Legoland

In April Church Specialties (aka my brother's in law) asked Lorin if he would drive some materials out to Santa Maria, CA for them.  He agreed.  Originally Lorin was just going to go by himself but we decided to all go and make a little trip out of it.  Give Kids the World gave Cassidy a passport to go to a bunch of amusement parks across the country for free.  Legoland in California was one on the list.  So we decided we would try to make it there since this would be the only opportunity we would have to go to California before it expires.

Road trip here we come!  We look so thrilled!  I didn't get a picture but we had to drive our truck pulling a 22' trailer.  Lorin does  a great job pulling a trailer even through big cities and construction.  We only had a couple of frustrations with the trailer.  One being that in CA you have to go 55 mph if your pulling a trailer and two, good luck finding a motel on the coast that has any parking for a truck and trailer.  The second night it took us until nearly 3 AM to find one where we could park.  We should have done a better job at planning ahead.  But we never know what we are doing.   

We made it to Santa Maria and dropped off all of the materials at the two churches.  The kids thought this palm tree was really cool and wanted a picture by it.  Logan calls them "fancy trees".  I remember when we went to Disneyland, nearly 2 years ago, one of the first things Logan said was "Wow!  They have fancy trees!"  We drove to Pismo Beach but it was so busy we couldn't even find a place to park.  It was windy and chilly so we turned around and went back to the church and helped for a little while.  It has been over 12 years since I have worked on church pews and it brought back a lot of memories for me.  I had a lot of good times working for my Dad refinishing and reupholstering church pews.  It was very hard work, and had it's frustrating moments, but I learned a lot too and enjoyed working hard and seeing new places. It made us close as a family to work together.  I even had really strong arm muscles back in the day.  I now get to enjoy what I call my "upholsterer arms".  My arms ache and go to sleep a lot at night especially if I have used them a lot.  They are worn out. My dad still plugs away at it, though, so who's complaining.  Oh the funny stories we all have to tell from our CFI days!  It's a good life!  Sorry I kind of went off on a tangent there.

Apparently our Bishop is from Santa Maria and this was his ward building.  The ward members helped build it.  So he was excited that we saw it.

That night we headed on down to Legoland in Carlsbad.  And that is when we had our adventure of trying to find a motel.  The original idea was to go maybe half way to Anaheim.  We made it there and drove around but it was packed and there was no parking anywhere so we continued on down stopping at what seemed like every exit to find a motel.  We were just soooooooo long that there was no parking.  So we kept going and going and finally found a Ramada Inn that happened to have one RV spot in their back corner.  Lorin had to back her in really easy and we barely fit.  I could tell the manager was so scared that Lorin was going to hit one of the other cars.  It was kind of funny and he had one of those middle eastern accents.  Whew!!! We made it and the next day hit Legoland!!!  

Logan refused to look at me and smile.

I think my kids had the most fun shooting these water guns at the people riding in these ships.  Of course, they can shoot back.

It was very intense!

Ok the next pictures are of this boat ride that seemed easy enough for kids to do themselves.  All you have to do is push a foot pedal and steer.  Off they go!

Logan left first.

Then Megan and Cassidy were to follow.

Oops what is going on here?  I thought Logan was first!

Hmmm!  How do I run this thing?  Why is that guy in front of me taking my picture?

I can see where I need to go.  How do I get there?  Maybe if I concentrate really hard!

I seem to be causing a big traffic jam!

Why won't this boat go!?!  I look like I am making it go!

We left Logan in our dust!

I just don't get it!

I give up!  Maybe I will eventually float where I need to go!

Not as easy as it looked.

Phew!!!  I made it!    

(He didn't cry but felt like it.  He wasn't pushing the foot pedal down the right way.)

Oh how we love to squirt people!

Lorin and Cassidy going down a miniature log ride.

Teacups, Lego style!

The sun came out and now we are getting cooked as we stand in line!

Cassidy was fascinated with this witch and wishing well.

All in all it was a fun day!  It was really busy so I didn't get any pictures in the mini land where they have all scenes built out of Legos.  The kids loved the Star Wars displays seeing as how they are into Star Wars.  Legoland is not as handicap friendly as Disneyland so that made it kind of hard.  But I think the kids had a lot of fun.  It was overcast and chilly for most of the time but the sun did come out and we got quite sunburned.  My fault, I left the sunscreen in the car...................it looked like it was going to rain!

A really nice guy asked if he could take our picture out front but what he really wanted was our ticket stubs so his brother could come back for half price the next week.  He begged and begged so I gave them to him but I was really annoyed!

We debated on whether to try to spend the night in San Diego and then go to the zoo the next day or to start heading home.  We decided that we should head home.  But first we stopped for some pictures by the San Diego Temple.  It is BEAUTIFUL!

A nice girl jumped out of her car quick to snap a picture for us. 

We then drove on back to Barstow to spend the night.  The next day we stopped at the outlet mall there in Barstow.  There was a bunch of Asian tour buses stopped there.  I so wish I would have had my camera handy.  We got a good chuckle out of this old Asian man who seemed to be so fascinated with this RV that was parked.  He was taking all sorts of pictures and then as we were pulling away he took a picture of us.  We laughed and laughed.  I guess they don't see many big vehicles in wherever they were from.  Oh and they all had lunch at the Panda Express!  

