Happy Birthday Hazen

Hazen (Peter's little boy, my nephew) turned 1!!

The party was about 3 weeks before I had my baby, but we just had to go because we just love this little boy so much! It was a fun party and the kids had a blast. Whitney did a great job putting it together. But I feel horrible that I forget to get a picture of Whitney! We just love her, but oh well. Hazen is such a cutie and looks just like Pete did at that age. We just love to see them when we go up to Logan.

Cousin Lindy was there too!

Hazen did great tearing into his cake!

with his Daddy and Grandma!

With his Elmo Pinata! It's bigger than he is!

Breaking the Pinata

Getting Candy

Me, Pete & Allan with our kids

The Four Cousins!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Disneyland!!

Our First time as a Family at Disneyland!

Caution: This is a super long Post!

So as most of you know, thanks to Isaac's work, we had the opportunity to go to Disneyland for super cheap! And Although we had two little ones, and I was super pregnant, we still had a Blast and made so many wonderful memories!

Day 1
We arrived at our Hotel at about 2:30 in the afternoon and after getting settled in our Hotel room and making our way to the gate, we walked in at about 4:00 pm. Just in time for the 4:00 Soundsational Parade! What a great way to start our Disney adventure! The kids were mesmerized and got such a kick out of seeing the different characters on the floats. And I (remember I am pregnant) started bawling. Yes, I cried. I was just overwhelmed with this beautiful feeling of joy of seeing my kids experience Disneyland for the first time. I remember going at a 4 year old and how exciting it was. It is one of my fondest childhood memories and to be here with my kids was just so beautiful that, yes, I cried! So as far as pictures... how lame am I? I forgot to buy back up batteries for my camera and my re-chargable ones were dead! So I have no pictures of the first day. But it was fun and crowded (being a Saturday) but we were able to do a few rides and got to see the Fireworks show and Fantasmic. And that was our whole purpose of going on Saturday. So we were happy!

Day2
We decided not to go into the Park. We just didn't feel right about it and wanted to teach our kids a lesson on keeping the Sabbath day Holy. So we found a chapel and went to church instead. After church we hung out in the Hotel room and tried to keep the kids from getting cabin fever. Around 2 pm, Isaac (who was in meetings all day) called us to tell us that Goofy was in the Lobby. So Nena and I rushed the kids downstairs and we met and took pics with Goofy. The kids were super excited!

I made my mother-in-law (Nena) take one with Goofy as well! I am sooooo grateful that she came with us! I don't think I would have survived alone with the kids. She saved me!

After Isaac got out of his meetings we decided to meet up with my Aunt & Uncle and take the kids to the beach. Not to swim, but just to look and stick our feet in. The kids had never seen the Ocean before, so we thought it would be neat for them. They also had a little boat jungle gym (above) that the kids got to play on and get some of their wiggles out.

Beautiful Beach!

Sticking our feet in. Abby did it first, but decided this time she didn't want to.

With Aunt Beth and Uncle Ralph. It's always super fun to see them!

Day 3
Finally! This was the first day at Disneyland with my camera! But actually our Second day in the Park. My sister-in-law Rosi got back from her cruise the day before and decided to join us on Monday. She also invited 3 of my nieces who live in CA. They are my other sister-in-law's (Maribel) daughters.

Left to Right: Nena, Me, Natalie, Erica, Rosi, Mirium
Benji & Abby
I love the sign behind us! It says it so well "Let the Memories Begin!"

My little Mickey & Minnie

So Cute!

Dumbo Ride

Abby wanted the Pink one

Abby so cute on the Carousel & showing off her sparkly red shoes

Benjamin & Nena on the Carousel

Photo opt with Mickey!

Driving Mickey's Car

With Minnie

Sitting at Minnie's Kitchen Table

Daddy gets to join us at 4:30, here he is with the kids on the Spaceship Ride

End of the Day, we tried to get it in front of the Castle but it was too dark

Day 4
We got to go in the Park early for Magic Morning! We decided to dress the kids in their Halloween costumes! Yep, Peter Pan & Tinkerbell! They looked sooo cute and got sooo many comments and compliments left and right all day long! People got such a kick out of them.

In front of Small World (Benjamin doing his silly poses)

On the Dumbo Train (Casey Jr Train)

Abby looking so cute on the Carousel and looking out the window of the Nemo Submarine Ride

With Rapunzel and Eugine (Flynn Rider)! This was so fun! They make it so special and intimate and really spend time talking to your children, totally in character!

