First Disneyland trip with the kids!

For Karen's birthday this year, we went to Disneyland. We have not wanted to spend all that money on Disneyland just yet, until we knew Cora and James could survive the trip. Cora is SO OBSESSED with Disney princesses right now so I knew she would love it. And having extra adults to help with the kids was a big perk!

The night before I got this hilarious series of pictures of Charlotte trying to tear open a pack of pepper, why did she want to do that?? It was SO FUNNY.

 The first day we went to California Adventure. Cora didn't know but the ONE thing I knew we had to do was go meet Ana and Elsa. She didn't know, but she wore her Elsa dress which was PERFECT.

 Watching Cora meet Ana and Elsa was the most magical thing I have ever seen. She is a die hard Frozen fan, and to meet these princesses in real life was AMAZING. And that made the whole trip worth it.

 Also, the princesses were amazing. They all fawned over Cora, talking about her dress and her glittery boots. It really made Cora feel like a little princess. It also helps that Cora's hair matches Ana's.

 We also got to meet "Mrs. Inquibidle". Cora had been into the Incredibles for a little bit, so this was fun too.

 When we did the Ferris Wheel, I convinced Brandon that we needed to go on the cars that move on a track. It was SO FUNNY. James had to sit with Grandpa since he didn't want anyone else, and watching his face light up with excitement vs Brandon and Steve looking more and more sick was hilarious.

 Poor James couldn't hang very long. By lunchtime he fell asleep in the front pack carrier, which is so unlike him.

 Cora wanted to meet Princess Elena, even though she has seen her show about 3 times. She just loved the beautiful girl in the pretty dress.

 Brandon and Steve took the kids home to nap, and we went on Grizzly River Rapids. Which, LET ME TELL YOU, is a lot of fun when it's hot. When it is getting chilly outside, however, it is FREEZING.

 Cora got to see Donald Duck, who she also loves. (Are you noticing a theme of characters and love?) 

 Look at this little love bug bear. So cutie!

We thought James would love to see the "train" (car)... he wasn't as interested as I thought he would be! Probably because we had been going for 14 hours at this point.

Brandon and I utilized our FastPasses to go on Guardians of the Galaxy. I have been bitter about the fact that they changed it from Tower of Terror to Guardians of the Galaxy, but it was an excellent ride!

 On Saturday, we went to Disneyland. I haven't been back in probably 10 years or so (I went to California Adventure I think in 2010, but STILL), and it was so fun to see the same entryway. And right when we went inside we saw Aurora!

 As soon as I got the picture with Cora I turned around and saw James and Brandon standing in the line. And James was SMITTEN. He had his thumb in his mouth but was smiling all around it. That was the most excited I saw him about meeting anyone! She was very sweet about it. She didn't act like it was weird at all (which I thought it kind of was, but James was in LOVE.)

 Now comes the worst parenting moment of the year (possibly). Cora is 40 inches tall, so I thought it would be fun to bring her on a "big kid" ride. I showed her Splash Mountain, and she said it looked fun. WELL. So I remembered that they said the biggest people go in the back, so I assumed that meant the smallest person goes in the front. The employee didn't correct us, so I thought we were good! Cora liked the first few drops, even when we got wet. She thought it was hilarious. But the problems started when we hit a drop in the middle of the pitch dark inside of the ride. She started crying because she was scared and kept saying "No more drops mom! No more drops!" I kept telling her "Don't worry, just one more drop..." She didn't even know what was going to hit her. She only cried a little bit after the big drop, but based on the way she was gripping my hands I knew the picture would be a classic. And BOY WAS IT.

 When I saw this I laughed so hard and so loud I think I startled the other people. I got funny looks at any rate. It is already framed and sitting in our kitchen. Poor Cora! But she stopped crying pretty quickly, and once we got her into a change of dry clothes she was fine.

Brandon had heard about the exclusive Club 33, so we went looking for the door. Kind of cool.

 We were walking through Fantasyland, and Luis said he saw Belle walking by. So Cora and I went RUNNING  through Fantasyland to find her. Worth. It.

  

 I have never watched the shows before, besides the Frozen show in California Adventure (when it was the Aladdin show). It was nice to watch a few shows and give us a break. But the kids loved it! James was SO TIRED.

 We also sat and watched the Disneyland parade, which was a hit. Beforehand Cora got to see Cruella De Vil. She called Cora "dreadful, just dreadful".

The parade was so cute! So many princesses came by, and everyone is so talented. How does Disney get so many talented people involved in EVERYTHING?? Even the sweepers were amazing!

  Charlotte finally got to give James a taste of his own medicine and climbed all over him. James was too tired to even care.

 The people sitting next to us caught this moment. Cora is wearing her Ana nightgown, and Ana saw Cora and pointed to her matching dress. Then Elsa blew her a kiss, and Cora just about passed out from excitement. THIS is the magic of a 3 year old at Disneyland!

We may have not gotten the typical "picture in front of the castle", but look at the castle! And look at that smoke! The LA fire had just broken out.

 Every time James got to sit by himself in the seats he was SO proud.

 Cora fell asleep in the stroller at 5:30. She did not wake up for dinner, or bedtime, or transferring from the stroller to the shuttle and back again, or anything until 6 AM. I was pretty sure we had broken our kid.

 And the next night, same thing! She fell asleep at the table at 6:00, then didn't wake up until 6 AM.

