HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Lauren lost another bottom tooth this week and now looks like a Jack-o-lantern.

HaPpY HaLLoWeeN!

Psycho

Or otherwise known as Fall Break at Disneyland with little kids.

And we didn't even take the three year old. It should have been a breeze with only three kids, right? Disneyland was festively decorated. From the giant candy corns, to the fall colors lining Main Street.

Even the big letters that spell California outside of California Adventure were the colors of candy corn. Which reminds me of the quirky catch phrase Kirk conjured up:

"The Candy Corn Colored California is Kinda Cool!"

Clever.

The second day, we had VIP seats courtesy of one of his MBA classmates for the parade. We had big bench seats right in front of the Railroad Train ride and had a great view!

These were our seats:

And this was our view!Heck, even our hotel went all out for Halloween! Not really, but they were painting the hotel these candy corn colors while we were there and will probably feel pretty cool every October!

The Haunted Mansion was completely redone to the theme of A Nightmare Before Christmas. While it wasn't worth the 1 hour waits, we did get some fast passes and did it a few times. It was pretty cool..............

I have to confess that of all the times I've gone to Disneyland over the years, I have never once stepped foot into the Innoventions Building. It turned out to be one of the kids ( adults included ) funnest places to go. Lauren loved the karaoke stage and rocked out to High School Musical and Lion King songs. Jack loved putting together a virtual skeleton.

Aside from not sleeping in his stroller or napping for a whole week, Ian's favorite rides were the Toy Story Mania and Buzz Lightyear.

Guess what else we saw? All over Disneyland? The whole week?That's right! Arizonans, Mormons and sometimes both Arizona Mormons. E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.! The pictures I took were just the ones I spotted as we were leaving the park. Pretty much every one in line we talked to was from Gilbert or Utah. Even Jessie from Toy Story was LDS. Seriously. We were at the Toy Story Halloween show and afterwards, Jessie gestured to a family next to us asking where they were from. They said, "Utah". ( shocker! ) She then started clapping the rhythm to the BYU fight song. They of course didn't get it until she started using her fingers and writing the letters CTR on her hand. You know, the secret code word for "I'm a Mormon too!" The even funnier thing is the day school started after fall break, Lauren told a friend of hers that Jessie from Toy Story was a Mormon. BWAhahahaha!

And in keeping with our Disneyland tradition, we always run in to a person we knew from our past. This time was no exception. Kirk went on the Rapids ride and ended up sitting in the same raft as an old friend, Ron. What are the odds? Even funnier odds? He's from Arizona ( notice the Arizona shirt ) but he lives in Utah. I know.......shocker again! He fell into a separate category from the Arizona/BYU/Utah/Mormon groups walking around Disneyland to a new subgroup called the former Arizona but now Utah/Mormon.
After five gloriously long days at Disneyland, we headed down to Escondido to meet up with my parents and Erik who they so graciously offered to watch for us. We spent a few hours at the beach in Carlsbad. Just long enough for me to realize a beach and an 18 month old isn't a super fun combination. Unless, you like sand in your sodas and food.....which I don't.

While on the beach, we saw a bunch of dolphins swimming around. See the black speck on the right side of the picture? That's a tail. Fascinating picture, eh?

We spent another day at the Wild Animal Park. Lauren liked to pet the dear.

And Ian tested my nerves.

I honestly don't know how we managed flying cross country with 4 kids one being 7 months old to DisneyWorld last fall break. We made it home safely. Kirk and I realized that it has been almost 5 years since we've taken a trip together............alone............sans kids. I'm looking forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary in a few months........going, you guessed it............back to Disneyland!

Lassie's Great Mystery

Ian has suddenly started to speak in "sentences". At least as far as inflection goes. It sounds like he his saying complete sentences, but I have no clue other than an occassional, "bup" or "ack" as to what it is he is trying to say.

One such conversation which lasted several minutes with him speaking and gesturing towards the kitchen had me thinking what it must have been like for Lassie when he was trying to talk to Timmy.

Ian: "Gah. Blah blah blah Gah." ( randomly gesturing )

Me: "You want something to drink? Something in the kitchen? Something on the counter?"

Ian: ( shaking head and now wildly pointing ) "Blah blah babble babble boo boo boo gah!"

Me: "Someone fell into the pond? There's a fire on the mountain and a boy is stuck in a pool of quicksand? A cougar is about to attack Mr. Johnson's sheep? Obama might be our next President?"

Ian: unphased by my attempted at humor.......

Me: "You want a toy? Some milk?"

Ian: Nodding and smiling with excitment.


Luckily no one was REALLY stuck in a pond or quicksand or on a fire-ravaged mountain. Maybe Lassie could leave Obama a fragrant gift on his lawn though.............

I don't mean LITERALLY.....

We're still potty training Erik. He is specifically the reason I refused to adopt one of my parent's new kittens. I wasn't about to potty train a cat at the same time. Although, the cat would probably have been easier. Thank goodness I only have to do this one more time. In the whole process, I've gotten lazy as evidenced by the fact that one day while we were working outside and he needed to go, I took his pants off and told him to pee on the rocks. That cool new idea set us back a few days trying to "undo".

A few weeks ago as we were getting the kids to bed, I called Erik over to put his "britches" ( pull ups ) on. He threw a huge fit saying, "NO! I don't WANT to wear britches to bed! I want to wear BIG BOY PANTS!"


