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Jolly Holiday Surprise Adventure | First Magic Moments LO

I am so thankful that I started writing some of my memories down about this trip on the blog, because I think there is a lot I could have missed! I’m so thankful to not forget these stories! I didn’t write everything down, so from now on this album might not be as detailed, but I hope to get my families’ memories down too! I am happy that I made a trip planner and that I can use it, my photos, and all the memories my family can remember to get the journaling down. This trip was so magical that I just am so excited to be finally scrapping it! It’s so important to write down your memories and I am happy that I am starting to scrapbook again and hopefully get many pages done so that my family legacy can be remembered! I feel bad that I am so behind on all my albums, but I have to start where I am now!

I used the Project Mouse Collection by Britt-ish Designs & Sahlin Studio

I’m so excited to share my family’s magical Christmas adventure of 2014 with you!
To see all the postings in this series go HERE

Jolly Holiday Surprise Adventure | First Magic Moments

FIRST MAGIC MOMENTS

December 6, 2014

After revealing the secret, we all just couldn’t wait to get to the hotel. Our shuttle FINALLY arrived and we loaded our bags and ourselves and began our journey. At this point we let the kids know that not only were we going to Disneyland, but we were actually going to be staying in the DISNEYLAND HOTEL! Ahhh!

The shuttle driver kept us entertained with Disney music as we drove from Long Beach to Anaheim. Before we knew it, we were pulling up in front of the Disneyland Hotel. We grabbed our bags and excitedly walked in. The kids immediately gravitated to the cute teacup seats. At the front desk, Joey and I got checked in, amidst a little complication with our credit card (the transaction got flagged, since we don’t take a whole lot of trips – but after some calls we got it figured out. The Cast Members at the front desk were really great and helped us get it all figured out).

We were able to get a standard room in the Adventure Tower. It was on the Downtown Disney side, but only the 2nd floor, so our view was trees – but actually I loved it! So easy and fast to get to our room from Downtown Disney and the trees kind of blocked the noise. It was awesome! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Disneyland Hotel rooms. We all loved looking for the Hidden Mickeys and of course the headboard is AMAZING! It was just awesome.

After checking out the room and settling in a bit, we decided it was time to explore! Everyone was hungry and I also wanted to go redeem my voucher for the Annual Pass and also pick up our Photopass+ Card. (We had decided to get one Annual Pass so that we could get the discounts and such.) So we headed towards Downtown Disney. Joey and the kids grabbed some lunch at Earl of Sandwich and I headed down to the Esplanade. I redeemed my voucher, got my picture taken, and got my new Annual Pass. California Adventure looked less busy, so I went through the gates and headed to the photo shop where I redeemed the voucher to get our Photopass+ card. This all took about an hour and then I met up with my family at Downtown Disney, where we did some exploring in the stores. We were all fascinated with the Lego Store and all of its awesome characters! The Build-a-Bear Store was amazing too and the kids were definitely starting their lists!

After lots of browsing, we went to Tortilla Joe’s for dinner! We LOVED it – it was so good, and we especially loved the guacamole, made for us right at our table!

After dinner, we strolled over to the AMC Theaters to watch BIG HERO 6. We were AMAZED by this theater. It was HUGE. It was definitely the biggest theater we’ve ever been to. Plus amazingly there wasn’t a whole lot of people taking advantage of it and so in the huge theater, it felt like we were the only ones there. We LOVED Big Hero 6 – it was such a cute movie. After the movie, we had to take advantage of a photo-op!

After the movie, we headed back to the hotel and we had a little bit of a Christmas Celebration, complete with a little Mickey Tree, Treats, and gifts. These were things I brought from home to bring some Christmas to our room. The kids loved it all, especially the Disney gift cards from Dad and Mom and the money from Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

At this point, we were just so exhausted. It had been a very long, but thrilling and exciting day! We couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

The Adventure Continues in another post…

jollyholidayheader I’m so excited to share my family’s magical Christmas adventure of 2014 with you!
To see all the postings in this series go HERE.

Life 2013 | JJ’s 11th Birthday

My JJ turned 11 on January 26, 2013. I don’t know what happened to my little boy, but he is now just a young man. JJ is all about Phineas and Ferb, specifically Perry the Platypus, Angry Birds, and Star Wars, so that’s what his birthday was all about.

We had originally planned on visiting Grandpa and Grandma Smith for his birthday, but a nice big storm made its way through Utah and so we opted to stay home. We spent a casual day at home. We were awakened by a very excited JJ. All he could think about was opening his presents, so we decided to just let him do it, even though it was early.

