a quick hug as Grandpa Mike was getting discharged (he surprised Jamie and Marc later in the day by being home for Christmas dinner).

The flight was short and uneventful. It was a small plane, just three seats in each row, so Josh sat on one side of the isle, with Sara and Savannah on the other side. The next row had Aaron and then me and Nate. And Scott got to sit back by himself and sleep the whole way (while I entertained the kids).




The flight was just under 2 hours, and the kids were so good the whole time. Savannah brought markers and paper and let everyone use them to color. (I spent the whole time handing markers back and forth from Savannah to Aaron). Don't let Nate's expression fool you, he really did have fun on the plane (till he fell asleep on my lap for the last hour of the flight.

We got to LAX, got our luggage, then met our ride. We didn't have any traffic, and made it to our condo in just over half an hour. We got settled, then walked down to Downtown Disney to look for dinner. It was so crowded. It was our first taste of just how crowded Disneyland would be the entire week. We went in a few stores (the boys loved the Lego store), but realized that if we wanted to eat at any of the Downtown Disney restaurants, we were in for at least a two hour wait.


So we headed back towards our condo, and stopped to eat Christmas dinner at a cute little restaurant not far from our condo, called "Tiffy's". Scott splurged for their prime rib (it was Christmas dinner, after all), but the kids were happy they had mac and cheese on the menu. Then we headed home to collapse. It had been a LONG day. The kids all instantly fell asleep (all except Nate, who had napped on the plane).



(The boys slept in the living room all week--we did move Josh to the bed and Nate slept on the short little couch, a better fit. The girls had their own room with each in their own double bed. This was a real treat for them because they have to share a bed at home.)

I went to bed as soon as the kids were all asleep. Scott stayed up and ordered our groceries online (till like 2 in the morning). It made up for him sleeping on the plane while I entertained the kids.

The Makings of our Disneyland Trip

I just have to explain how this trip came to be.

Scott works for a great company. They are generous and kind. Scott works extremely hard and spends a lot of time away from us, but his company rewards him generously. Three years ago they sent Scott and me to Hawaii for a week. This year Scott has brought in a lot of new accounts, so this past summer his boss came to him. He thanked Scott for all of his new accounts, and said as a thank-you, he wanted to send Scott and me on a cruise. He told Scott to go home and tell me to plan it.

I was so excited! I've never been on a cruise. We started looking into them and pricing them. The more we talked about it, the more I wished it could be a family vacation instead. So Scott went to his boss and asked if he cared what kind of vacation we took. He gave us a budget and told us to spend it any way we liked.

And so we picked the week of Christmas to spend a week in Disneyland. Scott's boss paid for the condo for the week, our tickets into Disneyland, and 4 airplane tickets (we bought the other three with skymiles). Scott's mom gave each of the kids cash for Christmas to take to Disneyland to buy souvenirs, so we didn't have to spend any money on souvenirs. And I actually paid attention to one of the many credit card offers I receive daily in the mail--for a Disney Visa card. It was free to get (no fees) and it came with a $200 gift card to use at Disneyland. So we had $200 that we spent on food in the park. We were going to rent a van to get from the airport to our condo, but it was going to be $900 for the week (and it would have just sat in the garage all week). So we opted instead for a private shuttle service (a big black suburban) that drove us from the airport to our condo and then back again for $120 each way. And then we rented a car one day while we were there to go to the beach (which was $90 for the day). We took advantage of free home delivery from the local grocery store, and went back to the condo to cook most of our meals.

So, we pulled off an 8 day trip to Disneyland for a family of 7 for a grand total of $750 out of our pocket. Pretty amazing, right? I am so grateful for the generosity of Scott's boss. We never would have been able to do this trip without it.

(I just have to admit that when the kids had grouchy moments on the trip, I didn't hesitate to remind them that I gave up a cruise to take them on this trip, and that snapped them out of it pretty fast. I have them convinced I'm the best mom in the world for taking them on this trip.)

Christmas

Christmas day is one of my favorite days of the year. I love it. This year will go down as one of my very favorite Christmases.

Santa brought Savannah a helmet, a Kinect dance game, a Minnie Mouse, and some lotion.

Josh got a BSU football, basketball, soccer ball, and a smurf. Aaron got a Buzz Lightyear that talks and a giant tub of licorice.

Sara got a Barbie, a temple calendar, a Minnie Mouse, and some lotion. Nate got blocks and a Woody. And Owen got a pillow pet and some sippy cups.

