M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

We just got home from Disneyland!! It was a super fun trip, I actually had to be talked into going but that probably won't be the case next time.... yep next time! ;) We had such a great time! This is the first family vacation we have taken since moving to Flagstaff 5 years ago that hasn't been to Utah... We love going home and being with family but this was great too. We will still go to Utah this summer, we just have to leave Steve home to work... someone has to fund all our adventures... ;)!!

Here we are the first morning, all bright and happy!




Johnny was so excited to see Lightning Mcqueen! "Hey Lightning is that your best friend Mater?" -John

Our friends who we went with made Ky and John autograph books, they had fun meeting the characters and getting autographs and pictures.

Cute Kyla and Minnie. Notice the awesome 'mouse ear' hair bumps I gave Ky that day... :)




Kyla and I went on Splash Mountain together. She watched Steve go once and kept asking when she was going to get to fall off the waterfall too... I have to say the ride is a lot scarier (is that a word...) when you are a mommy riding with your 4 year old... I was holding Kyla tight!

So the pictures is not actually of Ky and I, Steve was looking for a mom in a green shirt in the back... well he got that part right, just not the right mom... :) He didn't realize that until we got home and were looking at the pictures!!

Johnny giving Buzz a "solid bump!" The Buzz ride was one of his favorites!




Kyla DRIVING?! Yikes! And I was nervous about kindergarten!

Johnny got to drive a RED car! Lucky Lucky! Today driving Ky to school he kept asking me which way he should turn the wheel...




Johnny let me take a picture of your driver's license...

Johnny and Kyla rode the Matterhorn... I remember riding it when I was 5, the abominable snowman scared me so bad I think I cried... We learned the trick to avoid being scared is to scare the abominable snowman first. This is Johnny practicing!

Alice in Wonderland in a PINK car...




Tea Cups, it was enough for me to watch the ride...



DIZZY!



Meeting Tinker Bell!



The boys were so happy to be meeting Tink... Luckily we only had to wait 5 minutes!!

Leo! He is so cute! This is the face he pulls when he knows he is being funny!



So glad we had good friends to go with!





"Hey Dad look, my shadow is holding your shadow's hand." -Johnny




Leo and Lilo... Leo gets called "Baby Lilo" sometimes... We'll stop before he figures out Lilo is a girl...




Waiting for the parade.

Kyla's favorite ride was the Jungle cruise. Boat, water, animal statues... Kyla is good! She wasn't too fond of anything inside and dark!

Mickey Mouse lollipop and a happy girl!




I made Steve watch High School Musical a couple months ago and now he thinks it is HILARIOUS to tease me about how much I love the movie, he couldn't pass up this photo op...

Steve went on some big kid rides, this one starts out really fast!!



The fam on the carousel.

On the Toy Story ride, another fave! Ky adopted our friend's Grandma...

I can't believe someone talked us into waiting 45 minutes to meet princesses... ok yes I can. We actually lucked out here too, Sleeping Beauty was one of the princesses there at the time, she is Kyla's favorite!!

She met Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Mulan, & Jasmin. The only one we didn't see that she wanted to was Ariel... next time :)


Johnny loved riding on the RED train! When the conductor would yell "all aboard" John would yell with him...



TIRED!


Welcome Home! Nothing like snow at home to get us back to reality... fast!



We also spent some time at the beach... I'll get those pics up next, I may have to finish unpacking first...

unauthorized growth

learning to read...

potty training...

learning to crawl...


I don't think I signed off on all these, who said it was okay to grow up?! Someone press the rewind button for me, I'd like to see the last 6 months again, this time in slow motion...


Kyla is super excited to be learning to read, she has little preschool books with a total of three words, but she thinks they are cool. I just got word from our school district that they are allowing early entry kindergarten for sept. b-days so now I am back to making the decision of whether or not to send her next year...

Johnny is on week three of potty training, he is doing great! He is super stubborn and is forcing me to let him learn it on his own. With Kyla I trained myself to take her every couple hours until she got it. Johnny will do it when he wants or not at all... Johnny is even keeping it up with one bathroom down... Steve just tore apart the kids bathroom. High five for construction... ;)

Leo is starting to inch worm his way to toys a couple feet away. For the last couple weeks he has been trying to grow his arms but without success, he decided if he is going to get the toy he will have to move his whole body... it was the cutest thing to see him lay there and stretch and stretch trying to get at something.

We have some great kids, I am one lucky mama!

Happy Easter Kids

to fake or not to fake...

Help...
So Flagstaff just got a Real Deals store... for those of you who haven't had the pleasure, it is an awesome home decor store. Great stuff and great prices.
I saw a floral arrangement they did and really liked it. I don't usually like fake flowers but this kind I liked.
Last night they had a "ladies night" and I went with a friend. I went with the intent of getting a floral arrangement for my living room. Apparently I didn't tell Beave my plan...
I found one I really liked and even though it was more expensive than I had planned on, I talked myself into it. Justified, justified... Beave only has himself to blame for that, after 7 years of spoiling me what do you expect?!
I got home with my purchase and had an unexpected reaction, BEAVE HATES FAKE FLOWERS!!!
What? Yeah I knew we weren't really fake flower people but he really really doesn't like them. So the "too much" I spent on something that he might like doubled because it is something he doesn't like...
Now I have to decide if I like them enough to keep them anyway.
So the help part is your opinion. I know everyone has their own taste but a second eye helps.
And by the way, you are only voting on the flowers, if you hate the rest of the room... keep it to yourself... ;)!!























