Travelogue Day 4

DISNEYLAND!!!

Grandpa and Grandma Thurston took us to DISNEYLAND this day. It was AWESOME!

It really was the best day ever, and we are so grateful to Grandma and Grandpa for doing this for us. We were there when the park opened and stayed till it closed: 16 hours in Disneyland! But we had so much fun. I could talk all day about the fun we had, but I'm going to let the pictures tell the story.

Grandma and Grandpa - I think this was on the train ride.

We went to the Princess storytelling. Katelee was chosen to go and dance on stage with Belle and the Prince, which was SO COOL! She had to take her trusty and loyal sidekick, Jessie, along, too. :)

Princess Katelee

The Dumbo ride was a favorite!

Meeting the characters was definitely a highlight of the day! Katelee would give them all a huge hug; she knew she was meeting the REAL LIFE Tinkerbell!

Toon Town was probably one of Katelee's very favorite parts of the day. She had a blast playing with all the fun things to see there!

Of course we had to get a picture with Goofy's piano!

We took these pictures while waiting for the Fantasmic Show to begin.

Katelee's Favorite Parts of the Day:

• Going to Belle's storytime and getting to dance on stage with her
• The Winnie the Pooh ride and Big Thunder Mountain rollercoaster (Again! Again!)
• Meeting all the characters
• Playing in Fantasy Land and Toon Town
• Getting to buy her favorite souvenir: her beloved Jessie the Cowgirl doll

Jennifer's Favorite Parts of the Day:

• Taking Katelee hat shopping. While we were waiting for the Fantasmic show to begin, Grandma and I took Katelee 'hat' shopping. She tried on almost every pair of ears or sparkly hat in the store, and each one was her favorite. But she finally settled on her very favorite. We had her name embroidered on the back and she looked darling wearing it around.
• Pirates of the Caribbean - always one of my favorite rides!
• Drinking fresh pineapple juice while watching the show in the Tiki Room
• Watching Katelee's face when she met Mickey Mouse, the princesses and the other characters.
• Being with Gerald, Katelee and my parents

Gerald's Favorite Parts of the Day:

• Watching Katelee meet all the characters, especially Mickey Mouse when we first walked into the park. It made me choked up to see how happy and excited she was to meet him!
• Riding Big Thunder Mountain and other rides
• Spending such a fun day with Jennifer, Katelee, and Jenn's parents
• Watching the Fantasmic show

16 hours in Disneyland = 1 tired girl. (And 4 exhausted adults.)

Katelee was definitely a trooper though, and it was so worth it!

Travelogue Day 5

This morning we took a few pictures outside of our California hotel of Katelee with all her Disneyland loot.

Phew! After yesterday's marathon day, we were all a little tired. We drove back to Mesquite where we spent the evening relaxing. Gerald and Katelee went swimming again in Grandma and Grandpa's pool while mommy worked a bit on the cake for tomorrow's surprise party.

Travelogue Day 6

Surprise party in Utah!

Today is Gerald's parents' last day of work. They are officially retired! We are happy for them; they've put in years of hard work and deserve to have a rest. Gerald, being the thoughtful son he is, decided he wanted to throw a surprise party for his parents to celebrate their retirement. He organized with his sisters who live in town, and we planned a pizza and cake party at the park. The biggest surprise of all, though, was that mom and dad did not know we were coming! When they showed up to the park, the three of us hid behind trees to surprise them. They were so excited and so shocked to see us; it was a great surprise and so much fun!

The cake I made grandpa and grandma for their retirement party. To see more pictures, you can click here.

Some of the cousins enjoying the cake and ice cream.

Yum!

We finished the night with lots of playing on the playground, visiting, and a sleepover at grandma and grandpa's house. So fun!

Travelogue Day 7

Lagoon!

We spent the whole day today in Lagoon (an amusement/water park) with Gerald's family. It was TONS of fun!

