Spring Break 2021 - Day 4: Hiking in the Heat

We started off our Sunday by watching our wards sacrament on-line.  It was nice being able to enjoy our wards sacrament meeting even when we are in another state.  After the meeting we had sacrament in our room with bagels from breakfast.  What a blessing to be able to partake of the sacrament while in a hotel on vacation as well.  Usually, we would go to a local church but with Covid we didn't know what would be open, so we opted for on-line church.  The boys got to participate in Young Men's on-line as well.  It was fun to hear them talking with their leaders and fellow quorum members.  Technology is pretty darn awesome.

After their lesson was over, we drove to a really cool park that has tons of activities and a hiking trail that goes to a drove of Redwood trees.  We started off by going on the hike to see the Redwood trees.  They had a bunch of big trees all together that they had brought in about 15 years earlier.  It was cool to see, but it was already very hot that day.

After our hike we went to let the kids play on the playground and Tyler and Tony had their mitts and balls to play catch.  The girls went on the playground and quickly found out that it was way too hot to play on.  They had like three big playground that were all in direct sun. So, we got out a blanket from the car and some snacks and we watched Tony and Tyler play catch in the shade.  Once they were done playing catch, we left the park.

Tony wanted to go check out a swap meet that we have never been to.  It was huge with tons of vendors and tons of shoppers.  We parked and then walked around.  It was so hot, and we were all hungry.  The kids were not impressed and wanted to go.  We walked around and found some cute bows for the girl's hair, but that is about all that we got.  We looked at the food that was offered but none of it appealed to us all.  If it had just been Tony, Tyler and I we would have been fine, but the younger three aren't as adventurous.  It was just way too hot, and we weren't finding much for us, so we left.  We found a McDonald's that was close by and that made everyone happy.

We then drove back to the hotel to cool off and rest.  I wanted to go to the Walmart that had all the Disney stuff, so we left the boys at the hotel and took the girls to the store with us.  The boys don't enjoy shopping, so they were happy to stay in the hotel.  We found a couple things at Walmart that we wanted and then we headed back to the hotel.  First, we stopped at a yummy Italian restaurant and got takeout to take back to the hotel.  The food is good, and it is a good deal.  We had more than enough for dinner and plenty of leftovers for the next day.  We finished the day relaxing at the hotel with full bellies.

Spring Break 2021 - Day 3: Downtown Disney

We wanted to get to Downtown Disney early to beat the crowds.  It was a lovely walk down from our hotel to the park.  It was about 4 blocks away.  We had to wait for them to open the gates for about 15 minutes.  Then we got to go through temperature checks, doggie sniffs, and then security checks before we could walk towards all the stores.  

The first store that the boys wanted to go to was the new Star Wars store.  So, they went ahead of us girls quickly to get into line if it was needed.  Tony went with them, and they were able to get right into the store.  By the time us girls made our way to that store at the other end of the park there was already a line.  So, we decided we didn't really care about going in that store and moved on to different stores.

Us girls then went to the Dress Store and the Home Store to look at all the cute girly stuff.  Then when the boys were done, we went to the Lego Store and then the treats store.  It was fun seeing all the yummy treats and picking out what we wanted splurge on.

Then we went to World of Disney.  This is the main Disney store.  We walked all around and picked out our souvenirs.  It was so nice being in the store seeing all the awesome Disney stuff.  We spent so much money, and everyone got what wanted and left happy.  We decided that was all that we wanted to do there, so we headed back to the hotel for lunch.  It wasn't the same as going into the park, but it was nice to be close and enjoy the music and atmosphere.   

After lunch we let the kids go to the pool and play for a few hours.  After we washed up and then hung out in our room for the rest of the night.  Such a fun day.

Spring Break 2021 - Day 2: Las Vegas to Anaheim

We woke up to see Tyler totally snuggling Josh while they slept.  Poor Josh was totally squished under Tyler, but he didn't seem to mind too much.  Josh is super easy going.  I am so glad that they love each other so much.

We got dressed for the day and went down to get some breakfast.  They had some different options so that was very nice.  After eating we packed up the car and started our journey to California.  The drive was super smooth with no problems.  We stopped to get gas and lunch.  We went to a local restaurant that was pretty busy.  We luckily got a seat pretty quick, and we all ate our fill. 

