Gratitude

I'm thankful for...

America
Braxton, Bear, and BYU-I
Christina, my TA
Diet Pepsi
Electricity
Food
Girlfriends and Gum
Home
Intellect
Jobs, mine and Randy's
Kilee
Lori
McKay
Nieces and Nephews, Nash, Neighbors
Old Friends, made new again
Piano teachers
Qwest because they provide my internet
Randy
Sunshine
Tanner
Uunderstanding
Verizon because lots of texts and calls are free
Water
Xtra light fishing line because it was used in McKay's five stitches
You because you are reading my blog. Thank you.
Zippers that work

(Um, some of those were hard.)

An Analogy

One of my students, Taylor, is going on a mission in January. He opened his mission call with his family via Skype. The other day in class,Taylor had had it.

"My brain is getting flooded with information in this class," he said. "It's like looking in a fire hose at full blast."

Baseball

I know there is snow on the ground. I know that Tanner's baseball season ended 4 months ago. I also know that this is my journal and so it doesn't matter how over-due my post is, it's going to get posted.

Tanner was selected to play on the All-Star team which meant a lot more practice and three tournaments. The first tournament was in St. Anthony, so it was only 7 miles up the road. The second tournament was in Driggs, and that's just up the road. The last tournament was in Bear Lake and we packed up the camper and made a trip of it.

I love watching Tanner play baseball. Normally, Tanner doesn't pay attention to what is going on around him. He's in his own world and oblivious to others. However, when he's playing baseball, he is so focused! He listens to his coach, watches the players, knows where the ball is going; those are all characteristics that I wouldn't normally use to describe Tanner.

One night of the tournament the team and all the families went down to Bear Lake.

It was a great way to relax before the big final game the next day. Tanner's team ended up taking 2nd in the tournament. He played well and improved so much during the baseball season. I can hardly wait for next year.

After the tournament, we took the long way home and drove over the mountain to Preston. My dad was born in Preston. My grandma and grandpa Millington grew up there and I probably still have family there. My goal, though, was just to go to the cemetary and visit Grandma and Grandpa.

My grandpa died when I was in 8th grade, but Grandma lived until I was 26. She died about the time I found out I was pregnant with Tanner. Starting sometime when I was in high school, my grandma spent every Christmas with us. Those are precious memories.

I took the time to show my kids the graves of their great-great grandparents, my grandma Millington's parents.

I tried to remember stories about them to tell my kids so that these people would become more real to them. All that did was teach me that I have a lot more to learn about my family history.

I'll be better prepared when we visit again next year after the tournament. (No pressure, Tanner.)

 

One More Image

This is why it matters that my mom and dad went with us to Disneyland.

Going Home

Thursday morning we had to pack our suitcases. That was sad. My mom and dad had to leave at about 9:00 to get to the airport. We ate breakfast with them and then sent them on their way. We fetched our luggage and headed north. When we arrived in Las Vegas, we took the kids to M&M World. They've often heard Randy and I talk about it, but they've never been there. We took the opportunity to make a quick stop and collect some blue and orange M&Ms.

Then we went to my brother Jade's home. My kids got to play with their cousins Bennett and Hannah, and we got to enjoy more of the beautiful Vegas weather. I love my relatives with pools, by the way.

We spent Thursday night just being with Jade and Liz and even got to enjoy the home teachers. (Sometimes, even the Bishop's home teachers come on the last day of the month.) Liz fixed wonderful food and it was a bummer we had to leave. Friday morning we faced a 10 hour drive to get home so we left early. Randy was trying to beat the rush hour traffic in Salt Lake and we ended up having to pay Fillmore County a hefty chunk of change.

We were gone for seven days. We drove over 1500 miles and listened to the same book on tape twice. We saw two brothers and their wives, two cousins, and Nana and Papa. We ate way too many peanut butter sandwiches. (I hate peanut butter sandwiches. If there were a stronger word than hate, I would use it.) We had the best vacation we've ever had.

And when we got home, my kids still had two weeks out of school. Do you have any idea how hard it was to go back to school after three weeks out? It took two weeks to get back into a routine.

But it was worth it.

Final Day at the Happiest Place on Earth

Wednesday was our last day in Disneyland. This was our day to do everything we hadn't already done and do everything we wanted to do again. We started in Fantasyland because we wanted to do the Tea Cups.

Before you know it, we're at Snow White's scary ride, going through Alice's Wonderland, and sailing through Storybook Land.

That, of course, leads us to the song that never ends:

We loved It's a Small World; I'm still singing it.

We decided to split up at this point and they guys went to Toon Town and Nana, Mom, and Kilee went to see the princesses.

Tiana

Belle

Ariel

Then we went to the Matterhorn where we had a really long wait. We were even rewarded for our wait. They had a traffic jam on the Matterhorn and pulled our bobsled off to clear up the traffic. After about a 10 minute wait, we got to go again and didn't even have to stand in line again! We did Buzz Lightyear about five times and then started over. We headed to Splash Mountain where this Mom got soaked. McKay was thrilled to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but only the first time. The second time, he started out looking like this:

Then we split up again. The bigger people rode Indiana Jones and the smaller people went through Sleeping Beauty's castle and rode the carousel again.