He received: A Perry Pillow Pet, a Phineas and Ferb Game, an Angry Birds game, the complete Star Wars Movies on Blu-Ray, and 2 Star Wars Books. He was THRILLED and he pretty much hasn’t put down his Perry Pillow Pet since then. It has become his constant pal – I think if we could get a real platypus for a pet – he would be over the moon!

He played all day and then we had his favorite pizza for dinner and brownies with ice cream and hot fudge! We ended the day playing the wacky Phineas and Ferb game that is quickly becoming one of our favorites. Everyone really had fun using the Perry Blindfold from the game. We even got Uncle Aaron to join us!

Happy Birthday, Agent J!

I’m so blessed to have you as my boy!

Here’s my layout:

I used a template and Just the Way You Are by SuzyQ Scraps plus a few elements of my own!

Life 2012 | Spring Break

This is going to be a rather long post….but I needed to get the memories posted!

Amidst an emergency room visit and sickness, our Spring Break Vacation was actually a time of relaxation and peace. I really enjoyed the time of leisure. I mostly stayed away from the computer. We watched movies, we played the Wii, we did puzzles, I made meals for the family, and we just spent quality time together. It’s just nice to get away from normal life from time to time.

It all kind of started on Wednesday, April 4th when the kids and I used different flavors of Kool-Aid to dye our Easter Eggs. It was so fun and I can’t wait to try new flavors out next year. Before we dyed the eggs, the kids used crayons to draw designs on the eggs. We found out that the blue Kool-aid turned out the best!

The next day (April 5th) the kids still had to go to school and I cleaned and packed and prepared for our trip. In the evening, Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen and Uncle Clint arrived. We had a good visit before all heading off to bed.

Friday, April 6th, the kids skipped school and helped me with the last of the cleaning and packing. Grandpa and Grandma had some errands to run as well. Finally in the afternoon we we were ready to leave. We traveled the 2 1/2 – 3 hours to Eden, Utah, also stopping to pick up some KFC for dinner.

We arrived at our vacation condo and started unpacking and settling in. I was taking the last stuff up the stairs to Joey and I’s room and Beth and JJ followed me up the stairs. We had opened the windows because it was a little stuffy. As I went through the door with Beth close on my heels, there was a gush of wind that slammed the bedroom door shut……with Beth’s poor left ring finger with it. She just happened to be turning around to talk to her brother and her finger was right by the hinge when this all happened. I quickly opened the door and was shocked to see the blood pouring from Beth’s finger. I was also shocked to see that I could actually see Beth’s bone and the skin around her fingernail was just hanging off. Beth took one look at her finger and just started bawling, with the tears streaming down her face. I went into panic mode and Joey ran up the stairs and picked up his little girl and ran her to the kitchen.

After a quick Priesthood blessing and getting some ice for her finger, we rushed off to the hospital that was 1/2 hour away in Ogden. Thank goodness that Grandpa & Grandma were there to take care of JJ. Beth was in a lot of pain on the way down. Joey is amazing when things happen – he stays completely calm, while I panic. He drove, while I held on to Bethie Girl. We tried to keep her distracted, but she was in pain and really scared to go to the hospital. We started talking about how it could have been worse and it was awesome to hear Beth say, “Well, it could have been worse – it was my left hand instead of my right hand, so now I can still use my right hand.” We kept talking about how much we were blessed and it really seemed to help her.

Once we got to the hospital (at about 6:30pm), things got a lot worse. Beth was really scared to be at the hospital for some reason, even though we told her that now we had doctors/nurses to take care of her. The worst 15 minutes or so of my life were when they brought in the big needle to numb up her hand. She screamed and we had to hold her down and tears were gushing out of her eyes and she just kept saying, “No, I don’t want it, please don’t let them do it!” They gave her 2 shots by the knuckles of her finger and it was so hard to watch that happen. I just held her other hand and kept whispering calming words to her, as my own tears flowed from my eyes. I wished so hard that I could take it for her. It even made Joey tear up, not being able to do anything for our little girl. But finally that was over and it numbed her finger so well. It took the pain completely away from her and it was such a relief for all of us. Beth had to get a x-ray of her finger and it was actually kind of a fun adventure for her since it didn’t hurt anymore. She liked that they showed her the pictures of her hand. She was fine seeing the x-ray picture, but she wouldn’t look at her finger anymore (ever since that one glance at it after it first happened). It was extremely scary for her.

