Tuesday, November 22

Let the Memories Begin!

I was so excited to take the babies to Disneyland for the first time! Yes, I know they won't remember it and didn't even know what was going on but I was still excited because Disneyland is one of my very favorite places! I just wish Jeff could have come with us because it would have been his first time also! But he was in Chicago working. 
My parents decided it would be fun to take the family to Disneyland before Marsh left. And oh it was fun!! So fun.
We left here on a Friday evening. The girls were such big helpers loading up the car! ;)



It was freezing outside so I warmed Miss Wrigs up in my jacket. 


Melinda was sitting behind the girls and I in the Suburban and was hiding behind the seat and then jumping up and saying "BOO!" Morley thought it was the funniest thing ever. 

There's nothing better than the sound of a laughing baby!

We drove to Mesquite and stayed the night there Friday night and then drove to the Las Vegas Temple in the morning to attend Heather's wedding. I had never been to that Temple before so I was excited to see it.  I loved the palm trees surrounding it. So pretty!







The sealing was so neat. I absolutely love going to Temple weddings. Each one is so unique. The things said by the Sealer are always thought provoking and always a great reminder of the covenants made on my own wedding day. Heather looked gorgeous of course and I was glad we were able to be there. 

After the sealing we went and had lunch and then drove the rest of the way to Anaheim. We made it to our hotel around 6 pm Saturday night. We ordered pizza for dinner and then when the babies were in bed my parents stayed with them while the rest of us went down to the pool. I wasn't really in a swimming mood plus it was a little chilly outside so Melinda and I squeezed into the hot tub while they boys swam in the pool. There were a couple of families in the hot tub with lots of little kids and another family in the pool. We discovered when they were all leaving that all of us were from Utah. Funny :) 
Sunday we actually got to sleep in a little bit. The babies and I had our own little room off the main room at our hotel and there were no windows in our room. It was so dark that they had no idea what time it was, which meant they slept later. So nice. 
I took these pictures the day we were leaving, so that's why the room is such a mess.


Over to the right we had our own little bathroom also. 

While we were all getting ready on Sunday morning my dad left to go find a Church for us to go to. The only two he found that we would make it to (at 1:00) were a Tongan ward and a single's ward. So we had our own little Sunday School lesson and then went to the Sacrament Meeting at the single's ward. That was fun. I forgot how silent single's wards are. Every time the babies made any little peep people were turning around and looking at us.  
After church we took naps while the babies were napping and then drove to Newport Beach. It was the perfect night to be at the beach! The weather was great and we were there as the sun was setting. Just a gorgeous night!
There were these cute rental properties all along the beach and we had fun talking about what it would be like to rent one someday. 
We could see Catalina Island out on the Horizon. 
The water was really cold and Morley was not happy when we put her feet in. Which actually surprised me because she's usually the one who loves the water no matter what. Just wasn't in the mood I guess. Wrigley, on the other hand, was loving it. This was the first time she had ever felt sand on her feet and she was very fascinated by it.





Doesn't it look like they are walking on the water? :)

We tried lots of times to get a good jumping picture. :)


As it got darker it got a little cold.



These little birds were so funny to watch. They kept running to the edge of the water and then running away.

 As we were leaving the beach we decided since we were in the area, to drive to see the Newport Beach Temple. My phone was dead so I didn't take any pictures, but it was beautiful! We walked all around the grounds and it was all so pretty. What Temple isn't though, right?

Monday. 
DISNEYLAND day #1!
We walked from our hotel and got to the park right about 8:00am when the park opened.
The park was all decorated for Halloween! 
Loved it!

We took turns all day staying with the babies while everyone else went on rides. We discovered that each ride had a "stroller pass" which was for whoever stayed off the ride with young kids. They (and one other person) could use the stroller pass to skip the lines and get right on the ride. So everyone was able to go on all the same rides, just at separate times. It actually worked out really well. And I didn't feel so bad making someone miss a ride to stay with the girls.
We went on rides all morning. We took the girls with us on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride. You ride around in a little car and shoot your laser gun at the targets, trying to get the highest score. I thought they would be fine but they both freaked out! I forgot how dark it was in there. And it was pretty loud so I think that scared them. I felt bad. We didn't take them on anymore rides the rest of the morning. 
When we were sitting down to eat lunch, we saw Ariel come out to take pictures. Morley was asleep but Wrigley wasn't, so we took her over there for a picture. She was so fascinated by her. She didn't take her eyes off her face (or maybe her hair). We tried and tried to get her to look at my mom and the camera. No luck.
After lunch, Matthew & I stayed with the girl while everyone else went on the Haunted Mansion ride. He and I used the stroller pass to go on it and then met up with the rest of the family at Star Tours. 
Then we split up and my mom and I took the girls to Fantasy Land to go on Small World. 
We were so excited to take them on this one because we knew for sure it was one they would love. While we were waiting in line, Wrigley fell asleep on my shoulder. She woke up right as the ride was ending. :( 
At least Morley enjoyed watching all the singing and dancing dolls.


