Disneyland and the rest of our weekend (pic heavy)

WE WENT TO DISNEYLAND!!!!

We had SO much fun! We got tons of pictures and lots to share. We left Vegas on Friday and headed down to Newport Beach, to stay with my Aunt (AKA Auntie M!) We got to Newport Beach at about 10 talked for a little bit and went straight to bed.

We woke up around 7:30 and started to get ready. We had breakfast and had our hair braided and off we went.




We didn't get going as early as we wanted to but we did ok. We headed up to Disneyland and waited.... waited for parking ($14 bucks thankyouverymuch) and then waited for the tram and bought our tickets and then of to California Adventure we went.

We headed straight to our traditional 1st stop... The mission tortilla factory. For the 1st time in over 8 years they had the corn tortilla machine running. We had never had that before! Then off to Bugs Life Land. As we entered that area, Chip and Dale were waiting for people to come and say Hello.... so we did!

Kira loved them and did great with the characters.

She was all excited to go on the Ladybug Boogie.... somewhat like the tea-cups .... then once they started moving we got......


This face... She did not like it.... I have to say that if I had to choose between the tea-cups and the Ladybug boogie I would do the teacups. At least there is a little control on the teacups.

We did some other rides at CA Adventure and then headed off to meet Gram Gram and Papa Mike.

but not without stopping to see Jasmine and Aladdin


Here we are with Papa Mike and Gram Gram... we decided to go head over to Mickey's house.


Here is Gram Gram taking Kira into Mickey's house..

Mickey's House is so fun... lots of things to touch and sit on


and to look at.

And here he is.... she was very excited!!

And then if was off to see the princesses.... it was a little bit of a wait but Kira got to see Minnie Mouse!!! .....


and jasmine again

and Belle


Then it was off to lunch at the River Belle Terrace. After lunch we went to ride Winnie the Pooh and then got to meet him and Tigger too!

Then it was off to the Jungle Cruise. Kira was VERY excited to ride in a boat and loved all the animals.





Then it was off to go buy Kira her Mouse Ears Hat....We let her pick out which one she wanted and she choose Minnie Mouse.




We put her name on it AND

She got her ears! And was very happy with them too!

Then it was off to the other side of the park to do Nemo and Autopia

She liked the idea of going on a submarine (just like the Backyardigans Mom Mom!)

She like the submarine most of the time. She like seeing Nemo and his friends. She wasn't too fond of the dark parts but was happy again by the end.

Then it was off to Autopia... SHE LOVED IT!!! She got to "drive" and she was so excited that she talked about it for the rest of the day. She drove a green car, Daddy drove a green car. Gram Gram drove an Orange car and Papa Mike drove a brown car... and she got to drive and it goes like this (insert arm motions here) and ... and... and... and!!!

Then off we went to take Kira to GramGram and Papa Mike's car so Jacob and I could have a little bit of a date night. We went back to California Adventures. Most of our favorites are there and it was less busy. If Splash Mountain would have been open we would have gone there instead...but as it was we hit Soarin' over California (and got good seats) the Roller-coaster, and we went on Toy Story Mania for the first time and it was SUPER fun! I kind of wish we were going back soon so we can do that one again now that we know that you can pull that little plug faster!!! We went back to Disneyland and bought some art (we have a nice little collection of Shaq/Disney art.

Those are the 4 prints we got. They came with some really cool mats and so we are looking for some cool frames to go with them.

On Sunday we went to go see my grandma GG and give her her belated Mother's Day gift. And then we headed off to the Andersons house for a good ham lunch and some time with family before we rushed home (not really) to see the last LOST!

Kira with her cousins and Grandpa.

Still unclear about LOST but I'm not unhappy with it like I was with the Sopranos.

We had lots of fun on this really really quick trip and are about 98% sure we'll be back down soon for a wedding so there will be more fun things to report soon

'til next time....

Photo Shot and other things

This past Sunday we drove down to Lake Las Vegas with the Merrill's to do some family pictures for them... well actually Jacob did them. I just watched and tried to get their twins to look at the camera. Kira, of course, came along for the ride and wanted to take some pictures too!
Looking at these pictures it becomes more and more clear to me that she's really not a baby anymore. It may be still a secret to some that I had a really difficult time of it after I had Kira. There were A LOT of changes going on, my birthing experience wasn't what I wanted it to be and Kira didn't sleep very well after she started teething. And when I was in the "middle" of it, I felt as though it was going to go on forever! Now I am amazed at least once a day at what comes out of her mouth, or something she does. I feel lucky that she is my daughter and that I get loves and cuddles and smiles etc.


So the STATS on Kira are:
She's just over 3 feet tall now
She's just under 30 lbs
She loves Elmo, Curious George, the Care Bears, and most of the playhouse Disney cartoons
She loves to talk on the phone especially to Gram Gram and Grandma Jetta, she loves to go to the park, go to nursery, dance class, and back seat driving.
She loves yogurt, fruit snacks, mac & cheese, chicken, apples and bananas.
Favorite quotes recently: "That looks like that stinks", Yes-woof (when she pretends to be a dog).