Another relief came when they told us that nothing was broken. Unfortunately, they had to call in a hand surgeon and he was at the other hospital, busy with other patients. We ended up waiting about 4 hours before he was able to meet with us. In the meantime, we watched some tv, played on my phone, and the nurses brought Beth some coloring pages to color. It was such a relief to have her out of pain. Joey and I both went through some waves of emotions about having our daughter go through something like this, but we made it through.

Finally the hand surgeon showed up. Unfortunately by that time the pain meds were wearing off and they had to give her another couple of shots. It wasn’t as bad this time because it was mostly numb. Then, they cleaned the wound up and the surgeon sewed her up, using 4 stitches. They let us know that they call it a partial amputation and she would eventually lose her fingernail, but that it would heal just fine. They put a splint on her finger, bandaged it up (in pretty purple and blue bandages), and sent us on our way. It was after 11pm at this point and we were tired and hungry. We stopped to get some ibuprofen and tylenol at Smith’s before heading back to the vacation home. On the way home, Beth’s finger started throbbing and I was sure that we were going to be in for a long night. Beth kept asking “why did this have to happen” and “this is the worst vacation ever.”

When we arrived, we found JJ still awake and really glad to see us. He had been pretty anxious and worried about his sister. He gave a bit of a hard time for Grandpa and Grandma. We were able to visit with him for a bit and get him to go to sleep. Grandpa was already in bed and Grandma and Uncle Clint were ready to go to sleep too. We got Beth in her pajamas and put her in bed with us. By this point she was not hungry, but Joey and I took turns eating. Then, Beth just konked right out and surprisingly didn’t wake up all night. Joey and I did not sleep well after the whole ordeal and thinking that Beth was going to be in pain.

There was a few times where Beth needed some medicine, but throughout the whole vacation, she was just happy and calm. The prayers offered by all of our friends/family were heard and answered by our loving Heavenly Father. I know that he was with us and I just feel so blessed. Beth was able to enjoy the vacation and, besides just having to use one hand most of the time, did really well. I’m just so grateful for this true miracle that our family experienced.

On Saturday, April 7th, we had planned on going on a hike, but we decided that that wouldn’t be a good idea for Beth. So, Grandpa and Grandma went into Ogden to run some errands and meet Uncle Lane. We had a quiet morning just kind of settling in and relaxing. I began making preparations for the evening’s Easter dinner by making some crescents, putting the ham in the crockpot, and preparing the funeral potatoes. Uncle Clint and JJ were quite the buddies and had a good time playing the Wii together.

After Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Lane returned, we went on a drive around the Pineview Reservoir and explored the surroundings. It was quite the adventure with “Hospital trips, billboard watching, dead ends, and bears with chainsaws!” Just kind of a joke that came up as we were driving. We were driving around, getting a little lost, finding deadends and billboards, and all kinds of funny things. We were saying how this vacation was just so exciting, being sarcastic, and it ended up being pretty fun because we were all together and that’s what really mattered anyway. We were able to find President David O. McKay’s home in Huntsville on our drive.

After we returned from our drive, I stuck the food into the oven to cook, while Uncle Clint and Uncle Lane took my kids on a Easter Egg Hunt. Grandpa, Grandma, Joey, and I sat down and watched “Sons of Katie Elder.” It’s always fun to watch a John Wayne with my Dad.

Then we had a wonderful Easter Dinner together. I am so happy that we were able to spend this time with my parents and brothers. It was so great to just have some fun times together.

On Easter Morning (April 8th), we woke up and had did our traditional Resurrection Rolls and talked about the Savior. I also started a new tradition with some special plastic eggs, filled with scriptures and a special symbol that represented the scripture. It was special to read these with Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Lane and Clint. The Easter Bunny found us too. There was candy and the kids got Squinkees – Beth’s was Disney Princess and JJ’s was Disney Cars. The kids had a fun time playing with their squinkies throughout the rest of the vacation.

It was sad to say goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Lane and Uncle Clint. It was so fun to have them stay a couple of days with us.

Most of the rest of the vacation wasn’t really eventful, but it was nice to just spend time together.

We played the Wii and watched lots of movies:

We did a lot of coloring and crafting and decorating:

We went on walks and played at the park:

We did lots of puzzles:

We made treats and just spent lots of quality time together as a family. I feel so blessed for my hubby and children.

Our last big adventure was that we celebrated Beth’s 7th Birthday during our vacation. On Thursday, April 12th, we started the day with a special treasure hunt for Beth to find her birthday gifts. The clues were written by her Dad and they all rhymed! It even included a clue, put up on the Wii – the kids thought that was awesome!