Katelee's favorite things from today:

• The lazy river and splash park swimming area. She loved pushing us around on our tubes in the lazy river and playing on the swings and slides in the kiddie water park.
• Puff the Magic Dragon roller coaster
• The swings and the space ships
• Any rides at all - this girl is such a dare devil! No fear at all. :)
• Being with her cousins

Jennifer's favorite things from today:

• Playing and relaxing in the water park with Gerald and Katelee
• Riding the carousel - I love carousels!
• Taking the little girls for a few hours of rides. They were having so much fun! They would go on a ride and run off yelling, "Again! Again!" So we'd go again. And again. Until another ride caught their eye. It was really so fun to watch them!
• Rattlesnake Rapids, especially when grandma got dunked under the waterfall. Sorry, grandma, but that was really so funny! :)

Gerald's favorite things from the day:

• Going on the Dinosaur Drop and the Odysea rides with Katelee
• Riding the big rollercoasters, such as Wicked, with my siblings and nieces and nephews
• Relaxing in the lazy river with Jennifer and Katelee
• Going on the two water rides with Jenn, Katelee and my parents and watching my parents get soaked
• Being with family

At the entrance to the park, showing off their hand stamps.

Best little cousins

On the Dinosaur Drop - one of Katelee's favorite rides

The swings with cousins - another favorite of Katelee's.

Katelee was really good at the bumper cars! ;)

They loved the bee stinger on this ride.

Enjoying the carousel.

Cousins on the train. This was the end of the night.

Can you tell how tired Katelee was getting?

Travelogue Day 8

This was a day of sweet babies. We slept in this morning after the late night at Lagoon. Mid-morning we met Gerald's family at Kangaroo Zoo, a huge blow-up toys playground for kids, for a surprise birthday party for one of my nieces and one of my nephews. The cousins had a bouncy great time and played until they were ready to drop! Gerald's sister's sister-in-law (did you follow that?) just adopted a beautiful baby girl days ago. We all got to hold her and marvel at her perfection!

After Kangaroo Zoo, our little family stopped at Cafe Rio for lunch and shared one of their amazing pork salads - something we always try to do when in Utah! Yum! Then we ran to Lehi to visit some of our old friends. It was so nice to see the Thaynes, Nelsons and Shills and all their kids. The brand new baby and getting-bigger babies were all so adorable; all the kids are getting so big. We are truly blessed to have great friends.

After that visit, we met for another family party at Lions Park, where Katelee and her cousins displayed more energy than should be possible at this point. :)

Wow! One party after another! We're having so much fun, but we're starting to get tired!

Oh, and in last minute baby news, my cousin had her fourth little baby this night. I was happy I was in town and was able to run over to the hospital to visit her and see the little guy. He was born in the same hospital Katelee was born in, and it brought back a lot of emotions and memories. And made me more baby-hungry than ever!

Travelogue Day 9

We felt blessed to be in town when Gerald's Uncle Bill's funeral was scheduled. This morning we went to the funeral and it was a very nice service. We were able to see and visit with some extended family members and we learned and remembered many wonderful things about Uncle Bill, such as:

• his great sense of humor
• his love for rocks and history
• his amazing scouting collection
• his love for the prophet Joseph Smith
• what a great uncle, husband, father, grandfather and brother he was

In the evening, we visited our old neighborhood. It wasn't so hard this time to see our beloved home; we have definitely adjusted to our move now. But it was wonderful to see all our old friends and neighbors. Almost the entire cul-de-sac gathered for a neighborhood barbecue and fireworks. We had a blast playing and visiting with friends. It's great to have so many life-long friends that we keep in touch with and enjoy. I was bummed that I never did get a picture that night of most of our friends, but Katelee and I did take these silly pictures after enjoying the yummy food!

Happy 4th of July!

Travelogue Day 10

Today is the last day of our vacation, and we have to make the long drive home today. We spend the morning having fun at Uncle Scott and Aunt Darla's house. They have a houseful of guests and so there are even more cousins to play with and people to see. Katelee has a ball playing with her cousins and Aunt Darla's darling new puppies, Bailey and Miley. Katelee especially loves jumping on the trampoline, and is heartbroken when it is time to leave.

Although the drive home is long, it's a very pretty and interesting drive. We stop for dinner along the way, and take this picture of Katelee. It seems to capture the essence of summertime and family vacations: freckles on the nose, corn on the cob, messy hair, and sparkling eyes.

It's nice to come home.

Finally Some Swimming Pics

Even though we go swimming several times a week, I never think to take my camera. I finally got a few pictures of Katelee swimming in our kiddie pool with her two friends.

She loves to give her princesses a shower. :)

My favorite thing about swimming?

It totally wears her out.

:)