Silly Morgan

I love when I find pictures from the kids on my iPad.  

These were too cute not to keep!  Silly Morgan…

And my very, VERY favorite.  It makes me laugh every time :)  

friends

How cute are these kids!  MaryAnn took good care of my little guys while I was at the Doctor.  They were so mad when it was time to come home…  

Today Meg had some play time with Matthew… I think she's been missing him because she wouldn't stop smiling and laughing the entire time he was over.  What great little friends we have!    

Disneyland 2015

Last week we went with the Beckstead clan to Disneyland.  What a fun week!  I can't even express with words what a blast we had...  So I'll just post an absurd amount of pictures...  Like so many pictures you'll want to barf!  Hey, nobody is making you look.   I narrowed it down the best I could, but I want our kids to see all about our trip someday when they look back...  So buckle up (or not), here we go!

The drive was long, but the kids did great.  It was an 11 hour drive, but we stopped and slept in Vegas so that helped.  There were potty breaks and lots of snacks.  Mike is the man when it comes to driving long distances. He's a man of endurance. (His inner ironman/triathlete came shining through). 

Meg loved to color on the dry erase board- and her nose :).

Swimming with the cousins in Vegas!  

We finally made it to California and went straight to Disneyland.  We had a 5-day Disneyland/California Adventure hopper pass we were dying to start using!  

Check out our cool fanny packs!  They were stuffed with candy and phone numbers in case anyone got lost.  

The sun was shining and the weather was perfect!  Mid 70's all week long.  

Going on rides...

Staying out late.

Pirates of the Caribbean was one of the family favorites. 

 My Jack Sparrow!

My little pirate Minnie!  Argh!  

Such great Grandparents!  My mom and dad LOVE Disneyland. It's so cute. 

Mike made me take the kids on Star Tours.  He promised it would be worth it just to sit by Will.  I almost barfed, but it was worth feeling sick to hear Will giggle uncontrollably the entire time.  He was hysterical!  

Meg was a good little girl and went with the flow.  When she was tired she'd lie her head down on one of our shoulders and go to sleep.  She never cried.  And why would she??  She was at the happiest place on earth!!

On Sunday we decided to hit the beach (after attending church of course!).  We spent the afternoon at Newport Beach and the kids had a blast.  We spotted some seals (or maybe it was sea lions?? I don't know the difference.). 

Check out this crab!!!  I've never seen anything like it.  It looks like something straight out of a horror movie.  

Meg walked around the beach like this all afternoon.  Funny little thing.  She didn't want sand on her pretty church dress.  

 Fortunately (and unfortunately) our hotel was right across the street from the Cheesecake Factory.  We just had to get cheesecake....  And eat it in bed. Our hotel room had a sweet set-up: 3 rooms, 3 tv's, and 4 beds.  The kids each had their own bed (except Meg who slept with us).  They thought they were in heaven when they got to watch whatever they wanted on TV and eat cheesecake in bed!  They didn't want to come home :). 

Daisy!  She's a favorite.

For Christmas Grandma & Grandpa gave the kids each a gift card to buy whatever they wanted at Disneyland.  It was the best!  We didn't have to worry about the kids begging to buy things because they knew they had a certain amount to spend on whatever they wanted.

Meg decided to get some Frozen figurines, a spinning Minnie, and a giant sucker.  

Watching the show at the Golden Horseshoe while eating lunch.  So funny! 

Miles used his money on popcorn and special snacks everyday.  Yum!

Will wanted a light saber, a bracelet, and a surprise box.  What's inside??  

Cool.  A total rip off for $13, but it was his money and he loved it!  Carries it around everywhere.

Waiting for the Frozen Sing-a-long to start...

Who has the best monkey face?

At the end of the show it started snowing!  

Morgan used most of her money on jewelry.  So pretty!!  Matching necklace, earrings and ring.

California Adventure was cool. It felt like we walked into Radiator Springs.  It looked just like the movie Cars.

Will really wanted to be a Jedi so we went early and got just the right spot...  When they started picking boys from the crowd, we all jumped up and down and pointed to Will.  The force was with us and the man called Will up to go through Jedi training.  Luckily, he picked Miles too.  They both got selected!  

They brought the chosen kids up and gave them light sabers and Jedi cloaks. Then right when training started, Will looked back at us and his eyes welled up with tears.  He took the cloak off and ran back to his seat.  Poor guy had stage fright.  Oh well, at least we got to watch Miles fight Darth Vader.

Will watching big brother and wishing he'd stayed in...  

What a cute Jedi!

They presented them both with official Jedi certificates.

Mom and Meg hanging out on Buzz while dad takes the big kids on big rides.

Grandpa asked to watch Meg so I could join Mike and the big kids for a ride.  He took her shopping and bought her a Mickey.  He loves to spoil his girls.

This may be my favorite picture ever of Will.  You'd never know it, but he is scared out of his mind. He is gripping my hand so tight and trying not to lose it.  The second the ride ended he started bawling. When we saw this picture we were dying because it looks like he's so chill.  He was in his happy place just trying to endure the torture :). He looks so little and helpless.  I just love that memory. 

Mike was a party animal all week.  No joke!  I love Disney-Mike!  Best dad ever!!  

 Meggie napping with her Minnie.  Aww.  So sweet.  

The shuttle from the hotel to the park was as fun as any ride.

Mike took the big kids off for awhile so Meg and I headed straight to Frozen Fun.  Meg had to meet Elsa!

Elsa had a beautiful autograph! Meg loved the snowflake stars.

Then we were off to see Olaf.  While we waited we played in the snow.  REAL SNOW!  

It even started to snow on us.  Disney is awesome.  It all felt so real, like you were in the movie.  

 Olaf!!

Hanging with the cousins at California Adventure.  Mater!  

More rides...

The new Radiator Springs Racers Cars ride was probably the very favorite of the trip. Kids in the top blue car, parents in the green.  Mike loved it :).  

The entire clan...  All 27 of us :)

My siblings and their spouses (minus Bobby and Sherra and Mindy's husband)

Meg checking out cars with Grandpa.

For days before Disnelyland, Will obsessed over having a Mickey Mouse pancake....  The boy LOVES pancakes.  He was so happy on the last day when we bumped into a cute little restaurant that had them.  He was happy to spend $9 of his money on a pancake :).  

A dream come true!!

Meg and I had corndogs for our last meal.  I don't usually like corndogs, but Yum!!

Giant suckers...  

We found a cute petting zoo.  Will loved this little goat, maybe too much...  He gave Will a little back-off head butt when Will snuggled in too close. 

My favorite- I said, "say cheese" and he started smiling :). Look at that smile :)

This goat loves to smile.  Hilarious!

Sister time!

Mindy is just a big kid.  She's fun at stuff like this.

Trying to pull the sword from the stone.  No luck.

Last ride before heading home.  Sniff, sniff.  Meg's choice: It's a Small World.  Good choice Meg!  What an amazing week!  And none of us caught the measles that are currently floating around Disneyland.  Horray!  Love this family of mine!