Once the presents were found – Beth had to open them! She got some Magic Treehouse Books, a jump rope, a princess dvd game, kids headphones, and the highlight……an ipod touch, with lots of fun apps, including books already installed! (actually we just converted my old iphone into an ipod touch for her – the phone part doesn’t work now. 🙂 Beth was THRILLED!

We then had to have cake and ice cream!

Then we headed off to Ogden to have a checkup on Beth’s finger. Everything looked great. They said she would need to keep the splint on her finger for 3 more weeks, but could have the stitches out in a week.

The sad part of the day was dropping Dad off at the Trax Frontrunner station. Joey had to do his podcast and a Political Convention, so he wasn’t able to spend the last couple of days with us.

After returning to our condo we had breakfast for dinner, more cake, and lots of playing with Beth’s new toys! She said (like she says every year), “it was the best birthday ever!” She’s so excited to be able to text her cousin, Whitnee every day now! She loves all the fun, educational games I put on there and I even got her some Rainbow Magic Fairy e-books that she can read. She was even thrilled that now she can read her scriptures on her ipod too! Definitely a hit!

Well, we started the vacation with chaos, that I guess we needed to end it with some chaos as well. I was in the shower on Sunday morning, when Beth ran in and said that JJ was acting really weird and shaking. He had been experiencing what I thought was just allergies, but it turns out that it turned into a sinus infection, which included a fever. I ran down the stairs in a towl, with shampoo still in my hair. JJ was having a seizure (after a couple of years without one). I had really hoped he had finally outgrew his febrile seizures. 🙁 By the time I got there, the seizure was over, but he was still unconscious. It freaked me out a bit because this time, he still had his eyes open. I held my boy for awhile, just making sure he was breathing okay and whispering prayers up to Heavenly Father. Finally when I calmed myself down, I asked Beth to keep an eye on him while I ran up and finished my shower. JJ was still sleeping, as I hurried to pack the car with all of our stuff. He finally woke up and we spent some time with him, giving him a shower and meds and just making sure he was alright. Beth was a real trooper and stayed calm – even helping me to calm down. We finally got everything loaded and we left Eden about noon. It was such a relief to get home and be with Joey. He was so devastated that he hadn’t been there to help. But, JJ was doing much better by the time we got home. (Of course the next day we went to the doctor and got meds and he stayed home for the first couple of days of school the next week – but everything was fine.)

So that was our Spring Break 2012 Adventures! It’s never completely sane, but we still had a good time! Now onto our next adventures of this life…..

Life 365 | Week 52

Monday, December 20, 2010

Joey came home in the middle of the day with an amazing surprise! He received one of his company’s employee awards this year! And what did he receive – AN IPAD! And not just any iPad – the best one that they have out right now. WOW! He was so excited and I’m just so proud of him. He totally deserves it. It is so fun to see him enjoying it!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

It snowed again – and it was the best snowman-making snow – so of course we had to get out in it today! It’s fun having the kids home during the day. We made our Frosty and made snow angels and had a snowball fight and just had so much fun. Unfortunately, it got warmer later in the day, and some of the snow melted away, along with our Frosty. I was so glad we didn’t delay in getting out there and playing!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Today’s activity was to read and watch the movie of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! So in between playing and cleaning, we read the book and before bedtime we had it done, so we got to watch the movie! It was so fun!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

We did laundry and cleaning today and the kids got to play games on Joey’s little computer. They loved it!

Friday, December 24, 2010

What an amazing day today. Joey completely surprised me this year – many times he is quite the grinch around Christmas – but this season, he has been so wonderful. I think its because as a family, we have really focused on teaching the kids the real meaning of Christmas – we have been reading scriptures every night and the kids have really responded to Jesus and the Christmas story. Joey went shopping and came home with Uncle Aaron and a whole list of fun things to do today. I did some cooking so that all I had to do was stick the potatoes in for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner and did some last minute cleaning. I also made up a batch of swirl cookies for Santa. We played games, and did puzzles, and watched movies, and read books and just spent the whole day together. We were glad to have Aaron join us. We also took the Trax up to temple square and saw the lights and the wonderful nativity scene they had there. There was such a wonderful spirit on the temple grounds and it was so fun being there on Christmas Eve. On the way home, we picked up Chinese food from our favorite place – Mings Garden – and then we came home and ate it. We opened our new pajamas and got a picture of us in them before bedtime.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

It was a fabulous Christmas! The kids had so much fun. From Santa, JJ got Buzz and Beth got a Rapunzel doll. And they also received from us – Jessie, Woody, and Bulls-eye, lots of games, movies, and other fun things and we just spent the whole day playing. The Toy Story movies have meant a lot to me and the kids so it was so fun to see Beth and JJ play with their new Toy Story characters! Joey surprised us all with the Wii Sports Resort Game and he gave me the Wii Fit Plus – which I have wanted for a long time! It was a great day!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

It’s just so much fun to have new things to play with! It was a relaxing day – just spent at church and together.