Scott and I got a new computer to replace our old one that was coming dangerously close to crashing. There is a really sweet story behind this. Our computer has been needing replaced for a while now. It's 6 years old and is so bogged down that it has a hard time running. This past month, the fan has been failing and it crashes all the time. We really needed a new one. We took the boys with us to Staples one night this December to look at computers (the girls were at gymnastics). We found one that we loved, but we had just had to buy a new fridge and we had Christmas coming up, so Scott and I were talking about whether we could fit it into our budget. Josh came up with a brilliant idea, "You could just ask Santa to bring it to you!". I told him I didn't know if parents got to ask Santa for things, that I thought only kids got to do that.

A few days later, as I was feeding the kids lunch, I was asking the kids what they wanted for Christmas. Sara (in a tattling kind of way) said, "Josh wants a computer!". Josh instantly blushed and tried to deny it. I asked, "Josh, you want a computer?" He shyly replied, "I asked for it for you." The kids had been on a website their teachers had recommended called NorthPole.com, and there was a place to send your wish list to Santa. Josh had asked Santa for a computer for me. I found that so sweet, that it brought tears to my eyes. It worked--Santa brought me a computer.


We started off early--6:30 am. (We let Owen stay asleep, so he missed all the excitement. He didn't wake up till about 8:30.)

And then the fun began....










Santa also brought a trampoline to all of the kids. They had to wait till the sun came up before they got outside to enjoy it.




After discovering everything Santa brought, it was time to open presents. The kids had presents from both sets of grandparents, Savannah had used some of her own money to buy each of her siblings a gift from the dollar store, and then we let the kids draw names and each bought one present for the brother or sister they were assigned. Some of the favorites included: a Roaring Springs family season pass from Grandma and Grandpa Howell, a dart gun for Josh from Aaron, a warming rice bag for Sara that Savannah made for her, a Disney princess art set for Sara from Grandma Sorensen, Nate's very own box of construction trucks from Grandma Sorensen, and Savannah's hat from Grandma Sorensen (which appears on her head in every picture taken from Christmas on out).






Then came time for the gifts from Mom and Dad. Each child just had one present from us. We saved them for the last, then had them all open them at the same time.

The older kids got theirs opened first and started to piece together the phrase. Savannah took control, "Mine says We". Aaron (a little confused) said, "I just have a T and a O". Sara offered up her "going" and Josh showed his "are". Savannah put them together, "We are....We are going...We are going to..." Then she yelled with excitement to Nate (who was still trying to find a place to rip into his wrapping paper), "Nate! Where are we going to?". They all rushed over to Nate and helped him get his box open, and found the word Disneyland.

They started screaming and jumping around, "We are going to Disneyland!" I was filming it all, and from behind the camera I added, "Today. We are going today." They screamed, "Today?!!". Savannah yelled, "I think I'm going to cry!" I called out from behind the camera, "I am crying!" (and yes, as I relive this in writing, I'm crying again). It was wonderful. And then the chaos of packing ensued. I had made packing lists for each of the kids, and gave them the lists and let them pack their own bags (Scott and I helped the little boys).

We paused the packing to go to church (we just had Sacrament meeting), then we came back home and finished up the packing. I was really quite stressed about remembering to pack everything and making it to the airport in plenty of time (our flight was at 3:30 that afternoon), but it all came together.

We had planned this trip months ago, and before making definite plans, we had asked Scott's sister if she would be willing to take care of Owen for us while we were gone. We knew if we took him with us, he would be miserable, and so would we. She was more than happy to help. But as the week approached, Scott's dad was still in the hospital and the stress of that was mounting on everyone. So in an effort to save her a nervous breakdown, we came up with a last minute alternate plan.

I asked my next door neighbor if she would be willing to take Owen for us (just three days before our trip), and she didn't even hesitate to say yes. She has two kids (a girl age 9 and a boy age 6). She would have loved to have more kids, but hasn't been able to have more, so she was actually really excited about getting to have a baby for a week. When we dropped Owen off Christmas afternoon, she said that her kids had asked Santa for a baby. She hadn't told them about watching Owen (our kids play together, and she didn't want them to say something and ruin the surprise), but on Christmas Eve they actually had said, "Maybe Santa will bring us a baby!" So as I said a tearful goodbye to my baby, I knew he was in good hands and would receive plenty of love while I was gone.

And so we set out on our amazing week in Disneyland. It's going to take a lot of posts and lots of pictures to sum up our week, and it's probably going to take at least a week for me to have time to report on it all, but it's something I want thoroughly recorded to help us always remember this Christmas.