Wow. Ok. I wasn't quite prepared for that kind of response. I was still struggling with the foul rituals of the day time accidents. I wasn't quite prepared for the night time noxious sheet changing. Not without a little more warning. I needed time to stock up on some more Resolve and Febreeze.

But we went for it. I tried to explain to him that if he's going to wear his big boy pants to bed, then he'll need to make sure he goes "pee pees" in the potty. I then put a towel on top of his sheets ( again, not prepared and didn't want to make the effort to make his bed with a mattress pad ). I told him that the towel is there just in case he has an accident in the middle of the night and pees and that the pee will go on the towel and not his sheets.

See where this is going yet?

It was evident that I used too many literal words in my explanation because when Kirk went to check on him the next morning, he was standing next to his bed............

peeing on the towel.

Kirk asked him what ( on earth! ) he was doing. He exclaimed that he was peeing on the towel so it wouldn't get on the sheets.

Boys.

Hawanna Hava Hula Party

I promised Lauren I'd let her have a birthday party after last year's fiasco!

We squeezed in the date between Kirk's weekends at school and her baptism day. We put together some invitations.

We ordered a plethora of party favors and decorations.

We booted the boys from the house.

Then we partied Hawaiian style!

We decorated flip flops............

I thought it would be fun to give the girls "hawaiian" names to wear on name tags but realized half of the girls already had hawaiian sounding names. Eh......oh well. So much for creativity.

And opened presents.............

Made an attempt at a ukelele cake with a lei draped on it.

Then we ate it.............

It was a whole lot of fun!

Hau`oli la Hanau Lauren!

Want to know why I haven't posted much?

My 3 year old has discovered why mommy has an internet addiction. At least he understands my addiction now. Unlike my ability to understand why he has to be in a box when he plays.

Between my lack of computer time and being glued to the tv watching the financial markets about to implode............I've been unable to complete the multiple entries I've started. Maybe I'll put Erik on that for me. He seems to have the time.

Lauren's Baptism Day

Lauren was baptized on September 13th.

She had been looking forward to her special day for several months. She was mostly excited to receive the Holy Ghost so that she could feel the spirit. She picked out her new set of scriptures and we purchased her beautiful dress. I gave her a special crystal and pearl bracelet for her to remember her baptism day.

The day felt like a whirlwind and luckily, I didn't have time to ponder how old I feel to have a child old enough to be baptized. But I am. And she was beautiful. I know this is one of those days she will remember for the rest of her life.

The mix in - mix up

We took the kids to Cold Stone Creamery last night where the following conversation took place:

Dad: Erik......what kind of mix in would you like in your ice cream?

Erik: Um......( then noticing the different options ) M and M's and VITAMINS!!!!! ( pointing to the gummy bears )

Dad: What?

Erik: YAY! M and M's and VITAMINS!!!!

That's my boy!

Sometimes when a teacher sends a note home from school with your child, your heart starts pounding as you wonder what it was he did this time. Did he get in a fight? Did he spit or slobber on someone? Did he push or take someones toy?

But sometimes, you get these little gems and can't help but laugh and use it as an opportunity to tease a cute, little 6 year old boy about his new girlfriend.

ARG!

Seriously......

does EVERY prime time channel have to be covering the Democratic National Convention?

And whose brilliant idea was it to start the convention the day after we've already been subjected to two weeks of Olympic coverage? I'm thinking that can't be a good way to win votes. Unless, of course, the convention is like a one week "Survivor" series where they throw people like Pelosi, Biden, Obama, Gore, Reid, Rosie O'donnell and anyone related to a Kennedy on a deserted island with Al Franken as the host and see which one comes up on top.........then I might be interested.

I read about a new tv show coming this fall called "America's Toughest Jobs". Somehow I don't think television programming is one of them.

CHUCK FOR PRESIDENT!

Never, EVER underestimate the power of the Nerd Herd vote.

Olympic commentary........

So they are getting rid of the softball and baseball events because the USA is too unbeatable while keeping "why not just call it a cool vacation in the off season" basketball as well as the ever so thrilling to watch trampoline and speed walking events.

Can anyone explain why Olympic boxing has been going on since the first day? And who really watches ping pong? Oh....excuse me....."Table Tennis". ( crickets chirping ) Personally, I'd much rather see an obstacle course event from the tv show Wipeout than something like a badminton match.

Interesting though, trying to sing along to the three verse intro/cut short National Anthem while Michael Phelps basked in his first gold was a pretty good "sport" to watch. I'm guessing some heads rolled after that degree of difficulty.

"Oh say can you see by the dawns early light. What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming." (Oh....wait......ok.....now) "Oh say can you see by the dawns early light." ( no? what the heck? Ok so they started over.......wait for it.......wait for it......ok....NOW! ) "Oh say can you see........" ( Oh for heaven's sake. nevermind!)

And I won't even mention the problem I have with the "still plays with Barbies" Chinese gymnastic team. That would be too easy.

The second week of the summer Olympics are a snoozefest which does nothing but aggravate me that I have no other choice but to watch reruns of Dr. Phil or Greatest American Dog while further delaying my season premieres of Prison Break and Chuck.


I'm just saying....................

Getting ready for Lauren's upcoming baptism!