Our Disneyland Adventure part two...

Thursday morning we got up a little early so we could get to the park and start having fun!  It was Jacob's 5th birthday after all!  While he was in the bathroom getting ready for the morning, we put presents and balloons on his bed (he slept on the floor between the beds).  After he came out, we brought out a muffin with candles and sang to him.  He opened his presents and then he got a special badge to wear at the park that day.  The rest of us got badges that said we were "celebrating" that day.  It was very fun to have all the workers in the park wish him a happy birthday.  It was so cute!  Even the people in the parade would mouth it to him and wave especially to him.  It was fun seeing him get that extra attention!  I want to go to Disneyland on MY birthday!  This day we started at California Adventures.  We went straight to Cars Land to get fast passes for the Racers (the most popular ride there I think!).  The kids rode Mater's tractor ride, we did Ariel's ride, the bravest of us rode the rollercoaster (!) and we also rode the Grizzly river run and got so wet!  While the others were doing the roller coaster, the boys and I got some frozen treats to cool us down!  Thankfully we had those water bottles with the fans on them.  The boys made good use of those!  And of course in California Adventures, we have to ride Grandma's favorite ride, Soaring over California.  We saw Mickey and friends dancing in the street and we also saw the Green Army Men!  We finished up our evening going over to Disneyland and getting dinner.  Ashley and the boys had pizza and the rest of us had Bengal BBQ.  I LOVE their food!  Part of our "budgeted and inexpensive as possible" trip was to have one meal a day in the park.  It was our perk and it was fun.  We then went back to the hotel as Clif and Lindsay had arrived!  Clif went to Visalia and picked up Lindsay straight from school, then drove on over. We had fun watching the fireworks from our balcony!  The perfect ending to Jacob's birthday day!  We couldn't wait for more fun the next day!  We were sad that Clark couldn't make it to join us.  We missed him.  And of course we missed Joel who we knew wouldn't be able to join us.  THIS time.  I will break up the pictures into two posts...there are a LOT.  And I narrowed it down!

 

Our Disneyland Adventure part one...

After months of saving our monies, we finally bought our passes for Disneyland!  Since Jacob and Ashley have birthdays two days apart, we decided to meet at Disneyland and celebrate!  We got up early the morning of August 5th, loaded up and hit the road!  We woke the boys up at 6 a.m. and they never once slept in the car.  I could not believe that night at Disneyland that they were STILL GOING.  We arrived in Anaheim around 4 p.m. California time, bought a Little Ceasers $5 pizza and checked into our hotel.  We got adjoining rooms since Ashley, Clif and Lindsay would be joining us.  It was a 2 star hotel at best and rest assured we will not stay there again!  I don't care how close it is to Disneyland and how cheap it was.  Ick.  Anyway, we loaded up our snacks and stroller and headed off to spend a few hours in the park.  How fun!  Of course one of the first rides Jacob and I had to do was Haunted Mansion!  Our favorite!  Auntie Ashley finally caught up with us around 9 p.m.  Her flight got in at 5 to LAX and she took a shuttle service that should have had her to Disneyland by 7:30.  They didn't even LEAVE the airport until 7:30.  She was going crazy!  She will be giving the company a review and asking for her money back.  It may have been cheap, but totally not worth it!  Anyway, we were at the park and the Castle is all glittery and beautiful for Disneyland's 60th anniversary.  It looks especially glittery at night!  After Auntie got there and we did a few more rides, she, Amanda and David stayed at the park.  Dave and I took the stroller and tired, tired Jacob back to the hotel.  On our way out of the park the light parade was just starting, so we watched it.  There was some amazing floats!  The Ice Castle from Frozen with Anna and Elsa was so incredible.  And of course Jacob LOVED Olaf!  We were right by the gates for the parade (it had started at that end of the park).  As we left the park, Jacob laid down in the stroller and was asleep before we got out the gates!  I seriously do not know how he made it that long!  It was 10 p.m. by then (11 p.m. Utah time!) 9 Hours in the car and 4 hours in the park.  We saw some of the fireworks as we walked back to the hotel (less than a mile, but it felt like a LONG walk!).  Jacob was dirty, but I didn't bathe him...I managed to get his pjs on and get him on his bed.  Poor little guy.  David begged to stay with Auntie and Amanda and I REALLY don't know how he lasted that long! Here are a few pictures from the first day.  Prepare yourself, the next posts will have TONS more pictures!   

Jackson turns 4!

Jackson had a birthday!  He's 4 years old!  We had a family barbecue at our house.  His grandpa and grandma from Springville came, Randy and LynAnn Gonzales.  Our niece and her husband and daughter were here visiting from Washington DC, Aimee, Andrew and Lilyanne.  She is a cutie!  And of course all of Eric and Randa's family and us.  It was the perfect evening for a BBQ and Andrew even grilled some salmon they had brought from Alaska (they visited there first before they came to Utah).  I passed on the salmon but several others had it and loved it.  Jackson loved opening his presents and had many eager people ready to help him!  His transformer cake (really cupcakes) was very cool and I think he had a fun time!  The hammocks were a hit as always.  Aimee is always so good to entertain the littles.  It was fun having them here!  Happy Birthday Jackson!

Farnsworth Firestorm 2015...

I can verify that this was Eric's biggest and best fireworks production to date!  He always does a show in his cul-de-sac 3 days after Pioneer Day.  The last legal day to shoot fireworks. The show was amazing!  Words don't do it justice.  Stadium of Fire has NOTHING on Eric's show!  Of course Uncle Bobby's food truck was there too so we got good eats and shaved ice.  We actually got a little cool and Randa had to bring us a blanket!  We were wishing we could trade our shaved ice in for a hot chocolate! Jeanine came with us again this year, and Clif, and of course Nate and Lilly joined us as well.  It was fun night!  He really lit up the sky!!  20 plus minutes of non-stop fireworks!

Dave supervising the pre-production.  ha.