Before Disneyland

Paul was able to go to a preschool at Orem High with Jocelyn, Afton, Logan, and Gabe.  Brown babies were everywhere!

 Aunt Lexie is a kid magnet

 Paul got to ride a real horse, thanks to Cory

 Then Sam's turn - he had never ridden a horse in a field before - only in a circle at the fair

 Liz competed in Dixon's Got Talent - she rocked it!

 We stayed at Bishop's house in Murietta - "Look Mom, human pyramid!"

 Long story short - we spent the day in the parking lot/playground after the van overheated on the way to the beach. SO blessed to have shade, a playground, and a grocery store instead of being on the side of the road.

 Cute kids

 Silly faces

 Liz worked on her planking

 So did Sam

 Paul was too worried to do it the right way

 We couldn't ride in the car, so we tried to make the caterpillar take us to the beach - it didn't.

 Jared had flown into LA and stayed a day or so with Jill.  We were planning to meet them half way, but since we had no car, they had to drive all the way to Murietta in horrible traffic.  Thanks Jill!

 Sunday we spent walking around and visiting the park

 Paul's love affair with corn on the cob Monday when we stopped for lunch after the van was fixed, hooray!

 This is actually after Disneyland - we finally arrived in Mesquite at 4 am after leaving Disneyland late, then limping along after overheating repeatedly from Anaheim to Mesquite.

There was a little league baseball team at our hotel, so Sam played pool football with them - and was voted hardest to get the ball away from.

Sea Monsters

Disneyland

Our Christmas gift this year from my parents was a trip to Disneyland, and we were able to go in March.

 Pole dancing

 Our first stop was the train

Sam beat all of us on the Toy Story ride 

 Paul is one CRAZY driver!

 Plenty of time for pictures in line for Finding Nemo Submarine's

 Paul was a little nervous going into the whale's mouth

 Chad, Katie, Addison, and Kenya came and spent the day with us on Tuesday

 Mickey the Mouse

Sam was an expert pin trader - he got some really cool ones

 

Paul chose R2D2 for his ears

 Jared finally got to try a turkey leg on the last day we were there

 Soaring over California

Paul and Sam got their pictures taken with McQueen and Mater

 Watching the parade on the last night - we partied so hard and had a great time!

 Last ride - monorail

Thanks mom and dad for the fun!

Paul reading the scriptures

Absolutely LOVE mornings like this....

Other December fun

Disclaimer: All phone pictures - sorry!

Paul's preschool had a Christmas party on Dec. 15 before they were out for Winter Break.

They made ice cream come Christmas Trees

and decorated and ate cookies. 

 Then later that day we went to Bass Pro Shop with his BFF Ben.

When the ride operator told them to hold on, they couldn't find anything

so they grabbed on to the back of the sleigh.

 They did invite this other little guy to join them, and help them drive the one reindeer.

After the sleigh ride, Laura (Ben's mom) and I spent about half an hour

watching them play on the ATV's. 

 That Saturday, the 17th, we visited Santa at the Highland Village fire station.

Ben's school was also out for winter break, and his parents both work

so he spent two weeks at our house during the day. On the 20th, Crystal (Lucy's daughter)

called and invited us to go to the Aquarium with their family.  

Uncle Hugh bankrolled anyone who wanted to the Super Bouncy trampoline after the aqaurium, 

so these two lucky boys got to have a turn.

 Lucy dropped off this gingerbread house the day after Christmas

so we put it together, beautiful, isn't it?

 New Year's Eve we spent the day working on the floor and other projects around the house, then went to IHOP to eat dinner with the senior citizens and pot smoking teenagers. (Okay, they only smelled like pot smoking teenagers.)

 New Year's Day was a great day for Paul as he be came a CTR!

He uses his CTRness for a lot of things now.  "I need to get a new CTR bike mom, my bike is too small."  "If they say I am a baby, I will tell them I am a CTR."  

(Side note: As far as I know, no one actual calls him a baby, but he is aware of the threat.)