 James was SO in love with Grandpa the whole trip (even called him "Bmpa", which is a big deal since he never uses words), but Sunday night he sat with Meg and let her show him things on her phone. Big step in their relationship!

 And in typical James fashion, he cut his head open on the corner of a stone counter right as we were heading to the car on Monday morning. Greeeeat.

Our final consensus was that it was an amazing trip. But Disneyland is very expensive and very tiring for everyone, especially the kids (but we all need to take time to recover), so it will be a while before we go again! But SO FUN.

Joshua Tree Half Marathon trip.

When I was originally planning my marathon, I wanted to do the one in Kingman, Texas. It is flat on a greenbelt and has the biggest medals in the country. (Figures it's from Texas!) It's on New Year's Day. So I decided to run the Joshua Tree half marathon in the beginning of November as part of my training.

When I changed my goal marathon to St. George in early October, I knew doing a half a month later was a terrible idea. So I asked Brandon if he wanted to take the bib. We figured Joshua Tree was a national park we could cross off our list without going there for no reason (neither of us REALLY cared about seeing it, so this was perfect!). Plus, never a bad thing to have a half marathon to train for!

The day before we drove down to Joshua Tree, James was diagnosed with a double ear infection. Remember how just six MONTHS ago we were finally done with the ear infection from you know where with Cora? Yep, whoopee.

We made it down to Joshua Tree fairly uneventfully, minus a giant meltdown from James halfway through.

Since Joshua Tree half marathon is a night race, we drove down that morning. Brandon had been training 

Luis and two of his sisters also ran the half, so Ashlee and Charlotte came down to cheer them on. James tried to step on Charlotte a few times, which is a nice cousin thing to do.

When we went to Del Taco for dinner, the irritation in James's throat was too much and he projectile vomited all over the table a few times. Which led to cleaning up the table and running to Dollar General to get him some pajamas before meeting Brandon at the finish line.

 Brandon said that was the hardest race he's ever done. It was in the middle of NOWHERE, in sand, in pitch black. Anything beyond what your headlamp could see was black. And since he didn't accept the bib transfer in time (we didn't know he had to "accept it", so while I transferred it in May he accepted it on the way to the race), his shirt was still my size. So I got a good shirt out of the race!

The next morning was Daylight Savings, so the kids were up at like 6. So I guess it could have been worse!

We decided to go check out the park before church. Joshua Tree is... the WEIRDEST most HIPPIE town we have ever seen. We've been a lot of places, but this was something else. So many van living people. So many crazy mountain climbers. After the beauty of Bryce Canyon and Yosemite this year, it was a little bit underwhelming. BUT, I can see how if someone is super into rock climbing and the desert aesthetic they would love it.

Cora loved climbing on the big rocks. She looked so cute in her new dress that I just let her (and hoped her balance was good!)

 National Park 13!

 This is a cholla cactus, or a jumping cactus. It is very sensitive, so we made sure the kids got nowhere near it.

 OBVIOUSLY I had to take a picture. WORLD FAMOUS!

 Since James's favorite stuffed animal right now is "Dine" the dino, we had to stop when we saw the big dinosaurs.

 Run away! 

Crazy 24 hour trip to Joshua Tree. Fun to explore, we'll see if we return!

Halloween 2018.

We had a lot of fun Halloween events this year.

First off- LOOK AT HOW CUTE THIS SKUNK IS. I want him to wear that sweater every day.

 We went to the pumpkin patch as a family, which was especially fun since we didn't do it last year.

 I honestly couldn't tell you if Cora is laughing or crying in this picture.

 Getting toddlers to pose for pictures is so easy!

 Cora and Dad posing on a hay bale!

 Eww.

 Cora was all set to be a mermaid until she heard what a fuss James got over his skunk costume, then she decided she needed to be a kitty for Halloween. Oh well.

 For the ward Halloween party Brandon and I were Bob Ross and one of his paintings. Definitely one of our easiest costumes!

Cora got to go to the pumpkin patch with her preschool class (and one of her good friends Annie!).

 She has a cute little class that she LOVES.

 James was so happy to be with the big kids on their field trip. But his favorite part was playing in the corn kernel pit. I tried not to think of how many thousands of hands have touched those since James kept putting them in his mouth!

 Cute friends.

 We also did "Zoo Boo", which is something the Fresno Zoo puts on. You buy tickets in advance (they sell out quickly apparently!) and the kids can "trick or treat" around different stations through the zoo.

 Definitely the highlight (not that you can really see it) was the owl! We were the last people to get a picture with the great horned owl that was part of the Harry Potter exhibit. Right before we got up there it started flapping its wings trying to get away and those are POWERFUL. It was a huge gust of wind. James was shocked, and kept trying to watch it. I kept him on the other side so he didn't touch the owl.

 Cora picked out some unicorn boots, and I was about to put them back when I thought "well, maybe she can get them for Christmas!" And snuck them into the bottom of the cart.

 We also carved pumpkins this year, which we haven't done too many times. James wasn't too sure what to think of the insides. 

 Cora was all ready for her Halloween party at school! (I mean really, how cute is that?!)

 We went to see Matt and Amanda after trick or treating. James looks like Matt (well, they both have red hair) so we drew a goatee on James so they could be twins tonight. 

 And Cora just loves Amanda!

 Nice family picture haha.

Cute Halloween season!