Steve's preference for flowers and plants can be seen in the background, the plant in the corner and fresh flowers on the dining room table.

Easter Eggs

Easter egg coloring and a bunny cake. Fun filled family night!




"Rotten egg eye" Not sure why they were rotten...



Yeah for Easter and all the fun things of SPRING!!

Kyla's Easter Lesson

"This is Grandma Oliver with the white hair when I was watching her get blessed inside the thing she was getting carried in. And the car she rode in.
In primary we talked about the Grandmas we miss that are dead.
Their spirit is not in their body.
Grandma Oliver will rise from the dead."
-Kyla









I'm impressed by how well Kyla understands this part of the plan of salvation. I'm thankful for her great primary teacher. I am glad she knows that we can be happy for Grandma even though we miss her.

Real Super Hero

Kyla has been wearing a cape for the past three days because she is a super hero...
She said it was a secret and not to tell anyone but when the cashier at Target asked if she was a super hero Kyla couldn't resist telling her that she was. And not just any super hero, "a REAL SUPER HERO!"
Ky and Steve were discussing her super hero name and she said, "I'm still Kyla!" But her super hero name is Gooberella.
"But don't call me that during dinner..."
-Kyla

Bones

"Dad, what is the hard stuff in my skin?"
Bones.
"I ATE BONES?!"
-John

Spring Break Camping... Basement Style...

We didn't make it camping for spring break this year so we did the next best thing... camped in our basement. Some may argue that it is better than the real thing... maybe those who sneaked upstairs and slept in their nice comfy bed rather than on the air mattress in a sleeping bag... :)
We roasted hot dogs and samores on the fire, turned off all the lights and used flash lights and slept in sleeping bags. Good camp out!


Leo's first marshmallow. Um, I think he liked it...



The BEST samores ever! Carmel, chocolate, graham and perfectly toasted marshmallows. YUM!!

Lately Johnny has been pulling this face for pictures... "I be grumpy to the camera!"




More silliness...




And the silliest of all silliness!!

"As soon as we get that spaceship, we are going to go."
-Kyla

Leo Monkey

Leo was a monkey for Halloween but he couldn't sit up yet... so I made him put the costume on again 4 months later for a photo shoot...


We were at Lizzy's house and she even had a banana prop for us.








Beave thinks I don't put enough pics of me on here... there you go. ;)!!

fixed apples

"Mom can I have a fixed apple with a cord on it?"
-John
Translation: a whole apple with a stem. When I cut it into slices he asks me to fix it... put it back together, he wants it whole not cut up. When he eats them whole I tell him not to eat the core... his little mind figured that thing sticking out the top that looks like a cord must be what I was talking about.

Grandma Cooper

While we were in Utah we went to see Steve's Grandma Cooper. We always try to see our grandmas when we go to Utah, we love seeing them! Losing Grandma Oliver this year and Grandma Hansen last year makes us more determined to see Grandma Cooper and Grandma Grover whenever we can!! It is pretty cool that my kids are old enough to know and remember their great grandmas.


Leo giggling with Grandma!








A treat with Grandma, I love that my kids love fruit!








Ky and John thought Sassy was so much fun!

We are... FAMILY!!

We were in Utah last month for my grandma's funeral and my parents homecoming. All my siblings were there... seven of us!! It was great to be all together even though Jess and Keith couldn't bring their whole families...

The original 9...



My family, mom and dad, and Grandma Grover.




Leo and James eating their veggies... what good kids!! These boys are a month apart!




Three of the FIVE boys born this year. James, Spencer and Leo.

everater

"Dad, I'm going to be a everater when I grow up." Ky
"A what?" Dad
"A everater." Ky
"What is an everater?" Dad
"A person who wears so cool clothes." Ky

So now you know...

DISGUSTING!

John's new favorite word...

"That's disgusting in the whole world!!"

"These are disgusting I ever heard of!!"

He usually uses these phrases in reference to Leo's spit up or slobber, occasionally his own nose and lately the dog food. (we are dog sitting for a couple days... now I remember why we don't have one, I agree with Johnny, disgusting).

Welcome Home Elder and Sister Oliver

My mom and dad made it to our house (two weeks ago...)!! We had a great time with them, they showed us pictures and told us about their mission. They got to meet Leo, although my mom said she felt like she already knew him because of all the pictures and my dad says Leo and the 4 other boy cousins born this year were helping them on their mission before they were born, so it was more like a re-acquaintance...

Grandpa played trains...



Grandma made cookies...



We went to Sedona and went hiking. We had lots of fun!














It was great to have them here!!

Grandma

My sweet Grandma passed away last Tuesday, a week ago.
It is sad for me to let her go, but she is so much happier, it is hard not to be happy too.
She had a bone disease that made it hard to do the day to day things, like walk. I think of her now, running and walking without pain and most importantly dancing with her sweetheart, Sheldon, my Grandpa. He passed away in 2002. Thinking of that makes me happy.
We went to Utah for the funeral, it was good to see her again and say goodbye, even if it was just her body. Kyla asked so many questions about her and I had a hard time answering them until I finally just gave it to her straight, she seemed to understand it and was ok with it. She thinks it is great that Grandma is with Heavenly Father! I guess when you think of it like that, I think it is pretty great too.
I will miss Grandma but I know I will see her again, I'm so thankful for the plan of salvation!