Life 365 | Week 15

Monday, April 5, 2010
I was determined to get a lot done this week. It’s Spring Break for the kids and so I decided that there was 2 major goals for the week. 1. Spend lots of time with the kids – with at least 1 special activity a day and 2. Get Spring Cleaning done! Today we cleaned the bedrooms – especially rearranging the kids bedroom. We created a “Terabithia” for them underneath JJ’s bed. It’s a little crawl space that they can go and play under now. For our special activity today, we had a picnic. Unfortunately it was raining really hard outside so we opted to have the picnic inside. Beth and I even dressed up in dresses!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Today we cleaned the bathroom and hallway and for our special activity, we went to Storytime at the Library. It was so fun and interactive. The storyteller told an African story and the kids got to dance and play music! We also picked up a few books and movies to take home for the week!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010
What an adventurous day! We drove to Sandy and went to the Aquarium. It was our first time and the kids really loved seeing all the fish, penguins, and other aquatic animals! We ate lunch in the cafe at the aquarium too. Then on our way home we went to Pleasant Grove and hiked the Battle Creek Falls. It was a fun little hike (about a mile) to a waterfall. The kids enjoyed it but we were so tired when we got home. We got home just in time for my Over the Hump crop! What a day!

Thursday, April 8, 2010
Since I didn’t do any cleaning yesterday – I had a lot to do today. I cleaned the living room and kitchen. The kids drew pictures and cutout shapes and did lots of artistic stuff today!

Friday, April 9, 2010
Today we cleaned out the shed and got it all organized. It was a mess and you could barely get through the door – but now everything is stacked neatly! It was quite a project, but so glad to get it done. We donated some stuff to the DI and got rid of lots of stuff we didn’t need! We also cleaned off the porch and yard. Then we got to decorate and prepare for Beth’s Birthday Party tomorrow!

Saturday, April 10, 2010
A wonderful day for a tea party! The weather was so great and Beth had 4 little Princess friends come and join us. We had sandwiches, fruit, crackers, pretzels, cheese, mini-muffins, cream puffs and Strawberry Lemonade for our tea party. The girls even got to use a new [plastic] tea set that we got for Beth. They loved being able to pour their own lemonade! We also played Pin the tail on the Unicorn, a Princess Quest (Maleficient had stolen their treat bags so the Princesses left clues for them to find it), they decorated their own crowns, decorated cupcakes [in ice cream cones] and they danced and played games to a Disney Princess Party DVD. I was so happy that they all had a great time! For their treat bags, they each got some Princess bubbles, stamps, suckers, stickers with a crown frame to decorate at home, and I had my Princess DollZ from my Happily Ever AfterZ Collection printed and I cut them out so that each girl would have a set of Paper Dolls! Beth received a Princess Aurora Bathing Beauty Doll (from Baylee), Princess Tiana Doll (from Abby) , a Littlest Petshop Deco Puppy (from Shay), and a balloon, ring pops, birthday pin, doll, and fan (from Annie).

Joey and JJ went and got haircuts, had lunch and ice cream, and watched movies at Joey’s office while we were having the tea party. Afterwards they came home and Joey and Beth went shopping for a gift for me (our new birthday tradition). They gave me 2 books to read – so excited! The rest of the day we just relaxed at home. A great day!

Sunday, April 11, 2010
After church today we had lunch and naps and then we went over to Cody and Becki’s for dinner. It was so nice to visit and get to hold Mallory. She’s so cute and its so fun to see her amazing smile! Beth also got to open her presents tonight. She got some princesses with horses and the Princess and the Frog DVD from Joey and I, a Cinderella Puzzle from JJ, and Princess Stories DVD and a horse playset from Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen. Beth was so delighted by all of her fun gifts this year! Her very favorite was the horses from Grandpa and Grandma!

And here is my weekly layout:
I used my Happily Ever AfterZ, Resolution BearZ & Digital 365 to create this layout!

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