Cali Trip Day 3: More Disney and My Cute Jedi

The guys were at the convention again on Friday so Angela and I played with the kids at Disneyland and California Adventure.  We rode rides and the kids met lots of characters.  Minnie Mouse was standing there all alone when we walked in the park so I thought we'd go see her.  Ella was not a fan.  She liked her a lot from far away, but she was super scared when we got close.  Must seem like such a huge mouse when you're one!     

Fun on rides... (Sorry Ella!  If 15 years from now you are wondering why you aren't in a ton of pictures on this post, know that you were on my lap, in my arms, or hugging my side most of this trip and I'm not good at self portraits!) 

Last year when we went to Disneyland, the Pixar Play Parade was one of our favorite things.  It was a big hit this year too.  I love how excited the kids get!  Ella was waving to all the characters when they would walk by.  cutie. 

 

 

At the end of the day I took Luke and Ella back over to Disneyland for another try at Jedi training.  Luke was so anxious to do it.    When they had picked all but two kids to become Jedis this round, I was bracing for another super sad boy like the day before.  He was waving his arms and smiling at the Jedi instuctor... trying SO hard to be picked this time.  And, they picked him!  He was the smallest guy out there but learned some cool moves. He was so proud of himself.  I took tons of pictures since he was so excited about it.  Here's the little Jedi in action:

After the "training" the kids all took on either Darth Vader or Darth Maul.  Here's Luke and Vader going at it.  Just like the movies.  Ha ha... Go Luke!

He kept making sure I was still watching...

the Jedi Grad...

We did dinner at a nasty pizza restraunt without the husbands and stayed at the park pretty late.  Jake and Tann were entertaining some big General at a dinner. 

Anyhow, I think that pretty much wraps up day 3!

Cali Trip Day 2: Jake is 30!!! And 1st Day at Disneyland

Thursday was Jake's Birthday!  The big 30.  He had to be up and off early for the dental convention, so we waited until he and his buddies were done that night to celebrate.   

Angela and I took the kids to Disneyland while the guys were doing their dental thing.  We braced ourselves for a hectic day, but the kiddos ended up being happy campers and made things pretty easy for us.  I brought Mickey/Minnie Mouse backpacks for the Luke and Ella complete with detachable leashes tails on them that I could hold onto (NOT about to lose a kid at Disney!... ha ha) and Angela had similar things for her cuties.  Quite helpful when the kids wanted to be on their feet in the crowds!  They came in handy when one of us needed to watch all 5 of them (all 5 yrs old and under) when the other took a bathroom break too. 

Angela had a big schedule from her sister of everything to do at the park with kids under 7, and we impressed ourselves with how much we did!  It wasn't too busy so we finished everything on the day 1 list before 2:00 and had the rest of the day to do favorite rides over again.  The schedule she had was awesome. It's from some travel book and tells you when to go to what rides... plans the day out so that you hit popular areas of the park when they are least busy.  Whenever we needed a little break, we'd just hop on the train and chill until we were ready to tackle more stuff.  The train was a great place to eat the lunches we packed too.  Nobody was running away or bored when they were done eating.  

Ella really liked It's a Small World.  She couldn't take her eyes off of all the dolls and loved the boat ride.  Luke said that everything there was his favorite thing to do.  Well, except Pirates.  He freaked himself out a little.  He wouldn't believe me at first that the guns and cannons were fake and wanted a detailed explanation on how exactly the water splashes (when Pirates shoot each other) if there aren't really bullets and cannon balls coming out.  I think that cute boy has about 25 random questions like that for me to answer every day.  A few pictures from day 1 at Disney....

On the jungle cruise and train...

Hmm, didn't focus the camera, but I like this one anyway.

Samantha, Peyton, and Luke waiting for the parade to start!

The only meltdown we had was when Luke didn't get picked to do the Jedi training.  They pick around 25 kids out of the audience to go up and be trained as a Jedi.  Poor Luke was so disappointed that they didn't pick him.  He wouldn't stop sobbing so we left the show early to ride Nemo. 

(Luckily they picked him for Jedi Training when we tried again the next day!!  Pictures of my cute Jedi in the next post.)

First run-in with Micky.  Ella was too nervous to walk up to him, but Luke wanted to meet him.

When Jake and the guys were done with the convention, we met them for dinner at PCH Grill in the hotel.  We stayed at Paradise Pier.  Pretty fun to be so close to the park.  Some days of the week, you get into the park an hour earlier then opening time too.  The Olsons, Jones, and Dr Z. met us for the birthday dinner.   Tann and Angela watched the kids for us after so Jake and I could go out for a dessert date.  We went to the Cheesecake Factory.  Couldn't decide what looked tastiest, so we got three to sample:  Key Lime Cheesecake, Chris's Outrageous Chocolate Cake, and a slice of their famous Carrot cake.  I liked the key lime best.  Jake loved the chocolate.  Those three slices were humongous, so everyone back at the hotel helped us finish them. 

Jake seems to be happy about the big 30...  life is good.  Just about done with school stuff once this AEGD residency is over!  Woo hoo!  He's got two cute kiddos at 30!   And, he's as cute and smart as ever. :)    

Happy 30 Jake.
Stay tuned for day 3 on our trip :)

Cali Trip Day 1: SaN DiEgO.

Jake's work took us to CA for the past week to play!  He had to attend the California Dental Association convention in Anaheim and gave a presentation one day.  Love it when work pays for travel!  We left Tuesday night since Jake was off work for a "travel day" the next day.  So, Wed. we hung out with the Jones fam in San Diego.  All active duty military and their families get into Seaworld parks for free (for a day) this year, so we thought we'd snatch up the opportunity to go again.  Jake and I were in San Diego last on our honeymoon.  Good to revisit!  We must have been in la la land when we were at Seaworld San Diego before, because I really don't remember much about the park from our first visit!  Ella was so little when we would go to Seaworld in TX... it was fun watching her enjoy it more now that she's older.  That little girl loves animals.  Here's some of what we did. 

