Her and Him

Adelaide 6 months old
Reggie 6 months old

I believe that if we gave Reggie a scowl and darkened his eyes, they would be twins.

Davey, How Was California?

Thanks to everyone that made our trip possible. I love going home. It will always be a home for me. And so I am grateful to all those who help make this trip such a success.
Thanks to the Soules Family for housing us a night in Victorville and meeting us at Sea World.
Thanks to the Easton Family for hooking us up on a Pre-Disneyland night in Lake Forest.
Thanks to Adelaide for hitting 29 rides at Disneyland and for letting me carry you on my shoulders for at least 11 of those 12 fun hours.
Thanks to the Brown Family for the sweet condo in San Diego for a couple nights and for letting us meet your new beautiful baby girl.
Thanks to Cousin Staci for the plane flight for Megan and Reggie and to Jil for being the airport shuttle.
Thanks to Reggie for being such a good traveling baby.
Thanks Tony and Jay for a great BBQ night and the stroll down adolescence lane.
Thanks to Uncle Newel for awkward hugs and to the Price family for making us feel welcome.
And thank you Salisbury Family for inviting us each year to spend a week with you at the Beach House. Your hospitality is only out-done by your love to ROCK!
PS- If any of you, or your children, suffer from fear of roller coasters, send them my way. This is my 4 year-old at her best. That's right. Big Thunder Mountain 3 times! Only Sleeping Beauty's walk-through castle got as much attention from Adelaide and me. And yes, those two attractions are about as different as it gets. But what do you do when you are the World's Best Dad? (Well, I am at least in the top ten, right?) Edited for your viewing pleasure, Addie's first time on Big Thunder Mountain.

My Big Girl

This goes out to my best girl ever. She turned 5 on Wednesday and I can't believe it. Five years ago she made me a mother and my life hasn't been the same since. She is amazing, smart, funny, sweet, loving, feisty, beautiful, and the best big sister ever. I'm so thankful that she is my daughter and a part of my life.

Her favorite things are her new unicorn pillow pet, gymnastics, barbies, computer games, cartoons, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, chocolate milk, candy, candy, and more candy. She loves to pick out her own clothes and her brothers clothes as well. She loves being in the bath (sometimes bath time lasts hours), Disneyland, and snuggling with me on the couch.

She can now spell her name, recognize all letters and has an intense desire to read. She loves to sing, make necklaces and bracelets for her friends and cousins, paint her own toenails, get dressed from head to toe in my clothes, and wear my bathrobe when she gets out of the bath.

I write these things mainly so I don't forget the amazing accomplishments she has made in five years time. I love you Adelaide and I hope you had the best birthday ever!

Countdown Is On

(courtesy 2009)

Poor Megan. October is not her month. Besides having 'oct' for a prefix and being the tenth month of the year; go figure, octopus, octagon, octomom..... (8 anyone?), here are the top three reasons it's hard on her.

1) I talk in my Dracula voice for a good majority of the month.

2) October is the month of her dad's, my dad's, her sister's, our daughter's and her husband's birthday. Not to mention most of my friends growing up had October birthdays too. (Adam, Laura, Jacob, Tony, The United Nations, etc) Don't even get me started on extended family birthdays in October (Hi Nora, and Nora's soon to be new sibling)

3) I get so excited for our annual California road trip that I blog at 3:00AM instead of sleeping.

That's right. It's time.
10 days.
9 nights.

Friday -> Victorville (Like an opening night teaser)
Saturday -> Beach
Sunday -> Church, then Beach (Don't judge, it balances out)
Monday -> Disneyland
Tuesday -> Beach
Wednesday -> Sea World
Thursday -> Beach
Friday -> Beach
Saturday -> Beach
Sunday -> Beach, then cry eight hours back to Utah

I am excited because Adelaide's birthday is on the 13th. So when we leave Friday we will give her her first present. The Unicorn Pillow Pet she has been asking for for over a year now. "PJs fit right inside," she tells me just after the commercial announces that fact.

Then, before Megan and Reggie fly down on Monday night, I will sneak Addie into Disneyland where she will finally be tall enough, using some tricks I've taught her, to ride the bigger rides like Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. She's gonna love it.

Now I know why we had kids. Without Adelaide, I never could have sold Megan on all these things. I am still trying to figure out how to get her to get me a Pillow Pet for MY birthday. Garments fit right inside.