After Small World, we left Disneyland and went over to California Adventure to meet up with the rest of the family. They had gotten fast passes for all of us to go on Toy Story Mania. It's another one kind of like the Buzz Lightyear ride but it's not dark and not so scary so we took the girls again. Wrigley didn't mind it but Morley freaked out again.
So we went on the Carousel right outside the Toy Story ride as soon as we got off. They liked that one a lot. :)
When we were walking over to Toy Story, we saw Mickey Mouse and there was like no line to get a picture taken with him so we stopped for a picture.
I was curious to see how the babies would react to the characters. They were very fascinated. Not scared at all.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at California Adventure. When it got dark we got to watch the World of Color show! There are no words. It was incredible! As soon as the show was over we went back over to Disneyland because they were open until midnight that night. The babies were asleep in the stroller so we walked around and did some shopping. Around 11:00 my mom, Melinda & I decided to walk back to the hotel while everyone else went on some more rides. 
It was such a long walk home. Much longer than the walk there ;)
We were so tired and our feet hurt so bad. Melinda & I were laughing at everything. Every time we passed a hotel she kept saying, "If we had stayed at this hotel, we could be in bed by now."

Tuesday we did it all over again!
We started off the day in California Adventure. We went on Toy Story again, the Ferris Wheel, Little Mermaid, Soaring Over California and Tower of Terror. And then got ice cream cones :)

We had fast passes and a stroller pass for Tower of Terror so we went on it a few times in a row. While the boys and Maggie were on it Melinda, my mom, the girls & I watched the Monsters Inc. show. We were hoping to be able to take pictures with the characters after the show but they wouldn't let us. So we found other places to take some pictures.

For lunch we left the park and walked right across the street to IHOP.
We gave the girls each a saltine cracker at IHOP and it kept them busy for quite a long time.
Walking to and from IHOP, Marsh was "ghosting" people. :) 
Ghosting: basically copying exactly the movements of another person. Usually a stranger. 
I had never seen him do this before but he had told me about it. 
So funny.
Maybe not that funny to you, watching this, but if you had been there you would have thought it was funny. I promise.

Whenever we were walking to another ride or something, Mckay would try to get girls walking the other way to give him a high five. So he'd just put his hand up when they were about to walk past him. Some gave him five, some didn't. It was funny to walk behind him and watch the expressions on the girls' faces. Some would laugh. Some looked at him like he was crazy. Some were just surprised. A few seemed disgusted.

We did some more shopping that afternoon and then Melinda, the twins & I sat down on the curb on Main Street to watch the parade, while everybody else was off doing other things. We were lucky we found a spot to sit right in the front. We sat there for probably 30-45 minutes before the parade started. People were saving seats long before that.There was a little girl sitting next to us with her Grandma and she loved the babies. She was talking to them and making them smile & laugh. It was so cute.
I thought the girls would love the parade. They have speakers all over to play music during the parade and it was really loud! So at first they were a little worried but not for long. They really enjoyed watching all the characters sing and dance around. And I loved it too! :)





After the parade Melinda & I used a stroller pass to go on Space Mountain and left the babies with Mckay, Marshall & Matthew. I guess Morley was not happy at all that I left her. She cried the whole time and then as soon as I took her back, she stopped.
Disneyland was closing early that day for Mickey's Halloween Party.
We finally got a picture in front of Mickey on the way out.

 Then we went over to California Adventure until they closed at 8:00. 
After they closed we did some shopping at Downtown Disney and then went back to the hotel. 
The next day we drove back to Utah. It was a long drive. The babies still did well but it was much easier on the way there, with the drive being broken up and not all at once. 
We had so so so much fun!
I'm so glad I have such good little travelers or we wouldn't be able to go on all these fun adventures.
Oh! I almost forgot....the babies souvenirs! :)