Our next stop was to say hi to Lorin's sister Julie and family who were camping at the Valley of Fire.  It is a really cool place!  They kids had so much fun climbing on the rocks.

Cassidy insisted on climbing to the top of this rock.  If dad wasn't going to help her she was going to go anyway!

We are so glad that we stopped in to visit Julie and that we took this trip together as a family!  We made it home safe even though the truck had a bad battery. Thanks for all the prayers, Julie!

Easter

Ok so I stink at blogging! I always think I will put up pictures as soon as I take them so they won't seem so boring but I don't. I can't keep up. Don't know why but I can't. Old age? Memory loss? Dr. appointments? School? 3 church callings? Homework? Annoying neighbor kids? (No, not any of your kids!) Excuses, excuses, excuses!!! I have a goal to get caught up soon, we will see.  Believe it or not I started this post a couple of weeks ago maybe three, I don't remember.  Ugh!  Anyway this is how our Easter went.

My parent's Easter egg hunt had to be indoors due to the incessant rain. Imagine that!  Megan is "too old" to hunt for eggs anymore.  Sniff sniff.  Thus there aren't any pictures of her from that day.  I don't know why.

We also attended a Easter egg hunt put on by Make-a-Wish.  They are awesome.  It was at Discovery Park in Ogden.  The kids collected more eggs than their baskets could hold.  We walked around the park and took a few silly pictures.      We had never been to this park before so I was glad we could see it for free.  I guess I am too cheep to walk around and see beat up dinosaurs statues.  It is a pretty park though and, I am sure, there are a lot of kids who love it.  What is wrong with me?  I guess I am not into dinosaurs.  We had a lot of fun though!





Every boy needs a balloon machine gun and every girl needs a balloon sword.  No flowers and butterflies for my kids.  At least no damage can be done with a balloon.  Right?








I always forget to buy extra eggs to color for Easter plus no one around here eats hard boiled eggs much.  I hate to waste so this year I pulled out some markers and had the kids color plastic eggs instead.  I know, I am no fun at all!


Easter Sunday the kids were surprised to find new clothes to wear to church.  Logan has been wanting a suit for quite a while now so that he can look just like his dad.  So he was very ecstatic to find a suit with his candy.  We have to say thanks to a very generous Easter bunny.  Thank you!  We are thankful for the Easter season where we can celebrate and think more deeply about what our Savior Jesus Christ has done for all of us.  We know because of Him and His Atonement we can repent of the wrong we have done and do better.  We are also thankful that through the Atonement we can forgive others, those who hurt us, even those who hate or despitefully use us.  Because of Jesus Christ we can live again!  We are so blessed!

Just Some Odds and Ends

I don't know why I failed to report that Logan lost his two front teeth way back in February. I think it is one of the cutest times in a child's life. Even if they do pull corny faces for the camera!

April 1st Cassidy did her biography report on Amelia Earhart. The parents and students all walked around the gym to hear the kids tell about the person they researched. We learned a lot. Needless to say I sometimes feel like I am repeating the 3rd grade.

The other day Cassidy walked in the house with this whopper of a goose egg. As far as I could understand she got tangled up with a ball and hit the sidewalk. A couple days later it looked like this.....

Everyone at school kept asking her if someone had given her a kiss. Yep the sidewalk!

Logan! Need I say more? He is one silly boy and we love him. He chose this mustache as his prize from the dentist. He put it on long enough for me to take a picture and then he was ticked, chucked it on the floor and told me that I had better not blog this picture. Too bad! I think it is hilarious! Oh.. the dentist said that his front teeth should be in by Christmas. So I won't be able to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth".

Dear Jesus:

Cassidy wrote this letter to Jesus the other day. She only asked how to spell handsome. She asked how she was going to mail it to Him and I had to explain that she couldn't physically mail it but that she could pray and tell Jesus those things. She promptly went in her room and prayed. She was quite concerned that Jesus maybe hadn't heard her prayer so she prayed two more times. I hope this letter made Jesus smile. I did.

On another note, and if you didn't notice, I got really behind on this blog. I debated on whether or not I should go back and blog about the past five months but I decided not to. Old news is, well, old news. I would,however, like to comment on how my Make-a-Wish speaking engagement worked out. In Nov. I was asked to speak at Timberline Jr. High on how Make-a-Wish helped Cassidy and our family and what led up to Cassidy being able to make her wish. The jr. high was doing a fundraiser for a 9 year old boy with cancer. I was terrified! I do not feel like I am a good speaker and do not like being in front of an audience. I accepted the offer to speak because I need to give back even if it is in this small way. Anyway, I had to speak at two assemblies and the auditorium is HUGE! But I survived I felt like my mind was clear and I was able to speak without completely stumbling over my words. For me that is a miracle! I received a card from Make-a-Wish and they told me that the jr. high raised over $7,500 dollars. This was their third year doing the funraiser and this is the most they have ever raised. It felt good to take part in such a wonderful thing.

I would also like to, once again, thank our family and friends for helping us get through the Christmas season. We are humbled by your kindness and feel most grateful to our Heavenly Father for sending angels to help us continue to get through our struggles. We won't forget!