After eating we drove to our hotel in Anaheim.  We got all checked in and unloaded our car into our hotel room.  We got a room that has a full kitchen, two queen beds, and a sofa bed.  It was the perfect size for our family.  

This hotel only offered us a boxed breakfast with the same food every day, so we wanted to go to Costco and Walmart to pick up a few things for us to have in our room to eat besides what they provided.

After shopping we came back to the hotel and let the kid's swim.  They love swimming so much so our goal this vacation was to let them swim every day, except Sunday.

We then got some dinner and relaxed in the hotel for the rest of the night. Tony did go to Joe's and got us all some Italian Ice.  It is Tony's favorite place and we made sure to enjoy it as much as we could while we were there.

Spring Break 2021 - Day 1: Driving to Las Vegas

We started the day by loading the car and then heading south.  We decided to stop at a doughnut shop on the way out of town.  Tony picked a variety of doughnuts that we all tried.  They were all yummy.  We drove down to St. George without any problems or needing to stop.  We stopped at Costco and got gas before walking around the store.  Then we went to a restaurant close by for lunch.  It was a pretty good restaurant.  

We then continued on our journey to Las Vegas.  The drive was good, and we got into our hotel just in time to check into our room.  

The weather wasn't super warm but warmer than we were used to but very windy.  We all got on our swimsuits and headed down to the pool.  They said the pool was heated so I was optimistic.  I only got halfway into the pool before I gave up.  It was just way too cold and windy.   Tony agreed and only put his feet in before getting out to "supervise" the swimming activities.

The kids had no problem jumping right in and having a wonderful time.  We enjoyed the swimming pool area for a while before going back into our hotel room to get showered.  We decided to just have Tony pick up some dinner and bring it back to our hotel room.  We tried a local pizza place, and it was pretty good.  We enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing in our hotel room before going to bed.  

Oh the Random Fun!

 

Tony brought home an old cash register from work.  I thought it would be a small one, but it was huge with a computer attached.  The girls loved it and loved that it even printed its own receipts.  What we do for our children.

While Tony was changing the oil in the car Allie wanted to watch so she got out her chair and watched while enjoying her yogurt drink.  It was adorable.

Tyler's 14th Birthday

 

My baby turned 14 years old.  He is growing like a weed and even has some whiskers on his upper lip that have needed to be shaved off.  We took him to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday.  I love that he isn't too cool for his family and doing goofy things.  He has a strong testimony, loves playing baseball, and is loving his coding class.  He will be in high school next year and I just can't believe it.  We love Tyler so much and we're so thankful that he's our boy!

Fun Trampoline Park with Cousins

 

Wendy came to town with Benje and we took all the kids to the trampoline park with Julie's family.  It was tons of fun having the kids bounce all around and play on the playground.  The kids love playing with their cousins and had a great time together!

My Little Priesthood Holders

We got Tyler's old suit resized to fit Josh and Tyler got a new suit and they both look very good.  It makes this mama's heart happy to see my two boys passing the sacrament in their new suits.  I am a lucky mama.
 

We Finally Got Snow!

We finally got some good snow.  We have not had much snow this winter.  It was so nice to wake up to many inches of snow.  I got Tyler off to school and then I shoveled the sidewalk.  I then decided to let the three younger kids skip school to play in the snow.  It seems like more often than not when it snows a lot the kids have school.  The kids also had piano lessons after school so I figured they wouldn't get to play after school either.  

The school district said that they would be lenient with attendance so I figured they could have a snow day.  I did feel kind of bad for Tyler because he had already left for school when I decided to let the other kids stay home.  Tyler didn't feel bad when he came home, so that was good.  Tyler said that a lot of kids were not at school that day, so it was a pretty chill day.  It is always fun to do something a little different and exciting.

Happy Valentine's Day

I had a really good birthday and Valentine's Day.  Tony got me a box of chocolates and tickets to go see Les Mis at Hale Center Theater for Valentine's Day and some beautiful diamond earrings for my birthday.  Tony also got the kids each a chocolate covered caramel heart for each of the kids.  They all loved it.  Tony and I also went out to dinner on Friday night.  Suzanne got me a pretty necklace with my birthstone color, that I love.  It was a fun birthday and I got really spoiled.