Some Candid shots. There is a funny story... When we walked in Rapunzel had her arms outsrtreched to Abby (because most little girls run to her first), but Abby blew right past her and gave a huge hug to Flynn! They were both really surprised! It was funny, unfortunately I didn't start taking pictures until after that happened.

All of us, they looked so Great!

Peter Pan & Tink on the Peter Pan Ride!

Of course, this day we had to go see Tinkerbell as well! She got a kick out of the kids as well!

We also got to meet a fairy friend named Vidia

And of course we are in front of Tinkerbell's house

On the Jungle Cruise Ride

Up in Tarzan's Tree House (I can't believe I actually made it up all those stairs!)

We rode the Monorail almost everyday (Which Benji loved!) but this time we got to ride in the very front!

This night was one of the 3 nights we saw the Parade! We saw it our first day, this day and on our last day, these Parade pictures are a combination of the last 2 times we saw it. It was called Mickeys Soundsational Parade and was AMAZING! Especially the music!

There were dancers in front of each float
Like, Princess dancers in front of the Pincess float and Martigra Dancers in front of the Princess & the Frog Float

Water/Fish Dancers in front of the Little Mermaid Float

Jungle Dancers in front of the Lion King Float
And much more, but my camera is not the greatest and these were the only decent pics that came out.

We also got Peter Pan's attention. Benjamin loved that!

Mary Poppins!

After the Parade, we were kind of Standing around and Mickey came out! We were the first ones to say hi to him!

Family Pic with Mickey

After the Parade we headed back to the Hotel and decided to stop and get dessert. While we were waiting for Isaac to buy it, Benjamin was out cold in a stroller, while Abby had a second wind! She should have been out as well, but there was music playing in Downtown Disney and she just had to DANCE! It was so cute/funny that I took a short video of her. It is at the very bottom of the post.

But once her head hit the pillow she was out!
So cute, with Minnie

Benji with Mickey

Day 5
There was no Magic Morning this day but we got to do something else really fun! We got to go into California Adventure a half hour early (Hotel Guests only) and get first dibs on World of Color Fast Passes and ride the new Little Mermaid Ride before the park opened! So we decided to do all of California Adventure this day (since we hadn't really gone in yet).

Abby Loved this Ride!

Benjamin got the see all of his favorite Toy Story Characters!

Abby got to hug Jessie!

With Woody

King Triton's Carousel! Abby loves anything under the sea!

With Buzz!

Toys in a Toy Box!

Marching with the Toy Soldiers

Mater and Lightning Macqueen

We also got to see Bugs land and do the rides from Bugs Life

And we saw Turtle Talk with Crush! He even picked Benjamin to Talk to!

We were able to finish California Adventure by 3:00 and then headed back to Disneyland and road the big Riverboat!

Then we went to meet some Princesses! We saw four this day, I love how Bell and Tiana's dresses look!

Daddy joined us and we did some of the Fantasy land rides again like Alice in Wonderland

And the Tea cups!

After this we headed back to California Adventure for Dinner and to see World of Color! I took pictures, but they just did not do it justice so click on the link and click on the play button to see how awesome it is!

Day 6
This was our last day at Disneyland. This was also a Magic Morning, and because we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, we got to go in early again! By this point we had seen and done almost everything! So we decided to do a few things we still had not done and repeat some of the kids favorites! Like Thunder Mountain (Benji) and Little Mermaid (Abby) and Toy Story Mania, and many more.

The Storybook boat ride

Mickey's Toon town!

Abby got pictures with four of her favorite Princesses, but the first time we did not see Cinderella and Abby was pretty disappointed (Since she is her favorite). So we went back today for a second try. We had to repeat Belle and Ariel but....

We found Cinderella!

We also saw Mickey's Dance Crew!

Mickey Mouse Club house live on Stage show! This was so neat! Love the Puppets! The kids got a kick out of it!

And of course we had to get pictures in front of the Castle! And one with just Nena because it was her first time at Disneyland!

This was a common sight with these two. So cute!

I love Abby's smile on this one!

The last day we were there was the day before they opened up the park for all their Halloween stuff, so all the Halloween decorations were up and we got a pic in front of the big Mickey Pumpkin!

Goodbye Disneyland! Thank you for the unforgettable Memories!