This time we were more daring then we were at Seaworld in the past, and we all sat in the splash zone for the Shamu show.  Luke and I were on the end and got pretty wet, but everyone else managed to stay dry! 

The show was a lot different from the ones we've been to.  The trainers were never in the water with the whales.  I'm guessing it's because of that freak accident that happened in Florida recently?  So, the whales just jumped around and did their thing.



They had a super cool starfish pool.  The kids could take them out of the water and hold real ones.  I thought the sea turtle area of the park was pretty neat too.   

Ella was cracking me up laying there checking out the seals.

I think the kids found some nasty old fish someone else hadn't fed the seals yet. 

(L to R from behind:  Peyton, Samantha, Landon, Ella, and Luke.) 

Jake and Tann using their awesome ring toss skillz...

Jake kept trying to lift the rays out of the water when they'd swim by.  One of them slapped him pretty good on the arm!  I think they got a little annoyed with him.   

Peyton and Luke ran around trying to whip birds with long grass they picked.  Ella got pooped on by a bird too.  It was so gross- down her hair, onto her shoulder and down her shirt.   Aaaa!!   

Funky fun mirrors...

I went with the guys on a roller coaster and the kids had fun in Sesame Street area of the park.

  We hit up Fudruckers on the way back to Anaheim that night.  Tasty!   

 That was pretty much day 1.  Checking out San Diego and Seaworld with good friends.  Fun day!
Up next: Day 1 at Disneyland.     

After eight months of lessons, the boy became a fish.

Spring session of swimming ended on Wednesday.  This little guy has worked hard and improved so much!  Its been fun watching his progress.  Back in September he didn't even like getting in the pool with his teacher.  Now, he loves swimming.   

He says his favorite things to do at lessons are arrows and diving for rings. He's getting to be a great little freestyler and just started pop-up breathing. We're excited for all the summer swimming coming up!

Congrats Spring 2010 Grads!!

First up:  Ben.  Jake's older brother graduated from BYU Law a week or so ago.  He finished near the top of his class with 4 kiddos at home (shout out to Hailey for making that possible!) 

Pretty impressive.  Congrats Ben!!  They are moving to Manhattan for work in a few months.

Here he is... the one standing behind little Davey.  The oldest of the 6 Smith boys. 
Don't they look so cute all ready for church!?

Next, my sister Abby is graduating with her BS in Dental Hygiene at NAU TOMORROW!!! I have actually been going back and forth on whether or not to jump in the car with the kids and drive over to Flagstaff sans Jake since he can't miss work.  Thoughts of trying to keep my kids quiet during the actual graduation coupled with driving 4 hrs each way for such a short visit are holding me back.  Aahh, why can't they do graduation ceremonies on Saturdays!!??  If Jake could come too we'd be going for sure.  So Ab, if we're not there tomorrow, know that we wish we were!!!  Congrats!!  Abby and Chris are moving up to Provo this summer so Chris can finish at BYU. 

(Chris was a great sport and left BYU for a year so she could finish!  He's awesome.)

Here is Abby as a baby girl! 

(I had awesome Farrah Fawcett hair going on... ha ha.) 

Dak is graduating from Desert Ridge High in a couple of weeks!  I can't believe he is old enough to graduate!!  So crazy.  He's the baby of the fam.  I still picture him as my cute little brother and he's pretty much all grown up.   Hoping to go down to Mesa for his graduation!  We're proud of you Dak!

Here's one of Dak as a little squirt!  I don't really have pics of my siblings by themselves as little kids... I guess they have them all!

So, congrats to the spring 2010ers!! 

We love you all!   

Oh what do you do when it's hot outside, and all the yard is rock?

We paint with water and draw with chalk.

Blow bubbles on each other.

And eat popcicles 'til we pop.

                                        

Pictures are from a couple of weeks ago when it was feeling like summer outside! This week has been SUPER windy and in the 70s/80s... cool for here!  I had no idea Vegas is such a windy place in the spring time.  Seriously, it howls all night long outside.  Sometimes during the day it's just as gusty.  Poor Luke has been having breathing issues again the last couple of days and I think it's because of the wind and all the stuff in the air.  Yuck.

For the Hubby...

Jake was excited to show me some pictures from his hike on Saturday.  He went with one of his coworkers, Haris, and had a great time in the Desert!  We're really liking the mountains and hiking around here, if you couldn't tell!  Jake is trying to get ready for a big backpacking trip this summer with some of his brothers and dad.  Since he's pretty much done blogging these days, I guess I'll post some pictures so he can have them in the blog book!  They found some cool caves, old desert tortoise remains, and an abandoned mine.  Don't remember how many miles they went, but it was quite the hike.  He came home sunburned and pooped.

Haris:  Too funny.. They both showed up wearing twinner outfits.  ha ha

 

Moms are the Best

My mom has been here for the last week helping out with the kids and everything else while I've worked on school stuff.  She's the best!   I'm hoping to be like her when I grow up.  Luke and Ella have had nonstop fun playing games, making crafts, and reading books with grandma Pam.  Pretty sure they are going to have grumpy grandma withdrawl symtoms when they get up tomorrow morning and she isn't here.  I will too!  Thanks for coming mom!!

Didn't use the camera much this week, but I thought this picture was cute of them watching a movie together last night.        

We drove down to Luke's favorite plane watching spot a couple of days ago (in front of McCarren Intl. Airport's runways).  He likes to sit in the front of the car and 'control the planes.'  Good times!

I like how you can see the whole strip skyline while plane watching.