This is her ang-E face. (Ang-e is short for Angry.... it's Wade's fault)
She is not afraid to show us how she is feeling about things. If she's mad then she's mad... here she's upset that I'm not letting her walk too far away from me. If she's happy she's happy! and often tells me so!


(Preview Merrill's )
Kira was a little upset that the Merrill's were getting so much camera time. It's usually her that gets the camera time so she wanted in on the action!
I am constantly surprised and feel incredibly blessed that the Lord saw fit to add Kira to our family. As difficult as motherhood has been for me I thank Him everyday for being able to become Kira's Mom Mom. She is wonderful, fun, sweet, funny, stubborn, active, smart, tiring, and strong, but most of all she is LOVE!!!

We head to Disneyland this weekend so stay tuned for those pictures.... I can't wait!

Flashback Friday

Haven't done this in a while......but i wanted to post these "old" pictures. These are from a trip I took to England in 2000. My friend Korie went with me, my mother, my grandmother, my sister and my sister's friend.
The 5th person in the big group is my best friend Jo who lives in England.
These were taken in Windsor England, we went to go see the castle, but the castle was closed that day due to the Queen being in residence and her cousin the Queen of Sweden or something came for a visit. We did however get to see a cool parade.
I just watched the video of this trip the other day and had so much fun!!! and some tears (my grandma passed 3 years later) These just bring a smile to my face. Hope you enjoy them too.

Kira at the Car Wash and the rest of our Friday

So the other day before picking up Auntie M and my cousin Amy from the airport I had a little time to kill. I was out way before I needed to be because I thought I had Visiting Teaching at 10 am, drove by; my companion wasn't there. So I knew it wasn't time yet. Stopped by again at 10:30... guessed I had the day wrong. So I decided instead of going home for 10 minutes I would go fill up the car and get a car wash before heading to the airport. Kira was good with the gas, it's no problem and I make faces and play games with her while the gas is filling up but as soon as she saw that we were driving up to the car wash, she put her hands over her eyes and got REALLY Quiet.

She started whimpering and I felt so bad for her. BUT I had already spent 6 bucks to get the car washed so I offered for her to come and sit in my lap....

My poor girl. As the car wash went on I explained to her all the noises and what was going on and how the car needs a bath just like she did. Once I broke it down for her she was ok and went back to her car seat.

She was very excited for our next location.... the AIRPORT! She LOVES the airport! There we picked my Auntie M and my cousin Amy and did girly stuff! We had lunch and went window shopping and went to see the Lions at the MGM (where they were staying)

That's one of the great things about Vegas, people come to stay or visit for something else and I get to see them! So great to see Auntie M and Amy!

Dance Class Number 2

Well, I found a leotard and tutu from her Christmas haul so this week she fit in a little more. She still had a little problem in the beginning of the class. The teacher is fun but really loud and Kira has issues with that in the beginning but then she's fine and she's in their having fun.

Got two pictures for you this week. The video I'm trying to add isn't working so I'm going to try again tomorrow.

And here is Kira doing the splits!

Got some more posts this week.... so stay tuned.

Kira's First Dance Class

So a couple of months ago, I thought it was time to get Kira enrolled in something. There were a lot of reasons for this, one of which was just to get us out of the house. We do the library reading hour most Mondays but she and I both needed something else. I FINALLY found my way to the nearest Community Center (Clark County is HORRIBLE at this) and grabbed the paper with all the stuff on it. I woke up early on the Saturday I needed to register her and spent about 45 minutes trying to figure out their stupid website (Again.. stupid Clark County!) but finally got her enrolled in the Baby Combo Class on Thursdays from 11:30 to 12:30. It's only a 6 week class but if she likes it and does well enough we'll renew it every 6 weeks.

Auntie M sent Kira some brand new tap shoes which Kira LOVES and walked around and around in them for days in the kitchen to hear them go tap tap tap. I found some little ballet shoes at Target and off we went this past Thursday to her first dance class.

I was really debating about buying her a leotard because let's face it, she's only 2, it's not likes it's professional class so I just procrastinated on it long enough to not get one. As we were walking in I realized my fear was realized. ALL of the girls walking in with their parents had little pink leotards on, with little pink tight and their little pink ballet shoes (I got Kira black because that's all there was in her size... she has BIG feet). Oh well, Kira looked super cute anyway and was excited to see "friends' there to play with. Not having a leotard didn't bother her at all!. Turns out that I had a leotard and tutu at home we are going to use next week... I totally forgot she had it.



Once we figured out where we needed to be all the kids ran around until the instructor showed up. That's when Kira freaked out a little. I sat down in their little circle with her because she wasn't letting go of me and she eventually got off my lap and moved closer to the teacher (I'm sure the HUGE bucket of candy didn't hurt either).

Then it came time for the dancing. The kids weren't to sure what to do at first but soon got the hang of it. Every once in a while Kira would come in and check in with me. I kept telling her she was doing a great job and sent her back out to dance.

She had a great time and is looking forward to next weeks' lesson. I'll try to get more pictures as the lessons progress.

Following her Teacher

Here she is practicing her splits.
'Til next time!