California Vacation 2013

This last week we pulled our kids out of school and drove to California... I wasn't to great at taking pictures though.

The first night we stayed in Las Vegas at The Cancun Resort. It was non-smoking, didn't have a casino the condo was really nice and the huge pool with 4 waterslides was a blast... BUT I didn't take any pictures.

The next day we drove to Anaheim. After eating and unpacking we headed straight to Huntington Beach.


We learned something new about Aja though... I have always known she hate to have her hands or feet dirty, and the sand at the beach was AWFUL to her. This is what happened when we tried to put her down:

We had to carry her the whole time.

The next day we went to Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland. This is our favorite time to go because everyone waits in line for the candy and not to ride the rides...we skip the candy and ride the rides. We never waited more then 5 minutes for any ride. Again, I didn't pull out the camera.

The next day we went to Laguna Beach and brought a blanket for Aja to sit on so it was better... no pictures.

Since we only went to Disneyland on Tuesday we only went to California Adventure on Thursday... it still wasn't busy and we didn't wait in lines very long.


Alex took Devin on Tower of Terror while I stayed with Aja so he stayed back while Ally and I rode it. Ally didn't want to go on this ride, but was a sport so I could go on it.
Pretending to be scared:

After the ride was over, Ally said "that wasn't too bad". You know how they take pictures of you during the ride? When we got to where they were showing them everyone was laughing. I had to take a picture of the picture:

Everyone was laughing at her, so she says she now hates the ride. My mini teenager!!!

On the first trip to Disneyland Aja lost one of her shoes on the walk out of the park. We found a target and bought her a new pair... she lost a shoe within the first hour on our second day. So, she went shoeless the whole day.

She thought it was pretty funny though:


I love spending time with my family!!!

Weekend Vacation

In the beginning of August we took a long weekend and went camping. We went to Willard Bay first and met some of my family there.

Then we went to Twin Falls the next day and stayed at Nat-Soo-Pah Hot Springs. The Falls:


Swimming above the falls:


See Alex in this picture? See that spray of water under him?

He had just pushed Ally into the freezing water!

Luckily she was a good sport about it.

No, I didn't take many pictures, but we did have fun!

Devin's 5th Birthday

My little guy turned 5 in August... just barely making the cutoff for Kindergarten. If he wouldn't have gone to this special school I would have kept him home one more year.

He got to open all of his presents from us first thing in the morning:

(He always loves to give me a goofy smile for pictures these days!)

Devin is obsessed with all things Minion lately and wanted minion cupcakes:

I saw these on pinterest and thought they would be easy... I was SO wrong! They took over 5 hours of decorating. Good thing I love my boy!

Then we had our immediate family come over to celebrate with us.


We were going to Seven Peaks Waterpark afterward with everyone to swim... unfortunately a HUGE rainstorm hit and we had to skip it. Devin still had a great time at his party though, and that is all that counts!


Devin is growing so much. He can write his name now, knows all his numbers, 75% of the letters and 50% of the sounds those letters make.

He still has stemming behavior that includes: jumping up and down, repeatedly flapping his ears or neck or flipping his bottom lip. He does it when he is excited, scared, bored... so ALL the time. He also has a very hard time sitting still or paying attention. But as worried as I was, I feel that he is coping well and doing amazing!

He has an amazing memory and knows how to work my kindle better than I do. He is also better at all the games then me!

His eating is a MASSIVE struggle!!! He will only eat a few things (unless it is made mostly of sugar). His main staples are apples and carrots... he would let it be candy, but I can't let him do that. He will only eat things raw and dry... as in he will eat uncooked pasta but if you cook it or cover it in sauce, he won't even touch it. It also means he will eat raw carrots but not cooked ones. He will not eat meat... he will eat bacon, but considering how unhealthy it is, he doesn't get it often. I have begun sneaking powered protein in his "chocolate milk" he has every morning. He will also eat cereal (dry) and crackers... and that is about it. I give him vitamins and pediasure every day and hope for the best. His eating is a really stressful part of my day!

He is SO loving and friendly! He will always give me a hug and a kiss. He loves to be a gentleman an open the door for me and his sisters. He is good at making friends and his teacher says he always has a few of the kids in his class fighting to sit by him. He is seriously one of the sweetest and most loving kids I have ever met! And I adore all his spunk and love for everything. I love to experience new things with him or just giggle at his silly jokes he makes up that don't even make sense. As I cuddle him before bed every night, reading him his story I am so thankful that I get this amazing and special little boy in my life! I love him SO much!!!

Back to School 2013

Obviously my kids didn't just head back to school (even if that would have been nice). But here are their back-to-school pictures.

Ally is in 6th grade this year!

This is her with her best friend, and I really love this girl, so it makes me so happy!


And my little man actually started Kindergarten... it's rough on both of us actually. I'm not sure I like how much he is away... and he is definitely struggling. BUT I LOVE his school and I LOVE his teacher. He has so many amazing opportunities with this school and I can't believe the difference it has made in him and how much he has learned.

(no matter how many time I try and crop these pictures I can't get it to post like that. Rrrrrr!!!)

So hopefully here is to an amazing year for both of my kids!