This picture is significant because McKay is up there on the carousel all alone. No siblings, no Papa, no Mom. Before the carousel started, McKay turned to me and said, "Okay, Mom, you go wait out there. I'm a big boy."

I cried again.

We met up on Main Street to wait for the parade, which was fabulous again. My kids got to dance in the streets with Sheriff Woody, Mickey and Minnie, Goofy, and (my favorite) Mary Poppins. Then we took the train around the park at closing and our trip to Disneyland came to a close.

 It was so bittersweet. I loved every minute we spent in the Happiest Place on Earth. I loved that my kids were so good and so happy. There were no complaints, no fights, no unhappiness. I loved sharing this trip with my parents. What sweet memories I have of my mom and Kilee always together; I'm not sure who was taking care of whom. My dad was McKay's best pal. My mom and dad worried about and took such good care of each other. One thing I will never forget is my parents holding hands each night as we walked back to the hotel.

How much longer 'til I can go back?

Fantasyland and California Adventures

Day 4, if you're keeping track.

Tuesday was our Magic Morning so we left even earlier so we could get into Disneyland at 9:00. We spent our early hour in Fantasyland.  I loved Fantasyland. I loved that even my big boys enjoyed Fantasyland. This was where it all started for Walt and I think I loved the nostalgia of this land more than aything.

After a few hours in Fantasyland, we were ready to head across the way to California Adventures.

This place was just fun. We rode Soarin' over California three times. We went to animation school (and now there is always a Mickey on my dusty car).  My dad rode California Screaming three or four times and would have gone again but nobody would go with him. (Mom - let this be your reminder that you don't like roller coasters, or roller coasters don't like you.) Grizzly River Run was fun for those who like to get wet. McKay got to see his favorite: Lightning McQueen and Mater. Mostly, we enjoyed being together.

We made it a point to get a good seat for the parade. I don't really like parades, but Disney doesn't put on parades that remind you of home. These are real parades. Huge, energetic, no horses. Simply put, this parade was fun.



Waiting for the Parade.

After the parade, we went to Bug's Land, which was my favorite part of California Adventures. You really do end up feeling like a bug. And Bug's Land was cool and shady. We sang Happy Birthday to my sister from Bug's Land. The 3-D show is not to be misssed, unless you have an arachnophob in your midst. We'll call my arachnophob Tanner. And I'll tell you that when the black widows made an appearance, I literally had to grab Tanner (who was two people away) and hold him to me. He was hysterical. It was terrifying for him, hilarious for the rest of us.

Then we grabbed seats for the World of Color show. Phenomenal doesn't even begin to describe the show. 45 minutes of water, music, color, fire, bubbles. This is what makes Disney great. If you ever get there, you simply cannot miss the World of Color.

Final day to come....



The Happiest Place On Earth

I should start off by telling you that Randy took most of the pictures on this vacation. There were over 700 pictures and videos that I was priviledged to sort through. Anyway....

Monday morning could not come soon enough. I was so excited. I was worse than my kids! We knew that the gates opened at 9:30 so we were determined to be down there by 9:00. It was a fabulous time of year to be at Disneyland.

Anytime of year is probably great to be at Disneyland, but I loved the Halloween decorations. I loved that all the flowers were fall colors. I loved that everything that could be decorated was decked out for Halloween.

Now it must be noted that I had never been to Disneyland. Randy had never been to Disneyland. My mom and dad had never been to Disneyland. Of course, it was also a first for my four kids. I can imagine what it would feel like to spontaneously combust because that's how I felt while the crowd is counting down 10, 9, 8...until the gates opened, and I was in the Happiest Place on Earth.

Then I cried. (So did my mom.)

I had been reading books about Disneyland and it was so exciting to actually see these places and tell my kids little factoids that I had gleaned from my reading.

Like this one, for example. Did you know that when Walt Disney was alive, he would occassionally stay in the room above the fire department so he could watch what was going on? There's a light in the window that never gets turned off.

We got to hang out on Main Street for 30 minutes. I loved Main Street and probably could have spent half the day there.

My dad, ever the comedian. My dad was so easy to find at Disneyland in this shirt. I wished that he would have had three of them.

One thing about our first day at Disneyland must be noted. It was hot. Not just approaching-100-degrees hot, it was sweating-in-the-shade hot. We just happened to be spending Los Angeles' hottest day on record at Disneyland. It was 113 degrees.  

We had a great time our first day and went to as many rides and saw as many things as we could. There were a few rides McKay couldn't ride, but we just took turns waiting with him. We spent 8 hours inside Disneyland on that first day and only saw half the park. There was just so much to see and do. I was amazed at the "stuff" to entertain a person.

We had reservations at Goofy's Kitchen for Monday night. When you are at Finding Nemo and the monorail isn't working, Goofy's Kitchen is a LONG ways away. The best thing about Goofy' Kitchen was the air-conditioning. My kids probably wouldn't say that, but it's my blog so you get my opinion. Randy had the camera so I have no pictures of Goofy. Goofy was very tall. We did get to see lots of characters in the kitchen, though.

We waited at our table for Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. She spent a good five minutes talking to Kilee and making Kilee feel very special. I love the Fairy Godmother. She is now my favorite character.

Then we went back to our hotel and fell into bed, completely exhausted.