Matt and I looked around our house in October and realized that our children had everything a child would ever want. We talked to each other about Christmas and what we would buy them and decided that we would ask them if they wanted to have a Christmas with 3 gifts and a stocking or go to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa at Thanksgiving time. So, during family home evening, Matt played a game with the kids and had them guess what we would be talking about as a family that night. All of the sudden they realized it was DISNEYLAND. We told them of their choice and Madalyn and Carter took all of the kids to our room and had a vote. When they came out of the room, they had all decided except for Hayden. He was crying and said that he was worried and didn't want to go to Disneyland. Bailey then began to cry and said she wouldn't go if Hayden didn't. Hayden then said, "will Katelyn (his cousin) go?" That gave me a thought and I decided to invite anyone in Matt's family to join us on our trip to Disneyland. Happily Aunt Jill, Aunt Tricia, Uncle Darren, Uncle Rich, Aunt Julie and all of the kids were able to make it. The kids were so happy!! We left for California on the 16th of November and traveled to Eugene. We then drove all Saturday to get to Sacramento to be at Rich and Julie's. The trip was so much fun!
We returned home after a week of fun in the beautiful California weather. Paige was crying yesterday because she wanted to go back to Disneyland with Grandma. These were memories that non of us will ever forget.
Merry Christmas to our wonderful children.
Stopping at Ashlee and Jeff's on the way down.
William and Gannon.
Saturday's traveling group.
Eating dinner at Rich and Julie's on Saturday night.
Thanks Julie.
Everyone getting ready to run to the park on Monday morning. Bright and Early!!
The front of the pack.
Mom and Dad came with us and made it such a wonderful experience.
We love you both!
Christmas music playing in the air.
Natalie and Paige standing in front of the castle getting ready to ride on Peter Pan.
Dumbo the flying elephant. Gannon was very scared so he sat on my lap. Now he says it was his favorite ride.
The tea cups.
Waiting in line for more rides.
Fairyland.
Buzzlight Year ride.
Paige and Natalie waiting for the carousel.
It's a SMALLWORLD.
Riding the boats.
Mickey's house!
The kids with GRANDMA
Gannon loves Mickey Mouse.
Matt's cousin Cyndi organized a lunch with Disney's princess' at Ariel's Grotto on Monday afternoon. The girls put on their dresses and enjoyed an hour with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Snow White. It was so much fun. What a memorable experience.
Paige and Ariel.
Eating lunch.
Isabella and Julie.
The 6 of us women loving our food and company.
Dessert.
Off we went to Ariel's ride after our luncheon.
The next morning we started off at Nemo's ride because the wait is so long.
It was very fun.
Hayden at Autotopia.
Teacups.
The have to picture of all the group in front of Mickey!
Eating lunch at Mimi's.
Tuesday evening we went on the Jungle ride and it was very funny. Our guide was pretty hilarious.
Paige really wanted to go back to the carousel's. I didn't know that she really wanted to ride a certain horse so I didn't make a dash for it. She started to tell me how upset she was and how she had wanted this certain horse. After the ride ended, I took her to the horse with a new little girl on it. Her heart was broken.
I felt so bad.
Eating breakfast on Wednesday morning at the Candy Cane Inn.
California Adventures was first on our list on this day.
The awesome 3-D bugs movie.
Taking a break during the day to let the children swim.
Back to the park to let the kids do Woody's ride in CA.
Merry Christmas!
On Thursday, we headed to San Clemente to celebrate Thanksgiving at Matt's cousins house. They were out of town and graciously let all of us come and stay for the night.
Thank you Brown's.
Playing on the beach before Thanksgiving dinner.
Our delicious Thanksgiving dinner.
These next pictures are from Matt's I-Phone
The decorations at Disneyland.
Matt headed to Splash with all of the older kids and Jill and Darren on Monday!
Matt would run around and get fast passes for rides. He got us fast passes for Racers in Radiator Springs.
I loved this ride. It was awesome.
The family minus Gannon, he was too little for the ride.
Star Tours in Disneyland on Monday night.
Gannon and Matt rode the caterpillar ride together.
Thunder Mountain with Aunt Jill.
We ate corn dogs for dinner one night.
The kids said that they were very good.
Splash Mountain again!
Tower of Terror on Tuesday night!
Eating a breakfast for champions.
Luigi's' tire ride.
Natalie and I doing bumper cars.
Carter by the parade.
One day the kids ate some pizza.
Different!
Mr. Incredible.
The girls and Goofy.
Cousins taking a break.
Tower of Terror again.
Saying good-bye to Candy Cane Inn.
In the background you can see Cars Land. It was a great trip. The kids loved it and it was worth the blood sweat and tears.
On the way home, we stopped at In and Out for our traditional meal. The packaging was very festive!
Merry Christmas.
